Time-Ago Pill

The Time-Ago Pill shows a date as a friendly, colored phrase - today, a few days ago, or in a few days - so a reader instantly grasps how fresh or how soon something is without doing the date math. It is built with a standard Microsoft List and a small piece of column-formatting JSON applied to a date field. The JSON compares the date to now and colors the pill by whether it is recent, in the past, or still ahead.

Author

SharePoint Maven

Built with

• Lists

Features

Date and Time Column, JSON, Single Line of Text Column

Category

Formatting

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Overview

• Shows a date as a relative phrase such as today, 3d ago, or in 5d
• Compares the date to the current day automatically
• Colors the pill green for today, warm for past, and blue for upcoming
• Reads far more naturally than a raw date in a status list
• A blank date simply shows a dash, so empty rows never look broken
• Applied as column-formatting JSON on a date field, so it changes nothing about the underlying data

Common Use Cases

• Last updated or last reviewed on a document list
• Due or start dates on tasks
• Recent activity on a tracker
• Follow-up dates on a CRM-style list
• Expiry or renewal timing
• Any date where recency or nearness matters more than the exact day

Details

• Design Pattern: Dates & Time
• Format Scope: Column

Required Columns

Prerequisites

1. Build a list with these columns before you paste the JSON.
2. Then populate the list with dates.
3. Because the JSON is applied at the column level, the Updated column can use any name you want.
4. The phrasing and colors are computed against the current day – no extra setup is needed.
5. Because the label is computed against today’s date, it depends on your tenant time zone and the time of day – test close to midnight.

How to Apply JSON code

1. On the Updated column, open the column header menu, choose Column settings, then Format this column.
2. Switch to Advanced mode.
3. Paste the JSON below and click Save.

JSON Code

{
  "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/v2/column-formatting.schema.json",
  "elmType": "div",
  "style": {
    "display": "flex",
    "align-items": "center",
    "justify-content": "flex-start",
    "height": "100%"
  },
  "children": [
    {
      "elmType": "span",
      "txtContent": "=if(@currentField == '', '-', if(abs(((Number(Date(@currentField)) - Number(@now)) / 86400000)) < 1, 'today', if(((Number(Date(@currentField)) - Number(@now)) / 86400000) < 0, if(indexOf(((abs(((Number(Date(@currentField)) - Number(@now)) / 86400000))) + ''), '.') < 0, ((abs(((Number(Date(@currentField)) - Number(@now)) / 86400000))) + ''), substring(((abs(((Number(Date(@currentField)) - Number(@now)) / 86400000))) + ''), 0, indexOf(((abs(((Number(Date(@currentField)) - Number(@now)) / 86400000))) + ''), '.'))) + ' d ago', 'in ' + if(indexOf(((abs(((Number(Date(@currentField)) - Number(@now)) / 86400000))) + ''), '.') < 0, ((abs(((Number(Date(@currentField)) - Number(@now)) / 86400000))) + ''), substring(((abs(((Number(Date(@currentField)) - Number(@now)) / 86400000))) + ''), 0, indexOf(((abs(((Number(Date(@currentField)) - Number(@now)) / 86400000))) + ''), '.'))) + ' d')))",
      "style": {
        "display": "inline-block",
        "padding": "6px 14px",
        "border-radius": "14px",
        "font-size": "13px",
        "font-weight": "700",
        "line-height": "17px",
        "text-align": "center",
        "white-space": "nowrap",
        "color": "=if(@currentField == '', '#475569', if(abs(((Number(Date(@currentField)) - Number(@now)) / 86400000)) < 1, '#0c9e52', if(((Number(Date(@currentField)) - Number(@now)) / 86400000) < 0, '#bf5b00', '#1d4ed8')))",
        "background-color": "=if(@currentField == '', '#e6eaf0', if(abs(((Number(Date(@currentField)) - Number(@now)) / 86400000)) < 1, '#ccf5de', if(((Number(Date(@currentField)) - Number(@now)) / 86400000) < 0, '#ffe9cf', '#d6e4ff')))"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Common Questions About the Time-Ago Pill