Date values display different times and time zones after publishing to ArcGIS Enterprise

Description

When a layer containing date values is published to ArcGIS Enterprise Portal:

• A time value is automatically added, even when the original value only included a date.
• The displayed date may have shifted by a several hours from the original value.
• The same field displays different times for different records, such as 4:00 PM versus 5:00 PM. 

This article explains why in an ArcGIS Enterprise portal, date and time values may be changed after publishing. 

Cause

This behavior is expected and is related to how date values are stored and displayed in hosted feature layers. 

Automatic Time Values

When a feature layer is published to Portal for ArcGIS, any fields using the standard Date data type automatically include a time component, even if one was not originally provided. If only a date is provided, a default time of 12:00 AM UTC is included in the value. 

Different Displayed Dates

Date values may appear to be shifted, because they are initially stored in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and then converted to the viewer's local time zone, or the time zone specified during publishing, when displayed. For example, a date of 05-26-2026 might be stored in Portal as 5-26-2026 12:00 AM UTC, as this is the default. However, when the data is viewed in California, the value may display as 5-25-2026 5:00 PM, since Pacific Time is seven hours behind UTC.

Different Displayed Times

There may also be one-hour time differences between records. This occurs because Portal automatically accounts for Daylight Savings Time. Records with dates that fall within the daylight saving period display in Daylight Time, whereas records outside those months display in Standard Time. For example:

• 5-26-2026 12:00 AM UTC is converted to 5-25-2026 5:00 PM PDT
• 2-26-2026 12:00 AM UTC is converted to 2-25-2026 4:00 PM PST

Although both records are stored in UTC, the displayed values differ as we consider Daylight versus Standard Time.

Solution or Workaround

If the field only needs to display a date, and time information is not needed or necessary, consider one of the following solutions:

Use a Date Only Field

When creating a field, store the date as Date Only, rather than the standard Date field type. A Date Only field stores only the date component and does not perform time zone conversions during publication.

Note:
The Date Only field type is available in ArcGIS Pro 3.2 and later.

Store the Value as Text

If preserving the exact date formatting is critical and you are unable to use the Date Only data type in ArcGIS Pro, store the value as a text field, rather than a date. Because text values are static, they are not subject to UTC storage or time zone conversions.