Make.com Date Time Toolkit What You Get Inside

Date and time math is one of the things that trips up even experienced Make.com users. There’s no native DateDiff, unix timestamps mix with ISO formats, and timezones behave differently across modules. The Make.com Date Time Toolkit solves this for good. It packs 14 ready-to-use patterns covering almost every situation you’ll hit when your scenario touches dates.

In this article I’ll walk you through what’s inside the toolkit, how the patterns are grouped, and when it makes sense to grab a finished pattern instead of building from scratch.

Why date math in Make.com hurts

When you start working with dates in a scenario, you’ll hit three recurring problems. Make.com has no native DateDiff function that simply tells you the number of days between two dates. You have to compute it through timestamps, conversions, and formatting back.

The second problem is timezones. A webhook delivers an ISO date in UTC, a Google Sheet returns a localized string, the email module reads it differently than the HTTP module. Without explicit timezone control every calculation breaks somewhere unexpected.

The third trap is business logic. A client wants to know how many working days are between an order and a shipment. Or wants to push a deadline 5 working days forward. That’s not simple math anymore, it’s logic with weekends and holidays. And Make.com won’t solve it for you.

For a general intro to working with dates in Make.com I recommend reading the article on formatDate and parseDate. This toolkit goes further and handles the specific computational scenarios that didn’t fit there.

What’s inside the toolkit

The toolkit ships with 14 patterns grouped into three categories by the direction of the calculation. Each pattern includes a ready formula, an explanation of what it does, and a screenshot from a live scenario.

Group 1 — Calculation between two dates

Patterns where you have two time points and want to know the distance between them. Calendar days, working days, hours or minutes diff, months with respect to variable month length.

Group 2 — Date shift

Patterns where you have one date and want to shift it by a certain number of units. Add 30 days, add 5 working days, jump to the first day of next month, go back X weeks.

Group 3 — Specific points in time

Patterns where you need a specific point based on a rule. First Monday of the month, last working day of the month, UTC to local timezone conversion, checking whether a date falls within business hours.

💡 Each group has a clear use logic, so when you hit a new case you instantly know where to look.

Three example patterns from the toolkit

To make the formulas concrete, here are three patterns that users hit most often.

Working days between two dates

The formula counts business days between startDate and endDate, skipping Saturday and Sunday. The pattern is shipped as an IML expression you drop into a Set Variable module or directly into the mapping in your target module.

{{floor((parseDate(endDate; "YYYY-MM-DD") - parseDate(startDate; "YYYY-MM-DD")) / 86400000 * 5 / 7)}}

This is the simplified version. The full version inside the toolkit handles edge cases where start or end falls on a weekend and includes an optional parameter for public holidays.

Add X working days to a date

A client places an order, you need a deadline 5 working days later. The pattern uses an iterator loop or a Make Code module with a short JavaScript.

⚠️ If you use plain addDays for this, you’ll get calendar days including weekends. Not the same result.

Diff in hours and minutes

Useful for billing, time tracking, or SLA monitoring. The pattern takes two timestamps, handles timezone, and returns the result in a format that’s readable by both humans and downstream modules.

Why the toolkit beats DIY

When you build these patterns yourself, two things slow you down. First is time — the average user spends hours debugging an IML expression for business days because Make.com’s docs don’t cover this. Second is reliability — homemade versions tend to break on edge cases like year transitions, leap years, or weekend boundaries.

I built the toolkit after writing the same patterns over and over for different clients. Instead of solving the same problem each time, you have it ready. Drop in your inputs and the pattern works.

If you like this format for other domains, check out the API Pagination Patterns Toolkit. Same logic — a curated set of patterns for one problem domain.

FAQ

Does the toolkit work on a free Make.com plan?

Yes. Most patterns use native functions and modules available on the free plan. A few advanced variants rely on Make Code, which is available on paid plans.

Can I modify the patterns?

Of course. Every pattern is documented so you understand it and can adapt it. The toolkit is a starting point, not a closed black box.

What if I need a pattern that isn’t in the toolkit?

Drop me a note and I’ll add it to the next update. Or build it yourself by composing the existing 14 — most situations can be assembled from what’s already there.

Summary

The Make.com Date Time Toolkit saves hours by giving you ready patterns for the 14 most common date math scenarios. Instead of debugging an IML expression for business days or fighting with timezones, you drop in your inputs and get the result. It’s worth it for anyone who touches dates in scenarios more than once a month — which is basically everyone using Make.com seriously today.

The Make.com Date Time Toolkit is available on Gumroad. You get blueprints, documentation, and usage examples.