Locale is set in two places: per user on the User record, and as an org-wide default in Company Information. Users with the right permission can also change their own locale in personal settings. Here is the admin path for both levels.
- Set the org default locale
From Setup, enter Company Information in Quick Find and select Company Information. Click Edit, choose the value in the Locale field that fits your largest user population, and save. New users created without an explicit locale inherit this default.
- Set an individual user's locale
From Setup, go to Users, open the user record, and click Edit. Set the Locale field, and set Language and Time Zone in the same screen if they should differ. Save. The user sees the change on their next page load.
- Let users self-serve
A user with access can update their own settings from personal settings under Language and Time Zone (or Personal Information), changing Locale, Language, and Time Zone independently, then clicking Save.
- Confirm the ICU format and test
Check the Determine Whether Your Org Uses ICU or JDK Locale Formats page in Setup. On older orgs still on JDK, test reports, list views, and validation rules against ICU before enabling it, since some formats differ.
Controls date, time, number, currency, name, address, and phone formatting for the user. Independent of Language and Time Zone.
Set in Company Information; inherited by new users who have no explicit locale set on their record.
Company-level setting for default currency and amount formatting in single-currency orgs; overridden by the record's Currency field in multicurrency orgs.
The format engine. ICU (Unicode CLDR) is the default for new orgs; JDK is the legacy engine on a retirement path.
- Locale does not change stored data; it only changes how values display and how typed input is parsed.
- Avoid TEXT() conversions of dates and numbers in validation rules and formulas, since they render in the running user's locale and break across regions.
- In multicurrency orgs, the record's Currency field, not the user's locale, determines the currency symbol and amount format.
- Changes apply on the next page load or login; already-open tabs may show the old format until refreshed.