# Site specific timezone

> This is content from just-tim, the data-and-analytics channel by Tim Ngwena (formerly 'Tableau Tim'). Tim has 12+ years of hands-on BI experience and covers Tableau most of all, plus Power BI, Looker, Hex, SQL and data modelling, the analytics industry, and the craft of doing the job — always tool-agnostic and honest about the trade-offs.

- **Author:** Tim Ngwena (just-tim, https://just-tim.com/about)
- **Published:** 2020-08-12
- **Format:** Video · 6 min watch · transcript available
- **Topics:** Data prep, Tool strategy
- **Tools:** Tableau (cloud, extracts, now, server)
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/site-specific-timezone-in-tableau-server-tableau-online-2020-3
- **Watch:** https://www.youtu.be/IYlHY30dISY

I walk through the site-level time zone feature added in Tableau 2020.3, which lets you set the correct time zone for data extracts regardless of where the server is physically hosted. I demonstrate the old problem of mismatched times between desktop and server, then publish a workbook to Tableau Online and show how to configure the setting and trigger a refresh to apply it.

## Key takeaways

- Tableau 2020.3 lets you set a site-level time zone for extracts so refresh and data times match your reporting region rather than the server's physical location
- Use the NOW() function to return the current date and time, then change the date part to exact date to expose the full timestamp
- The time zone setting lives at the very bottom of the site settings page in Tableau Online or Server
- Changing the time zone has no effect until the extract is refreshed or the workbook is republished, because the extract has already captured the original timestamp
- This built-in feature removes the need for old hacks like manual date offset calculations or time zone parameters in global organisations

## Chapters

- 0:00 Why site-specific time zones matter
- 0:54 Building a NOW() timestamp calculation
- 2:11 Publishing the workbook to Tableau Online
- 3:31 Changing the site time zone setting
- 4:05 Refreshing to apply the new time zone
- 5:12 Real-world use and wrap-up

Watch the full video, read the transcript and use chapter deep-links on the page: https://just-tim.com/posts/site-specific-timezone-in-tableau-server-tableau-online-2020-3

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just-tim — Data and analytics, with a point of view. · https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7HYxRWmaNlJux-X7rNLZyw · https://twitter.com/TableauTim · https://www.linkedin.com/in/timngwena