Set column - Time zone

I was surprised this morning to find some of my users were active in the future. After double checking the App I quickly realized it was because they were probably using the App in Asia. This caused the set column action to input a time-stamp that is effectively in the future vs. my time.

Any fixes for this? I suppose the workaround is to check for the time difference on sign-up and subtract that in any future time-stamp actions… but I’m not 100% sure how to capture both local and user time.

You can ask your users to specify their timezone, and save that as a part of their profile.
Then you can make appropriate adjustments wherever necessary with date math columns.

Thanks - I see that working.

As a workaround, what about having a cell in the Google sheet that always displays the GMT time and subtract from that? I have never created a cell in a Google sheet to do that but it’s probably possible. Then it just needs to be compared vs. the time-stamp.

I just hate having users jump through unnecessary hoops at sign-up.

Do you mean as a method to determine the Users Timezone offset?
So when a user triggers an action that causes a time to be set, you compare that time to what you know is GMT, and the difference is the users offset - yes?
Interesting idea, and it would probably work. You should give it a try :slightly_smiling_face:

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Yes, exactly. Currently searching through Google Help but it’s not obvious how to use the = Now(). Maybe the answer lies in an external look-up… or maybe a template with a URL that returns the value…

I’d be avoiding the spreadsheet and instead be looking for a way to do it in the GDE.

Try entering ‘now’ in a date time column in Glide, and see what it gives you. That might provide you with a starting point…

Yes, agree… but can you reassure me that Now is the App’s time (let’s call it GMT) and not the User’s now ? After all, using the Set Column with NOW inserts the user’s time.

Yes, you’re right.
Computed columns are calculated on the users device, so now() will always be the local time according to the device.

But still, there will be a way. I’ll have a think about it…

Solved it!!

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