Configure JIRA to show only Absolute Dates instead of Relative Dates

AgilePM May 28, 2013

Looking to configure our JIRA isntance to always show absolute dates (e.g. 5/22/2013) instead of Relative dates (e.g. Wednseday) when viewing issues.

I have referenced these two pages but I do not think they apply to my problem:

7 answers

1 accepted

10 votes
Answer accepted
Kapil Bolli
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May 28, 2013

Hi Agile ,

To change to Relative Dates do the below steps:

Under Look & Feel : use the Date Format: MM/dd/yy

Create a file jira-config.properties under JIRA HOME Dir.

Add Property jira.lf.date.relativize=false.

Then Restart JIRA.

-Kapil

AgilePM May 29, 2013

Thanks Kapil, I also found https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRA-8310 based on your answer :)

Maya S Chase
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January 30, 2015

We tried this solution, and the relative dates are still showing. We're on version 6.3.12. Is there something we're missing?

rkbarth February 21, 2015

How do you do this if you're Jira is hosted by Atlassian?

Like # people like this
Mihamina Rakotomandimby December 29, 2015

@Russel , I filed a request to the support. 20Minutes and its done (from the request creation to effectiveness)

Shell D March 23, 2017

Doesn't work for v7.2.3, still shows relative dates

kyo hwang November 5, 2018

It works for me on v7.12.0  Thanks.

Berkin_Atila March 14, 2020
John Chan April 30, 2021

just followed @Kapil Bolli instructions above for jira v8.16 for AWS Linux and it works! Thanks!

2 votes
Andy May 9, 2017

Hello! This did not work for me in Jira 7.3.5.

It's really crucial for Service desk project, where we track hours.

Is there somebody with successfull experience on switching to absolute dates in JIRA 7?

Edgar Hernandez Meraz December 4, 2018

Yes it worked for me on Jira 7.5

0 votes
hikeit September 14, 2020

Another option that avoids the need to create or modify jira-config.properties is to add this setting to the jira database. Here is SQL that will insert the setting into a PostgreSQL DB:

 

select max(id)+1 as id into newid from propertyentry;

insert into propertynumber (id,propertyvalue) values (newid.id,0);

insert into propertyentry (id, entity_name, entity_id, property_key, propertytype) values (newid.id,'jira.properties',1,'jira.lf.date.relativize',1);

drop table newid; 
Alex Carr June 17, 2021

Results on Jira v8.5.0:

postgres=# select max(id)+1 as id into newid from propertyentry; insert into propertynumber (id,propertyvalue) values (newid.id,0); insert into propertyentry (id, entity_name, entity_id, property_key, propertytype) values (newid.id,'jira.properties',1,'jira.lf.date.relativize',1); drop table newid;
ERROR: relation "propertyentry" does not exist
LINE 1: select max(id)+1 as id into newid from propertyentry;
^
ERROR: relation "propertynumber" does not exist
LINE 1: insert into propertynumber (id,propertyvalue) values (newid....
^
ERROR: relation "propertyentry" does not exist
LINE 1: insert into propertyentry (id, entity_name, entity_id, prope...
^
ERROR: cannot execute DROP TABLE in a read-only transaction

0 votes
Tomáš Vrabec October 23, 2019

Tip for everyone in here: Just install free add-on Relative time converter from @MoroSystems Support 

Link: https://marketplace.atlassian.com/search?query=relative+time+converter

Damien December 10, 2019

Hi @Tomáš Vrabec ,

I've tried your app, and unfortunately had to de-install it as it only corrects the date format for issues comments & history.

Since I'm using Xray to print out traceability reports to our customers, I still need to provide an information that gives better information than "yesterday" or "4 days ago". If you're involved in MoroSystems, please feel free to provide a solution that replaces the workaround quoted above, with jira.lf.date.relativize parameter value update.

Unfortunately, this workaround does not work anymore for very recent JIRA server versions, as stated in JRASERVER-41506 comments. That is why I have asked Atlassian to re-open it.

Cheers.

Tomáš Vrabec December 10, 2019

Hi @Damien I am not anymore involved within this solution partner, but still do have a lot friends over there.

Lets try to tag them, and hopefully someone will take care about your suggestion :-) 

Hello @MoroSystems Support could you take a look this suggestion? Relative Time converter should be maintained as its very useful and personally - its part of the architecture for every customer I am working with :-)

Have a nice day guys!

Tom

0 votes
Francisco Morgado Gonzalez June 11, 2019

Try this... 

Stop Jira

Modify :

<"jira installation">/WEB-INF/classes/jpm.xml

<property>
<key>jira.lf.date.relativize</key>
<default-value>true</default-value> <<<< Put to "false"
<type>boolean</type>
<requires-restart>false</requires-restart>
<admin-editable>false</admin-editable>
<sysadmin-editable>false</sysadmin-editable>
</property>

Start Jira

Re-index Jira

 

This works for me with Jira 7.12. (Server and Data Center)

This action showing absolute dates

Pam Weber June 20, 2019

@Francisco Morgado Gonzalez, per this page:  

Advanced Jira application configuration

you should NEVER update the jpm.xml file as these changes will not be migrated when you upgrade to a new version of software.  This file is for defaults only. 

This page provides instructions for turning off the relative dates and worked for me:

Disable Relative Dates in Jira Applications

As  outlined in the first response by @Kapil Bolli, make sure that you restart your Jira application after creating/updating the jira-config.properties file.

Francisco Morgado Gonzalez June 20, 2019

Hi Pam,

Thanks for the clarification. I will try the instructions.

0 votes
Michael Kornatzki
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September 22, 2015

This works for me with 6.4.10

0 votes
macros April 30, 2015

I also tried this on 6.4 and I still see relative dates.

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