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Incorrect Timestamp shown to uploaded files

I noticed yesterday that the timestamp on my uploaded and edited files are anywhere between 6 and 9 hours earlier. My Time zone settings are set correctly.

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Frank_S

Hi all,

The issue of incorrect modified dates showing on files uploaded via our website should now be fixed for all users. If anyone is still seeing files showing an incorrect modified time versus the timezone setting on their account please let me know!

Regards,

Frank

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SusanR

I tried that too. I edited an existing file to see if the time shows correctly and did this several times since the problem started occurring but the time still shows 7 hours off.

apraetor

@SusanR Ok, it sounds like your best bet is to use the steps Frank posted, and open a support ticket so someone can take a look at what's going on from the server side of things. Don't forget to post the ticket # in this thread so he can take a look at the screenshots you submit. Thanks!

Jane

[Note: As this thread is monitored by @Frank_S, I’ve made sure to gather all replies under this discussion, so as to shift our attention here.

If there any any open tickets I could check internally, please include them in your reply here & I’ll make sure I’ll check on progress as soon as possible. Thanks & I’m looking forward to hearing back from you! ]

Brownd

For me, time stamps are a few hours behind on Word docs, at least when platform = Windows 7 and application = MS Word 365. (I haven't noticed yet whether it happens for Word docs when working on Mac OS X El Capitan.) FWIW, the time stamp is wrong on Dropbox.com, but not when I check the same doc on my Mac's Dropbox application, the time stamp is correct.

apraetor

@Brownd Have you checked your timezone at https://www.dropbox.com/account?

Frank_S

Hey all,

To follow up on this one, we were able to reproduce problems late last week where files uploaded to Dropbox via the website have the wrong modified date/time. This doesn't appear to be affecting files uploaded via our desktop application, only the website. Our engineering team are currently working on a fix to this issue, and I'll loop back here once the fix is out.

Thanks for reporting this, and apologies for the inconvenience caused!

Frank

Booktown

Using DropBox on Win 10, from Melbourne, Aust (GMT + 11) via Firefox - system settings in OS are correct, but files in DropBox have save times 11hours in future? I've also tried resetting Time Zone options in Settings, no difference.

Frank_S

Hi all,

Regards,

Frank

Brownd

My time stamps are now closer to accurate: instead of being 4 hours behind, they are now 1 hour ahead (e.g., doc saved at 5:30pm is stamped 6:30pm).

The problem seems to be my 'automatic time zone' setting is GMT -4:00, but I'm on the US east coast, which is GMT -5:00. (I could turn off automatic time zone and set it for GMT-5:00, but then I'd have to remember to change it when I travel. I see no way to correct the automatic-zone setting.)

msw345

Thanks.

Babygrands

Hi Linda here. I'm a Dropbox novice. Just uploaded an excel xls and the time stamp is 4 hrs in the future. So unfortunately the problem has not been fixed for all. It doesn't make sense that the time zone options for USA are so limited. Your prompt response will be greatly appreciated.

apraetor

Hi Linda,
What time zone are you in? And what time zone is set for you in your profile on Dropbox.com currently?

jabulani

Modified date showing date & time 2 days & 19 hrs in the future. Using dropbox on Ubuntu 18.04, OS date & time set correctly: US Central Time

Jane

Hey @jabulani, I would also point you towards the system time & for that reason I’d like to ask you whether this is happening only within Dropbox or you’re seeing the same behavior on other locations on this device. Usually a date in the future is the result of a clock set to the wrong date, either on the machine where the file was written or on the machine where you're looking at the file.

Please do let me know whether this is the case & I’ll make sure to get back in touch with you more closely!

raket4u

I also have the problem with my fotos

example - photo uploaded from mobile:

2018-09-23 09.25.53.jpg timestamp: 23-09-2018 07.25

Denmark

yours Jan

jabulani

See below

jabulani

I resolved the issue.

So a deleted file of the same name existed in the same location previously.

So when I created a new file with the same name in the same location, dropbox used the last modified date of the deleted file.

raket4u

All of my images are automatically uploaded to Dropbox. All with two hours difference.

apraetor

@raket4u

Some info we need:

Your actual time zone
which timezone is set in your Dropbox.com account
which timezone does you phone use in its settings

If all new Camera Uploads are off by exactly n hours (where n=2 in your case) then it is likely a setting issue. If the minutes are also incorrect, then something else is going on.

jabulani

Resolved the issue.

I had created a file (log.txt) that had been previously deleted from the same location. And dropbox was pulling last modified date using the file history.

raket4u

My Phone is official danish summer time
Dropbox :dont know. Should reflect danish official time, as My account is danish.

Jane

Hey @raket4u, apologies for getting back to you in delay, have you been able to clarify what could be causing this discrepancy?

At this point, I’d endorse @apraetor’s hints, as he’s pointing you towards the right direction. Specifically, can you check whether the Automatic time zone on your Settings online is set to Off incidentally?

Please do let us know of your findings & we’ll make to follow-up in a bit more detail. Wishing you a wonderful weekend ahead!

hexhybrid

Hi All, I've been facing this issue since early this year and I notice the problem only appears for me on the web version of dropbox with a particular excel file. At home i'm using windows 10 with dropbox & google drive clients. Both have this same copy of file. At work I have windows 7 with google drive client but not dropbox. so at work i have to use the web version of dropbox. whenever i check the timestamp, on dropbox will show 1 day in advance. example, file last modified is 5th October 2018, at 8pm (local time, gmt+8). at work, i'll see the file in google drive (both client and web) as 5th October 2018, 8pm but on dropbox web i'll see it as 6th October 2018, 8pm. I've checked that automatic timezone is not set and is manually set to malaysia (gmt+8).

i can only confirm which of these dates are correct when i'm home as i would check the local folders themselves but seems i can't trust the timestamp on the web versions. at one point sometime this year the issue seems to be fixed by dropbox, but recently it came back again. any ideas appreciated.

Jane

I have to admit that I appreciate your detailed post a lot & thanks for letting us know here of all your observations & the troubleshooting you’ve done so far @hexhybrid!

As I’d like to expedite matters for you a bit & I’d like to submit your request to a team specialist, I’ve made sure to reach out to you on my end via email, in order to investigate this specific example a bit more closely.

Whenever you find some spare time, please check your inbox for my email & I’ll make sure to promptly follow-up with you in a bit more depth. I hope that this is helpful to you & I’ll be awaiting your next reply on our email correspondence. Thanks in advance!

Ocirema55

What I have now found is that videos are imported at the computer time zone, while photos have the correct time stamp.

It happens I was at GMT-3 taking all and now returned to GMT-8.

All my uploaded videos dates (and names) are 5 hours behind the time they were indeed taken...

Any thoughts?

Thanks

JYLD

I have started using FileZilla Pro to upload files to Dropbox because the desktop application became useless to me since you've stopped allowing symlinks in my local Dropbox directory. File dates and times for files uploaded show the date and time the file was uploaded and NOT the date and time of the file on my local hard drive. This problem does NOT happen when uploading files to Google Drive. So it isn't FileZilla Pro that is the problem. Is there a fix for this or will I need to just move my nightly backups to GDrive.

apraetor

Is Preserve Timestamps set for the Dropbox connection?

JYLD

Where is the Preserve Time Stamps connection setting ???

csw512

Dropbox Not Updating Timestamp
I manually sync my citation database (EndNote) between PCs after updating the database and closing the program.
The EndNote database is NOT in the Dropbox folder.
After updating the database I copy all file manually to the designated Dropbox folder where I keep the synced files.

When I start work on another PC I first copy all files off the designated Dropbox folder to a folder not synced by Dropbox. At the end of my work, I repeat the above update after closing the database program, and copy the files back to the designated Dropbox folder.

I have noticed that some files that have identical checksums (and binary compare) do not have an updated timestamp.

Please advise.

vlinev

Hi guys!

I reported this issue back in 2017 and I was told that it's going to be fixed, but I still see it is not.

I see that when photos and videos are uploaded from my Android phone to the Dropbox cloud, they are getting renamed in the cloud folder and their name reflects their date and time, as follows for example for photos '2019-11-21 08.33.25.jpg'. This is fine for photos, this is expected. But video files do not get correct time in their file name! Video file time reflected in its file name is 10 or 11 hour behind, because I am on Sydney time zone (UTC+10 or +11). So for video files time is UTC, which is wrong, it does not take time zone into account. This happens only to video files. Photos are fine.

Currently I am on Samsung Galaxy S10, Android 10. Dropbox app is the latest version. But the issue is still the same as back in 2017 and before.

Is there any solution for this?