diff --git a/src/qtgui/preview_w.cpp b/src/qtgui/preview_w.cpp
index aa4769ab..852a9493 100644
--- a/src/qtgui/preview_w.cpp
+++ b/src/qtgui/preview_w.cpp
@@ -491,23 +491,21 @@ void Preview::setCurTabProps(const Rcl::Doc &doc, int docnum)
     int curidx = pvTab->currentIndex();
     pvTab->setTabText(curidx, title);
 
-    char datebuf[100];
-    datebuf[0] = 0;
+    string datebuf;
     if (!doc.fmtime.empty() || !doc.dmtime.empty()) {
         time_t mtime = doc.dmtime.empty() ? 
             atoll(doc.fmtime.c_str()) : atoll(doc.dmtime.c_str());
         struct tm *tm = localtime(&mtime);
-        strftime(datebuf, 99, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", tm);
+        datebuf = utf8datestring("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", tm);
     }
     LOGDEB("Doc.url: [" << doc.url << "]\n");
     string url;
     printableUrl(theconfig->getDefCharset(), doc.url, url);
     string tiptxt = url + string("\n");
-    tiptxt += doc.mimetype + " " + string(datebuf) + "\n";
+    tiptxt += doc.mimetype + " " + datebuf + "\n";
     if (!ctitle.empty())
         tiptxt += ctitle + "\n";
-    pvTab->setTabToolTip(curidx,
-                         QString::fromUtf8(tiptxt.c_str(), tiptxt.length()));
+    pvTab->setTabToolTip(curidx, u8s2qs(tiptxt));
 
     PreviewTextEdit *e = currentEditor();
     if (e) {
diff --git a/src/qtgui/restable.cpp b/src/qtgui/restable.cpp
index 270a4773..6241e911 100644
--- a/src/qtgui/restable.cpp
+++ b/src/qtgui/restable.cpp
@@ -194,26 +194,22 @@ static string dategetter(const string&, const Rcl::Doc& doc)
 {
     string sdate;
     if (!doc.dmtime.empty() || !doc.fmtime.empty()) {
-        char datebuf[100];
-        datebuf[0] = 0;
         time_t mtime = doc.dmtime.empty() ?
             atoll(doc.fmtime.c_str()) : atoll(doc.dmtime.c_str());
         struct tm *tm = localtime(&mtime);
-        strftime(datebuf, 99, "%Y-%m-%d", tm);
-        transcode(datebuf, sdate, RclConfig::getLocaleCharset(), "UTF-8");
+        sdate = utf8datestring("%Y-%m-%d", tm);
     }
     return sdate;
 }
 
 static string datetimegetter(const string&, const Rcl::Doc& doc)
 {
-    char datebuf[100];
-    datebuf[0] = 0;
+    string datebuf;
     if (!doc.dmtime.empty() || !doc.fmtime.empty()) {
         time_t mtime = doc.dmtime.empty() ?
             atoll(doc.fmtime.c_str()) : atoll(doc.dmtime.c_str());
         struct tm *tm = localtime(&mtime);
-        strftime(datebuf, 99, prefs.creslistdateformat.c_str(), tm);
+        datebuf = utf8datestring(prefs.creslistdateformat.c_str(), tm);
     }
     return datebuf;
 }
diff --git a/src/query/reslistpager.cpp b/src/query/reslistpager.cpp
index 438a7465..5a9b4b36 100644
--- a/src/query/reslistpager.cpp
+++ b/src/query/reslistpager.cpp
@@ -196,13 +196,10 @@ void ResListPager::displayDoc(RclConfig *config, int i, Rcl::Doc& doc,
     // Document date: either doc or file modification times
     string datebuf;
     if (!doc.dmtime.empty() || !doc.fmtime.empty()) {
-        char cdate[100];
-        cdate[0] = 0;
         time_t mtime = doc.dmtime.empty() ?
             atoll(doc.fmtime.c_str()) : atoll(doc.dmtime.c_str());
         struct tm *tm = localtime(&mtime);
-        strftime(cdate, 99, dateFormat().c_str(), tm);
-        transcode(cdate, datebuf, RclConfig::getLocaleCharset(), "UTF-8");
+        datebuf = utf8datestring(dateFormat(), tm);
     }
 
     // Size information. We print both doc and file if they differ a lot
diff --git a/src/utils/conftree.cpp b/src/utils/conftree.cpp
index 94ce2922..15eacd96 100644
--- a/src/utils/conftree.cpp
+++ b/src/utils/conftree.cpp
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
  */
 #ifdef BUILDING_RECOLL
 #include "autoconfig.h"
+#include "transcode.h"
 #else
 #include "config.h"
 #endif
diff --git a/src/utils/rclutil.cpp b/src/utils/rclutil.cpp
index 3e22cdea..af1a7f84 100644
--- a/src/utils/rclutil.cpp
+++ b/src/utils/rclutil.cpp
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
 #include "md5ut.h"
 #include "log.h"
 #include "smallut.h"
+#include "rclconfig.h"
 
 using namespace std;
 
@@ -277,6 +278,23 @@ string url_gpathS(const string& url)
 #endif
 }
 
+std::string utf8datestring(const std::string& format, struct tm *tm)
+{
+    string u8date;
+#ifdef _WIN32
+    wchar_t wformat[200];
+    utf8towchar(format, wformat, 199);
+    wchar_t wdate[250];
+    wcsftime(wdate, 250, wformat, tm);
+    wchartoutf8(wformat, u8date);
+#else
+    char datebuf[200];
+    strftime(datebuf, 199, format.c_str(), tm);
+    transcode(datebuf, u8date, RclConfig::getLocaleCharset(), "UTF-8");
+#endif
+    return u8date;
+}
+
 const string& tmplocation()
 {
     static string stmpdir;
diff --git a/src/utils/rclutil.h b/src/utils/rclutil.h
index 4d2f3910..f1226575 100644
--- a/src/utils/rclutil.h
+++ b/src/utils/rclutil.h
@@ -47,6 +47,10 @@ extern bool printableUrl(const std::string& fcharset,
 /// "/c/" This should be used only for splitting the path in rcldb.
 extern std::string url_gpathS(const std::string& url);
 
+/// Like strftime but guaranteed utf-8 output (esp. useful on Windows)
+struct tm;
+extern std::string utf8datestring(const std::string& format, struct tm *tm);
+
 /// Retrieve the temp dir location: $RECOLL_TMPDIR else $TMPDIR else /tmp
 extern const std::string& tmplocation();