USPTO Design

Date and time

Formats

time 10:00 AM
short date January 11
abbreviated short date Jan 11
long date April 23, 2010
abbreviated long date Apr 23, 2010
short date and time February 5, 8:00 AM
abbreviated short date and time Feb 5, 8:00 AM
long date and time February 8, 2016, 1:00 PM
abbreviated long date and time Feb 8, 2016, 1:00 PM
day of week and time Monday, 7:30 AM
abbreviated day of week and time Mon, 7:30 AM
day of week, short date and time Monday, March 15, 3:25 PM
abbreviated day of week, abbreviated short date and time Mon, Mar 15, 3:25 PM

Smart format

For dates/times associated with user generated data (e.g., notes, documents), use the smart format, which changes relative to the current date.

If the date is in the past or future on the current day, format as time only 10:00 AM
If the date is in the past or future within the current calendar year, format as short date January 11
If the date is in the past or future outside the current calendar year, format as long date April 23, 2010

Other

For reminders or appointments, show both time and date Jun 8, 8:00 AM
Today, 8:00 AM
Separate ranges with an en-dash without a space Jun 15–Jun 16
Dec 20, 2014–Jan 2, 2015
If a time range shares a common AM/PM, append only on the end of the range 10:00–11:00 AM
10:00 AM–12:30 PM

File sizes

  • 340 KB (round to nearest KB)
  • 4.13 MB (two decimal max)
  • 3.22 GB (two decimal max)
  • 1.13 TB (two decimal max)

 

Deprecated

The patterns below are deprecated for external (public) facing applications. Internal (non-public facing) applications may use these formats at their discretion.

In some limited circumstances these are still acceptable to use (e.g. legacy or internal), but please ensure you are using the current standardized date format above for publically accessible applications.

condensed long date MM/DD/YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY, or YYYY/MM/DD

Condensed long date usage

The condensed version of the long date format has 3 variations:

  • MM/DD/YYYY (05/12/2015)
  • DD/MM/YYYY (12/05/2015)
  • YYYY/MM/DD (2015/12/05)

MM/DD/YYYY is the format most used in the US, whereas DD/MM/YYYY is used most outside the US. Depending on the date, the format, and the geographical location or customs of the user, a date has the potential for being misinterpreted if the format is not what the user is expecting. The only non-ambiguous format is YYYY/MM/DD.

Depending on your target audience, determine which format makes the most sense for your application.