diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3ec1eb763..cb4cb7eec 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ You can also check the [release page](https://github.com/visualize-admin/visuali
 - Map:
   - area & symbol layers now use the same approach as for segment field (optional select element), to be more consistent across the app
   - it's now possible to use discrete color mapping in symbol layer
+- Errors:
+  - Make missing timeFormat error message more explicit
 
 ## [3.9.6] - 2022-10-12
 
diff --git a/app/components/hint.tsx b/app/components/hint.tsx
index b5816d382..9547c4985 100644
--- a/app/components/hint.tsx
+++ b/app/components/hint.tsx
@@ -158,7 +158,14 @@ export const LoadingDataError = ({ message }: { message?: string }) => (
     </Link>
 
     {message ? (
-      <pre style={{ marginTop: "0.5rem", marginLeft: "1rem", marginBottom: 0 }}>
+      <pre
+        style={{
+          marginTop: "0.5rem",
+          marginLeft: "1rem",
+          marginBottom: 0,
+          whiteSpace: "pre-wrap",
+        }}
+      >
         {message}
       </pre>
     ) : null}
diff --git a/app/docs/rdf-to-visualize.mdx b/app/docs/rdf-to-visualize.mdx
index 7ab89dbaa..6cf232e0f 100644
--- a/app/docs/rdf-to-visualize.mdx
+++ b/app/docs/rdf-to-visualize.mdx
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ called _Shared dimensions_, and their values will be fetched outside the cube.
 | `?dimension cube:meta/dataKind schema:GeoCoordinates`           | `dim.dataKind = "GeoCoordinates"` |
 | `?dimension cube:meta/dataKind schema:GeoShape`                 | `dim.dataKind = "GeoShape"`       |
 
-ℹ️ Temporal dimensions can be interactively filtered with a _time range slider_
+ℹ️ Temporal dimensions can be interactively filtered with a _time range slider_. **Important note**: in order to be able to properly parse temporal dimension, make sure it's scale it set to Interval!
 
 ℹ️ GeoCoordinates dimensions can be shown on a map as _points_
 
diff --git a/app/graphql/resolvers/index.ts b/app/graphql/resolvers/index.ts
index b988616c4..2f1328e80 100644
--- a/app/graphql/resolvers/index.ts
+++ b/app/graphql/resolvers/index.ts
@@ -189,7 +189,15 @@ export const resolvers: Resolvers = {
   TemporalDimension: {
     ...mkDimensionResolvers("TemporalDimension"),
     timeUnit: ({ data: { timeUnit } }) => timeUnit!,
-    timeFormat: ({ data: { timeFormat } }) => timeFormat!,
+    timeFormat: ({ data }) => {
+      if (data.timeFormat === undefined) {
+        throw new Error(
+          `Time format couldn't be retrieved for ${data.name}. Make sure it's set up properly in the Cube Creator – if it is, make sure that the interval scale is selected for this dimension (or remove time description if it's not a temporal dimension).`
+        );
+      }
+
+      return data.timeFormat;
+    },
   },
   GeoCoordinatesDimension: {
     ...mkDimensionResolvers("GeoCoordinatesDimension"),