DateTime Picker

A combined date and time picker built on Flatpickr. Captures a full date-time value in a single field. Configurable date format, 12h/24h clock, minute increment, and optional min/max constraints.

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Pro field

DateTime Picker requires the Extra Fields for ACF Pro license.

Settings

Setting	Default	Options	Description
Date Format	`Y-m-d`	Any PHP date format	Controls how the date portion appears in the admin UI.
Time Format	`24h`	`24h` · `12h`	Clock format in the time picker. `12h` shows AM/PM.
Minute Step	`5`	`1` · `5` · `10` · `15` · `30`	Increment between selectable minutes.
Min DateTime	(empty)	`Y-m-d H:i`	Earliest selectable date/time.
Max DateTime	(empty)	`Y-m-d H:i`	Latest selectable date/time.
Include Seconds	`false`	on/off	Show a seconds selector in the time picker.
Return Format	`Y-m-d H:i:s`	`Y-m-d H:i:s` · `U` · DateTime object	Storage/return format.

Return values

`return_format: 'Y-m-d H:i:s'`

Returns a MySQL-compatible timestamp string.

$dt = get_field('event_start');
// "2026-06-15 14:30:00"

`return_format: 'U'`

Returns a Unix timestamp integer.

$ts = get_field('event_start');
// 1750000200

`return_format: 'object'`

Returns a PHP DateTime object.

$dt = get_field('event_start');
// DateTime object
echo $dt->format('D, M j, Y g:i A'); // "Mon, Jun 15, 2026 2:30 PM"

Usage

Displaying a formatted date-time

$raw = get_field('webinar_time'); // "2026-06-15 14:30:00"

if ($raw) {
    $dt = new DateTime($raw, new DateTimeZone('UTC'));
    $dt->setTimezone(new DateTimeZone('America/New_York'));

    echo '<time datetime="' . esc_attr($dt->format('c')) . '">';
    echo esc_html($dt->format('F j, Y \a\t g:i A T'));
    echo '</time>';
    // "June 15, 2026 at 10:30 AM EDT"
}

Checking if an event is upcoming

$start = get_field('event_start'); // Y-m-d H:i:s

if ($start) {
    $event_dt = new DateTime($start);
    $now      = new DateTime();

    if ($event_dt > $now) {
        echo '<span class="badge badge-upcoming">Upcoming</span>';
    } else {
        echo '<span class="badge badge-past">Past event</span>';
    }
}

Sorting posts by datetime field

$events = get_posts([
    'post_type'   => 'event',
    'meta_key'    => 'event_start',
    'orderby'     => 'meta_value',
    'order'       => 'ASC',
    'meta_query'  => [[
        'key'     => 'event_start',
        'value'   => current_time('mysql'),
        'compare' => '>=',
        'type'    => 'DATETIME',
    ]],
]);