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This automation has brought me to my knees, please help.

I'm trying to create a google calendar event for a session booked from a start time to end time. The automation fails because it's unable to parse datetime: " "

This is my flow:

1. I enter the date and time in text format (Text date)- 3 April, 2024 at 17:00

2. Then convert the above to date format using Datetime parse formula - 4/3/2024 17:00

(formula - DATETIME_PARSE({Text date},'D MMM YYYY at HH:mm')

 

3. Then I convert this to ISO format using Datetime formula - 2024-04-03 17:00:00.000
(formula - DATETIME_FORMAT({parsed and formatted date},"YYYY-MM-DD HH🇲🇲ss.SSS")
 
What i get in step 3 is what is entered as start time in the automation. Similarly the end time is calculated using three steps.

 

DATETIME_FORMAT outputs a string I believe, which might be causing the issue here.  Try using the output of the DATETIME_PARSE instead, should work!  I use formula fields with DATEADD in my automations with Google Calendar and those work fine


DATETIME_FORMAT outputs a string I believe, which might be causing the issue here.  Try using the output of the DATETIME_PARSE instead, should work!  I use formula fields with DATEADD in my automations with Google Calendar and those work fine


Thank you for your help Adam. I tried with datetime parse but I still got an error - Unable to parse datetime: "#ERROR!"

Could you tell me more about hoe DATEADD comes into play here please?


Thank you for your help Adam. I tried with datetime parse but I still got an error - Unable to parse datetime: "#ERROR!"

Could you tell me more about hoe DATEADD comes into play here please?


Hm, could you provide a screenshot of the error?  I just tested it and I'm able to create a Google Calendar event via a formula field that uses DATETIME_PARSE fine:

---

re: Could you tell me more about hoe DATEADD comes into play here please?

Ah, that's just to give you a confirmation that using formula fields that output date values work fine with the automation actions that use Google Calendar


Hm, could you provide a screenshot of the error?  I just tested it and I'm able to create a Google Calendar event via a formula field that uses DATETIME_PARSE fine:

---

re: Could you tell me more about hoe DATEADD comes into play here please?

Ah, that's just to give you a confirmation that using formula fields that output date values work fine with the automation actions that use Google Calendar


Thanks again Adam, it was super helpful. However mine still didnt work and I have reported the bug. 

Cheers!


Hi @Smrita, I am with zzBots. It seems as though you might have this figured out already, but I'd just like to share another solution. Using zzBots 1-Way Sync, your data will stay up to date and in sync. zzBots has a custom date formatting step if you need your dates in different formats or need to add time.

1-Way Sync: https://www.zzbots.com/store/airtable-google-calendar-1-way-sync


I am having the same issue. it works when "testing" it but does not work in practice.


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