HubSpot reports strip the time off date/time properties and only show the date. To get the time back, create a formula field on your report using TO_TEXT with a format string that includes hours and minutes. Use that formula field in your report instead of the raw property.
The formula:
In This Article
The Problem: Reports Hide the Time
Every date/time property in HubSpot actually stores the full timestamp. Your Last Contacted property knows that Sarah was contacted at 3:47 PM on Tuesday, not just "Tuesday." That data is there.
But drag that property into a report column and HubSpot formats it as just the date. 03/18/2026. That's it. The hours and minutes are gone from the display, even though they're still in the underlying data. Annoying.
This matters most for properties like:
- Last Contacted, when you want to know if it was morning or afternoon
- Create Date, when you're looking at same-day lead response times
- Last Modified, when you're auditing a busy day of data changes
- Any custom date/time property where the time is the whole point, like meeting times, SLA deadlines, or submission timestamps
Why You Actually Need the Time
Date-only displays work fine if you're looking at long time horizons. For anything within a single day, they're useless. A report that shows "5 contacts created today" tells you the volume. A report that shows those 5 contacts with timestamps tells you whether they came in all at 2 PM (probably one campaign, batch inserts, or a bot) or spread evenly through the day (organic traffic).
Same thing with response time tracking. If you're trying to see whether your team is hitting a 1-hour SLA, "contact created on 3/18" vs "reply sent on 3/18" tells you nothing. You need the times.
The Fix: A Formula Field with TO_TEXT
HubSpot's custom report builder supports formula fields: calculated columns that let you manipulate property values before they render. TO_TEXT is a formula function that converts a value into a string using a format pattern. Pair it with a date/time property and a format string that includes hours and minutes, and the time comes right back.
Here's the formula using the Last Contacted property as an example:
The result: instead of "03/18/2026" you get "03/18/2026 03:47 PM" right in the column. One field. Date and time together. Your team can actually read the report now.
But Wait, Can't I Just Use Date Part?
Fair question. HubSpot does let you add the same date property to a report twice and set the second one's Date Part to "Hour." That technically shows you the hour. But now you've got two columns on your report: one with the date, one with just the hour, sitting next to each other. It's clunky. Your team has to mentally stitch them together every time they read a row.
Here's what the two approaches actually look like side by side:
Native Date Part Approach
- Two columns taking up report space
- The time gets rounded, so you lose precision
- Users have to mentally combine the two columns
- Extra clutter on dashboards and exports
TO_TEXT Formula Field
- One column, full timestamp
- Full precision down to the minute
- Reads naturally, no mental stitching
- Clean export to CSV or Excel
- Customize the format to match how your team works
Date Part is a legitimate HubSpot feature and there are places it makes sense (grouping contacts by hour-of-day, for instance). But for just showing date and time together in a report column, the formula field approach is cleaner every time.
Step-by-Step
Open or create a custom report
Go to Reports → Reports → Create report → Custom report builder (or open an existing report you want to edit). Pick the data source that has the date/time property you care about.
Add a formula field
In the left-side panel where you drag properties, scroll to the bottom and click Create formula field. Give it a name that makes sense for your report, something like "Last Contacted (with time)" or "Deadline (full)".
Paste in the formula
In the formula editor, paste:
Swap hs_last_contacted for whatever property you want to display. You can find the internal property name under Settings → Properties (it's shown in the property details, below the display label). If you're creating new properties, our free HubSpot property naming generator formats internal names correctly the first time.
Set the output type to Text
TO_TEXT returns a string, so make sure the formula field's output type is set to Text. If HubSpot tries to default it to something else, change it. This matters for sorting behavior (more on that below).
Drop the new formula field into your report
The formula field now appears in your property list. Drag it into your report columns instead of the original date/time property. Save. You're done.
Format String Options
The format string is what controls how the date and time render. The one I use most is 'MM/DD/YYYY HH12:MI AM', but you can customize:
MM/DD/YYYY— US-style date (03/18/2026)DD/MM/YYYY— EU-style date (18/03/2026)YYYY-MM-DD— ISO format (2026-03-18), sorts alphabetically in the right orderHH12:MI AM— 12-hour time with AM/PM (03:47 PM)HH24:MI— 24-hour time (15:47)Month DD, YYYY— Written-out month (March 18, 2026)
Mix and match. If you want a report that sorts chronologically even as text, 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI' is your friend because alphabetical sort matches chronological order.
Gotchas
Sorting becomes alphabetical, not chronological
Because the output is text, HubSpot sorts it alphabetically. "03/18/2026" sorts before "11/05/2025" even though chronologically that's wrong. If chronological sorting matters for your report, either use the 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI' format (which happens to sort correctly as text), OR keep both columns: use the original date/time property for sorting and the formula field for display.
Timezone is the portal default
HubSpot renders the formula in your portal's default timezone, not the viewer's. If your team is distributed across timezones, they'll all see the same number. Be clear in the column header whether it's EST, UTC, or whatever your portal is set to.
Empty values show as nothing
If the underlying property is null (the record was never contacted, for example), TO_TEXT returns an empty cell. That's usually what you want, but if you'd rather display something like "Never" you can wrap it in an IF statement:
Formula fields are per-report
This formula field lives on the single report you create it on. If you want the same date/time display across multiple reports, you'll need to recreate the formula in each one. (Or build it once, save the report as a template, and clone from there.)
If this is one of a dozen annoying HubSpot reporting limits your team is bumping into, we do custom reporting and dashboarding as part of our HubSpot engineering work. Formula fields, calculated properties, custom objects, cross-object reports, the works.
Book a free consultation and tell us what you're trying to report on.