Why SharePoint Displays Email Timestamps in UTC in Preview
Question details
Users notice that the Sent On timestamp for emails viewed in the SharePoint Online preview viewer is displayed in UTC rather than their local time zone.
- Product
- SharePoint Online
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Previewing saved email messages (.msg or .eml) directly within the SharePoint Online document library.
- Observed behavior
- The preview viewer displays the email timestamp in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), even if the site and user regional settings are configured for a different time zone. However, downloading the file shows the correct local time.
Verify that your SharePoint site and personal regional settings are correctly configured to your local time zone to rule out basic misconfigurations.
Download and Open Emails in Outlook to View Local Time
Bypass the SharePoint preview limitation by downloading the email file and viewing it in a dedicated email client to see the correct localized timestamp.
The SharePoint previewer extracts the timestamp directly from the email's underlying Internet headers, which natively log times in UTC. Because this is a systemic limitation of the preview experience rather than an error in your regional settings, you must download the file to see the localized time.
Navigate to the SharePoint document library, select the specific email file, click the 'Show actions' icon (three dots), and select 'Download'.
Locate the downloaded .msg or .eml file on your computer and open it using Microsoft Outlook or your preferred desktop email client.
Check the 'Sent' field in the opened email message. It will now properly reflect the correct original local time based on your computer's timezone offset.
If you wish to verify the underlying UTC timestamp, go to File > Properties in Outlook and review the 'Internet headers' box at the bottom of the properties window.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can I adjust SharePoint regional settings to fix the email preview time?
No. The SharePoint Online previewer pulls the time directly from the email's Internet headers, which are inherently recorded in UTC. It completely ignores your site and personal regional settings.
Does the UTC timestamp mean the email was actually sent at that time?
The UTC timestamp is the universally coordinated equivalent of the sender's local time. The actual moment the email was sent is correct, but the display format in the previewer simply lacks the local timezone offset.
Will downloading the email permanently change the timestamp?
No. Downloading the email simply allows your local desktop email client (like Outlook) to read the file's metadata and accurately apply your computer's local timezone offset to the 'Sent' field display.
