How to Get Current Date in Power Automate + 7 Examples

Recently, I developed a travel application where the client must get the current date in Power Automate and display it in an email.

In this article, I will explain how to get current date in Power Automate using the utcNow() function. In addition to that, I will also describe how to customize different formats of date and time as mentioned below:

1. Power Automate get the current date in the Date-Month-Year format and Year-Month-Date format
2. Get the current date with time in Power Automate
3. Get the current date in Day of the week, Month day, Year (Ex: Thursday, June 11, 2023)
4. Get a current date in Month Day, Year format (Ex: Oct 16,2023)
5. Power Automate how to retrieve the current date in MM/dd/yyyy with 12 hours of time indicator
6. Obtain the current date in dd/MM/yyyy format with a 24-hour time indicator
7. Get the current date in yyyy/MM/dd Format in 12 hour time indicator

Get Current Date in Power Automate

When working with date and time values in Power Automate, we can see that they are not in a specific format according to our requirements. For that, Microsoft provides the formatDateTime() function to customize our required date format.

The below table will represent some of the different formats that can be used in the formatDateTime() function:

A step-by-step guide to get the current date in different formats of Power Automate flow:

I have created an instant cloud flow in Power Automate for all the examples.

Power Automate Get the Current Date in Day-Month-Year Format

Follow the instructions below to get the current date in the day-month-year format.

• On the instant cloud flow, add initialize a variable and fill in the below-mentioned details:
  • Name: Provide a name for the variable
  • Type: Set data type as ‘String’ from the drop-down
  • Value: Provide the expression that is given in below code:

formatDateTime(utcNow(),'dd-MM-yyyy')

• Next, add a Compose data operation and select the input that is generated from the initialized variable as shown below:

@{variables('Current Date')}

Output:

Power Automate Get the Current Date in Year-Month-Date Format

• In the initialized variable, select the Value that is given in the below code:

formatDateTime(utcNow(),'yyy-MM-dd')

• To see the output, add Compose action and take Inputs from variables as shown below image:

@{variables('Get Current Date')}

Output:

Power Automate Get the Current Date with Time

• In the initialized variable, select the below details:
  • Name: Enter the name of a variable
  • Type: Select datatype from drop-down
  • Value: Give the below expression in the value section.

formatDateTime(utcNow(),'yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss')

• Add a Compose action and set the below details:
  • Inputs: Select output under variables of dynamic content.

@{variables('Get Current Date and Time')}

Output:

Power Automate Get Current Date in Day of the week, Month day, Year Format

• In the initialized variable, set the Value as given in the below code:

formatDateTime(utcNow(),'dddd,MMMM dd,yyyy')

• Take a Compose action to check the output as shown below:
  • Inputs: Select from variables of dynamic content

@{variables('Current Date')}

Result:

Power Automate Get Current Date in Month Day, Year format

• Set the Value as mentioned code in the initialized variable along with the below details:
  • Name: Provide a name manually for the variable.
  • Type: Select datatype as ‘String‘ from drop-down

formatDateTime(utcNow(),'MMM dd,yyyy')

• To display the output, add a Compose data operation as shown below:

@{variables('Current Date')}

Result:

Power Automate Get the Current Date in MM/dd/yyyy with 12 Hours Time

• Set the expression that is provided in the code below in the Value column section:

formatDateTime(utcNow(),'MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm tt')

For yyyy/MM/dd format with 12-hour time:

formatDateTime(utcNow(),’yyyy/MM/dd hh:mm tt’) – With AM/PM Indicator
formatDateTime(utcNow(),’yyyy/MM/dd hh:mm’)- Without AM/PM Indicator

• To see the output, add a Compose action as shown below:

@{variables('Current Date')}

Output:

Power Automate Get the Current Date in dd/MM/yyyy with 24-hour Time

• In the Initialized variable, set the below-given details:
  • Name: Give a name for the initialized variable.
  • Type: Set the datatype as ‘String‘ from the drop-down
  • Value: Provide the value as mentioned in the below code.

formatDateTime(utcNow(),'dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss tt')

• Add a Compose action to check the output and give below details:
  • Inputs: Select variables of an initialized variable from the dynamic content.

@{variables('Current Date')}

Output:

This is how to get the current date and time in various formats using Power Automate.

Conclusion

I hope you know how to get the current date in Power Automate and how to customize various date and time formats using the formatDateTime function.

You may also like:

• Get Current and Previous Month in Power Automate
• Send Birthday Emails from Excel Using Power Automate
• Get Current Year in Power Automate
• Export SharePoint List to Excel and Send an Email Using Power Automate

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.