dateSubtract
Learn how to use the dateSubtract function in Notion formulas.
1
dateSubtract(date, number, string [from unit list])
It requires three arguments in the following order:
Accepted units include:
- “years”
- “quarters”
- “months”
- “weeks”
- “days”
- “hours”
- “minutes”
- “seconds”
- “milliseconds”
1
// Assume a property called "Date" with a current row value
2
// of June 1, 2022
3
dateSubtract(prop("Date"),3,"months") // Output: March 1, 2022
4
5
dateSubtract(prop("Date"),5,"days") // Output: May 27, 2022
You can nest multiple
dateSubtract()
functions to subtract multiple different types of units from a date:1
// Assume a property called "Date" with a current row value
2
// of June 1, 2022
3
dateSubtract(dateSubtract(prop("Date"),3,"months"),5,"days")
4
// Output: February 24, 2022
dateSubtract()
accepts negative values:1
// Assume a property called "Date" with a current row value
2
// of June 1, 2022
3
dateSubtract(prop("Date"), -3, "months") // Output: September 1, 2022
This example database demonstrates how to output a date object set to January 1, 12:00 AM in the current year, in your current time zone.

1
// Compressed
2
dateSubtract(dateSubtract(dateSubtract(dateSubtract(now(), minute(now()), "minutes"), hour(now()), "hours"), date(now()) - 1, "days"), month(now()), "months")
3
4
// Expanded
5
dateSubtract(
6
dateSubtract(
7
dateSubtract(
8
dateSubtract(
9
now(),
10
minute(
11
now()
12
),
13
"minutes"
14
),
15
hour(
16
now()
17
),
18
"hours"
19
),
20
date(
21
now()
22
) - 1,
23
"days"
24
),
25
month(
26
now()
27
),
28
"months"
29
)
This formula uses multiple instances of
dateSubtract()
to remove different units of time from the output of the now function in order to arrive at Jan 1, 12:00 AM.The amount of time that is subtracted from
now()
is actually derived from now()
itself. For example:1
dateSubtract(
2
now(),
3
minute(
4
now()
5
),
6
"minutes"
7
)
So, if it's currently 3:12 PM, this essentially says:
Subtract 12 minutes from 3:12 PM.
The resulting output would be 3:00 PM.
The only caveat is that
1
must be substracted from the output of date()
, since there is no "January 0".
My name is Thomas Frank, and I'm a Notion-certified writer, YouTuber, and template creator. I've been using Notion since 2018 to organize my personal life and to run my business and YouTube channel. In addition to this formula reference, I've created a free Notion course for beginners and several productivity-focused Notion templates. If you'd like to connect, follow me on Twitter.

Last modified 4mo ago