🧡 Skip to main content🔍 Skip to search

Time presets (Date & Time category in Variable Wizard) retrieves the current date and time in one of the most used standards and character formatting for using in various situations from file & folder name creation and retrieval to dates and times used in emails.

VariableDetails
Preset Choose the preset according to which the date & time value will be returned…
Sortable file Returns a non-separated numerical value of date and time especially convenient for using in file and folder names.
Examples:
  • 20240117073059
  • 20241208224533
Sortable file (long) Returns a non-separated numerical value of date and time (including milliseconds).
Examples:
  • 20240117073059815
  • 20241208224533042
Sortable file (dashed) Returns a dash-separated date and time value which incorporates year, month, date, hour, minutes and seconds. Being easily readable this format also allows generating file and folder names that are easily sortable in ascending or descending order.
Examples:
  • 2024-01-17-07-30-59
  • 2024-12-08-22-45-33
System date Returns the numeric value of current date.
Examples:
  • 1/17/2024
  • 12/8/2024
System date (long) Returns current system date in text format including day of the week.
Examples:
  • Tuesday, January 17, 2023
  • Friday, December 8, 2023
System time Returns current system time.
Examples:
  • 7:30 AM
  • 10:45 PM
System time (long) Returns long value of current system time (including seconds).
Examples:
  • 7:30:59 AM
  • 10:45:33 PM
Compact date Returns the date in the format of a short month name and day, using the computer's regional settings for the month name.
Examples:
  • Mon 3
  • Fri 29
Compact date (longer) Returns the date in the format of a weekday, a short month name, and day, using the computer's regional settings for the month and day names.
Examples:
  • Mon 3 Nov
  • Fri 29 May
Compact date (US) The same as the Compact date (longer) but with an additional comma character.
Examples:
  • Mon, Nov 3
  • Fri, May 29
Compact date (EU) The same as the Compact date (US) but the day and month is returned in the reverse order.
Examples:
  • Mon, 3 Nov
  • Fri, 29 May
Military date Returns a fixed-length date that follows a well-defined (strict and machine-readable) international format. The month names are always returned in uppercase English.
Examples:
  • 03 NOV 2023
  • 29 MAY 2024
Military time Returns a four-digit variable where the first two digits denote the current hour in 24-hour format (00 to 23), and the last two digits—the current minutes (00 to 59).
Examples:
  • 0805
  • 2359
Military time (long) The same as Military time but with a colon separator between hours and minutes.
Examples:
  • 08:05
  • 23:59
Sortable Returns numeric value of date and time in standard sortable format.
Examples:
  • 2024-01-17T07:30:59
  • 2024-12-08T22:45:33
Sortable (universal) Returns date and time in sortable numeric format.
Examples:
  • 2024-01-17 07:30:59
  • 2024-12-08 22:45:33
RFC 1123 Returns weekday, date and time in international format.
Examples:
  • Tue, Jan 17, 2023 07:30:59
  • Fri, Dec 08, 2023 22:45:33
UNIX epoch time Returns seconds, minutes, hours, days, or weeks elapsed since the Posix time · Details
Examples:
  • 1673940659
  • 1702032333
Universal time · UTC Specifies that universal time (UTC) value will be returned instead of local time.
Adjust Allows additionally modifying any value by adding or removing specified amount of days, minutes, seconds or milliseconds, thus also providing a possibility for retrieving a value of any previous or next date or hour.
Time unitsTime units selectionDefine and set a time frame in any given preferred format—be it milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, or days.
Preview Shows format of time generated on basis of selected options.
AdjustStreamline creation of Task workflows even further—instantly make quick variable adjustments such as in-place replacement (all, first, or last occurrence), trimming (whitespaces, quotes, etc.), or changing capitalization. Optionally, set a different display name.
YouTube video · Email files after a 5-minute hold

Epoch time…

The UNIX epoch time used by Automation workshop is a TAI-based variant—it has no leap seconds, and every TAI day is exactly 86,400 seconds long. Thus in Automation Workshop, the UNIX epoch time is expressed as seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970.

UNIX epoch timeDetails
Express as For convenient comparisons, further adjust the UNIX epoch time to return its value as:
  • Seconds
  • Minutes
  • Hours
  • Days
  • Weeks

Seamless automation. Your 90-second guided tour.

Need help?

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our support team.