What is the reference date used in piped text Other Date calculations? | Experience Community
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What is the reference date used in piped text Other Date calculations?

  • August 20, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 33 views

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I have 3 email tasks in a workflow which are sent at 3 different times relative to the submission date, X. The emails include a link to a second survey which must be taken within 3 weeks from the original submission (X+3wk).

Task 1: 

  • Sends immediately, on day X.
  • Includes a link to survey 2. ‘Please complete this survey within the next 3 weeks, by X+3wks.’

Task 2: 

  • Sends 1 week after submission (X+1wk).
  • Includes a link to survey 2. ‘Reminder: Please complete this survey within the next 2 weeks, by X+3wks.’

Task 3: 

  • Send 2 weeks after submission (X+2wk).
  • Includes a link to a survey 2. ‘Final reminder: Please complete this survey within the next week, by X+3wks.’

My question is whether my piped text dates for 3 weeks, 2 weeks, and 1 week out should be relative to the submission date, X (when the workflow is initially activated), or relative to the email task execution date, e.g., X+1wk. For example, to get the proper X+3wk date in Task 2, should I use ${date://OtherDate/PT/%2B3%20week} or  ${date://OtherDate/PT/%2B2%20week}?

3 replies

vgayraud
QPN Level 8 ●●●●●●●●
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  • QPN Level 8 ●●●●●●●●
  • August 25, 2026

Hi,

It’s relative to the distribution’s datetime, not the workflow’s.


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  • Author
  • August 25, 2026

Hi,

It’s relative to the distribution’s datetime, not the workflow’s.

Can you explain what you mean by this? In testing this question, it seems that the date/time when the first email was sent is the reference for “current time”.


cami_mq
Level 2 ●●
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  • Level 2 ●●
  • August 26, 2026

@jku143 
 

What if you calculate and lock the deadline date once in the Survey Flow, rather than calculating it on each email execution?

Since ${date://OtherDate/...} is evaluated at the exact moment the specific email task fires (which shifts the calculation date with every delay), an easier and foolproof approach is:

  1. Set an Embedded Data field in your Survey Flow (e.g., DeadlineDate) with the value set to ${date://OtherDate/PT/%2B21%20day}.

  2. Pipe that field into all 3 email tasks using ${e://Field/DeadlineDate}.

This way, the final deadline is generated once at the time of submission (Day $X$), guaranteeing the exact same date appears across all your reminders without worrying about manual date math on each task.