Power Automate convertTimeZone using an expression: Decoding the Mystery of Time Zone Names

Ever wrestled with time zone conversions in your Power Automate flows? You’re not alone! Today, we’re diving deep into the time zone parameters of the convertTimeZone expression, shedding light on a few nuances that might just save you some headaches.

Like many of you, I recently stumbled upon a fascinating detail, courtesy of my insightful colleague Daniel Kerridge. Did you know that Australia has two seemingly similar time zone names: “E. Australia Standard Time” and “AUS Eastern Standard Time”? The difference? The former refers to Queensland, which happily skips daylight saving time, while the latter applies to other eastern states that do observe it. Mind. Blown.

This revelation highlights a common challenge when working with the convertTimeZone function in Power Automate: figuring out the correct time zone names to populate the sourceTimeZone and destinationTimeZone parameters. The official Power Automate documentation often points to the Azure Logic Apps Reference guide, which in turn directs you to the Microsoft Windows Default Time Zones list.

While this list includes “AUS Eastern Standard Time”, you might find yourself scratching your head when looking for other Australian time zones or time zones from different parts of the world. Fear not! There are a couple of handy ways to uncover these elusive time zone values:

Method 1: The Action-Then-Code View Trick

This is a straightforward and visual approach:

1. Add a “Convert time zone” action to your Power Automate flow.
2. Use the dropdown menus in the action to select your desired source and destination time zones. Don’t worry about configuring the “Base time” or “Format string” fields for now.
3. Switch to Code view.

In the code view, you’ll see the underlying JSON representation of the action. Look for the inputs section, and within that, you’ll find the sourceTimeZone and destinationTimeZone parameters populated with the exact values Power Automate uses internally. Voila! You’ve unearthed the correct time zone names.

Method 2: Cross-Referencing with Azure SQL Managed Instance Documentation

The list of supported time zones in Azure SQL Managed Instance documentation provides a comprehensive list of time zone IDs. We can leverage the options available in the Power Automate “Convert time zone” action and match them against these IDs.

Original Post http://linnzawwin.blogspot.com/2025/05/power-automate-converttimezone-using.html