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Importer: Date Formatting

Liz Gehret
  • Updated

You may need to include the date in certain jobs for the Importer. This article highlights important information about date formatting.

Topics: 

Recommended formats

When using date or date/times for any field included in a CSV file uploaded through AWS or the Importer, provide them in the following formats:

  • yyyy-mm-dd
    • Example: 2016-11-01

       
  • yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss 
    • This assumes UTC time, so if you're in an eastern time zone, this would display as 8:00 AM. (There's a -4:00 offset)
    • Example: 2016-11-01T12:00:00

 

  • yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss offset (where timezone offset is either + or -, and hh:mm)
    • This processes as 12:00 PM in the system (if in Eastern) 
    • Example: 2016-11-01T12:00:00-04:00

Considerations

  • For most imports, you will only need to use the date format
  • For imports such as appointments, you may use the date-only format but it will show as the day before at 8:00 PM (if in Eastern)
    • Example: 2016-11-01
      • This will show as: 2016-10-31 at 8:00PM (if in Eastern)
  • The time defaults to 00:00
  • When translated from UTC, the appointment will appear to have happened the day before
  • If your location participates in Daylight Savings Time, double-check the dates for historical imports: if it's during standard time, proceed as normal, and if the date is during Daylight Savings Time, you'll need to account for the difference. For example, this historical appointment was (2016-11-08T12:00:00-04:00), but due to DST, it should have actually been (2016-11-08T12:00:00-05:00).
    • The system assumes UTC time, unless another timezone is specified.
  • The use mm/dd/yyyy date format option must be selected in order to use that date formatting

Troubleshooting why formatted dates with time for appointments or notes might not be working

The date/time formatting must be formatted preciesely in order for it to successfully upload. If only the date is formatted correctly, it will not process successfully:

  • 2016-11-01T12:00:00-04:00 - Correct
     
  • 2016-11-01 12:00 -400 - Incorrect

For other questions regarding date formatting, contact Support.