SharePoint Online regional settings (Change SharePoint site time zone and language at site and user level) + PowerShell

In this SharePoint Online tutorial, we will discuss SharePoint Online regional settings. How to change SharePoint Online regional settings for modern sites and classic sites.

You will get to know:

• SharePoint regional settings
• Change SharePoint regional settings
• Change SharePoint Online site time zone
• Change SharePoint Online site language
• Change SharePoint time format (12-hours/24-hours)
• Change SharePoint regional settings using PowerShell
• Change SharePoint Online time zone at tenant level
• Change SharePoint regional settings using PowerShell
• Get SharePoint Online site time zone using PowerShell
• Change SharePoint Online time zone using PowerShell etc.

SharePoint Online regional settings

Users from various regions or time zones access an organization’s SharePoint Online sites. So it is important to set the time zone, languages, etc. for your SharePoint sites, so that your users will see the time properly.

Users are familiar with their local time zone. For example, If you will schedule a meeting in a particular country (time zone) and invite another user who is presented in another time zone, then the user will prefer to see the meeting time in the local time zone.

Here we will see how to change SharePoint regional site settings for the SharePoint site level and at the user level.

Below are the things you can set or change in SharePoint regional settings:

• Time Zone
• Locale
• Sort Order
• Calendar
• Alternate Calendar
• Work week
• Time Format etc.

You need to be a SharePoint site owner or site collection administrator to change the SharePoint regional settings.

SharePoint online default regional settings

To check the default regional settings for a SharePoint Online site, follow below steps:

1# Open the SharePoint Online site for which you want to view the regional settings. Then click on the Gear icon or settings icon.

2# If you are using a classic SharePoint site, then click on Site Settings.

But if you are using a modern SharePoint Online team site or communication site, then click on Site Settings -> Site Information. Then click on View all site settings like below:

3# Then in the Site Settings page, click on “Regional settings” which is under Site Administration like below:

4# This will open the Regional Settings and you can see the sharepoint online default regional settings.

These are the sharepoint online default regional settings. This way you can change regional settings for all users in SharePoint Online Office 365.

Change time zone in SharePoint Online

Now, let us see how to change time zone in SharePoint Online site. We can change SharePoint Online site language from the regional settings page.

• Open the SharePoint site, click on the gear icon or settings icon. Then click on Site settings.
• Then from the Site Administration, click on Regional Settings.
• In the Regional settings page, from Time Zone, you can select your required time zone.
• Ideally, you should select the time zone, where most of the users are based out of your organization.

This is how you can change the time zone of a SharePoint site. The time zone will affect the entire site for all the users unless the user has some personal time zone settings.

SharePoint Online Change personal time zone, language, and regional settings

Now, let use see how to change time zone for individual user level. These are also known as the personal settings.

Now, let us see how to change your personal language, time zone, and regional settings for a SharePoint Online site. These changes will overwrite the site level regional settings.

Click on the profile icon and then click on My Office profile like below:

This will open the Delve profile, here click on Update profile button like below:

Once you click on Update file, scroll down and you can see “How can I change language and regional settings?“

Once you click on “How can I change language and regional settings?“, it will expand and then click on here like below:

This will open the Edit Details page, then there click on the (…) and then click on Language and Region like below:

You will see here that the Time Zone is disabled, you can not change anything from the time zone drop down.

The reason behind is that the Region settings set as “Always use regional settings defined by site administrators.“

Here, first select the open “Always use my personal settings” like below and then you can modify the time zone.

Whatever the time zone you will select, it will override the time zone set by the SharePoint site administrators.

Then Save and Close the page.

Change SharePoint Online time zone at tenant level

We can also change the SharePoint Online timezone at the tenant level. When you will change the timezone at the Office 365 tenant level (SharePoint), then the timezone will apply to all the new sites you will create.

Open SharePoint Online Admin center and then click on Settings -> Site creation -> then change the Default time zone.

This is how you can change the SharePoint Online time zone at tenant level.

Change SharePoint regional settings using PowerShell

Now, let us see, how to change SharePoint regional settings using PowerShell. We will do here in SharePoint Online sites, using PowerShell CSOM.

Below is the code you can execute in PowerShell ISE.

Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"

$siteUrl = "https://tsinfo.sharepoint.com/sites/EnjoySharePoint"

$ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteURL)
$credentials= Get-Credential
$ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($credentials.Username, $credentials.Password)
$web = $ctx.Web
$web.RegionalSettings.LocaleId = 1033
$web.RegionalSettings.Time24 = false
$web.RegionalSettings.CalendarType = 6
$web.Update()
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()

Here you can get the LocalId, CalendarType, GlobalTimeZones, DateFormat, etc from this MSDN URL and change accordingly.

Get SharePoint Online site time zone using PowerShell

Now, let us see how to get time zone of a SharePoint Online site using PowerShell.

Below is the PowerShell script to get SharePoint Online site time zone using PowerShell:

Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"

$siteUrl = "https://tsinfo.sharepoint.com/sites/EnjoySharePoint"

$ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteURL)
$credentials= Get-Credential
$ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($credentials.Username, $credentials.Password)
$Timezones = $ctx.Web.RegionalSettings.TimeZones
$Ctx.Load($Timezones)
$Ctx.ExecuteQuery()

$Timezones | Select Description

You can see the output like below:

Change SharePoint Online time zone using PowerShell

Now, let us see how to change time zone of a SharePoint Online site using PowerShell.

Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"

$siteUrl = "https://tsinfo.sharepoint.com/sites/EnjoySharePoint"
$newTimezoneName ="(UTC+05:30) Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi"
$ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($SiteURL)
$credentials= Get-Credential
$ctx.Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($credentials.Username, $credentials.Password)

$allTimezones = $ctx.Web.RegionalSettings.TimeZones
$ctx.Load($allTimezones)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()

$updatedTimezoneName = $allTimezones | Where {$_.Description -eq $newTimezoneName}

$ctx.Web.RegionalSettings.TimeZone = $updatedTimezoneName
$ctx.Web.Update()
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()

Once you execute the PowerShell script, the time zone of the SharePoint Online site will be changed.

You may like the following SharePoint tutorials:

• PnP PowerShell commands for SharePoint Online Site
• How to remove SharePoint Online Site Collection Administrator using PowerShell
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• Add Calendar List in the Modern SharePoint Online Site Pages
• Retrieve all list names and list guids from SharePoint Online site using PowerShell
• How to set a modern home page in classic SharePoint Online site
• How to enable script editor web part in SharePoint Online Office 365
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• your organization needs more information to keep your account secure office 365

I hope this article will help to understand:

• SharePoint regional settings
• SharePoint online default regional settings
• How to change SharePoint time zone
• Office 365 change regional settings for all users
• How to change SharePoint Online site language and time zone
• Change timezone in sharepoint
• Change timezone sharepoint online PowerShell
• Change timezone sharepoint PowerShell
• Change SharePoint Online time zone at tenant level
• Change SharePoint regional settings using PowerShell
• Get SharePoint Online site time zone using PowerShell
• Change SharePoint Online time zone using PowerShell