In a date field you can enter two, four, six, or eight digits:

• If you enter only two digits, this is interpreted as the day, and it will add the month and the year of the work date.
  
• If you enter four digits, this is interpreted as the day and the month, and it will add the year of the work date.
  
• If the date you want to enter is in the range 8/11/2016 through 8/11/2016, you can enter the year with two digits; otherwise, enter the year with four digits.
  

You can also enter a date as a weekday followed by a week number and, optionally, a year (for example, Mon25 or mon25 means Monday in week 25).

Instead of entering a specific date, you can enter one of two codes.

You may want to use a work date if you have many transactions with a date other than today's date.

When you close a fiscal year, you can use closing dates to indicate that an entry is a closing entry. A closing date technically is between two dates, for example between Dec 31 and Jan 1.

To specify that a date is a closing date, put C just before the date: C123101.

When you enter times, you can insert any separator sign that you want between the units, but it is not required.

You do not have to write minutes, seconds, or AM/PM.

The following table lists the various ways in which times can be entered and how they are interpreted.

You must enter two digits for each unit of time if you do not enter a separator.

When you enter datetimes you must enter a space between the date and the time.

The following table lists the various ways in which you can enter datetimes and how they are interpreted.

You enter a duration as a number followed by its unit of measure.

Here are some examples.

You can also enter a number and it is automatically converted to a duration. The number you enter is converted according to the default unit of measure that has been specified for the duration field.

To see what unit of measure is being used in a duration field, enter a number and see which unit of measure it is converted to.

The number 5 is converted to 5 hrs, if the unit of measure is hours.

You can set filters containing a start date and an end date to display only the data contained in that date range or time interval. Special rules apply to the way you set date ranges.

You can also combine the various format types.

A date formula is a short, abbreviated combination of letters and numbers that specifies how to calculate dates. You can enter date formulas in various date calculation fields and in recurring frequency fields in recurring journals.

Note
In all data formula fields, one day is automatically included to cover today as the day when the period starts. Accordingly, if you enter 1W, for example, then the period is actually eight days because today is included. To specify a period of seven days (one true week) including the period starting date, then you must enter 6D or 1W-1D.

Here are some examples of how date formulas can be used:

• The date formula in the recurring frequency field in recurring journals determines how often the entry on the journal line will be posted.
  
• The date formula in the Grace Period field for a specified reminder level determines the period of time that must pass from the due date (or from the date of the previous reminder) before a reminder will be created.
  
• The date formula in the Due Date Calculation field determines how to calculate the due date on the reminder.
  

The date calculation formula can contain a maximum of 20 characters, both numbers and letters. You can use the following letters, which are abbreviations for time specifications.

You can construct a date formula in three ways.

The following example shows how current plus a time unit.

The following example shows how a number and a time unit. A number cannot be larger than 9999.

The following example shows how a time unit and a number.

The following example shows how you can combine these three forms as needed.

The following example shows how you can use a minus sign to indicate a date in the past.

Caution
If the location uses a base calendar, then the date formula that you enter in, for example, the Shipping Time field is interpreted according to the calendar working days. For example, a 1W means seven working days. For more information, see Base Calendar Card.

Concepts