Overview

MergeUp simplifies the task of date formatting with its built-in d function. This function allows you to format date values effortlessly, whether they originate from MergeUp merge fields or are calculated within JavaScript code embedded in your templates. By providing the date and an optional locale as a standard BCP 47 language tag, you can obtain a properly formatted date that adheres to the specified locale. If the locale is not explicitly set, MergeUp will use the locale defined in your template. If desired, you can also set the date to be converted to your org's time zone. In this guide, we will delve into the syntax, parameters, examples, and additional notes for utilizing this versatile function.

Syntax

{# d(field, locale, useLocalTimezone) #}

Parameters

• field: Accepts any date value, such as MergeUp merge fields, JavaScript-calculated dates or a string representation of a date that follows ISO-8601 standards (the string must be in yyyy-mm-dd format).

• locale (optional): A standard BCP 47 language tag that defines the desired locale for formatting the date. Here is a list of accepted values: JavaScript: Language Tags (BCP 47)

• useLocalTimezone (optional): Set to true to have the returned date account for your local time zone, using the time zone defined for your Salesforce org. Otherwise, the date will default to the UTC date at the time of the merge. Defaults to false.

Examples

Example 1: Formatting a Merge Field

Suppose you have a template with a base record on an opportunity and want to display the close date with standard EN-US formatting, as defined in your template. You can achieve this by passing the opportunity's close date into the d function:

{# d(Opportunity.CloseDate) #}

Assuming your opportunities close date was December 31, 2023, then the expected output of this function would be:

12/31/2023

Example 2: Formatting a Calculated Date

If you define a date variable directly within your template using the JavaScript exec tag, you can still use the d function to format it.

{#! today = new Date(); #}
{# d(today) #}

Assuming today is September 8, 2023, and that we are using EN-US formatting, then the expected output of this function would be:

9/8/2023

Example 3: Formatting an ISO - 8601 date string

Suppose you defined a variable in your template called myDateString that holds a string that you constructed elsewhere in the template, and you want to display this in a standardized format. You can achieve this by doing the following:

let myDateString = '2025-05-19'
{# dt(myDateString) #}

Assuming the template defines the locale as "en-US", the output would be as follows:

5/19/2025

Example 4: Enabling time zone correction

Enable useLocalTimezone to convert your date to your local date. For example, assuming the current UTC date is December 8, 2023, and the date in your local time zone is December 9, 2023, leaving useLocalTimezone as false will result in the UTC date being merged into your document:

{# d(new Date()) #}
Results in: 12/8/2023

Set useLocalTimezone to correct the date to account for your local timezone (pass null into the locale parameter to continue to use the template's default):

{# d(new Date(), null, true) #}
Results in: 12/9/2023

We recommend enabling the useLocalTimezone parameter when formatting dates based on the current time, and leaving the option disabled when dynamically constructing specific dates. For example:

{# d(new Date(), null, true) #}

Versus

{# d(new Date(2023, 1, 1)) #}

Notes

• You can also pass in datetime fields from Salesforce or JavaScript variables into the d function. However, the time component will be stripped, leaving only the date portion from the date-time field.

• If you don't specify a locale, the function will default to using the locale settings defined in your template or organization.