How to Get Current and Previous Month in Power Automate?

In our recent project, a client asked me to retrieve the current month’s name and number using Power Automate. While researching this, I learned that the Power Automate formatDateTime() function and the utcNow() can help to achieve this.

In this article, I will explain how to get current and previous month in Power Automate. Additionally, we will discuss some more topics below:

• Get the current month number in Power Automate
• How to obtain the current month’s name in Power Automate
• Retrieve the current month’s abbreviation in Power Automate
• Get the previous month in Power Automate
• Retrieve the last month’s name using Power Automate
• How to get the start day of the last month using Power Automate
• How to get the last day of the last month using Power Automate

Get Current Month in Power Automate

Power Automate formatDateTime() function can retrieve the current month using utcNow in a flow. With this function, a user can display a particular date and time format irrespective of the user’s system settings.

Formats for Month that can include in formatDateTime() function:

MMMM- Month name -October
MMM- Month abbreviation -Oct
MM-Month number -10

A step-by-step guide to get the current month in Power Automate flow:

Get Current Month Number in Power Automate

Open a Power Automate Home page by logging through your Microsoft credentials. Next, create a manual trigger flow in Flow Studio. Then, take an Initialized variable and fill in the below details:

• Name: Give a name for an initialized variable.
• Type: Select datatype from the drop-down.
• Value: Provide the below code in the value section.

int(formatDateTime(utcNow(),'MM'))

To see the output, add a Compose data operation and take the Input value generated from an initialized variable.

@{variables('Current Month Number')}

Get Current Month Name in Power Automate

Let us see how to get the current month’s name in Power Automate.

• In the initialized variable, set the below details:
  • Name: Provide a name for an initialized variable.
  • Type: Select datatype as ‘String ‘ from the drop-down.
  • Value: Provide the expression given below in the value column.

formatDateTime(utcNow(),'MMMM')

• In the Compose action, take value from the dynamic content of variables as shown below:

@{variables('Current Month')}

Get Current Month Abbreviation in Power Automate

• Similarly, set the Value of an initialized variable as given in the code below.
  • Name: Give a name for the variable.
  • Type: Select a data type as ‘ String ‘from the drop-down.

formatDateTime(utcNow(),'MMM')

• To check the output, add Compose action and give below details:
  • Inputs: Select the output value that comes with variables under dynamic content.

@{variables('Current Month')}

• Once the flow has been created, click on Save and Test Manually.

Today’s Date is 11-10-2023 (dd-MM-yyyy) format.

The below image shows the output for the current month’s number:

The image placed below will represent the output for the current month’s name:

Below shown screenshot will display the output for the current month’s abbreviation:

This is how to get the current month in Power Automate using the formatDateTime() function.

Get Previous Month in Power Automate

Let us check out how to get the previous month in Power Automate. I have taken four examples based on the previous month in Power Automate.

1. Navigate to https://make.powerautomate.com/ and click on + Create -> select “Instant cloud flow”. In the next window, provide a flow name, select “Manually trigger a flow”, and click on Create.

2. Next, add an “Initialized variable” to store the value and be used during the flow. Here, provide the details below:

• Name: Set a name for an initialized variable.
• Type: Select datatype as ‘String‘ from the drop-down.
• Value: Add the below code in value.

addToTime(utcNow(),-1,'month','yyyy-MM-dd')

3. Then, add a Compose data operation to check the output from an initialized variable.

• Inputs: Select output from variables under dynamic content.

@{variables('Previous Month')}

4. The flow is ready, and we can test it. Save the flow and Click on Test -> Manually to test flow.

5. This is the output received from the compose flow action i.e. Previous Month Date.

This is how to get the previous month using the formatDateTime() in a Power Automate flow.

Get Previous Month Name Using Power Automate

Similarly, based on the current date (13-10-2023) in Power Automate, I will show you how to get the previous month’s name in a flow.

Let us get the previous month’s name based on the utcNow() function using the add to Time formula in a Power Automate flow.

Follow the below step-by-step instructions to create an instant cloud flow:

1. Click App Launcher -> Select Power Automate and click on +Create -> Select “Instant cloud flow.” In the next window, provide a flow name, choose “Manually trigger a flow” and click on Create.

2. When the trigger is added to the flow, select an “Initialized variable” flow action and set the details below.

• Name: Set a name for a variable.
• Type: Select datatype as ‘String’ from drop-down.
• Value: Provide the below expression in value.

addToTime(utcNow(),-1,'month','MMMM')

3. Then, add a “Compose” data operation and give input value from the dynamic content of an initialized variable.

@{variables('Previous Month Name')}

4. Once the flow has been created. Save it. Click on Test -> Manually to test flow.

5. The output generated from the initialized variable will display the previous month’s name.

This is how to work on the Power Automate formatDateTime() function to get the previous month’s name inside a flow.

Get the Start Day Of the Previous Month in Power Automate

Now, I will show you how to get the start day of the previous month in a Power Automate flow based on the current date (13-10-2023).

Here, I will follow the same steps to create a Power Automate flow, but this time, I will use a different function in an initialized variable to get the start day of the previous month.

Follow the below instructions to build a Power Automate flow.

1. In the initialized variable, provide the below expression in value and set details like:

• Name: Provide a name for a variable.
• Type: Select datatype from the drop-down.
• Value: Add the code below to the value section.

startOfMonth(addToTime(utcNow(),-1,'Month'),'MMM dd,yyyy')

2. Next, add a Compose data operation to check the output from an initialized variable.

• Inputs: Select output from dynamic content.

@{variables('Previous Month')}

3. The outputs of compose will show the start day of a previous month inside a flow.

This is how to extract the start day of a previous month using Power Automate flow.

Get the Last Day Of the Previous Month in Power Automate

In this section, I will explain the final example, i.e., Power Automate, of how to get the previous month’s last day using a flow.

Follow the above-mentioned steps to create a Power Automate flow that will retrieve the last day of the previous month using the utcNow() function.

This means it will get the previous month’s last day, i.e. (30- Sep-2023) with the current date (14-10-2023).

1. Add the code below to the value section in the initialized variable.

subtractFromTime(startOfMonth(addToTime(utcNow(),0,'month')),1,'day','dddd, MMMM dd,yyyy')

2. Then, add a Compose data operation to check the output from an initialized variable.

@{variables('Last day')}

3. The compose outputs will show the last day of a previous month inside a flow.

This is how to get the last day of a previous month by using Power Automate functions inside a flow.

Conclusion

Now, I hope you know how to get the names of the current and previous months in Power Automate. We also discussed how to get the start day and last day of the previous month using Power Automate.

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Preeti Sahu

Preeti Sahu is an expert in Power Apps and has over six years of experience working with SharePoint Online and the Power Platform. She is the co-author of Microsoft Power Platform: A Deep Dive book. As a Power Platform developer, she has worked on developing various tools using Power Apps and Power Automate. She also makes Microsoft 365 videos and shares them on YouTube.