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Converting UTC Time to Eastern Standard Time

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Posted on by Slade Feeney

I created a flow that sends an HTML table to me, through Outlook, when changes are made to columns in a SharePoint List. However, if a date value is changed, the HTTP request in Power Automate always converts the date output to UTC format, as shown in the image below.

Below is the output from the first HTTP request. It is retrieving the previous version of the changed value.

The next output shown is retrieving the current version of the changed value.

Then, that output is sent to a "Select" step that populates the HTML table automatically.

Here is the HTML table step of the flow:

And here are the formulas for the "Select" step and the step itself.

replace(split(item(),':')[1],'"','') (This generates the previous value)

outputs('Send_an_HTTP_request_to_SharePoint_2')?['body']?[json(item())] (This generates the current value for the table)

Also, for reference, I used this video guide to make this flow: Power Automate - Send Previous vs Current Version Values Over Email when Columns Changes in List

Is it possible to change how the date appears in the HTML table without having to completely remake my flow?

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WillPage 2,307 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Yes, just use the convertFromUTC() function. For example:

convertFromUTC(outputs('Send_an_HTTP_request_to_SharePoint_2')?['body']?[json(item())],'Eastern Standard Time','yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm')

Where Eastern Standard Time is your local time zone. If you're in Australia it'll be AUS Eastern Standard Time. You can look it up in the middle (Timezone) column here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/default-time-zones?view=windows-11#time-zones

The last parameter is the date format string, which you can customise for your own preferences. MM is month mm in minutes, HH is 24hr hours and hh is 12 hour hours.

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Michael E. Gernaey 53,493 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi @SF-07082119-0

You can also use the Convert Time Zone Action

Convert a time zone - Power Automate | Microsoft Learn

If these suggestions help resolve your issue, Please consider Marking the answer as such and also maybe a like.

Thank you!
Sincerely, Michael Gernaey

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David_MA 12,982 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Both of the solutions below should work for you. However, I don't think either addressed this statement you made in your post: "However, if a date value is changed, the HTTP request in Power Automate always converts the date output to UTC format, as shown in the image below."

This is expected behavior. SharePoint stores dates in UTC format to ensure consistency across time zones. This allows date and time values to be accurately converted and displayed based on each user's local settings, which is especially important in global or distributed environments. Using UTC also helps avoid issues with daylight saving time and simplifies scheduling, logging, and auditing across systems.

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Slade Feeney 14 on at

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@David_MA Thank you for clarifying the reason for that! I had assumed that was why, but I was finding that my colleagues wanted the emails sent with a more "accessible" format. Based on your reply, I have a follow-up question, is the time that appears with the date in UTC format based on the time zone of the SharePoint list that was retrieved with the HTTP request?

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Slade Feeney 14 on at

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@Michael E. Gernaey @WillPage Thank you both for the replies! I combined materials from both answers to solve my specific use case. I was worried the solution would require much more headache and steps than it actually does.

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