Display Date Only on Column Instead of Date/Time

This applies to: Managed Dashboards, Managed Reports

Visualizations display the formatting set up in a time dimension, and also have the ability to customize date and time formatting in their properties. For example, a table column can show only the date portion instead of both date and time.

Table before editing

Using a Time Dimension

Date/time type columns only display the time portion when you use them directly. Use a time dimension to display only the Day portion, or to group dates into other levels such as Year or Quarter. Time dimensions also have formatting settings that you can customize.

Before adding a column of dates directly onto your metric set or visualization, find and expand it in the Explore window.

Expand a date column to find time dimensions

You will see the built-in time dimension, or another time dimension that you or someone created. Expand it further to find a level such as Day, then drag that level onto your visualization or metric set to display it.

If you already added a column of dates by itself earlier, you can also drag a time dimension level on top of it to replace it.

You may want to use a time dimension with your dates in most cases because it allows grouping by and drilling up & down through different time periods. You can find a walkthrough that includes using a time dimension in View Data With a Chart and Drill Down.

Using Visualization Properties

To customize a format through a visualization's settings, open the Properties window. If editing a view such as a dashboard, ensure the visualization is selected.

Every visualization has properties you can use to customize text and formatting. Using a table as an example, find and select your column under Columns.

Column properties

Note: Only 'flat' cell columns have the option to customize the text in tables. If your dates are displayed as a row header column, you can switch to a flat column or flat table.

Under Font & Text, open Cell Font & Text. The Text property is read-only and shows the name of the metric set element that this column displays.

Select the + button under Custom Text.

Custom text property

Enter the keyword for your date element, and edit it to include a colon after the element name followed by a format. For example: [Date:MM/dd/yyyy].

Typing the date format for the column