How Invert stores time
Invert stores absolute timestamps as instants in time and uses UTC for the underlying data. Process time is calculated from those timestamps and a reference time.
In run events, process time is measured in hours from run start. In line charts, Time filters → Norm. basis selects the zero point, such as Run start, Record start, or an event. The chart's time-axis unit selector supports days, hours, minutes, and seconds; the default is hours.
How times are shown
Most clock times in the app use your browser's local time zone. This includes run start and end times, run tables, event clock times, and absolute-time charts. There is no separate user or workspace time zone setting in Invert.
In a run's Events tab, choose Elapsed run time or Date / time. The events table below a line chart has the same control; it changes the table display, not the chart's time axis.
Some displays use UTC: sample event timestamps in assay records and some date-only labels. Check any time zone label before you compare times.
Changing run start or end
Changing run start changes elapsed hours for existing timestamps. Changing a chart's reference time also changes its process-time zero point. Data start and Data end under Time filters control which part of the data is shown; filters based on Run start or Run end follow those boundaries.
Relative-time imports are converted to absolute timestamps when imported, using the current run start time, or record start if no run start is available. Changing run start later does not repeat that conversion. Re-import the data if it must stay at the same elapsed times from the new run start.
Importing time data
Choose a mapping that matches your file's time data:
- Absolute time: use UTC timestamps for standard UTC columns, including Start time (UTC) and End time (UTC) in Run Data. Timestamps without a zone are read as UTC unless the mapping specifies another source zone.
- Relative time: supply elapsed values in the units the mapping expects. Standard relative-timeseries mappings expect hours.
For local-time files, convert timestamps to UTC before import, or ask Invert support to configure the mapping's source time zone. There is no source-zone picker on the import page. Where the mapping supports it, a column suffix such as Start time (Europe/London) can specify the source zone. A zone configured in the mapping takes priority over the suffix. Do not put local clock times under a UTC column name.
Named zones account for daylight saving time. Repeated local times when clocks go back can be ambiguous; skipped times when clocks go forward do not exist. Mapping defaults try to infer repeated times from their order and reject nonexistent times. Ask support to check the mapping if the file includes these transitions.
Check a known timestamp in the import preview before you complete the import. See Import.
Exporting time data
Excel data exports from the app use your browser's time zone and include the zone in timestamp column names. Other downloads, including CSV files and files made by Assist, can contain UTC timestamps. Check column names and timestamp offsets rather than assuming that a download uses the app's display zone.
Times in Assist
Assist receives absolute timestamps and the current time in UTC. It does not receive your browser's time zone. Treat UTC as the default for its analysis and files; name a zone when you want converted clock times, for example:
Show timestamps in Europe/London, including tables and exported files. Label the time zone.