How to get consistent date format DD/MM/YYYY in Google Sheets

Question

How do I get google sheets to consistently list date as DD/MM/YYYY ?

A cell formatted as DD/MM/YYYY displays that format but then the input window changes to MM/DD/YYYY.

The cell below is formatted using one of the standard options: 26/09/2008

I'm trying to enter a date representing the 5th of October 2022 in DD/MM/YYYY and have it displayed in DD/MM/YYYY but it seems to have been interpreted as the 10th of May 2022 by the input window.

My PC's locale is set to a region that uses the DD/MM/YYYY format.

Answer 1

To best avoid confusion whether 12/1 means 1st of December (month/day) or 12 January (day/month), make sure that File > Settings > Locale matches your real locale. The default locale is set based on your Google Account details. Your PC's locale setting does not come into play.

Another strategy is to use the ISO8601 standard date format yyyy-mm-dd consistently everywhere.