> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cradl.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Date
> Convert dates written in any style or language into ISO 8601.
The **Date** formatter converts a date into ISO 8601 (`YYYY-MM-DD`), whichever way it is written in the document. Dates written in other languages are recognized too, so `15. mars 2024` and `5 janvier 2024` both work.
```
Jan 5, 2024 -> 2024-01-05
15. mars 2024 -> 2024-03-15
15.03.2024 -> 2024-03-15
```
## Options
| Option | What it does |
| - | - |
| **Select output date format** | `YYYY-MM-DD` — currently the only output format. |
| **Choose date format for ambiguous dates** | How to read dates where the day and month could be swapped, such as `03/04/2024`. Pick **Auto detect**, **Month first (US)** or **Day first (EU)**. |
### Ambiguous dates
A date like `03/04/2024` is the 3rd of April in Europe and the 4th of March in the US. The setting decides which one it is:
| Setting | `03/04/2024` becomes |
| - | - |
| Auto detect | `2024-03-04` |
| Month first (US) | `2024-03-04` |
| Day first (EU) | `2024-04-03` |
**Auto detect** currently reads ambiguous numeric dates month-first, the same as **Month first (US)**. If your documents are European, choose **Day first (EU)** explicitly rather than relying on auto-detection.
Dates that are not ambiguous are unaffected by this setting. `15.03.2024` and `2024-03-15` both become `2024-03-15` whichever option you pick, because no valid month is `15`.
## Supported languages
Dates are first read as English, then tried against Spanish, German, French, Dutch, Polish, Italian, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Russian, Japanese and Chinese (simplified and traditional).
## When it fails
If no date can be read from the value, the field is cleared and the formatter reports `Unable to parse as a date`, sending the document to human review. An empty value is left empty without an error.