# Calculating Task Age

**URL:** <https://forum.asana.com/t/calculating-task-age/1148655>\
**Category:** Ask the Community\
**Tags:** formulas, custom-fields, agentic-work-management\
**Created:** [16 July 2026 16:29 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/calculating-task-age/1148655 "2026-07-16T16:29:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jeanine\_Scott2](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/jeanine_scott2/32/269874_2.png) [@Jeanine\_Scott2](https://forum.asana.com/u/Jeanine_Scott2)\
**Post date:** [16 July 2026 16:29 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/calculating-task-age/1148655/1 "2026-07-16T16:29:41Z")

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I have created a custom field to calculate the age of a task. My formula is Today() - Created On. The field calculates correctly on some tasks but not on others.

For example: a task created yesterday at 3:45pm shows 1 hr 14min, a task created this morning shows -15hrs 50m.

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**Author:** ![Richard\_Sather](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/richard_sather/32/276096_2.png) [@Richard\_Sather](https://forum.asana.com/u/Richard_Sather)\
**Post date:** [16 July 2026 20:31 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/calculating-task-age/1148655/2 "2026-07-16T20:31:09Z")

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Hi @Jeanine_Scott2 , that’s because the Today input in a formula is not ‘now’ but is midnight UTC of that day. So depending on your time zone you may see a negative age.

The formula works fine for greater durations but not for granular hours. You may want to look at using a Timer field instead, but that counts down, not up, so may not be ideal.

You can also format your formula to days instead of showing hours. See this..

> [@test\_tube 12 Formulas to get you started with the new Advanced Editor](https://forum.asana.com/t/12-formulas-to-get-you-started-with-the-new-advanced-editor/495178):
>
> Hi everyone! I hope you are all excited about the recent roll out of the Advanced Editor for Formula fields as I recently announced [here](https://forum.asana.com/t/formula-custom-field-with-advanced-editor/481803). That post includes a video where I had the chance to showcase various use cases, so I thought I’d create this post to share more details on how I built them, which will hopefully inspire you while you try out the Advanced Editor for Formula fields (rolling out on Business and Enterprise tiers). 1. Task Duration:white_check_mark Prerequisites: Start & Due …

..and in conjunction with the newer ‘Formatting’ tab in your formula’s advanced editor.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jeanine\_Scott2](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/jeanine_scott2/32/269874_2.png) [@Jeanine\_Scott2](https://forum.asana.com/u/Jeanine_Scott2)\
**Post date:** [17 July 2026 00:07 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/calculating-task-age/1148655/3 "2026-07-17T00:07:19Z")

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Amazing! I switched to calculating days using your formula, and it works great! Thank you so much.

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**Author:** ![system](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/asana/user_avatar/forum.asana.com/system/32/276370_2.png) [@system](https://forum.asana.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [16 August 2026 00:07 UTC](https://forum.asana.com/t/calculating-task-age/1148655/4 "2026-08-16T00:07:33Z")

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