When adding a new row to another table using a bot, Date and Time expressions uses UTC

AppSheet AppSheet Q&A
1

I have a Google Form that triggers a bot. The bot adds a new row to another table (the Request Table) using the values of the form. All the values are Ok in the new row, except the timestamp. It shows UTC instead of the timestamp.

As a test, I added 3 columns in the table “Request” and I set the initial values to TODAY(), NOW() and TIMENOW(). When using the bot, the values of these 3 columns are UTC, but when adding a row manually (using the form of the table “Request”), the value of these 3 columns are from the device´s time.

Why is this happening? How can I make the app to add the timestamp of the Google Form correctly?

2

Check settings in your spreadsheet?

jambyc_0-1722598380644.png
jambyc_0-1722598380644.png747×506 25.9 KB

3

Thank you @jambyc . Settings of the spreadsheet are Ok.

As explained in my first post, I created 3 columns in the “Request” table for testing purpose: Date Time Test, TimeTest and Today Test.
In the screenshot below, the red row is a new row added by the bot from values in another table. The source table is a Google Form. Instead of using the device time, Appsheet uses UTC. The device time was 8/1/2024 11:12:35 PM. The bot added the new row using UTC (8/2/2024 4:12:35).

image.png
image.png773×127 16.2 KB

When using the AppSheet form of the Request table, the app is stamping the correct date and time (device time). This is shown in the blue row of the screenshot.

In other words, with the bot, the time is UTC. When entering the date and time manually (using the Request table form), the time is the device time, which is correct.

4

I had similar/same issue but cant remember how I fixed it!!

There was something to do with your account settings.

5

I still don’t know why is this happening, but in order to solve it, I did this:

  1. I excluded the timestamp column in the bot.
  2. I added the timezone (-5) to the UTC in the Initial value of the timestamp column of the Request table.
(NOW() - "005:00:00")
6

There you go.

This should resolve your problem.

https://support.google.com/appsheet/answer/10106525?hl=en#:~:text=in%20the%20toolbar.-,Locale%20for%20AppSheet,match%20the%20Google%20Sheets%20Locale.

jambyc_0-1722616895463.png

jambyc_1-1722616924761.png
jambyc_1-1722616924761.png924×576 26.1 KB

7

I don’t know the reason this is happening, but I already solved it as explained in my previous post.

Thank you for your interest @jambyc .