The Microsoft Power Automate utcNow function returns the current UTC time and date. UTC stands for Coordinated Universal Time.
Be aware that you do not get the date and time of your timezone unless your timezone matches UTC. You will learn how to adjust the UTC time to your timezone in this article.
Furthermore we address common formatting issues with the utcNow function.
But first take a look at the function itself.
Power Automate utcNow Function
The Power Automate utcNow Function returns the current UTC date and time.
Syntax
utcNow('<format>')Input parameters
- format (optional): A format string that defines in which way the returned date time should be formatted. (Default fromat: “yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssZ”; Example: “2022-08-11T14:21:05.2031122Z”)
Return value
- A date string based on the given format.
Power Automate utcNow Function Examples
utcNow()
=> 2022-07-17T20:49:20.3188464Z
utcNow('yyyy-MM-dd')
=> 22022-08-11Power Automate utcNow Timezone
As already mentioned in the introduction, chances that UTC matches your timezone are really low. So now let’s find out, how to get the current time of your timezone.
You can use the convertTimeZone function for this. Simply pass utcNow() to it, your timezone and the needed format. Like this:
convertFromUtc(utcNow(), 'Central Standard Time (Mexico)')Looking for your timezone? Take a look at the list of timezones to find the timezone you need.
Power Automate Current Time Action
Just for the sake of completeness, I like to mention that there is Current time action, which basically does the same as the utcNow function.
Here you can find the Current time action:
The action is self is pretty simple:
Reference: Power Automate utcNow Format
The format string which can be passed to utcNow is not unique to the utcNow function. So what you learn here can be used with other date functions.
You find the formats explained for every date and time component below.
Year
| Format | Date | Formatted Date |
|---|---|---|
| y | 0001-03-01 | 1 |
| y | 2000-11-15 | 0 |
| y | 2022-03-01 | 22 |
| yy | 0001-03-01 | 01 |
| yy | 2000-11-15 | 00 |
| yy | 2022-03-01 | 22 |
| yyy | 0001-03-01 | 001 |
| yyy | 0090-03-01 | 090 |
| yyy | 2022-03-01 | 2022 |
| yyyy | 0001-03-01 | 0001 |
| yyyy | 2022-03-01 | 2022 |
| yyyyy | 2022-03-01 | 02022 |
Month
| Format | Date | Formatted Date |
|---|---|---|
| M | 2022-03-01 | 3 |
| M | 2022-11-15 | 11 |
| MM | 2022-03-01 | 03 |
| MM | 2022-11-15 | 11 |
| MMM | 2022-03-15 | Mar |
| MMMM | 2022-03-15 | March |
Days
| Format | Date | Formatted Date |
|---|---|---|
| d | 2022-03-01 | 1 |
| d | 2022-03-15 | 15 |
| dd | 2022-03-01 | 01 |
| dd | 2022-03-15 | 15 |
| ddd | 2022-03-15 | Tue |
| dddd | 2022-03-15 | Tuesday |
Hours
| Format | Time | Formatted Time |
|---|---|---|
| h | 01:30 | 1 |
| h | 11:30 | 11 |
| hh | 01:30 | 01 |
| hh | 11:30 | 11 |
| hh | 13:30 | 01 |
| H | 01:30 | 1 |
| H | 13:30 | 13 |
| HH | 01:30 | 01 |
| HH | 13:30 | 13 |
| t | 01:30 | A |
| t | 13:30 | P |
| tt | 01:30 | AM |
| tt | 13:30 | PM |
Minutes
| Format | Time | Formatted Time |
|---|---|---|
| m | 01:02 | 2 |
| m | 11:30 | 30 |
| mm | 01:02 | 02 |
| mm | 11:30 | 30 |
Seconds
| Format | Time | Formatted Time |
|---|---|---|
| s | 01:00:02 | 2 |
| s | 11:00:30 | 30 |
| ss | 01:00:02 | 02 |
| ss | 11:00:30 | 30 |