How to Configure and Validate Browser Time Zone in Bold BI

Bold BI provides a Browser Time Zone feature that displays date and time values based on the end user’s browser or system time zone. This allows users in different regions to view the same dashboard with date and time values adjusted to their local time.
This article explains how the Browser Time Zone feature works, how to configure it, and how to validate the behavior using a sample SQL Server dataset.

Step 1: Enable Browser Time Zone in Configuration

• Open the config.json file in the Bold BI UMS application.
• Set the following property to true:

"IsEnableBrowserTimezone": true 

• Save the file and restart the Bold BI services.

Step 2: Enable Browser Time Zone in Site Settings

• Log in to the Bold BI application as an administrator.
• Navigate to Settings and open Site Settings.
• In the display section, select and enable Inherit from browser time zone.
• Save the changes.
  
  

Step 3: Ensure Date and Time Data Is Stored in UTC

• Ensure that the date and time columns in your SQL Server database are stored in UTC (UTC+00:00).

• Below is an example schema and data format for reference:

-- Example table structure
CREATE TABLE SalesData (
   SalesId INT,
   CreatedDate DATETIMEOFFSET
); 
-- Example UTC-formatted values
INSERT INTO SalesData (SalesId, CreatedDate)
VALUES
(101, '2026-02-18 08:00:00 +00:00'),
(102, '2026-02-18 09:00:00 +00:00');

• Using DATETIMEOFFSET is recommended to preserve UTC offset information. When using DATETIME, Bold BI assumes the value is already in UTC.

Step 4: Create or Connect to a SQL Server Data Source

• Connect a SQL Server Data Source with UTC Date/Time Data

Notes

• Bold BI assumes that all incoming date and time values are stored in UTC (UTC+00:00).
• Database or server time zone settings are not detected or applied during data processing.
• If date and time values are stored in a server‑local or regional time zone, the browser time zone conversion may result in additional or incorrect offsets.
• For accurate browser‑based time zone conversion, ensure that all date and time data is consistently stored in UTC.

Conclusion

• The Browser Time Zone feature in Bold BI adjusts date and time values at the user interface level based on the end user’s browser or system time zone. To ensure consistent and accurate results across different regions, all date and time values must be stored in UTC before they are ingested into Bold BI. Currently, Bold BI does not support automatic conversion based on database or server time zone settings, so proper data normalization is essential for correct browser‑based time zone behavior.

Related Articles:

• https://help.boldbi.com/transformation-use-cases/date-and-time-processing/
• https://support.boldbi.com/kb/article/17936/how-to-convert-timezones-and-display-selected-timezone-in-dashboard?highlight=time zones
• https://support.boldbi.com/kb/article/12573/how-to-use-the-browser-time-zone-feature-in-bold-bi-a-comprehensive-guide