diff --git a/public/index.html b/public/index.html
index f76f019f1..3242d4755 100644
--- a/public/index.html
+++ b/public/index.html
@@ -3532,8 +3532,8 @@
                             <select id="character_sort_order" title="Characters sorting order" data-i18n="[title]Characters sorting order">
                                 <option data-field="name" data-order="asc" data-i18n="A-Z">A-Z</option>
                                 <option data-field="name" data-order="desc" data-i18n="Z-A">Z-A</option>
-                                <option data-field="date_added" data-order="desc" data-i18n="Newest">Newest</option>
-                                <option data-field="date_added" data-order="asc" data-i18n="Oldest">Oldest</option>
+                                <option data-field="create_date" data-order="desc" data-i18n="Newest">Newest</option>
+                                <option data-field="create_date" data-order="asc" data-i18n="Oldest">Oldest</option>
                                 <option data-field="fav" data-order="desc" data-rule="boolean" data-i18n="Favorites">Favorites</option>
                                 <option data-field="date_last_chat" data-order="desc" data-i18n="Recent">Recent</option>
                                 <option data-field="chat_size" data-order="desc" data-i18n="Most chats">Most chats</option>
diff --git a/server.js b/server.js
index 06fc2c561..af755ed10 100644
--- a/server.js
+++ b/server.js
@@ -309,8 +309,8 @@ function getTiktokenTokenizer(model) {
     return tokenizer;
 }
 
-function humanizedISO8601DateTime() {
-    let baseDate = new Date(Date.now());
+function humanizedISO8601DateTime(date = Date.now()) {
+    let baseDate = new Date(date);
     let humanYear = baseDate.getFullYear();
     let humanMonth = (baseDate.getMonth() + 1);
     let humanDate = baseDate.getDate();
@@ -923,7 +923,7 @@ function convertToV2(char) {
     });
 
     result.chat = char.chat ?? humanizedISO8601DateTime();
-    result.create_date = char.create_date || humanizedISO8601DateTime();
+    result.create_date = char.create_date ?? humanizedISO8601DateTime();
     return result;
 }
 
@@ -981,7 +981,7 @@ function readFromV2(char) {
     });
 
     char['chat'] = char['chat'] ?? humanizedISO8601DateTime();
-    char['create_date'] = char['create_date'] || humanizedISO8601DateTime();
+    char['create_date'] = char['create_date'] ?? humanizedISO8601DateTime();
 
     return char;
 }
@@ -1383,6 +1383,7 @@ const processCharacter = async (item, i) => {
         characters[i]['json_data'] = img_data;
         const charStat = fs.statSync(path.join(charactersPath, item));
         characters[i]['date_added'] = charStat.birthtimeMs;
+        characters[i]['create_date'] = jsonObject['create_date'] || humanizedISO8601DateTime(charStat.birthtimeMs);
         const char_dir = path.join(chatsPath, item.replace('.png', ''));
 
         const { chatSize, dateLastChat } = calculateChatSize(char_dir);