PowerApps Now, Today, and IsToday function

In this PowerApps tutorial, we will discuss the Power Apps Now() function, PowerApps Today(), and IsToday() functions in PowerApps. Also, we will see what are its syntaxes and how you can use all these functions in the app.

Also, we will cover these below topics:

PowerApps Now Function
PowerApps Today Function
PowerApps IsToday Function
Examples of PowerApps Now, Today, and IsToday function
PowerApps today date
PowerApps today minus
PowerApps today dd/mm/yyyy
PowerApps today short date
PowerApps today year
PowerApps today timezone
PowerApps today month
PowerApps today date without time
PowerApps today hours
PowerApps now() not updating
PowerApps now utc
PowerApps now() milliseconds
PowerApps now() refresh

PowerApps Now Function

PowerApps Now function, is used to get the current date and time as a date/time value. This function works with the local time of the current user.

PowerApps Now Function Syntax

Below represents the syntax of the PowerApps Now function.

Now()

PowerApps Today Function

PowerApps Today function is used to get the current date as a date/time value. In this function, the time portion is midnight. The today value calculates from midnight today to midnight tomorrow. This function also works with the local time of the current user.

PowerApps Today Function Syntax

Below represents the syntax of the PowerApps Today function.

Today()

Read PowerApps Functions Tutorial

PowerApps IsToday Function

PowerApps IsToday function helps to test whether a date/time value is between midnight today and midnight tomorrow. The result of this function returns a Boolean (true or false) value. Also, this function works with the local time of the current user.

PowerApps IsToday Function Syntax

Below represents the syntax of the PowerApps IsToday function.

IsToday( DateTime )

Where,

DateTime = This is required. Specify a date/time value to test.

PowerApps Now, Today, and IsToday function Examples

For the below example, the current time is 4:45 AM on January 4, 2022, and the language is en-us.

Formula	Description	Output
Text( Now(), “mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss” )	It helps to get the current date and time and displays it as a string.	“01/04/2022 04:45:00”
Text( Today(), “mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss” )	It helps to get the current date only, leaving the time portion as midnight, and displays it as a string.	“01/04/2022 00:00:00”
IsToday( Now() )	It helps to test whether the current date and time are between midnight today and midnight tomorrow.	true
IsToday( Today() )	It helps to test whether the current date is between midnight today and midnight tomorrow.	true
Text( DateAdd( Now(), 15 ), “mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss” )	It retrieves the current date and time, adds 15 days to the result, and displays it as a string.	“02/19/2022 04:45:00”
Text( DateAdd( Today(), 15 ), “mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss” )	It is used to get the current date, adds 15 days to the result, and displays it as a string.	“02/19/2022 00:00:00”
IsToday( DateAdd( Now(), 15 ) )	It tests whether the current date and time, plus 15 days, is between midnight today and midnight tomorrow.	false
IsToday( DateAdd( Today(), 15 ) )	It tests whether the current date, plus 15 days, is between midnight today and midnight tomorrow.	false

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PowerApps today date

Here we will see how to get today’s date in PowerApps. We can use two different codes to get today’s date or the current date. Not only today’s date, but also you can get the current date including the current time.

Insert a Label control and apply the below formula on its Text property as:

Text = "Current Date: " & Text(
    Now(),
    DateTimeFormat.ShortDate
)

Where,

“Current Date: “ = It is the string that will display in the label control
Now() = This is the PowerApps function to get the current date
DateTimeFormat.ShortDate = This function will retrieve Four-digit year with numerical month and day of the month.

Also, you can use the below code to retrieve the current date including the current time. Set the Label’s Text property to the below code:

Text = "Current Date: " & Text(
    Now(),
    "[$-en-US]mm-dd-yyyy hh:mm:ss"
)

Where,

“[$-en-US]mm-dd-yyyy hh:mm:ss” = This is the format to get the current time (Hour:Minute:Second)

This is how to get PowerApps today date.

Also, read: PowerApps Search User

PowerApps today minus

Next, We will see what is PowerApps today minus and how we can use it? Check out the below scenarios.

Example – 1:

In this example, there is a Date picker control (Submission End Date) and a label control. When a user will select the end date, then it will calculate the total date difference in between current date and the date that has been selected by the user.
For example, if the current date is 1/6/2022 and the user selected end date is 1/10/2022, then the total date difference in between these two days is 4. So the result will display in the label control as shown below.
Similarly, suppose the user selected the end date is 1/4/2022 (where the current date is 1/6/2022), then it is calculated and the result is displayed as -2 in the label control.

To work around with this, select the label control (where the result will appear) and apply the below code on its Text property as:

Text = "Date Difference in between Today and End Date: " & DateDiff(
    Today(),
    dtSubEndDate
)

Where,

“Date Difference in between Today and End Date: ” = Specify the string that will display in the label control
DateDiff = PowerApps DateDiff function returns the difference between two date/time values. The result is a whole number of units.
dtSubEndDate = Date picker control name

Example – 2:

In this scenario, there are total three of label controls. One label is used to enter the start time, other one is used to enter the end time, and the third one is used to display the total day difference result.
Suppose, I have entered the start date is 1/6/2022 and the end date is 1/15/2022, then the total day difference will appear as 9 in the below screenshot.

today minus in PowerApps — PowerApps today minus

To do this, set the following formula on the Label’s Text property as:

Text = "Total Day Difference: " & DateDiff(
    DateTimeValue(lblStartTime.Text),
    DateTimeValue(lblEndTime.Text),
    Days
)

Where,

lblStartTime = Start time label control name
lblEndTime = End time label control name
Days = PowerApps Day function helps to return the day component of a Date/Time value, i.e. from 1 to 31.

Here, as we are using a label control instead of the date picker control, so we need to first convert the label text to a DateTime before getting the difference. That’s why we are using the DateTimeValue function.

Save and Preview the app. Enter the start date and as well as the end date (with a date format) in the label control.

This is how to work with PowerApps today minus.

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PowerApps today dd/mm/yyyy

Do you want to display the dates in DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY format in PowerApps? Follow the below things to change the date format.

Suppose you have a Date picker control in the app. You need to change its format to as per your need either DD/MM/YYYY, MM/DD/YYYY, YYYY/MM/DD, etc.
To make it very easy, PowerApps Date picker control has a property called Format. When you will add a date picker control on the screen, by default its Format property displays as like below:

Format = DateTimeFormat.ShortDate

As per the by default format, the date is appearing like MM/DD/YYYY format in the date picker control. So, if you want to change the format as per your choice, then make the changes using this Format property only.

Now if I want to change the date format like DD/MM/YYYY, then I will apply this format in the Date picker’s Format property as:

Format = "dd/mm/yyyy"

You need to make sure that the date format should be present within the ” ” (inverted comma). Otherwise, you will get the error.

Refer to the below screenshot.

Example:

For example, suppose you want to view the current date in DD/MM/YYYY format, so insert the below formula on Label’s Text property as:

Text = Text(Now(),"dd/mm/yyyy")

This is how to work with PowerApps today dd/mm/yyyy.

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PowerApps today short date

Do you want today’s short date in PowerApps? Do not hurry. Its so simple as we also discussed in above. Just put the formula and get the result in a label control. PowerApps Short date means you will only get the current date in “mm/dd/yyyy” format.

Select the label control and apply the below code on its Text property as:

Text = "Today's Short Date: " & Text(
    Today(),
    DateTimeFormat.ShortDate
)

Where,

“Today’s Short Date: ” = This is the string that will display in the label control

This explains how to get today’s short date in PowerApps.

PowerApps today year

Do you need to retrieve the current or Today’s year in PowerApps? Follow the below code.

Insert a Label control and set the below formula on its Text property as:

Text = "Current Year: " & Year(Now())

Where,

Year(Now()) = This PowerApps function returns the year component of the current time and date.

Moreover, if you want to get the current month, current day, current hour, current minute etc, then you can use these below PowerApps functions as:

Month( Now() )
Day( Now() )
Hour( Now() )
Minute( Now() )

PowerApps today timezone

Here we will see how to work with today’s timezone in PowerApps. Go through the below scenarios.

Scenario – 1:

In the below scenario, I would like to get an Eastern time using the PowerApps Now() function. Also, the time should display AM or PM for where the user is located.
So the below screenshot represents a Button control and two label controls. When the user will click on the button, then the user will get date and time (including AM/PM) based upon user’s time zone.
If your records in UTC, the date/time displayed should reflect the timezone of the user viewing the data. So someone in PST or EST would see the date/time in their respective timezone.
You can use the fomula: Text(Now(), UTC) to get the UTC timestamp.
You will need to use the “DateTimeValue” formula when displaying the value, if you store that as text. Refer the below formulas to view the results.

Select the button named (Click Me!) and apply the below formula on its OnSelect property as:

OnSelect = UpdateContext(
    {
        now: Text(
            Now(),
            UTC
        )
    }
)

Where,

now = Context variable name

Next, select the first label control and set the context variable on its Text property as:

Text = now

When you will press the button, It will display only the context that I stored previously.

Now, select the second label control and set its Text property to the below code:

Text = DateTimeValue(now)

When you will press the button, it will display the value stored in “now” as shown in the below screenshot.

Scenario – 2:

In this scenario, I would like to get the current user’s timezone (either UTC, EST, AST, CST, etc.).

To do this, you can calculate that based on the value of the time zone offset. Insert a label control and apply the below code on its Text property as:

Text = "UTC" & If(
    TimeZoneOffset() > 0,
    "-",
    "+"
) & RoundDown(
    Abs(TimeZoneOffset()) / 60,
    0
) & ":" & If(
    Mod(
        Abs(TimeZoneOffset()),
        60
    ) < 10,
    "0",
    ""
) & Mod(
    Abs(TimeZoneOffset()),
    60
)

Refer to the below screenshot.

As my current time zone is UTC, So the result is displaying as UTC+5:30 as shown above.

This is how we can use PowerApps today timezone.

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PowerApps today month

As we discussed above, we can also get the current or today’s month in PowerApps. Not only the current month but also we can get current Hour, Minute, Second, etc. There is only a simple function used for it.

To achieve this, add a label control and set the below function on its Text property as:

Text = "Current Month: " & Month( Now() )

As my current month is January, so it’s displaying with a numeric number 1 as like the below screenshot.

Instead of the numeric value, if you want to display the current month like January, February, March, etc, then you need to write the below formula on Label’s Text property as:

Text = "Current Month: " & Text(
    Today(),
    "mmmm"
)

“mmmm” = To get the month name, you need to specify this format.

This is how to work with PowerApps today month.

PowerApps today date without time

Do you want to display PowerApps today date without time? Check out the below example to know details about what it is.

In the app, there is a gallery control where all the records are retrieved from a SharePoint list (named Products).
The gallery control is having the Product Title and Product Sales Date. Now, the sales date field is appearing including the Time (with AM/PM).
Here, I would like to display only the date excluding the time format.

So, previously the date field was appearing with time (where the formula was only ThisItem.’Sales Date’). To work without time, apply the below formula on gallery Label’s Text property as:

Text = Text(
    ThisItem.'Sales Date',
    "dd-mmm-yyyy"
)

Where,

“dd-mmm-yyyy” = This is the PowerApps date format that will appear in the label

Once you will save and preview the app, you can see the date without its time as like the above screenshot.

This is how to work with PowerApps today date without time.

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PowerApps today hours

Similarly, we can get today’s current hour in PowerApps. To get it, we will use a single PowerApps function.

Add a Label control and set the below function on its Text property as:

Text = "Current Hour: " & Hour( Now() )

If you want to get the current hour with the current minute, then follow the below code:

Text = "Current Hour: " & Hour(Now()) & ":" & Minute(Now())

Refer to the below screenshot.

Also, you can follow this forum link to know more details: How to get hours & minutes from string

This is how to work with PowerApps today hours.

PowerApps now()

PowerApps Now function will return the date and time in the current timezone of the user.
You can use a combination of the DateAdd() and TimeZoneOffset() functions to get the current time in UTC (Universal Timecode).
To workaround with this, set the below code on Label’s Text property as:

Text = DateAdd(
    Now(),
    TimeZoneOffset(Now())
)

Check the below screenshot.

This is how to work with PowerApps now() function.

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PowerApps now() not updating

Sometimes what happens is, the PowerApps Now() function is not working while you are refreshing it. So here we will discuss how to refresh the Now() function in PowerApps text.
Normally, I would like to refresh the Now() function value on a Label Text when a button control is pressed but sometimes it won’t work. To solve this type of issues, follow the below things that you can do.
Insert a Label control and as well as a Button control (that user can use to click). When the user will press on it, it will update you the current time in the label control as shown below.

To achieve this, set a variable on Button’s OnSelect property as:

OnSelect = Set(var, Now())

Where,

var = Variable name

Next, specify the variable on Label’s Text property as:

Text = var

Suppose, you want LongDateTime24 formatted text, then use the below code on label’s Text property as:

Text = Text(var,DateTimeFormat.LongDateTime24)

Refer to the below screenshot to view the result.

PowerApps now() function Add 5 seconds

Suppose you want to get the current time + 5 seconds extra time (not only five seconds but also you can specify the seconds as per your need), then you can use the below formulas. Everytime the result you will get once you will press the button control.

Select the Button control (Click Me) and set the below code on its OnSelect property as:

OnSelect = Set(
    varAddTime,
    DateAdd(
        Now(),
        5,
        Seconds
    )
)

Where,

varAddTime = Variable name

Next, select the label control and add the below code on its Text property:

Text = Text(
    varAddTime,
    DateTimeFormat.LongDateTime24
)

Refer to the below screenshot.

These are the simple tricks that we can use while the PowerApps Now() function is not updating or not working.

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PowerApps now utc

Suppose you need the current time in UTC, but the Now() function returns the value in local time. So here we will see how can we get it in UTC or how can we convert it from local to UTC?

To achieve this, insert a label control and apply the below code on its Text property as:

Text = "UTC Current Time:  " & Text(
    Now(),
    DateTimeFormat.UTC
)

Where,

“UTC Current Time: ” = Specify the text or string that will display in the label control

Once you will save and preview the app, you will view the UTC current time in the label control as shown above screenshot.

This is how to use PowerApps now utc.

PowerApps now() refresh

Do you want to refresh the PowerApps now() function, check out this article Refresh Now() to get more details.

Also, you may like the below PowerApps Tutorials:

In this PowerApps tutorial, we discussed all the details about the Now(), Today(), and IsToday() functions in PowerApps. Also, we saw what are its syntaxes and how you can use all these functions in the app.

And, we covered these below topics:

What is Now Function in PowerApps
What is Today Function in PowerApps
What is IsToday Function in PowerApps
Examples of PowerApps Now, Today, and IsToday function
How to get today date in PowerApps
PowerApps today minus
PowerApps today dd/mm/yyyy
PowerApps today short date
PowerApps today year
PowerApps today timezone
PowerApps today month
How to work with PowerApps today date without time
PowerApps today hours
PowerApps now()
PowerApps now() not updating or PowerApps now() function not working
PowerApps now utc
PowerApps now() refresh

Bijay Kumar

I am Bijay a Microsoft MVP (8 times – My MVP Profile) in SharePoint and have more than 15 years of expertise in SharePoint Online Office 365, SharePoint subscription edition, and SharePoint 2019/2016/2013. Currently working in my own venture TSInfo Technologies a SharePoint development, consulting, and training company. I also run the popular SharePoint website EnjoySharePoint.com