Display Windows Clock On Your Desktop With a Keyboard Shortcut
The clock in your Windows taskbar shows the current time but not the date or the day of the week. You can however setup a keyboard shortcut that will open the Windows clock on your desktop that will have both the date as well as time.
But before that, lets look at some existing options that help us view the current date on Windows desktops:
Option 1: Drag the edge of your taskbar towards north and the date will automatically become visible along with the system time.
Option 2: Install calendar gadgets that are available with Google Desktop or the Vista Sidebar.
Option 3: Take your mouse pointer to the extreme right-bottom corner of your desktop, wait for few seconds and the date information will pop on your screen.
Do you find any of these methods efficient ? #1 and #2 are discounted because they occupy precious screen estate on your desktop. #3 is popular but again, keyboard fans often don’t like the idea of using a mouse to accomplish tasks in Windows.
Related: Most Useful Desktop Keyboard Shortcuts
If you neither want to increase the height of your taskbar nor want to install new clock widgets, here’s an alternate trick that will popup the Windows Calendar + Clock on your screen when your press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+D.
Step 1. Right click anywhere on the desktop and choose New -> Shortcut.
Keyboard Shortuct to Display Windows Clock with Date and TimeStep 2. Type timedate.cpl and click "Finish." You will see a time-date shortcut on your desktop.
Step 3. Right click that shortcut icon, select Properties and type "D" in the box that says "Shortcut key".
You’re done. Whether you reading a web page or typing an email in Outlook, press Ctrl+Alt+D to see the current date and time on your screen. Press Esc to close that Window.
Bonus Tip: If your in Microsoft Word, type Alt+Shift+D to insert the date while Excel users can type Ctrl+; or Ctrl+Shift+; for the current system time.
Further Reading: Know the current time in different geographic regions with World Time Clocks or use Google to find the current time in any city of the world.
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As you pointed in your link, Google can be used to see time (and it even displays multiple times if there is ambiguity in place you are searching).
It even displays a different colored icon depending on whether it’s day or night where you are searching - link.
Well, I find option 1 to be the best actually… Option 1 (dragging the taskbar to the next upper size) is not really a problem in these days of high resolution monitors. In fact, increasing the taskbar size is much better when you normally have to keep many windows open during work and you dont like grouping. It also helps to have more items in the quicklaunch and systemtray.
Of course, this tip is really useful in case one has a smaller or low res monitor, or needs to see the calendar (rather than just date time) more often. Thanks for the tip :-)
Ok , on second thoughts, for keyboarders like me - Pressing WindowsKey + R and typing in timedate.cpl is pretty fast (to see the calendar). Prevents desktop clutter. Otherwise, a larger taskbar displays date, day and time in the system tray anyway….
Cool list!
I was wondering if there’s any way of getting the much cooler looking clock in option three for XP?
Thanks,
Nik
After following all of the steps, when I hit ctrl-alt-d I get “Add to Favorites”.
Clicking on the desktop icon brings up the clock window fine.
What did I do wrong?
Thanks for this and all the amazing stuff you give us!
Terry
Or you could simply use one of the dozen of freeware clock replacements that allow using shortcut, mouse overs or triggers and don’t even require pressing Esc.
http://wincalendartime.sourceforge.net/
WinCalendarTime replaces the standard Windows clock in the system tray with an enhanced clock which displays the current date and time in the system tray. You can quickly display a calendar with a mouse click or a keystroke combination on this enhanced clock. Open Source
I have used all the tips as you have told in this post.Its pretty cool working with these shortcuts in word and excel but the problem comes when i click “CTR+ALT+D”. Its strucking a bit and taking more time where we can see happiliy directly at the taskbar.But the word and excel tips are working very fine.They are appearing as and when i click the shortcuts.Thanks amit.
@Terry:
“when I hit ctrl-alt-d I get “Add to Favorites”.
If this is happening to you, then my friend Alt key on your system is not working. Because it’s Ctrl + D , which opens the pop up of “ADD TO FAVOURITES” in IE. ( may be in other browsers too ).
Thanks
Rakesh Juyal
Wow, Rakesh!
You were right! My Alt key wasn’t working.
I wondered why Ctrl + Alt + Del wasn’t working ever since I got my new [Vista] computer. I thought Vista had done away with it.
I “fixed” my Alt key by pushing it very hard, it “clicked” into place, and now it works.
Thanks!
Terry
For Windows Vista, there’s an easier method: just click on the clock in the tray and it’ll instantly pop-up a calender and clock.
Nothing to install, nothing to configure.
I use XP and downloaded Alfaclock several years ago and it works quite well.
It shows day, date and of course time in the system tray, many preference options available
http://alfaclock-free.software.informer.com/1.9/
definitely worth checking out
wintkat
Ever heard of sidebar?
Works for XP as well.
Does this work if you’re running a user account and don’t have permission to change the time/date?
Anyway, does Vista have a calendar yet, outside of its time control panel? It’s quite amazing that Windows survived to XP without a calendar that’s actually in the system date/time changer panel - and not acccessible if an overzealous admin blocked it.