# Now()

Returns the current system timestamp. When included in content for triggered sends, the time indicates when the triggered send definition for the message started or was republished.

## Availability

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Marketing Cloud Engagement</td>
    <td>✅ Yes</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Marketing Cloud Next</td>
    <td>✅ Yes</td>
  </tr>
</table>

This function became available in Marketing Cloud Next during the Summer ’26 release (API version 67.0).

## Syntax

```
Now(boolPreserveEmailSentTime)
```

The `Now()` function has one parameter:

- `boolPreserveEmailSentTime` (boolean)—If the value of this property is `true`, the function returns the email send time for a subscriber. If the value is `false`, the function returns the current time and date. The default value is `false`.

## Usage

To return the current time, call the `Now()` function without any parameters.

```
<p>%%=Now()=%%</p>
```

The function returns a date and time.

This table shows how the results that the `Now()` and `GetSendTime()` functions return vary in different situations.

| Function            | After a list, DE, or manual send, returns | After a triggered or journey send, returns |
| ------------------- | ----------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------ |
| `Now()`             | Current system time                       | Current system time                        |
| `Now(true)`         | Job start time                            | Job publish time                           |
| `GetSendTime()`     | Individual subscriber send completed time | Individual subscriber send completed time  |
| `GetSendTime(true)` | Job start time                            | Job publish time                           |

When used in CloudPages, the `Now()` function returns the current time, regardless of the value of the `boolPreserveEmailSentTime` parameter.

## See Also

- [GetSendTime()](/docs/marketing/marketing-cloud-ampscript/references/mc-ampscript-date-time/mc-ampscript-reference-date-time-get-send-time.md)