Linked dates format in Forms– can I change the display format?

[Jessica_Pena]

I have a table with dates of vacant shifts (let’s call it “Vacancies”). I have a second table to collect form responses for folks who sign up to fill vacant shifts (“Sign-ups”). T

he dates in the Vacancies table are set to the Friendly date format. In the Sign-ups table, there is a linked field to the Vacancies, so when a user completes a form, they can see the vacant shifts and select shifts to cover for…

Now here’s the problem: when a user selects the drop-down of available dates, they are in this horrid format and I don’t see anywhere I can change it… Does anyone know how I can get the form to display the friendly date format or a form user? It feels silly that I haven’t found how to change it and, if I can’t, then this form isn’t going to work out to fulfill the function I need it for :frowning:

[TheTimeSavingCo]

Hey Jessica, you could make the primary column a formula field and make the date the format you need

Form:

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Setup:

I’ve set up a base here for you to check out, and here’s the form

[Jessica_Pena]

That is what I originally wanted to do, but here is the hangup I ran into (if there is a way around it, please let me know!):

The table that pulls in the shifts is integrated with a Google Calendar and, while under the advanced options you can choose a different calendar field as the Primary field, it doesn’t seem to allow for creating a non-Google Calendar populated Primary field… originally, I did want for my Primary field to be a formula that showed both the start and end date/time (so that this is what a person filling out a form sees), but I couldn’t figure that out so I just ended up selecting the G-cal’s start date as the Primary.

[TheTimeSavingCo]

Ah, I see, sorry about that.

Jessica_Pena:

The table that pulls in the shifts is integrated with a Google Calendar

Hmm, so this is via automations, with When event created? I can’t seem to find a setup area where there are advanced options and such, and think I’m missing something, apologies.

If this isn’t via automations, may I know how the table is integrating with the Google Calendar?

Sorry for the questions; I want to try to emulate the exact environment you’re using to try to create a solution

If it’s possible to invite me to a test base that would be excellent too

[Jessica_Pena]

When you create a new table, Google Calendar is an option you can select

[TheTimeSavingCo]

Ahh, I see, thanks! That’s pretty nifty.

Hmm, if I were you I think I’d end up doing the following:

1. Make another table (let’s call it Table 2)
2. Create a link field between the Google Calendar synced table and Table 2
3. Create an automation that, on creation of a new record in the Google Calendar synced table, will create a new record in Table 2 that’s linked to the record in the Google Calendar synced table
4. Create lookup fields in Table 2 to grab the data I need to display
5. In Table 2, make the primary field a formula field as you mentioned above, using the date value from the lookup field
6. Make the form in Table 2

Really not the most elegant solution, and also a bit annoying to have two bases with the exact same data, but the alternative would be making automations that mimic the functionality of the Google Calendar sync which seems like much more work

[Ryan2 · Accepted solution]

Jess I actually don’t think it’s supposed to display like this. I’ve just come to these forums to see if anyone else is having this issue. I’ve been using forms with dates for ages, and they’ve been displaying them the same way as they are displayed in the view that you’re using to link to that form.

I actually think there’s an issue with Airtable…

[Jessica_Pena]

Yes, it is displaying totally normally now. It looks like you were right and it was just a weird display issue.