# Converting numbers to dates for external connection fields
**URL:** https://forum.adalo.com/t/converting-numbers-to-dates-for-external-connection-fields/14349
**Category:** External Collections, Custom Actions & Collections
**Created:** [June 30, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/converting-numbers-to-dates-for-external-connection-fields/14349 "2021-06-30T18:53:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@galenking](https://forum.adalo.com/u/galenking)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/converting-numbers-to-dates-for-external-connection-fields/14349/1 "2021-06-30T18:53:09Z")
The APIs we are connecting to return dates as Unix timestamps and Adalo treats them as numbers, which means we can’t format them.
Is there a way to resolve this?
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### Author:  [@crmorris2](https://forum.adalo.com/u/crmorris2)
#### Post date: [June 30, 2021, 11:58pm UTC](https://forum.adalo.com/t/converting-numbers-to-dates-for-external-connection-fields/14349/2 "2021-06-30T23:58:08Z")
Hi Galen,
This has been mentioned a few times before but nobody has posted feedback as to which one resolved their issue. it is worth reading the few different options available and see if any of them work for you.
> [@Trouble formatting a date/time picker component](https://forum.adalo.com/t/trouble-formatting-a-date-time-picker-component/8574):
>
> I have a date/time picker component set to style Date and Time Picker. I then have a button set to a Custom Action of posting the component to an external database on Xano. The problem is for the timestamp input I’m unable to change the format of the (Date and Time Picker) Magic Text. As a result Xano does not accept the default format. Please help.
> [@Sending date from Adalo to an API](https://forum.adalo.com/t/sending-date-from-adalo-to-an-api/3693):
>
> When I send date from adalo to custom action API, It’s returning in a five-digit format something 17389. What format is this and how do I convert to normal date format.
> [@Convert Unix date to human-readable date](https://forum.adalo.com/t/convert-unix-date-to-human-readable-date/2381):
>
> Hi, I’m using open weather API data for a weather app. It is returning the Unix date\_time which is the time elapsed since 1/1/1970. Is there a way in Adalo to convert it to a human-readable date format?
Please let us know which (if any) works for you.
Good luck 🙂 - please reach out if you have any further queries