Using a formula text field to colour a date, but keep the current day written

>So QB doesn't give you any easy way to convert the Date to the text value.

You know this is very ironic considering that QuickBase uses two JavaScript date libraries (Moment.js and Date.js) for its own purposes and includes them on the pages you download:

https://assets.quickbasecdn.net/res/75635-25/js/moment.min.js

https://assets.quickbasecdn.net/res/75635-25/js/date.js

These libraries can each perform any type of date formatting, manipulation or calculation you could think of. Here are the docs for these two powerful libraries:

Moment.js
https://momentjs.com/

Date.js
http://www.datejs.com/

But native QuickBase only supports a limited hard-coded set of date features. Beyond those native date features you can configuration in the GUI you have to create your own formulas and there is a limited set of things you can do with the formulas.

But you can gain access to the features of either of these libraries using script. So while the particular requirement the OP had in this question can be solved with a formula, there is no date related issue that can't be solved using script using these two libraries which are already included in the pages you download and are cached in your browser.