Today() not displaying as number

Support
1

I'm trying to create a column with today's date so I can work out how many days have elapsed compared to another column where the date is in a numerical format, e.g. 45869

For some reason in the table I'm using it in, the column displays today as 12-Aug-2025 and I can't change the format or manipulate it.

If I create a new table and do the same thing, it correctly displays 45881 for today().

This is throwing the calculation out, particularly if the date in the other column is in the future (to be published in the future), e.g. a future date of 2026-08-28 (46262) gives a difference of 25.

I can't share the project due to confidentiality but here's a screenshot of the issue with sensitive data redacted.

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The [Published Date] and [Upload Date] are date converted versions of the [Published] and [Uploaded] columns for my reference, and the [Today] column is simply a new calculated column with the expression today().

Days since Published is [Today]-[Published Date]

I also have the same issue if I create a parameter for today() - it works correctly in a new table but displays as 12-Aug-2025 in this one!

Happy to do a screen share if that helps.

2

I can get around it by creating a blank table, appending it to this table and then using a rule to update blanks with today() and the formatting is correct.

I notice that the date calculated for future dates is still incorrect - I guess I'll need to convert the number dates into actual numbers and then convert back again?

3

My bad, i was deducting {Upload Date] instead of [Published Date], however it still doesn't explain the formatting and the fact that I can't manipulate the [Today} value.

4

If you click on any column header in any table, at the top of the workflow window is a dropdown to select the format to display the column

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This works for any column, not just dates so you can format numbers with or without decimal places, with or without thousand separators, etc, etc

5

Thank you! I've never spotted that!

Great feature!

6

No problem! It caught me out when I was new to EasyMorph also.

Note that it is just the display formatting that changes with this option and it doesn't change the underlying data and how it is stored i.e. numeric dates can be displayed in a nicely readable format but still used in mathematical calculations, such a you are are doing, subtracting one from another.

7

It would be good to be able to select defaults for this, e.g. I always prefer my dates to be yyyy-MM-dd, which would also allow a user to effectively turn it off?

I guess it would also be useful to have a more in your face indicator that the column is showing "display" rather than "actual" data?