Set Time Zones for worklogs | Colined Help Center

You may have reached this article because part or all of your team has moved to a different time zone. This guide explains how Jira is affected and how to adjust app configurations to reduce any impact.

This article describes how time zones work in Jira and how they are applied in areas such as Worklogs, Warnings, and Capacity tab types, depending on your team’s location.

How do time zones impact worklogs?

When you log work, Jira converts the entered time to server time but does not store your time zone. As a result, when someone in a different time zone views the same worklog, the date and time adjust to their local time.

This can make it appear as though work was logged on a different day or at a different time.

Example:

The default Jira time zone matches the time zone of a data center in Montreal (EDT, UTC-4).

A user in Jakarta (WIB, UTC+7) logs work on April 9 at 7:30 AM.

The time difference is 11 hours.

From the Jakarta user’s perspective, the worklog appears on April 9 at 7:30 AM.
From the Montreal user’s perspective, the same worklog appears on April 8 at 8:30 PM.

How do time zones impact due dates?

Due dates themselves are not affected by time zones, as confirmed by Atlassian. However, whether a work item, with a due date of April 9, appears overdue depends on the viewer’s time zone.

Using the same example:

In Jakarta, the worklog appears on April 9.

In Montreal, the same worklog appears on April 8.

Within the report:

The Due Date column is not affected in the Capacity tab.
The Overdue column is not affected for closed work items. For open work items, whether it appears depends on the app’s time zone settings.
When the Overdue warning is enabled in the Warnings tab, whether a flag is raised depends on the app’s time zone settings.

How do time zones impact capacity?

Time zones can affect how work is distributed across workweeks.

For example, if April 8 and 9 fall in different workweeks (such as in 2029 with a Monday-start week):

A user in Jakarta logging work on Monday may have that time counted toward the current week’s capacity.

A user in Montreal viewing the same worklog may see it counted toward the previous week.

Within the report, whether the Capacity tab shows different results based on the viewer’s time zone depends on the app’s time zone settings, especially when work is logged near the start of the week.

Why should you use the app to address these impacts?

Time zones can change how worklogs, capacity, and warnings appear in reports in Jira. To manage these differences, the app provides three configuration options. Each option defines whether report data is displayed based on:

the viewer’s local time zone
Jira’s default time zone
the worklog author’s time zone

Local Time Zone of the user

All worklogs are converted to the viewer’s local time. As a result, the same worklog may appear on different dates depending on who views the report.

This is the default setting when the Pivot Report app is installed.

Example:

The default Jira time zone matches the time zone of a data center in Montreal, where the time is April 8 at 8:30 PM.
A user in Jakarta logs work on April 9 at 7:30 AM and includes the local timestamp in the worklog comment.
From the Jakarta user’s perspective, the worklog appears in the Work item view as April 9 at 7:30 AM. Likewise, the Worklog Date column in the report shows April 9, as shown in the screenshot above, because it matches the user’s local time in Jakarta.
From the perspective of another user in Montreal, the same worklog appears in the Work item view as April 8 at 8:30 PM because of the time zone difference. Likewise, the Worklog Date column in the report shows April 8, as shown in the screenshot below, because it matches the user’s local time in Montreal.

Note that the Worklog Date column displays only the date, not the time.

Jira Time Zone

Worklogs are aligned with Jira’s default time zone, regardless of the author’s settings. This ensures consistent dates across all users, but it may be confusing if the server time differs from users’ local time.

Example:

The default Jira time zone matches the time zone of a data center in Montreal, where the time is April 8 at 8:30 PM.
A user in Jakarta logs work on April 9 at 7:30 AM and includes the local timestamp in the worklog comment.
From the Jakarta user’s perspective, the worklog appears in the Work item view as April 9 at 7:30 AM. However, the Worklog Date column in the report still shows April 8, as shown in the screenshot above, because it follows the default Jira time zone in Montreal.
From the perspective of another user in Montreal, the same worklog appears in the Work item view as April 8 at 8:30 PM because of the time zone difference. The Worklog Date column in the report also shows April 8, as shown in the screenshot above, because it follows the default Jira time zone in Montreal.

Note that the Worklog Date column displays only the date, not the time.

Worklog author Time Zone

Worklogs are displayed based on the time zone of the user who created them. This keeps the original context of when the work was logged, but the value displayed is still adjusted for viewers.

Example:

The default Jira time zone matches the time zone of a data center in Montreal, where the time is April 8 at 8:30 PM.
A user in Jakarta logs work on April 9 at 7:30 AM and includes the local timestamp in the worklog comment.
From the Jakarta user’s perspective, the worklog appears in the Work item view as April 9 at 7:30 AM. Likewise, the Worklog Date column in the report shows April 9, as shown in the screenshot above.
From the perspective of another user in Montreal, the same worklog appears in the Work item view as April 8 at 8:30 PM because of the time zone difference. However, the Worklog Date column in the report still shows April 9, as shown in the screenshot above.

Note that the Worklog Date column displays only the date, not the time.

If the worklog author changes their account time zone, the appearance of their past worklogs may also change for other users in Jira. This can make older entries harder to interpret, especially after a relocation.

How can you change worklogs appear in reports?

By using app-level time zone settings, you can control how worklogs appear in reports in Jira. To do so, follow these steps as a Jira admin:

Open the Settings menu in Jira’s top navigation bar, by clicking on the gear icon.
From the dropdown, choose Marketplace apps.
Within the Apps settings page, click on ‘Settings’ from the list of Pivot Report configuration options.
On the Pivot Report Settings page, select the General tab.
Access the Time Zone section and select a configuration option.

FAQ

Can you restore or restrict access to the Worklog tab type?

If you want to restore or restrict access to content in the Worklog tab type in Jira, refer to the related article.

Why and how can you change your account's time zone?

You may need to update your account time zone if you relocate to a region that does not match Jira’s default user time zone. This ensures that dates and times display correctly in your Work item view and reports.

To update your account time zone:

In the top-right corner, click your avatar.
Select Account settings.
Edit the Local time field to match your current time zone.

Why and how can you define Jira's default time zone?

As a Jira admin, you can set a default time zone (called the Default user time zone) to control how dates and times appear for all users. This setting applies unless users select a different time zone in their profile.

This is useful when your team moves to a new region or works across different time zones. For example, if your team relocates from North America’s West Coast to the East Coast, updating this setting keeps all time-based data aligned with the new working hours.

To configure the default time zone:

Click the Settings (gear) icon in the top navigation bar.
Select System.
On the General configuration page, click Edit settings.
Go to the Internationalization section.
In Default user time zone, select the desired option (for example, GMT-05:00 Toronto).
Click Update.

What is the difference between your account time zone and Jira’s time zone?

Your account time zone is user-specific. It can differ from Jira’s default time zone, which applies to all users unless they change it in their personal account settings.

For example, a team works in Montreal. As a result, the default Jira time zone is set to Montreal (GMT-05:00 Toronto). If individual account settings and desktop environments are also set to Montreal, all users will see the same dates and times in Jira and reports.

When a user travels to Jakarta for a week and updates both their account settings and desktop environment to match the local time zone, they may see different dates and times in Jira. Report results may also differ depending on the app settings.

Troubleshooting

How can Daylight Saving Time impact your worklogs?

If you operate across regions that observe Daylight Saving Time (DST). Its accuracy depends on your defined Jira default time zone (called the Default user time zone).

Atlassian recommends to set this setting to match your team’s geographic location rather than a GMT offset, shown in the screenshot above, by following these steps:

As Jira admin, click the Settings (gear) icon in the top navigation bar.
Select System.
On the General configuration page, click Edit settings.
Go to the Internationalization section.
For the Default user time zone, select the region that matches your computer time, such as America.
Select the desired the Time zone field, such (GMT-05:00) Toronto.

Click Update.

Notes for Jira Data Center

If you notice that Jira does not reflect the expected time offset for your region, you can resolve this by updating the time zone data used by your environment. To do so, replace the Joda-Time file and run the tzupdater tool, by following the steps mentioned in a related article.
It is also recommended to update your Java Runtime Environment to ensure accurate time zone handling, by changing the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) Timezone and following the steps mentioned in a separate article.
It is also recommended that you update your Java Runtime Environment to ensure accurate time zone handling. To do this, change the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) time zone by following the steps provided in the separate article and related article.

If you want Jira to ignore daylight saving time (DST), you can configure a fixed GMT offset instead, as suggested by Atlassian.
If you are using Tempo Timesheets, you may also need to update the JVM_SUPPORT_RECOMMENDED_ARGS settings, as described in Tempo’s documentation.

Can the Worklog Date differ from the intended value when using the user’s local time zone setting?

Yes. If the local time zone used when entering a worklog does not match the time zone set on the desktop environment, the Worklog Date in the report may appear differently than expected. This can happen even if the worklog author’s account time zone is not changed in Jira.

For example, the Local Time Zone of the user setting is enabled in the app settings. A user works in Jakarta during the week and later returns to Montreal. While in Jakarta, their desktop time zone is set to the local Jakarta time zone.

After returning, the user changes their desktop time zone to Montreal. As a result, the Worklog Date in the report may display a different value than expected, even if the account time zone in Jira is not updated.

The default Jira time zone matches the time zone of a data center in Montreal, where the time is April 8 at 8:30 PM.
A user in Jakarta logs work on April 9 at 7:30 AM and includes the local timestamp in the worklog comment. However, after returning to Montreal and updating the desktop time zone, the Worklog Date column in the report shows April 8, as shown in the screenshot above.
From another user’s perspective in Montreal, the Worklog Date column in the report also shows April 8. This user’s desktop and account time zone remained set to Montreal throughout the entire period.

To troubleshoot this behavior, you may need to change the user’s desktop environment time zone to view the original Worklog dates from when the user was in Jakarta.

If you have questions or need assistance, contact our support team via email or service desk. Our team is available Monday through Friday (9:00 AM to 7:00 PM GMT+7) to help with technical challenges or discuss improvements.