Every Webflow Collection comes with 3 built-in date fields, including...
- Created Date
- Modified Date
- Published Date
...but these fields do not work as you'd expect.
They are internal fields that are automatically updated for Webflow's own purposes.
Bloggers are often confused by these fields because not only are they prominently displayed in the CMS, they are conveniently exposed in the binding menu for your use.
In the binding menu these appear under slightly different names - Created On, Published On, and Updated On;
Never use these 3 fields in the designer
Due to the names, and the way Webflow makes these fields easily bindable, it's easy to assume that these are useful fields- however they do not work as you'd expect;
- Created On indicates the date the record was created, not the date it was published. That's typically not useful in site designs, and if you export/import your CMS or migrate the CMS to a new site during a redesign, those will all be reset automatically.
- Published On indicates the date the record was last published. Any time you edit and re-publish that record, Published On changes.
- Updated On indicates the date the record was last edited, even if it's not published yet. ( I'd need to re-verify this behavior to be sure ).
In reality, none of these are particularly useful in a typical website build.
What most designers really want is a Date Published, and a Date Updated field with this behavior;
- Full control by the editor to set them to whatever dates they want.
- Complete safety in exporting and importing these fields through CSV or the API, without any modification.
- No automatic change when a publish or update occurs, without the user's permission. For example, if I fix a typo, that's not a Date Updated change. If I rewrite an article, it is. The editor decides.
The solution
Very simply, avoid those fields completely, and create your own date fields.
Create your own Date Published field, and use that instead.
If you want to track updates, create your own Date Updated field, and track that as well.
Why do these fields behave so un-intuitively?
I don’t know the history far enough back, but I avoid these 3 fields completely in the designer.
My guess is;
- Webflow released the CMS
- These 3 date fields were used internally to track and manage publishing state
- Webflow thought these fields could be useful to designers for exactly the sort and filter use cases you’re describing - and made them visible and bindable in the designer
- The Data API launched
- Users needed to be able to sync data between the CMS and external systems
- This “warped” how the fields needed to track and represent editing and publishing dates, so data sync could work properly
- Those changes made the fields unsuitable for everyday use cases like “first published on”
Now we’re up to 8 years ago, when I started using the platform.
Since then there have been more major changes, like CMS item publishing launched Dec 2024.
I expect Webflow gave up on any guidance on “how to use” those fields, even though they’re still exposed in the designer- because everyone has a different setup. Some want an inviolable first published date. Others want a first published date that they can preserve, even if they migrate the CMS to another site. Others still want a content-last-updated date, which only changes on major updates [not simple typo fixes or metadata updates].
In short-
Use the date field. Create whatever setup you want. Simple.
References
@vincent ran some tests here, and has a good explanation here.
