diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index eb435792c2b8fdde27203f52ff7abc287eda3dca..0d7f77a931cd917cc976b9af29f3e88e9dd2a53d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Added ###
 
-* `send_mail` function in `caosdbadvanced.serverside.helper` module
+* `send_mail` function in `caosadvancedtools.serverside.helper` module
 - New class to collect possible problems with the data model
 - New class for checking and importing tables
 - Function to get a file path to a shared resource directory
@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Changed ###
 
+* The `caosadvancedtools.table_importer.date_converter` now actually returns
+  `datetime.date` instance. A new
+  `caosadvancedtools.table_importer.datetime_converter` replaces the old
+  `date_converter` and returns a `datetime.datetime` instance.
 - The suppression module is now a logging filter.
 - The WebUIHandler is now a python logging formatter.
 - instead of `get_entity`, type-specific functions are used in
diff --git a/src/caosadvancedtools/table_importer.py b/src/caosadvancedtools/table_importer.py
index 03b4ffbc1549e008684e58158a8a57bd055237ad..bc1c2452c10db255f4dd4f4b1fb84b2ddeee5af5 100755
--- a/src/caosadvancedtools/table_importer.py
+++ b/src/caosadvancedtools/table_importer.py
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ def yes_no_converter(val):
             "Field should be 'Yes' or 'No', but is '{}'.".format(val))
 
 
-def date_converter(val, fmt="%Y-%m-%d"):
+def datetime_converter(val, fmt="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"):
     """ if the value is already a datetime, it is returned otherwise it
     converts it using format string
     """
@@ -82,6 +82,14 @@ def date_converter(val, fmt="%Y-%m-%d"):
         return datetime.strptime(val, fmt)
 
 
+def date_converter(val, fmt="%Y-%m-%d"):
+    """ if the value is already a datetime, it is returned otherwise it
+    converts it using format string
+    """
+
+    return datetime_converter(val, fmt=fmt).date()
+
+
 def win_path_list_converter(val):
     """
     checks whether the value looks like a list of windows paths and converts
diff --git a/unittests/date.xlsx b/unittests/date.xlsx
index c852cde999b0014aece605328a407481e0de24b5..3402631e9cf48f0a08bd4e6269fcd9a01ae18472 100644
Binary files a/unittests/date.xlsx and b/unittests/date.xlsx differ
diff --git a/unittests/test_table_importer.py b/unittests/test_table_importer.py
index 3d44b0dc5fb9a229e1b79fe114082b2fc33a8c23..db40361c481365b8d88a7932e4f68048db22c5bb 100644
--- a/unittests/test_table_importer.py
+++ b/unittests/test_table_importer.py
@@ -21,12 +21,14 @@ import os
 import unittest
 from functools import partial
 from tempfile import NamedTemporaryFile
+import datetime
 
 import numpy as np
 import pandas as pd
 from caosadvancedtools.datainconsistency import DataInconsistencyError
 from caosadvancedtools.table_importer import (XLSImporter, assure_name_format,
                                               date_converter,
+                                              datetime_converter,
                                               win_path_converter,
                                               win_path_list_converter,
                                               yes_no_converter)
@@ -60,6 +62,17 @@ class ConverterTest(unittest.TestCase):
             r"\this\computer,\this\computer"),
                          ["/this/computer", "/this/computer"])
 
+    def test_datetime(self):
+        test_file = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "date.xlsx")
+        self.importer = XLSImporter(converters={'d': datetime_converter,
+                                                }, obligatory_columns=['d'])
+
+        xls_file = pd.io.excel.ExcelFile(test_file)
+        df = xls_file.parse()
+        df = self.importer.read_xls(test_file)
+        assert df.shape[0] == 2
+        assert df.d.iloc[0] == datetime.datetime(1980,12,31,13,24,23)
+
     def test_date(self):
         test_file = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "date.xlsx")
         self.importer = XLSImporter(converters={'a': date_converter,