diff --git a/etemplate/inc/class.date_widget.inc.php b/etemplate/inc/class.date_widget.inc.php
index 2b6f9a315c..425dd94732 100644
--- a/etemplate/inc/class.date_widget.inc.php
+++ b/etemplate/inc/class.date_widget.inc.php
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ class date_widget
 	 */
 	function pre_process($name,&$value,&$cell,&$readonlys,&$extension_data,&$tmpl)
 	{
+		//echo "<p>".__METHOD__."($name,$value=".egw_time::to($value).",".array2string($cell).")</p>\n";
 		$type = $cell['type'];
 		switch ($type)
 		{
@@ -123,7 +124,7 @@ class date_widget
 				'i' => '',
 			);
 		}
-		elseif ($data_format != '')
+		elseif (!is_object($value) && $data_format != '')	// we ignore format for objects
 		{
 			$date = preg_split('/[- \\/.:,]/',$value);
 			//echo "date=<pre>"; print_r($date); echo "</pre>";
@@ -155,15 +156,9 @@ class date_widget
 		else
 		{
 			// for the timeformats we use only seconds, no timezone conversation between server-time and UTC
-			if (substr($type,-4) == 'only') $value -= adodb_date('Z',0);
+			if (substr($type,-4) == 'only' && is_numeric($value)) $value -= adodb_date('Z',0);
 
-			$value = array(
-				'Y' => (int) adodb_date('Y',$value),
-				'm' => (int) adodb_date('m',$value),
-				'd' => (int) adodb_date('d',$value),
-				'H' => (int) adodb_date('H',$value),
-				'i' => (int) adodb_date('i',$value)
-			);
+			$value = egw_time::to($value,'date_array');
 		}
 		if ($type == 'date-since')
 		{
@@ -416,6 +411,11 @@ class date_widget
 		$value = $empty_not_0 && (string) $value === '' || !$empty_not_0 && !$value ? '' :
 			($unit == 'm' ? (int) $value : round($value / 60 / ($unit == 'd' ? $hours_per_day : 1),3));
 
+		// use decimal separator from user prefs
+		if ($GLOBALS['egw_info']['user']['preferences']['common']['number_format'][0] != '.')
+		{
+			$value = str_replace('.',$GLOBALS['egw_info']['user']['preferences']['common']['number_format'][0],$value);
+		}
 		if (!$readonly && strlen($input_format) > 1) // selectbox to switch between hours and days
 		{
 			$value = array(
diff --git a/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate.inc.php b/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate.inc.php
index 3cb5a02359..9fd6295eaa 100644
--- a/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate.inc.php
+++ b/etemplate/inc/class.etemplate.inc.php
@@ -1144,8 +1144,7 @@ class etemplate extends boetemplate
 				}
 				if (($type == 'float' || !is_numeric($pre)) && $value && $pre)
 				{
-					$value = str_replace(array(' ',','),array('','.'),$value);
-					$value = is_numeric($pre) ? number_format($value,$pre,'.','') : sprintf($pre,$value);
+					$value = is_numeric($pre) ? self::number_format($value,$pre,$readonly) : sprintf($pre,$value);
 				}
 				$cell_options .= ',,'.($cell['type'] == 'int' ? '/^-?[0-9]*$/' : '/^-?[0-9]*[,.]?[0-9]*$/');
 				// fall-through
@@ -1790,6 +1789,28 @@ class etemplate extends boetemplate
 		return $html;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Format a number according to user prefs with decimal and thousands separator (later only for readonly)
+	 *
+	 * @param int|float|string $number
+	 * @param int $num_decimal_places=2
+	 * @param boolean $readonly=true
+	 * @return string
+	 */
+	static public function number_format($number,$num_decimal_places=2,$readonly=true)
+	{
+		static $dec_separator,$thousands_separator;
+		if (is_null($dec_separator))
+		{
+			$dec_separator = $GLOBALS['egw_info']['user']['preferences']['common']['number_format'][0];
+			if (empty($dec_separator)) $dec_separator = '.';
+			$thousands_separator = $GLOBALS['egw_info']['user']['preferences']['common']['number_format'][1];
+		}
+		if ((string)$number === '') return '';
+
+		return number_format(str_replace(' ','',$number),$num_decimal_places,$dec_separator,$readonly ? $thousands_separator : '');
+	}
+
 	/**
 	* Retrive options for selectboxes and similar widgets (eg. the tree)
 	*
diff --git a/preferences/inc/class.preferences_hooks.inc.php b/preferences/inc/class.preferences_hooks.inc.php
index 1fd1020ca8..bcf5ccc195 100644
--- a/preferences/inc/class.preferences_hooks.inc.php
+++ b/preferences/inc/class.preferences_hooks.inc.php
@@ -353,6 +353,23 @@ class preferences_hooks
 				'admin'  => false,
 				'default'=> 'iso-8859-1',
 			),
+			'number_format' => array(
+				'type'   => 'select',
+				'label'  => 'Number format',
+				'name'   => 'number_format',
+				'values' => array(
+					'.'  => '1234.56',
+					','  => '1234,56',
+					'.,' => '1,234.56',
+					',.' => '1.234,56',
+					'. ' => '1 234.56',
+					', ' => '1 234,56',
+				),
+				'help'   => 'Thousands separator is only used for displaying and not for editing numbers.',
+				'xmlrpc' => True,
+				'admin'  => false,
+				'default'=> '.',
+			),
 		);
 		// disable thumbnails, if no size configured by admin
 		if (!$GLOBALS['egw_info']['server']['link_list_thumbnail']) unset($settings['link_list_thumbnail']);