Show the currency symbol *before* the number in OS X

I’m using the latest Mac OS X (10.6.4).

It’s possible to customize the currency notation in System Preferences › Language & Text › Formats.

System Preferences › Language & Text › Formats

However, it doesn’t seem to be possible to choose where the currency symbol is placed. Where I live, the currency symbol should be before the actual number. Here’s what I see when I click the ‘Customize…’ button for the Numbers section:

Am I missing something here? Is it possible to change this setting at all?

Edit: This might be related, although there doesn’t seem to be a parameter for the currency character position.

Mathias Bynens

Posted 2010-09-10T10:42:08.367

Reputation: 2 171

Answers

Changing Region in the drop down menu at the top of the screen you showed works for me.

When region is set to Belgium (As in yours) the currency symbol appears after the number. When it is set to United Kingdom, it appears before it.

James Greenhalgh

Posted 2010-09-10T10:42:08.367

Reputation: 134

Thanks! Shame Apple doesn’t allow us to configure this independently of the region — it sucks having to lie about it. – Mathias Bynens – 2010-09-10T13:12:52.240

Incidentally, at one point Apple did allow it, then the option seems to have disappeared. (See here osx 10.1: http://support.apple.com/kb/TA20772?viewlocale=en_US). I'll keep poking around and see if I can find anything.

– James Greenhalgh – 2010-09-10T13:43:42.323

Format > Cell > Number > Custom "R" #,##0.00 This would be for South African Rand "R"

Garth Wight

Posted 2010-09-10T10:42:08.367

Reputation: 1

This works around the problem on a per-document basis, but not system-wide. – Mathias Bynens – 2014-07-28T07:13:11.407