---
title: "Format Column and Sequence Values in a Numbering Scheme"
description: "How to format date and number values in a Vitextra Number Generator numbering scheme — supported column types, date/time specifiers, and numeric format specifiers."
url: https://vitextra.com/en/support/kb/10028
language: en
published: 2020-02-11
modified: 2026-10-10
products:
  - "Number Generator"
author: "Jānis Bērziņš"
tags: ["Number Generator formatting", "numbering scheme format", "date format SharePoint column", "numeric format specifiers", "format sequence value", "yyyy MM dd format", "Vitextra Number Generator", "SharePoint column value format"]
---

# Format Column and Sequence Values in a Numbering Scheme

How to format date and number values in a Vitextra Number Generator numbering scheme — supported column types, date/time specifiers, and numeric format specifiers.

This article describes how to apply formatting in a numbering scheme definition.

## Introduction

The [Vitextra Number Generator](https://vitextra.com/en/products/number-generator) automatically generates a column value based on other columns and sequences.

![Numbering scheme example](https://static.vitextra.com/articles/10028/numering-scheme.png)

## Supported Column Types

Number Generator supports the following SharePoint column types:

- Date and Time
- Number
- Counter
- Integer

📝 **Note**  
The formatting rules are the same for the Number, Counter, and Integer types.

## Define Formatting

To apply formatting, use the following syntax:

[DateColumn:**format**]

## DateTime Column Formatting

DateTime formatting can be applied only to the Date and Time column type.
Some common format values are:

|Specifier|Description|Value|Output|
| -- | -- | -- | -- |
| **yyyy** | The year as a four-digit number               | 4/12/1986 9:15:00    | **1986**     |
| **yy**   | The year, from 00 to 99                       | 4/12/1986 9:15:00    | **86**       |
| **MM**   | The month, from 01 through 12                 | 4/12/1986 9:15:00    | **04**       |
| **MMM**  | The abbreviated name of the month             | 4/12/1986 9:15:00    | **Apr**      |
| **MMMM** | The full name of the month                    | 4/12/1986 9:15:00    | **April**    |
| **d**    | The day of the month, from 1 through 31       | 4/2/1986 9:15:00     | **2**        |
| **dd**   | The day of the month, from 01 through 31      | 4/2/1986 9:15:00     | **02**       |
| **ddd**  | The abbreviated name of the day of the week   | 4/12/1986 9:15:00    | **Sat**      |
| **dddd** | The full name of the day of the week          | 4/12/1986 9:15:00    | **Saturday** |
| **h**    | The hour, using a 12-hour clock from 1 to 12  | 4/12/1986 9:15:00    | **9**        |
| **hh**   | The hour, using a 12-hour clock from 01 to 12 | 4/12/1986 9:15:00    | **09**       |
| **H**    | The hour, using a 24-hour clock from 0 to 23  | 4/12/1986 9:15:00    | **9**        |
| **HH**   | The hour, using a 24-hour clock from 00 to 23 | 4/12/1986 9:15:00 PM | **21**       |
| **m**    | The minute, from 0 through 59                 | 4/12/1986 9:05:00    | **5**        |
| **mm**   | The minute, from 00 through 59                | 4/12/1986 9:05:00    | **05**       |
| **tt**   | The AM/PM designator                          | 4/12/1986 23:15:00   | **PM**       |

The column reference and the format, separated by a colon, must be enclosed in square brackets.

For example, to format the **Created** column in a numbering scheme:

**[Created:yyyy-MM-dd]**

For the value 2/10/2020 11:00 AM, the output is **2020-02-10**.

📝 **Note**  
The culture used to format the date value is determined by the site where the list or library is located.

## Number Column Formatting

Number formatting can be applied to number column types and to sequences.

The following table describes the numeric format specifiers.

| Specifier| Description| Value| Format| Output|
| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| **0**    | Replaces the zero with the corresponding digit if one is present       | 235       | 00000     | 00235     |
| **#**    | Replaces the *#* symbol with the corresponding digit if one is present | 235       | #####     | 235       |
| **.**    | Determines the location of the decimal separator in the result string  | 23.5      | #.00      | 23.50     |
| **,**    | Determines the location of the group separator in the result string    | 1235      | #,#       | 1,235     |

📝 **Note**  
Use **0** to display insignificant zeros: when a number has fewer digits than there are zeros in the format, the zeros appear in the result string.