Converting UNIX timestamp to a human reading date

[SOS_HOME]

Hello, I receive time data in UNIX format in a text field on airtable. I would like to create a formula that allows me to have a date that I can understand, in the same basic format already on airtable. Could you help me? Thank you in advance
I’m living in Switzerland, Zurich time

[ScottWorld]

You would probably want to use the DATETIME_PARSE function, which is described on this page:

Airtable - Support

Formula field reference

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[SOS_HOME]

ScottWorld:

DATETIME_PARSE

Thank you I think I managed to convert. Now the problem is that I have 2 fields with dates, I would like to have only one date field, in which it automatically converts the UNIX time and also in which I can manually add a date. Is this possible? If yes, how can I do it?

[ScottWorld]

I’m not sure I completely understand what you’re trying to do. Would you like to upload some screenshots to illustrate?

You are correct that you can’t modify the results of a formula field — you can only modify date & time fields, and then you could have a formula field result in a certain date & time based on the other fields.

[kuovonne]

It looks like you will need three fields.

• The original field with the UNIX timestamp
• An editable field for you to enter a manual override date
• A formula field to determine which data to show and to convert the UNIX timestamp.

Having all of those fields when you really only want one is annoying, but there isn’t much help for it. You can hide the extra fields in views where you do not need them.

[Bill_French]

SOS_HOME:

Now the problem is that I have 2 fields with dates, I would like to have only one date field

Yep, this is presently not possible in Airtable as @kuovonne indicates.

@Taylor_Savage - this is precisely why regular fields should also support formulas as I have mentioned a number of times. Creating multiple fields to shape the data the way it needs to be presented is often seen as kludgey by users. This is what I proposed many months ago when we encountered a financial issue where a formula field was repeatedly calculating the lat/lng through a service that created unnecessary fees.

As shown in the diagram the Formula Field was constantly running the geo-compute process without knowing that it had already run (many times before). Formulas cannot introspect themselves and because of this, they cannot be smart enough to not recalculate.

If a regular field could also support formulas, it could [smartly] inspect its value and take actions that override the field’s value.