I will try to naswer to your question.

You wrote:

Thanks for the reply, but you may have missed the point of the question.

How do I get "Microsoft SQL Server Manager Studio Express" to display "datetime" variables in the format of my choice.

Ideally for any database and any table I use the application for.

One would assume that there was a Preference settting somewhere to control how the application displays a "datetime" variable. ???

Try this:

1. Open Microsoft SQL Server Manager Studio Express, and connect to your SQL Server.

2. Find New Query label on the top-left side of SQL Server Management Studio.

Simply type:

SELECT convert(varchar(25) getdate(), 101)

and click EXECUTE button.

This will make SQL Server to display your date/time format as you wish. You could change number 101 by others between 101 and 125.

Hope that this will help