diff --git a/src/qtgui/guiutils.cpp b/src/qtgui/guiutils.cpp
index 316efa8c..c7beb831 100644
--- a/src/qtgui/guiutils.cpp
+++ b/src/qtgui/guiutils.cpp
@@ -192,11 +192,10 @@ void rwSettings(bool writing)
         }
     }
 
-    SETTING_RW(prefs.reslistdateformat, "/Recoll/prefs/reslist/dateformat", 
-               String," %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %z");
+    SETTING_RW(u8s2qs(prefs.reslistdateformat), "/Recoll/prefs/reslist/dateformat", 
+               String, " %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %z");
     if (!writing && prefs.reslistdateformat == "")
         prefs.reslistdateformat = " %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %z";
-    prefs.creslistdateformat = (const char*)prefs.reslistdateformat.toUtf8();
 
     SETTING_RW(prefs.reslistfontfamily, "/Recoll/prefs/reslist/fontFamily", 
                String, "");
diff --git a/src/qtgui/guiutils.h b/src/qtgui/guiutils.h
index b5f93d0c..047aedf3 100644
--- a/src/qtgui/guiutils.h
+++ b/src/qtgui/guiutils.h
@@ -65,8 +65,7 @@ public:
     // is controled by darkMode
     QString darkreslistheadertext;
     // Date strftime format
-    QString reslistdateformat;
-    string creslistdateformat;
+    string reslistdateformat;
 
     //  General Qt style sheet.
     QString qssFile;
diff --git a/src/qtgui/reslist.cpp b/src/qtgui/reslist.cpp
index d30cea47..9006309e 100644
--- a/src/qtgui/reslist.cpp
+++ b/src/qtgui/reslist.cpp
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ const string& QtGuiResListPager::parFormat()
 }
 const string& QtGuiResListPager::dateFormat()
 {
-    return prefs.creslistdateformat;
+    return prefs.reslistdateformat;
 }
 
 string QtGuiResListPager::nextUrl()
diff --git a/src/qtgui/restable.cpp b/src/qtgui/restable.cpp
index 843848ad..b740c1c9 100644
--- a/src/qtgui/restable.cpp
+++ b/src/qtgui/restable.cpp
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ static string datetimegetter(const string&, const Rcl::Doc& doc)
         time_t mtime = doc.dmtime.empty() ?
             atoll(doc.fmtime.c_str()) : atoll(doc.dmtime.c_str());
         struct tm *tm = localtime(&mtime);
-        datebuf = utf8datestring(prefs.creslistdateformat.c_str(), tm);
+        datebuf = utf8datestring(prefs.reslistdateformat.c_str(), tm);
     }
     return datebuf;
 }
diff --git a/src/qtgui/uiprefs_w.cpp b/src/qtgui/uiprefs_w.cpp
index 24ef5f3d..fdf04925 100644
--- a/src/qtgui/uiprefs_w.cpp
+++ b/src/qtgui/uiprefs_w.cpp
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ void UIPrefsDialog::setFromPrefs()
     }    
     // Abstract snippet separator string
     abssepLE->setText(prefs.abssep);
-    dateformatLE->setText(prefs.reslistdateformat);
+    dateformatLE->setText(u8s2qs(prefs.reslistdateformat));
 
     // Result list font family and size
     reslistFontFamily = prefs.reslistfontfamily;
@@ -394,8 +394,7 @@ void UIPrefsDialog::accept()
 
     prefs.qtermstyle = qtermStyleCMB->currentText();
     prefs.abssep = abssepLE->text();
-    prefs.reslistdateformat = dateformatLE->text();
-    prefs.creslistdateformat = (const char*)prefs.reslistdateformat.toUtf8();
+    prefs.reslistdateformat = qs2utf8s(dateformatLE->text());
 
     prefs.reslistfontfamily = reslistFontFamily;
     prefs.reslistfontsize = reslistFontSize;