How to set Italian month abbreviations (%b) in table chart date format?

[FrancescoCastaldi]

Question

I'm using Superset 3.x with table charts that display dates using the format %d - %b (e.g., "15 - Jan", "20 - Feb"). The abbreviated month names are showing in English instead of Italian.

Current Setup

• Superset 3.x with Docker deployment
• Table chart with date column formatted as %d - %b
• BABEL_DEFAULT_LOCALE is set to "it" in config
• UI language is correctly set to Italian

What I've Found in the Codebase

In superset/config.py, there's a D3_TIME_FORMAT config that can override the default d3 locale:

# Override the default d3 locale for time format
D3_TIME_FORMAT: D3TimeFormat = {}

With a structure that includes months and shortMonths arrays.

Questions

1. How do I set Italian month abbreviations for the %b format in table charts?

2. Is setting BABEL_DEFAULT_LOCALE = "it" sufficient, or do I also need to configure D3_TIME_FORMAT with Italian shortMonths?

3. If D3_TIME_FORMAT is needed, what's the correct configuration? For example:

D3_TIME_FORMAT = {
    "dateTime": "%x, %X",
    "date": "%-m/%-d/%Y",
    "time": "%-I:%M:%S %p",
    "periods": ["AM", "PM"],
    "days": ["domenica", "lunedì", "martedì", "mercoledì", "giovedì", "venerdì", "sabato"],
    "shortDays": ["dom", "lun", "mar", "mer", "gio", "ven", "sab"],
    "months": ["gennaio", "febbraio", "marzo", "aprile", "maggio", "giugno", "luglio", "agosto", "settembre", "ottobre", "novembre", "dicembre"],
    "shortMonths": ["gen", "feb", "mar", "apr", "mag", "giu", "lug", "ago", "set", "ott", "nov", "dic"]
}

4. Does this override apply globally to all charts, or only to new charts?

5. Is there a per-chart or per-column way to set the locale, or is it only a global config?

---

Environment:

• Superset version: 3.x
• Database: MSSQL
• Deployment: Docker
• Browser locale: Italian

[dosubot[bot]]

Great questions! Here's what you need to know:

BABEL_DEFAULT_LOCALE = "it" is NOT sufficient for chart date formatting. It only controls UI translations (menu items, labels, etc.), not how dates are rendered in charts. The %b format in table charts is powered by D3.js, which has its own separate locale system [1].

You need to configure D3_TIME_FORMAT in your superset_config.py. Your proposed configuration is correct:

D3_TIME_FORMAT = {
    "dateTime": "%x, %X",
    "date": "%-m/%-d/%Y",
    "time": "%-I:%M:%S %p",
    "periods": ["AM", "PM"],
    "days": ["domenica", "lunedì", "martedì", "mercoledì", "giovedì", "venerdì", "sabato"],
    "shortDays": ["dom", "lun", "mar", "mer", "gio", "ven", "sab"],
    "months": ["gennaio", "febbraio", "marzo", "aprile", "maggio", "giugno", "luglio", "agosto", "settembre", "ottobre", "novembre", "dicembre"],
    "shortMonths": ["gen", "feb", "mar", "apr", "mag", "giu", "lug", "ago", "set", "ott", "nov", "dic"]
}

The shortMonths array is specifically what controls the %b output [2].

Regarding scope:

• Global by default — D3_TIME_FORMAT applies to all charts across the application once set [3]. It's embedded in the bootstrap data served with every page load [4].
• Per-chart overrides are possible — Table charts support a table_timestamp_format control, and individual columns can have their own d3TimeFormat setting [5]. However, these control the format pattern (e.g., %d - %b), not the locale strings (month names). The locale strings (shortMonths, months, etc.) are always global.
• Existing charts are affected — since the locale is resolved at render time, all charts using %b will pick up the new Italian abbreviations after you restart Superset with the updated config. No need to recreate charts.

After adding the config, restart your Superset containers and your table charts should display "15 - gen", "20 - feb", etc.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

---

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[FrancescoCastaldi]

Which container should i need to restart to make changes happening?

[dosubot[bot]]

For D3_TIME_FORMAT specifically, the key container is superset_app (the web server), since it serves the bootstrap data containing the D3 locale config to the browser. However, to be safe and ensure consistency, restart all the Python application containers:

• superset_app (web server)
• superset_worker (Celery worker)
• superset_worker_beat (Celery Beat scheduler)

The simplest approach is:

docker compose down
docker compose up -d

You don't need to restart superset_db (PostgreSQL) or superset_cache (Redis) — those aren't affected by Python config changes [1].

After restart, do a hard refresh in your browser (Ctrl+Shift+R) to make sure the new bootstrap data with your Italian locale is loaded.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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