Fix SharePoint Email Preview Displaying the Wrong Time Zone
Question details
Users need to understand why email timestamps in SharePoint previews do not match their local time and how to address the discrepancy.
- Product
- Microsoft SharePoint
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Viewing email message previews stored within a SharePoint document library.
- Observed behavior
- The email preview displays the timestamp in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) as stored in the message headers, instead of converting to the user's local time zone.
Ensure you have access to the original email file in your desktop email client to cross-reference the message's internet headers with the SharePoint preview.
Analyze Email Headers and Submit Feedback
Use Microsoft's Message Header Analyzer to confirm the UTC timestamp, as SharePoint currently lacks a feature to customize preview time zones.
SharePoint's document library previewer natively extracts and displays the raw timestamp stored in the email's internet headers. Because email servers universally stamp messages in UTC, SharePoint displays this raw UTC value rather than adapting it to your account's regional settings.
Open the original email message in Outlook or your preferred desktop email client. Navigate to 'File', click on 'Properties', and locate the 'Internet headers' box at the bottom of the window.
Copy all the text from the Internet headers box. Open your web browser and navigate to Microsoft's official Message Header Analyzer tool, then paste the copied text into the analyzer.
Review the analyzer's output to find the exact UTC timestamp when the email was processed. Compare this time with the timestamp shown in your SharePoint document library preview to confirm they match.
Because the SharePoint previewer cannot currently be customized to shift this UTC time to a local time zone, go to the official Microsoft SharePoint Feedback portal and submit a feature request for localized email preview timestamps.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why does SharePoint display email times in UTC instead of local time?
SharePoint extracts the date and time directly from the email's underlying message headers. These headers are standardized across email servers globally and are always recorded in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to maintain consistency, which SharePoint displays raw without applying local time zone offsets.
Can I change a SharePoint site setting to fix the email preview time zone?
Currently, there is no built-in site, library, or regional setting in SharePoint that forces the web previewer to convert the UTC timestamp of an email file into a user's localized time zone.
Does downloading the email change the time zone back to local?
Yes. If you download the .eml or .msg file from your SharePoint document library and open it in a dedicated desktop email client like Microsoft Outlook, the application will read your computer's system time zone settings and display the localized time automatically.
How do I find the Microsoft Message Header Analyzer?
You can access the Message Header Analyzer by searching for it on Microsoft's official Remote Connectivity Analyzer website. It is provided as a free diagnostic tool to help users and administrators inspect email routing paths, server delays, and precise header timestamps.
