MacOS, how do I get *no* thousands separators in dimensions (no comma, point, space)

[Ignacio Azpiazu]

How does one show dimensions in mm without thousands separator, on MacOS? On Mac number formats are controlled by System Settings > General > Language & Region, but I can't find no separator as an option (7825 mm, neither 7,825 nor 7 825). Changing Measurement System from Metric to US to UK does not modify the options available here.

[And I can't even make do with space, because I am needing point as decimal separator.]

On previous OS versions you could do that, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMEerRSdEHU , but I can't find anything similar on OS 13.

Operating system used: Mac Apple Silicon 13.6.9

 

[runxel]

It is still there. Just search for "Language" and it should be right the first result.

(Don't know what you mean by "previous"; this part hasn't changed at all in the last versions. Just checked macOS 14 and 15 and it looks like your screenshot)

[Yves]

before macOS 13 …

[vlahtinen · Accepted solution]

It’s also possible to modify the thousands separator with defaults command in Terminal:

defaults write .GlobalPreferences AppleICUNumberSymbols -dict 0 "." 1 ""

The command above changes the decimal separator to dot (value after 0) and removes the thousands separator (empty value after 1). 

[Ignacio Azpiazu]

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@vlahtinen wrote:

It’s also possible to modify the thousands separator with defaults command in Terminal:

defaults write .GlobalPreferences AppleICUNumberSymbols -dict 0 "." 1 ""

The command above changes the decimal separator to dot (value after 0) and removes the thousands separator (empty value after 1). 

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Thank you very much. How do you restore normality afterwards?

This would be my first ever contact with Terminal so I would be blindly following your advice, without the slightest idea of what I am doing. Because I expect this change to mess up my Excel setups, etc., and Archicad-wise need this for some specific projects only and definitely not for the rest, I would need to terminal into no-thousands+decimal dot for publishing, and come back to regular control by options in System Settings immediately after publishing. 

[Erwin Edel]

Just a random thought, maybe you can make an acccount on your mac for your non-decimal seperator projects, which would make it a matter of logging into that account to publish your files?

Not sure if this on account basis or completely an OS setting for the computer.

[BrunoH]

Try to change the region to France, the window you show there is the french one.

You can adjust the settings on an Apps basis. 

[vlahtinen]

I think that you can just choose the regular option from the system settings. The option in the system settings changes to empty option when using the terminal command above.

Or you can replace the values in the command with the correct separators. Eg. command to change the decimal separator to comma and thousands separator to dot is:

defaults write .GlobalPreferences AppleICUNumberSymbols -dict 0 "," 1 "."

Also check this help page: https://support.graphisoft.com/hc/en-us/articles/21117009775121-Change-the-decimal-separator-on-macO...

Possible parameters for the defaults command are:

0: decimal separator for numbers
1: thousands separator for numbers
8: currency symbol
10: decimal separator for currency
17: thousands separator for currency

[Ignacio Azpiazu]

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@vlahtinen wrote:

I think that you can just choose the regular option from the system settings. 

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Thank you so much. Yes, System Settings gives you a way back; after the Terminal touch-up the Number format field shows blank (does not display the customized format), but the pop-up still gives you the system-built options as a return path. And apparently Archicad only cares about the settings when one opens the file, so one can go Terminal, open the Archicad file, and immediately restore normal system settings so as not to mess up the other applications. It seems. I hope. I’ll edit and comment otherwise.