Does the Date Format Change Automatically Based on Timezone?
Date format is set automatically by each user's timezone — no manual toggle needed.
Does the date format change automatically?
Yes. The date format shown on your site is automatically determined by each user's timezone setting, and it adjusts intelligently based on where that timezone is located:
- Users in Americas-based timezones (e.g. US, Canada, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa) will see dates in Month/Day/Year format — for example:
11/25/2025. - Users in all other timezones (e.g. Australia, UK, Europe, Asia) will see dates in Day/Month/Year format — for example:
25/11/2025.
This means a Day/Month/Year format is correct and expected for users outside the Americas, and it will automatically switch to Month/Day/Year for any users based in the Americas.
Where does this apply?
This automatic date formatting applies consistently across the platform, including:
- Course due dates (in reminder emails and on-screen)
- Live Learning / session dates (in confirmation emails, cancellations, and reminders)
- Compliance calendars and dashboards
- Refresher/expiry date reminders
- Payment receipts
- Reports and training history
What about timezones specifically?
Each user's timezone can be set individually on their profile. If a user hasn't set their own timezone, it falls back to the site-wide default timezone configured for your organisation. Live Learning session dates also reflect the venue's timezone, so times are always shown in the correct local context.
Important things to know
- There is no manual toggle in the admin settings to force a specific date format site-wide — the format is always derived automatically from the user's timezone.
- If a user is seeing an unexpected format, check what timezone is set on their profile.
- Users with their timezone set to Server timezone will inherit the site's default, so their date format will follow whatever timezone that default resolves to.
If a user's dates still don't look right after confirming their profile timezone, contact Acorn Support with the user's name and the date/format they're seeing so we can investigate further.