How to get Airtable to send birthday email automatically

[Phillip_Silk-Ne]

I am new to Airtable and Formulas

I saw a post by Florian_Kleinicke

Who said he had managed something similar, could someone please explain how I use the formula below.

DATETIME_DIFF(DATETIME_FORMAT({Birthday},‘MM-DD’),DATETIME_FORMAT(TODAY(),‘MM-DD’),‘days’)

My problem (which is likely is also a problem here) is that TODAY() won’t update on its own. It stays the same for a while.
Is there a solution to that problem?
I’m using automations to send an email, once the computed difference hits 0.

Ah I just came um with a solution, that might circumvent that problem. I can compute the birthday
DATETIME_PARSE(DATETIME_FORMAT({Birthday},‘MM-DD’),‘MM-DD’)

[Olpy_Acaflo]

Phillip_Silk-Neilsen:

I’m using automations to send an email, once the computed difference hits 0.

Hi @Phillip_Silk-Neilsen ,

Formulas is not yet my great trip,
but it seems to me that this post

Airtable Answers: Create an executive summary email

Looking to dial up your executive summary email process? In this video Airtable’s Head of Content, Margaret Jones, showcases how you can create send off emails summarizing all the content that’s shipping in the following week. Margaret uses this email to let stakeholders know about what’s coming in the pipeline (and share the amazing work her team is accomplishing)!

could help you to achieve your goal, with or without formula.

olπ

[Phillip_Silk-Ne]

@Olpy_Acaflo

what do you mean computed difference hits 0?
executive summary email will not do as you have to create a calendar base which is separate from my CRM base.

PSN

[Justin_Barrett]

Try this:

DATETIME_FORMAT(Birthday, "MMDD") = DATETIME_FORMAT(TODAY(), "MMDD")

That will output a 1 when the month and date of the birthday match the current day, and a 0 at all other times. It’s worth noting, though, that TODAY() is based on the current date in GMT, not your local timezone. Depending on where you live, there will probably be some crossover, but it’s going to change at a time other than midnight in your local timezone unless you also live in GMT.

One way around that is to use NOW() instead, and wrap that in SET_TIMEZONE() to force it to your local timezone before formatting. Here’s an example using my local timezone:

DATETIME_FORMAT(Birthday, "MMDD") = DATETIME_FORMAT(SET_TIMEZONE(NOW(), "America/Los_Angeles"), "MMDD")

You can find other timezone specifiers here:

Airtable Support

Supported timezones for SET_TIMEZONE

The SET_TIMEZONE function will allow you to set the timezone for the data from a date type field. This is written in the form "SET_TIMEZONE(datetime, 'timezone identifier')," in which the...

[Phillip_Silk-Ne]

@Justin_Barrett

Thank you for this, just worked out where to put it

Phillip

[Olpy_Acaflo]

Thanks a lot @Justin_Barrett !

Sorry @Phillip_Silk-Neilsen , just coming back now but I do not have better than Justin’s solution !

olπ

[Phillip_Silk-Ne]

@Olpy_Acaflo Have it working now.
For any other newbies the steps are:

1. Create a new field
2. Customise field-type to formula
3. paste in DATETIME_FORMAT({Date of Birth}, “MMDD”) = DATETIME_FORMAT(TODAY(), “MMDD”)
4. Change {Date of Birth} to match your field.
5. Create an automation Trigger: When record matches conditions Action: Gmail Send Mail.
   Presto

Thanks to @Justin_Barrett for the correct formula.

[Phillip_Silk-Ne]

@Justin_Barrett Just another quick question in the following formula is there a way that if {Partner Date of Birth} is blank it always returns a 0?

DATETIME_FORMAT({Partner Date of Birth}, “MMDD”) = DATETIME_FORMAT(TODAY(), “MMDD”)

this is because if a client in the base is single, they will not have a partner

[Justin_Barrett]

Phillip_Silk-Neilsen:

in the following formula is there a way that if {Partner Date of Birth} is blank it always returns a 0?

Yes. Wrap the first part of that formula in an IF() function so that it’s only executed if {Partner Date of Birth} isn’t empty:

IF({Partner Date of Birth}, DATETIME_FORMAT({Partner Date of Birth}, "MMDD")) = DATETIME_FORMAT(TODAY(), "MMDD")

If there’s no partner date of birth, that IF() function will return an empty string, which won’t match the formatted version of TODAY(), meaning the field will output a 0.

[Phillip_Silk-Ne]

Justin_Barrett:

IF({Partner Date of Birth}, DATETIME_FORMAT({Partner Date of Birth}, "MMDD")) = DATETIME_FORMAT(TODAY(), "MMDD")

@Justin_Barrett Thanks a million