Dynamic Tags

Date Formatting Tags

3 min read

Many Notifal tags include a date part: registration date, publish date, order paid date, and more. You control how the date looks by adding a suffix to the tag name.

No separate {order_date:human} syntax is used. Instead, append _diff for human-readable relative times, or your own format string.

See What Are Dynamic Tags? for the basics.

Two formatting styles

StyleSuffixExample output
Relative (human)_diff2 days ago
Custom format_Y/m/d or other PHP date tokens2026/07/06
Default(none after _date_)2026-07-06

Relative dates use your WordPress site timezone and language.

Relative date examples

Add _diff after _date_ in the tag name:

TagExample output
{user_registered_date_diff}3 months ago
{post_published_date_diff}1 week ago
{product_publish_date_diff}5 days ago
{order_created_date_diff}2 hours ago
{order_paid_date_diff}yesterday (via WordPress human time)
{comment_date_diff}4 days ago (Pro, see comment article)

Example sentence: Ordered {order_created_date_diff} → Ordered 2 hours ago

Custom format examples

Use PHP-style date characters after _date_:

TagExample output
{post_published_date_Y/m/d}2026/07/06
{order_completed_date_M j, Y}Jul 6, 2026
{page_modified_date_d-m-Y}06-07-2026

Common format characters:

CharacterMeaning
Y4-digit year
mMonth with leading zero
dDay with leading zero
MShort month name
jDay without leading zero
H:i24-hour time

Tags that support date formatting

Users

  • {user_registered_date_...}

Posts

  • {post_published_date_...}
  • {post_modified_date_...}
  • {post_created_date_...}

Pages

  • {page_published_date_...}
  • {page_modified_date_...}

Products (WooCommerce)

  • {product_publish_date_...}
  • {product_modified_date_...}
  • {product_created_date_...}

Orders (WooCommerce)

  • {order_created_date_...}
  • {order_completed_date_...}
  • {order_paid_date_...}
  • {order_modified_date_...}
  • {order_shipped_date_...} (when shipment data exists)

Comments (Pro)

  • {comment_date_...}

How to build the tag in the editor

  1. Open Insert Tag (or Elementor/Block Editor tag list).
  2. Pick a date tag from the list. Many entries include _diff or format hints in the description.
  3. Or type the full tag manually in HTML or text fields.

Empty or invalid dates

If no date exists (for example order not paid yet), the tag outputs nothing. Write your template so missing dates still read well.

Related articles

Dynamic Tags series