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gjadal's avatar
gjadal
Icon for Microsoft Employee rankMicrosoft Employee
10 years ago

Convert UTC to local time zone in DAX

I have a column that contains datetime in UTC. On my report, I am getting the max of it. I want to convert this UTC date to local time zone in DAX. Any pointers.?
v-qiuyu-msft's avatar
v-qiuyu-msft
Icon for Community Support rankCommunity Support
10 years ago

Hi gjadal,

 

In DAX, there is no OOTB function for us to get local time zone. So we need to calculate the UTC datetime value use known time zone. Suppose the local time zone is UTC-8, to convert the UTC value to local datetime value, we can specify the DAX expression like below:

 

Column 4 = FORMAT(Table1[UTC],"MM/dd/YYYY") & "  " & REPLACE(FORMAT(Table1[UTC],"HH:mm:ss"),1,2,HOUR(Table1[UTC])-8)

 

Then change this calculated column data type as Date/Time.

 

 

If you have any question, please feel free to ask.

 

Best Regards,
Qiuyun Yu

  • Virtual_Ames's avatar
    Virtual_Ames
    Icon for Microsoft Employee rankMicrosoft Employee
    10 years ago

    Hi Qiuyun,

     

    Thanks for this post - could solve a problem I'd like to address.

     

    I would like to show the "Last Refreshed DateTime" in my reports. I want this to provide the time in PST.  The report is currently either refreshed via the Desktop (local to PST), or Online.

     

    If I use NOW() in my report, I will get different times depending on whether where the refresh takes place.  If via the desktop - NOW() is PST.  If I use the schedule refresh, NOW() comes back in UTC time. M code using DateTime.LocalNow() has the expected same effect.

     

    Is there M code to generate UTC time, then I can use your formula above to show the PST refresh time in the report?

     

    Thanks!

     

    Brian

     

    • eserapicos's avatar
      eserapicos
      New Member
      6 years ago

      I have the same situation here... How to guarantee that the refresh time is the same among power BI desktop, app.powerbi or published web? Should I use other formula than NOW()?

  • RichardL's avatar
    RichardL
    Icon for Microsoft Employee rankMicrosoft Employee
    9 years ago

    v-qiuyu-msft - I tried your DAX equation:

     

    Column 4 = FORMAT(Table1[UTC],"MM/dd/YYYY") & "  " & REPLACE(FORMAT(Table1[UTC],"HH:mm:ss"),1,2,HOUR(Table1[UTC])-8)

     

    but I got this error:  "Cannot covert value '12/07/2016 -8:49:41' of type Text to type Date."

     

    It appears your equation fails to handle edge cases.

    • JEROPS's avatar
      JEROPS
      Regular Visitor
      9 years ago

      What is the data type of your column.  From the error it reads like you trying to convert a text column, convert to a date/time column first then try the DAX formula.

      • RichardL's avatar
        RichardL
        Icon for Microsoft Employee rankMicrosoft Employee
        9 years ago

        JEROPS - Coverting to date/time column first works, but the equation fails to correct the date after subtracting 8 hours.  I came up with this simpler equation, which works by subtracting 8 hours from the date/time column and automatically adjusts the date if necessary: 

         

        DateTimeLocal = FORMAT(Table[DateTimeUTC] - TIME(8,0,0), "General Date")

         

        For example, 12/16/2016 1:09:23 AM -> 12/15/2016 5:09:23 PM

  • dkay84_PowerBI's avatar
    dkay84_PowerBI
    Icon for Microsoft Employee rankMicrosoft Employee
    10 years ago

    Two questions:

     

    1) This approach does not account for daylight savings time (in the US), does it?

     

    2) If #1 above is true, then wouldn't it be easier to simply subtract (8/24) from the date/time column?

  • mocca3000's avatar
    mocca3000
    Regular Visitor
    9 years ago

    Thank you,

    I get an error stating that it cannot convert value when I try to convert my UTC time to AEST (+{10)

     

    My DAX is:

    SeenTimeAEST = FORMAT(Meraki_Observation[SeenTime],"MM/dd/YYYY") & "  " & REPLACE(FORMAT(Meraki_Observation[SeenTime],"HH:mm:ss"),1,2,HOUR(Meraki_Observation[SeenTime])+10)

     

    My Error is:

    Cannot convert value '09/22/2016 24:02:49' of type Text to type Date.

     

    Does anyone know how to fix this?

     

     

     

     

     

    • jayavardhan's avatar
      jayavardhan
      New Member
      9 years ago

      As of my analysis your column is in data type: text, change it to data type: date and time.