Sorting a CMS list based on “Published On” and “Updated On” does the same thing. If I update a post, the original publish date changes to the date of the update. It shouldn’t work like this.
In the original post they said they would fix it some time, but that day is still not here.
Do I really have to add a date field and set it manually for every post just because the Webflow team doesn’t care about this bug?
This is by design- the published date is the last published date. If you make a change and publish it again, that’s now the last published date.
If you want to have a first published date, or a last updated date that you specifically control, just create those fields and update them when needed. Not only does that let you track what you want, but e.g. a typo fix shouldn’t be considered an “update”, so the ability to control when it changes and when it doesn’t is important.
Yeah, that’s the weird part , “Updated On” in Webflow isn’t a true last-modified field, it’s tied to the publish action just like “Published On.” Only workaround I’ve used is adding custom date fields for both first published and last updated, then sorting by those.
I don’t know the history that far back, but I avoid these 3 fields completely in the designer. They’re only useful to me for Data API integrations like external data syncs.
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 usecases 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’d 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].
Use the date field. Create whatever setup you want. Simple.