How does the Date field type work?

Question

Accepted Answer

The Date field type extracts dates without time, formatted as YYYY-MM-DD.

What it does:
• Extracts date only (no time component)
• Formats as YYYY-MM-DD (ISO standard)
• Understands natural language ("tomorrow", "next Friday", "December 25th")
• Converts spoken dates to standard format

Best for:
• Birth dates
• Due dates
• Event dates (when time doesn't matter)
• Expiration dates
• Deadlines

Voice Examples:
• "due date is December 25th, 2025" → 2025-12-25
• "born on March 15th nineteen ninety" → 1990-03-15
• "inspection was yesterday" → 2025-12-14 (if today is Dec 15)
• "deadline next Friday" → 2025-12-22 (calculates the date)

Natural Language:
The AI understands relative dates:
• "today" → current date
• "tomorrow" → next day
• "yesterday" → previous day
• "next Monday" → upcoming Monday
• "last week" → previous week's date

Format:
All dates are stored as YYYY-MM-DD in Google Sheets:
• Consistent, sortable format
• Works with spreadsheet date functions
• International standard (ISO 8601)

Description Usage:
❌ The field description is NOT used in the AI prompt. Date extraction uses hardcoded logic.

Example field setup:
• Field Name: "Due Date"
• Type: date
• Description: "Project deadline date" (helpful for you, not used in AI)

Date vs DateTime:
• Date: Date only (YYYY-MM-DD) - Use when time doesn't matter
• DateTime: Date + time (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS) - Use for appointments

Pro Tips:
• Always include the year to avoid ambiguity
• Month names work better than numbers in voice input
• "December 25th, 2025" is clearer than "12/25/25"

See also: DateTime, Time, Timestamp field types.