Power Apps DateAdd Function: With UseCase Examples

If you’ve spent any time building apps in Power Apps, you’ve probably run into a situation where you need to work with dates — calculate a due date, find records from the last 30 days, auto-fill an expiry date, or convert UTC time to local time.

That’s exactly where the DateAdd function comes in. It’s simple, flexible, and once you understand how it works, you’ll use it in almost every app you build.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through everything — the syntax, every supported unit, practical examples you can use right away, common mistakes to avoid, and how to combine DateAdd with other functions to solve real problems.

Power Apps DateAdd Function

DateAdd is a built-in Power Apps function that adds or subtracts a specific amount of time from a date or date-time value. You give it a starting date, a number, and a unit (like days, months, or hours), and it returns a new date shifted by that amount.

It’s like telling Power Apps: “Take this date, move it forward 30 days, and give me that new date.”

You’ll use it for things like:

• Auto-calculating due dates in forms
• Filtering galleries to show records from the last X days
• Setting expiry or renewal dates
• Converting UTC timestamps to local time
• Building date-based conditional logic

Power Apps DateAdd Syntax and Parameters

DateAdd( DateTime, Addition [, Units] )

Here’s what each parameter means:

• DateTime — Your starting date or date-time value. This can be Today(), Now(), a date picker value, a SharePoint date column, or a variable. This is required.
• Addition — How much to add. This is a number. Pass a positive number to go forward in time, a negative number to go backward. Required.
• Units — The unit of time you’re working with. This is optional. If you leave it out, Power Apps defaults to Days.

All TimeUnit Values You Can Use in Power Apps DateAdd()

Power Apps supports eight units in the DateAdd function. Here’s all of them:

TimeUnit Value	What It Means
TimeUnit.Milliseconds	Milliseconds
TimeUnit.Seconds	Seconds
TimeUnit.Minutes	Minutes
TimeUnit.Hours	Hours
TimeUnit.Days	Days (default if omitted)
TimeUnit.Months	Calendar months
TimeUnit.Quarters	Three-month periods
TimeUnit.Years	Full calendar years

A small but important note: when you use TimeUnit.Months or TimeUnit.Years, Power Apps handles the calendar math for you. So adding 1 month to January 31 gives you February 28 (or 29 in a leap year) — Power Apps won’t overflow into March.

How to Add Days to a Date in Power Apps

The most common use case in Power Apps is adding days. The syntax is straightforward:

DateAdd(Today(), 10, TimeUnit.Days)

You can also skip the unit entirely since Days is the default:

DateAdd(Today(), 10)

I’d still recommend explicitly including the unit. It makes your formula easier to read, especially when someone else (or future you) looks at it months later.

How to Add Months, Quarters, and Years Using Power Apps DateAdd()

Let’s see some examples:

Adding Months

DateAdd(Today(), 3, TimeUnit.Months)

This is perfect for quarterly billing cycles, trial period ends, or anything measured in months.

Adding Quarters

DateAdd(Today(), 2, TimeUnit.Quarters)

Two quarters = six months. You could achieve the same with 6, TimeUnit.Months, but Quarters is cleaner when your logic is explicitly quarter-based.

Adding Years

DateAdd(Today(), 1, TimeUnit.Years)

Useful for annual renewals, subscription expiry dates, or year-over-year comparisons.

Add Hours, Minutes, and Seconds Using Power Apps DateAdd()

When you’re working with time (not just dates), use Now() instead of Today() as your starting point. Now() returns the current date and time. Today() returns only the date at midnight.

Adding Hours

DateAdd(Now(), 4, TimeUnit.Hours)

Adding Minutes

DateAdd(Now(), 30, TimeUnit.Minutes)

Adding Seconds

DateAdd(Now(), 90, TimeUnit.Seconds)

Subtract Dates in Power Apps Using DateAdd

There’s no separate “DateSubtract” function in Power Apps. You subtract dates by simply passing a negative number as the Addition parameter.

Subtract Days

DateAdd(Today(), -7, TimeUnit.Days)

Subtract Months

DateAdd(Today(), -3, TimeUnit.Months)

Subtract Years

DateAdd(Today(), -2, TimeUnit.Years)

Subtract Hours from Now

DateAdd(Now(), -2, TimeUnit.Hours)

This pattern — using negative numbers to go back in time — is one of the most frequently used patterns in real apps, especially for filtering galleries to show recent records.

Power Apps DateAdd with Real-World Examples

Now let me show you the practical scenarios where you’ll actually use this in your apps.

Example 1: Auto-Fill a Due Date in a Power Apps Form

You have a form where users log tasks. You want the Due Date field to automatically default to 14 days from today, but users can still change it.

Set the DefaultDate property of your Date Picker control to:

DateAdd(Today(), 14, TimeUnit.Days)

That’s it. The field pre-fills 14 days out when the form opens, and the user can override it if needed.

Example 2: Power Apps Calculate a Contract or Subscription Expiry Date

A contract is signed on a specific date and lasts 1 year. Auto-calculate the expiry date from the signed date:

DateAdd(DatePicker_ContractStart.SelectedDate, 1, TimeUnit.Years)

You can display this in a label next to the form so users immediately see the expiry date as they fill in the start date.

Example 3: Filter a Power Apps Gallery to Show Last 30 Days

This is one of the most practical DateAdd formulas you’ll write. Say you have a SharePoint list and you want to show only records created in the last 30 days:

Filter(
    YourSharePointList,
    Created >= DateAdd(Today(), -30, TimeUnit.Days)
)

Replace YourSharePointList with your actual data source name and Created with your date column. For Dataverse, this works the same way.

Example 4: Show Records Due in the Next 7 Days in Power Apps

Want a “this week’s tasks” view in your Power Apps Data Table? Use DateAdd on both ends of a date range:

Filter(
    Tasks,
    DueDate >= Today() && DueDate <= DateAdd(Today(), 7, TimeUnit.Days)
)

This shows only items where the due date falls between today and 7 days from now.

Example 5: Build a Power Apps Date Range Picker with DateAdd

If you want to let users select a start date and automatically set the end date as 30 days later:

DateAdd(DatePicker_StartDate.SelectedDate, 30, TimeUnit.Days)

As the user picks a start date, the end date updates automatically.

Example 6: Highlight Overdue Items with Conditional Formatting in Power Apps

Use DateAdd with conditional formatting to turn overdue records red in a Power Apps Gallery. In the TemplateFill property of a label or container:

If(
   ThisItem.'Due Date' < Today(),
    RGBA(255, 0, 0, 0.1),
    RGBA(0, 0, 0, 0)
)

And if you want to highlight items due within the next 3 days in yellow:

If(
    DueDate < Today(),
    RGBA(255, 0, 0, 0.1),
    DueDate <= DateAdd(Today(), 3, TimeUnit.Days),
    RGBA(255, 255, 0, 0.2),
    RGBA(0, 0, 0, 0)
)

Example 7: Add Multiple Time Units — Nesting Power Apps DateAdd

DateAdd only accepts one unit per call. But what if you need to add both 2 months and 15 days? Just nest two DateAdd calls:

DateAdd(DateAdd(Today(), 2, TimeUnit.Months), 15, TimeUnit.Days)

The inner call adds 2 months first. Then the outer call adds 15 days to that result. Clean and readable.

Example 8: Convert UTC to Local Time Using DateAdd and TimeZoneOffset

SharePoint stores all date-time values in UTC. If your app displays a timestamp from a SharePoint list and it looks off by a few hours, this is why.

Here’s how to convert UTC to the user’s local time:

DateAdd(UTCDateTimeColumn, -TimeZoneOffset(), TimeUnit.Minutes)

TimeZoneOffset() returns the difference in minutes between UTC and the local time on the user’s device. The negative sign flips it from UTC to local.

And if you need to go the other way — convert local to UTC before saving to SharePoint:

DateAdd(Now(), TimeZoneOffset(), TimeUnit.Minutes)

This is one of the most practical (and most searched) Power Apps date questions, so it’s worth understanding well.

Example 9: Power Apps DateAdd with a Date Variable

You can use DateAdd on any date value, not just Today() or Now(). Here’s how to use it with a variable:

// First, set a date variable
Set(varProjectStart, DateValue("2026-01-15"));

// Then use DateAdd on that variable
DateAdd(varProjectStart, 90, TimeUnit.Days)
// Result: April 15, 2026

This is useful when you’re calculating dates based on values the user already entered earlier in the app.

Example 10: Use DateAdd with Power Apps Text() to Format the Output

DateAdd returns a date/time value. If you want to display it nicely in a label, wrap it in the Text() function:

Text(DateAdd(Today(), 30, TimeUnit.Days), "dd/mm/yyyy")

Or in a more readable format:

Text(DateAdd(Today(), 30, TimeUnit.Days), "mmmm dd, yyyy")

Power Apps DateAdd vs DateDiff — What’s the Difference?

People often confuse these two. Here’s the quick distinction:

• DateAdd — Takes a date and adds/subtracts time from it. Returns a new date.
• DateDiff — Takes two dates and measures the gap between them. Returns a number.

So:

• “What date is 30 days from today?” → Use DateAdd
• “How many days between date A and date B?” → Use DateDiff

Example of DateDiff for comparison:

DateDiff(Today(), DateValue("2026-12-31"), TimeUnit.Days)

You’ll often use them together. DateAdd to set a target date, DateDiff to calculate how far away it is.

Common Power Apps DateAdd Mistakes and How to Fix Them

1. Passing a text string instead of a date value

This will NOT work:

DateAdd("2026-03-22", 10, TimeUnit.Days) // Error!

You need to convert the string to a date first using DateValue():

DateAdd(DateValue("2026-03-22"), 10, TimeUnit.Days) // Works!

2. Forgetting that Today() returns midnight

Today() gives you the current date at 12:00 AM. If you’re working with time-sensitive logic and need the actual current time, use Now() instead.

3. Skipping the unit and getting unexpected results

If you’re adding months but forget the unit:

DateAdd(Today(), 3) // This adds 3 DAYS, not months

Always specify the unit to be safe and explicit.

4. Time zone issues with SharePoint data

If your filtered gallery is showing records off by a day, or timestamps look wrong, it’s almost always a UTC vs. local time issue. Use the TimeZoneOffset() conversion pattern I showed above.

5. Nesting more than two DateAdd calls

Nesting two DateAdd calls is fine. Beyond that, it gets hard to read and debug. Break it into variables instead:

Set(varStep1, DateAdd(Today(), 3, TimeUnit.Months));
Set(varStep2, DateAdd(varStep1, 15, TimeUnit.Days));
Set(varFinal, DateAdd(varStep2, 6, TimeUnit.Hours));

Much easier to follow.

Power Apps DateAdd Quick Reference Cheat Sheet

Bookmark this table for quick lookups:

What You Want to Do	DateAdd Formula
Add 7 days to today	DateAdd(Today(), 7, TimeUnit.Days)
Add 1 month to today	DateAdd(Today(), 1, TimeUnit.Months)
Add 1 year to a date	DateAdd(YourDate, 1, TimeUnit.Years)
Subtract 30 days from today	DateAdd(Today(), -30, TimeUnit.Days)
Go back 3 months	DateAdd(Today(), -3, TimeUnit.Months)
Add 2 hours to now	DateAdd(Now(), 2, TimeUnit.Hours)
Add 45 minutes to now	DateAdd(Now(), 45, TimeUnit.Minutes)
UTC to local time	DateAdd(UTCDate, -TimeZoneOffset(), TimeUnit.Minutes)
Local to UTC	DateAdd(Now(), TimeZoneOffset(), TimeUnit.Minutes)
Add months + days together	DateAdd(DateAdd(Today(), 2, TimeUnit.Months), 10, TimeUnit.Days)
Format result as text	Text(DateAdd(Today(), 30, TimeUnit.Days), "mmmm dd, yyyy")

Final Thoughts

I hope you found this article helpful. In this guide, I explained how to use the DateAdd function in Power Apps. I also shared simple examples to add or subtract dates. These examples make it easy to understand date calculations.

If you are building apps, you will use date logic often. DateAdd makes it easy to handle dates. Try the examples in your app and experiment with different values. With practice, it will become easy to use.

Also, you may like:

• Power Apps DateDiff() Function
• Update and UpdateIf in Power Apps
• Calculate Days Between Dates in Power Apps
• Show Repeating Table Data From SharePoint List in Power Apps