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formatDateTime function in Power Automate

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Posted on by Kaviya16

I am constructing a flow to save email attachments to a sharepoint library. The file name should be saved along with its received time. So I'm using formatDateTime function to format the received date time of the attachment in the compose action.
This is the expression that I've used - formatDateTime(triggerOutputs()?['body/receivedDateTime'],'dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm tt')
It actually works fine and changed to the required format I mentioned, but while getting saved in SharePoint, symbols like '/' and ':' were replaced with '_'. That could be due to some restrictions on file name in sharepoint, but is there a way to save the file as per I desire??

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v-mingkz-msft Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi @Kaviya16,
The error message shows that your input string is 'Let me first tell you the overall c.txt', obviously you can not convert it to time stamp.
Please offer me more information about your flow, and your input string.

Best Regards,
Kyrie

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v-wenjuan-msft Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi @Kaviya16 ,

Could you share screenshot of your current flow?
formatDateTime function can only be adapted to datetime value. Suppose your trigger is "When a new email arrives" and "Received time" originate from it, you can try this function:

concat(items('Apply_to_each')?['name'],'-',formatDateTime(triggerOutputs()?['body/receivedDateTime'],'dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss'))

Community Support Team _ Wenjuan Zou
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it.

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ManishSolanki 15,091 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi @Kaviya16

Here is the sample flow for your reference:
Expression used for transforming the name of the file and to include the original file extension:
concat(formatDateTime(utcNow(),'dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm tt'),'.',last(split(items('Apply_to_each')?['name'],'.')))
One more observation, when file is created in SharePoint, it replaces '/' & ':' characters with underscore '_'. It might be the case that those characters are not allowed in file names.
The output file created using the above expression is:

If this helps & solves the problem, please remember to give a 👍 and accept my solution as it will help others in the future.

Thanks

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Kaviya16 12 on at

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Actually I am the one who made a mistake and resolved the previous issue which I asked solution for. Now I've edited my question and need help with this one.
Thanks for your given responses anyways!

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Kaviya16 12 on at

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So, this suggested expression would save my file with the name 'receiveddatetime.fileformat' right?? But I want to save the file with its name along with the receiveddatetime in a proper format that I've used in my formatDateTime function : (

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v-wenjuan-msft Microsoft Employee on at

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Hi @Kaviya16 ,

The mentioned characters are not allowed to use in filename in SharePoint.
Refer to below link for further information:
Restrictions and limitations in OneDrive and SharePoint - Microsoft Support

Community Support Team _ Wenjuan Zou
If this post helps, then please consider Accept it as the solution to help the other members find it.

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