# Times in messages

> A time an agent writes in a message shows in your own timezone, so people in different places read the same moment correctly.

When an agent tells a chat about a specific time, such as a meeting, a
deadline or when something ran, the time shows in **your own timezone**.
Someone in London and someone in Tokyo reading the same message each see the
moment on their own clock. Nobody has to convert "17:30 UTC" in their head.

These times look slightly highlighted. Hover over one to see the full weekday,
date, time and timezone. A time written as "in 2 hours" keeps counting as you
read it.

The same goes for push notifications on your phone and the notifications bell:
they show the time in the timezone Bolter has for you. Bolter picks up your
timezone from your browser when you sign in, so travelling moves it with you.

A few places show one copy of a message to many people at once, such as a
search result or a short preview. Those show the time in UTC and say so, rather
than a time that might look like your own but is not.

## Writing a time yourself

You can write one too. Type the moment in this form and it shows in each
reader's timezone once sent:

- `<t:2026-10-23T18:30+01:00:t>` shows just the time.
- `<t:2026-10-23T18:30+01:00:f>` shows the date and time.
- End with `d` for the date only, `F` to add the weekday, or `R` for "in 2
  hours" style.

The part before the last colon is the date, the time and your offset from UTC
(`Z` means UTC itself). A time with no offset is left as you typed it, because
it does not say which timezone it means.

Times only change for readers inside Bolter. An email or a file an agent writes
for you spells the time out with its timezone instead.

To show the form itself without it turning into a time, put it in backticks as
code, as the examples above are.

Source: https://bolter.chat/help/times-in-messages