Need help with a date \ time field

[Rnaval]

How do I convert a field with the following date/time value to a date and time field? This is March 11, 2026 and time is 1:36 pm

2026/3/11 13:36 EST (UTC -04:00)

[OwenAuger · Accepted solution]

Hi @Rnaval 

I would suggest first extracting the text before the 2nd space character (assuming timezone can be discarded), then using DateTime.ToText with a format string to convert to a datetime value.

Here is a sample query to illustrate:

let
  Source = #table(
    type table [DateTime Text = text],
    {
      {"2026/3/11 13:36 EST (UTC -04:00)"},
      {"2026/4/01 09:16 EST (UTC -04:00)"},
      {"2026/12/31 17:26 EST (UTC -04:00)"}
    }
  ),
  #"Add DateTime" = Table.AddColumn(
    Source,
    "DateTime",
    each DateTime.FromText(
      Text.BeforeDelimiter([DateTime Text], " ", 1),
      [Format = "yyyy/M/dd HH:mm"]
    ),
    type datetime
  )
in
  #"Add DateTime"

You may want to use Table.TransformColumns rather than Table.AddColumn.

Is this what you're looking for?