formatDate

The formatDate() function formats a date as a string using various formatting tokens.

formatDate(date, string [must conform to token format])

date.formatDate(string [must conform to token format])

It accepts two arguments in the following order:

1. A date (can be passed via properties – Date, Created Time, Last Edited Time – or via date functions such as now, fromTimestamp, dateAdd, dateSubtract)
2. A string specifying the formatting tokens for the date output

Example Formulas

formatDate(now(), "MMMM DD YYYY") /* Output: June 24 2022 */

now().formatDate("dddd, MMMM DD, YYYY hh:mm A zz")
/* Output: Friday, June 24, 2022 10:45 AM MDT */

You can also use brackets ([]) to escape any characters that you’d like to render explicitly (i.e. not use a formatting command):

formatDate(now(), "[Month of] MMMM, YYYY") 
/* Output: Month of June, 2022 */

By specifying the formatting options you want within the function’s second argument, you can customize your date format.

Notion uses Luxon to handle date formatting, but retains a lot of the tokens used by Luxon’s predecessor, Moment. Refer to the token lists below to see all possible formatting options.

Limitations

formatDate() returns a string, not a date. Therefore, it is not possible to do date math on its output. You can however use parseDate and a date formatted as YYYY-MM-DD to do this.

Good to Remember: Notion formulas are picky about data types. The formula editor will almost never do automatic type conversion, so you must pass the correct data types when you use functions.

For example, you cannot use dateAdd or dateSubtract on the output of formatDate():

/* ERROR: Argument of type text does not satisfy function dateAdd. */
dateAdd(formatDate(now(),"MMMM DD YYYY"), 4, "months")

/* Using parseDate */
dateAdd(parseDate("2023-09-07"), 4, "months")
/* Output: January 7, 2024 */

It is also very difficult to perform date comparisons using the output of formatDate(). While equality comparisons work well:

formatDate(now(), "MMM DD YYYY") == formatDate(prop("Date"), "MMM DD YYYY")

…it is much more difficult to perform “earlier than” or “later than” comparisons.

Therefore, it is recommended to use functions such as timestamp, date, week, month, year, etc. to make these kinds of comparisons.

It is also not possible to create date-based filters in a database view using a formula property that outputs a date string via formatDate().

However, it is possible to work with the output of formatDate() using the Notion API.

For an example, see this recurring tasks tutorial that uses Make.com and the Notion API to parse the output of formatDate():

The Best Way to Create Recurring Tasks in Notion (2023)

Learn how to add recurring tasks to Notion and completely automate them (for free) in this step-by-step tutorial.

thomasjfrank.com

Example Database

This example database shows the numbered week of year that matches the date in the Date property.

View and Duplicate Database

Notion – The all-in-one workspace for your notes, tasks, wikis, and databases.

A new tool that blends your everyday work apps into one. It’s the all-in-one workspace for you and your team

thomasfrank.notion.site

“Week” Property Formula

formatDate(prop("Date"), "wo")

“Detailed Format” Property Formula

formatDate(prop("Date"), "dddd, MMMM Do, YYYY, HH:mm A, wo [week of the year]")

Formatting Tokens

Time

Days

Weeks

Months

Quarters

Years

Timestamp

Time Zone

Full Date & Time

Other