Quick Sight formatDate() Not Working in SPICE

Q&A
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1

I have a datetime column called eventdate with values like 2025-09-13T00:00:00.000Z. When I imported the data from Athena into Quick Sight, the field was automatically recognized as a date type (confirmed by the calendar icon in the dataset).

I selected SPICE as the query mode, published the dataset, and added a table visual. I included eventdate in the Group By field well, and under Format → Custom, I selected the format DD-MMM-YY. However, the date still displayed as 13 Sep, 2025.

To work around this, I created a calculated field using:

formatDate({eventdate}, ‘dd-MMM-yy’)

The calculated field saved successfully, but when I added it to the table visual, I received the following error:

“Your function expression contains an unsupported date. Correct the date format and try again.”

After some research and testing, I switched the dataset from SPICE to Direct Query, and surprisingly:

  • The same calculated field worked without errors.

  • The custom date formatting on the original eventdate field also displayed correctly.

Question:
Is this behavior expected when using SPICE? If so, what causes formatDate() to fail in SPICE but work in Direct Query, even when the field is already typed as a date?

Any insights or best practices would be appreciated!

2

Hi @QS_User,
Based on other recent posts in the Community, I’m led to believe there may be a larger bug in Quick Sight that’s affecting date formatting. I’ve seen a couple other users’ encountering similar issues; I would say the best instance here would be to file a support ticket. That way you’ll be able to get direct account assistance from the AWS team.

2 Likes
3

Hi @QS_User,

Following up here as it’s been awhile since last communication took place on this thread; did you have any additional questions regarding your initial post?

If we do not hear back within the next 3 business days, I’ll close out this topic.

Thank you

4

Hi @QS_User,

Since we have not heard back, I’ll go ahead and close out this topic. However, if you have any additional questions, feel free to create a new post in the community.

Thank you!