# How to convert date and time to increasing numbers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ask for Help\ **Created:** [October 3, 2024, 11:50pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-convert-date-and-time-to-increasing-numbers/76826 "2024-10-03T23:50:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Higor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/higor/32/79708_2.png) [@Higor](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Higor)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 11:50pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-convert-date-and-time-to-increasing-numbers/76826/1 "2024-10-03T23:50:06Z")
I created a “Template” column that displays dates and times in the following format: Day/Month/Year, Time. As shown in the following printout: ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/b/5/b5aaf5e62319f96082f4889fd4dceda336e512a1.png) I would like to turn this date into an increasing number, so that the higher the date and time respectively, the larger the number will be. Is this possible? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2024, 11:54pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-convert-date-and-time-to-increasing-numbers/76826/2 "2024-10-03T23:54:33Z")
What’s your use case? ---
**Author:** ![Higor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/higor/32/79708_2.png) [@Higor](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Higor)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 12:03am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-convert-date-and-time-to-increasing-numbers/76826/3 "2024-10-04T00:03:35Z")
I have these two columns: ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/2/4/247faae41b9d15c375ae71434f2e445257f5d369.png) Each one gives random dates and times. I need to know which comes first and which comes after. I tried using an IF column, but it doesn’t identify the values ​​as numbers: ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/f/a/fad3540f0338ebc35b9decb28a826d7e35078496.png) This way I’m not able to identify which one has the most recent date and time, you know? ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 12:16am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-convert-date-and-time-to-increasing-numbers/76826/4 "2024-10-04T00:16:12Z")
If you are working with real dates and date columns, then it’s really easy. If they are just text, then where do those values come from? ---
**Author:** ![Higor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/higor/32/79708_2.png) [@Higor](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Higor)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 12:22am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-convert-date-and-time-to-increasing-numbers/76826/6 "2024-10-04T00:22:37Z")
Both come from plain text “Column is user specific” ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Hager](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/jeff_hager/32/43_2.png) [@Jeff\_Hager](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Jeff_Hager)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 1:16am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-convert-date-and-time-to-increasing-numbers/76826/7 "2024-10-04T01:16:26Z")
So it was manually entered by a user using a text entry, or a choice component, or a date picker? Point I’m trying to get at is that if it starts out as a true date and remains a true date, then it’s really easy to compare two dates and see which one is more recent with a simple IF column. I see one is a single value column. What type of column is that pulling from, and how did the original column get filled. The other is a template column. What types of columns fill that and how were those original columns filled? I mean you could probably use a text to date column to convert your text dates to true dates, but I’m trying to determine where those text based dates originated from to determine if there is a better way. ---
**Author:** ![Higor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/higor/32/79708_2.png) [@Higor](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Higor)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2024, 10:19pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-convert-date-and-time-to-increasing-numbers/76826/8 "2024-10-04T22:19:00Z")
I believe that using a text column for the date is the best option. But I can’t do this. I don’t know how to fill in the fields: “Format”, “location” and “time zone”. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/3X/1/1/11fe65f7aecdcfd74b3612afffcc00712ab3a0b6.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Murphy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/darren_murphy/32/47326_2.png) [@Darren\_Murphy](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Darren_Murphy)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2024, 2:13am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-convert-date-and-time-to-increasing-numbers/76826/9 "2024-10-05T02:13:24Z")
> [@Higor](#): > > I believe that using a text column for the date is the best option No offence, but that’s probably the _worst_ way to enter a date. Use a Date picker, then you get a true datetime value, and then from there (as Jeff pointed out) it’s very easy to work with. Starting with a text representation of a date is just making things way more complicated than they need to be, and opens up all sorts of pitfalls. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/system/32/53398_2.png) [@system](https://community.glideapps.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2024, 2:14am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-convert-date-and-time-to-increasing-numbers/76826/10 "2024-10-12T02:14:21Z")
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