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Set date, time, and time zones in your doc
Set date, time, and time zones in your doc

Learn how to change a doc's date, time, and time zone settings to ensure that all dates and times are localized and accurate for your team

Updated over 3 weeks ago

In Coda, each doc can have its own time zone and customized date and time format settings, allowing teams to align docs with their preferred regional formats. This article walks you through changing time zones and setting regional formats for dates and times for any doc. Additionally, you’ll learn how to choose a default preference for all your future docs.

Within this article, you’ll find...

Change time zone for a doc

ℹ️ If we support the timezone you are in, then we will default to the time zone of the browser when you create a new doc. If we do not yet support your time zone, we will default your doc to PST (Pacific Standard Time).

Follow these steps to update the time zone in an individual doc:

  1. Click the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the doc.

  2. Select Region and dates from the menu.

  3. Open the Time zone dropdown and select your desired time zone. See the section below on supported time zones.

  4. A window will notify you that changing the time zone will apply to everyone in the doc. Choose one of the following options:

    • Convert times: This updates all manually entered values to the new time zone (e.g., 10:00 EET becomes 19:00 PST).

    • Keep times: This keeps the values the same but aligns them with the new time zone (e.g., 10:00 EET becomes 10:00 PST).

Customize date and time formats for a doc

You can also customize how dates and times are handled in each doc to match your preferred regional format. This ensures a consistent experience across all collaborators in your doc.

  • Date Order: Specify whether the date format is MM/DD or DD/MM, so for example 1/3/2024 is correctly interpreted as either January 3rd or March 1st, based on your selection.

  • Date Format: Select the default format for new date columns and dates rendered without specific formatting (e.g., in formulas) from the dropdown menu. This setting can also be applied to existing content by clicking the “stacked paper” icon to the right of the dropdown menu in this section.

  • Time Format: Set the default format for new time columns and times without specific formatting by choosing either the 12 hour or 24 hour format. This can also be applied to existing content by clicking the “stacked paper” icon to the right of the time format selection.

A gif demonstrating a user going to the Region and dates section of their doc settings, and selecting a timezone, date format, and time format.

Once you change the time zone or apply new regional settings, the following will update:

  • Automations: Now run according to the new time zone.

  • Formulas: Calculated values will align with the updated time zone.

  • Activity Timestamps: Row activity and comment timestamps will display based on each user’s local time zone.

Set the time zone and formats for all future docs

To ensure all new docs you create follow a specific time zone, date, and time format, update your account settings:

  1. Click your avatar in the upper-right corner of any doc.

  2. Select Account Settings.

  3. Scroll to the New Document Defaults section.

  4. Select your preferred Time zone, Date order, Date format, Time format, and First day of the week.

An image of the New Documents Default section of Coda's account settings.

That’s it! All future docs you create will now use your selected time zone and regional date/time settings by default. If you need to change any specific docs to a different time zone, you can do so via the steps in the previous section.

Calendars and timelines

You can also customize a calendar view or timeline's time zone. New calendars and timeline charts will default to the time zone of the doc, but you have a few options to change it for your scenario:

  • Set the calendar or timeline chart's timezone to match the doc's timezone.

  • Set the calendar or timeline chart's timezone to match the timezone of the user's computer.

To update the time zone for a calendar or timeline, follow these steps:

  1. Hover over the calendar or timeline, and click Options in the upper right corner

  2. From the menu, choose Calendar display or Timeline display

  3. Find the Time zone field and make your selection

A gif demonstrating a user going to the Calendar display options and selecting a time zone.

Time zone formulas

You also have access to two time zone formulas to help you see what the current browser and document timezones are:

  • CurrentTimezone() - returns the time zone of the user accessing the doc

  • DocumentTimezone() - returns the time zone of the document which may be different from the CurrentTimezone() result.

  • Now(), Today(), and other time-based formulas will reflect the doc's time zone

FAQs

Does changing the time zone, date, and/or time regional settings change for everyone in the doc?

Yes. Coda is a collaborative doc environment so many controls like time zone, date format, and time format are also collaborative. Each doc can only have one time zone, and this time zone will apply to everyone in the doc.

How can I change the date format for a single column?

To change the date format for a column, you can right-click on the column header, select Edit column, and find the Date format setting. Click into this field and choose your desired format from the list of options.

Note that you can also change the default date format for all columns in a doc, or even for all future docs. Check out the sections above in this article to learn how.

What time zones does Coda support?

Coda currently supports a wide range of time zones, including most time zones in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as select other regions worldwide. Due to complexities in timezone data, certain time zones are not yet available. If your specific location is not on the list, you may be able to choose a different location in the same time zone or an alternative location with the same UTC offset.

Who can change the doc’s time zone?

Any Doc Maker with edit access to the doc can change its time zone.

Does the time zone reflect DST (Daylight Savings Time)?

Yes. We do adjust automatically for daylight savings time.

Will the time zone change my automations too?

Yes. If you change your time zone then we will keep the value of the time-based trigger and update it to the new time zone. For example, 5:00pm PST will be 5:00pm JSP.

Why doesn't the doc show in the time zone of the user?

This is just our first step in bringing you better timezone controls. We are working towards more timezone features in the future.

Related resources

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