Default TimeZone with the creation of new Office Identity

[mandebooks]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Email Client: Exchange

Hello,

I recently discovered the following problem. We have the OS timezone setting set to the EST timezone using New York city as the reference city in System Preferences.

When we create a new user account on the machine and then setup a new Entourage configuration (new Office Identity) Entourage is setting its TimeZone setting for new calendar events to the "(GMT-04:00) Indiana East" TimeZone. - which is wrong, New York city is not in Indiana.

If I change the OS timezone setting to the EST timezone using Miami as the reference city in System Preferences and create a new user account and setup a new Entourage configuration (new Office Identity) Entourage sets its TimeZone setting for new calendar events to the "(GMT-04:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)" timezone. This is correct.

The problem is that we set the timezone for the OS using the /usr/sbin/systemsetup which only allows the following american cities as options:
America/Antigua
America/Anguilla
America/Curacao
America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires
America/Argentina/Cordoba
America/Argentina/Salta
America/Argentina/Jujuy
America/Argentina/Tucuman
America/Argentina/Catamarca
America/Argentina/La_Rioja
America/Argentina/San_Juan
America/Argentina/Mendoza
America/Argentina/San_Luis
America/Argentina/Rio_Gallegos
America/Argentina/Ushuaia
America/Aruba
America/Barbados
America/St_Barthelemy
America/La_Paz
America/Noronha
America/Belem
America/Fortaleza
America/Recife
America/Araguaina
America/Maceio
America/Bahia
America/Sao_Paulo
America/Campo_Grande
America/Cuiaba
America/Santarem
America/Porto_Velho
America/Boa_Vista
America/Manaus
America/Eirunepe
America/Rio_Branco
America/Nassau
America/Belize
America/St_Johns
America/Halifax
America/Glace_Bay
America/Moncton
America/Goose_Bay
America/Blanc-Sablon
America/Montreal
America/Toronto
America/Nipigon
America/Thunder_Bay
America/Iqaluit
America/Pangnirtung
America/Resolute
America/Atikokan
America/Rankin_Inlet
America/Winnipeg
America/Rainy_River
America/Regina
America/Swift_Current
America/Edmonton
America/Cambridge_Bay
America/Yellowknife
America/Inuvik
America/Dawson_Creek
America/Vancouver
America/Whitehorse
America/Dawson
America/Santiago
America/Bogota
America/Costa_Rica
America/Havana
America/Dominica
America/Santo_Domingo
America/Guayaquil
America/Grenada
America/Cayenne
America/Godthab
America/Danmarkshavn
America/Scoresbysund
America/Thule
America/Guadeloupe
America/Guatemala
America/Guyana
America/Tegucigalpa
America/Port-au-Prince
America/Jamaica
America/St_Kitts
America/Cayman
America/St_Lucia
America/Marigot
America/Martinique
America/Montserrat
America/Mexico_City
America/Cancun
America/Merida
America/Monterrey
America/Mazatlan
America/Chihuahua
America/Hermosillo
America/Tijuana
America/Managua
America/Panama
America/Lima
America/Miquelon
America/Puerto_Rico
America/Asuncion
America/Paramaribo
America/El_Salvador
America/Grand_Turk
America/Port_of_Spain
America/New_York
America/Detroit
America/Kentucky/Louisville
America/Kentucky/Monticello
America/Indiana/Indianapolis
America/Indiana/Vincennes
America/Indiana/Winamac
America/Indiana/Marengo
America/Indiana/Petersburg
America/Indiana/Vevay
America/Chicago
America/Indiana/Tell_City
America/Indiana/Knox
America/Menominee
America/North_Dakota/Center
America/North_Dakota/New_Salem
America/Denver
America/Boise
America/Shiprock
America/Phoenix
America/Los_Angeles
America/Anchorage
America/Juneau
America/Yakutat
America/Nome
America/Adak
America/Montevideo
America/St_Vincent
America/Caracas
America/Tortola
America/St_Thomas

I have retested this using other cities such as Montreal and in that case Entourage still sets its default calendar entry timezone to the "(GMT-04:00) Indiana East"

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

I recently discovered the following problem. We have the OS timezone
setting set to the EST timezone using New York city as the reference
city in System Preferences.

When we create a new user account on the machine and then setup a new
Entourage configuration (new Office Identity) Entourage is setting
its TimeZone setting for new calendar events to the "(GMT-04:00)
Indiana East" TimeZone. - which is wrong, New York city is not in
Indiana.

The city may not be correct but the time zone is correct. Cities are
included as a point of reference only, not as part of a comprehensive
list of every city in the world.

If Entourage has picked the correct time zone then it has done what it
should do.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[mandebooks]

Bill,

The OS is picking up the right Timezone. The problem is that when the OS timezone is set to EST, Entourage thinks that New York is in Indiana and is setting its default timezone to Indiana when you create a new profile/new configuration.

So the problem is Entourage not picking the correct time zone and it is not doing what it should do.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

The OS is picking up the right Timezone. The problem is that when the
OS timezone is set to EST, Entourage thinks that New York is in
Indiana and is setting its default timezone to Indiana when you
create a new profile/new configuration.

So the problem is Entourage not picking the correct time zone and it
is not doing what it should do.

I see that most but not all of Indiana is in the Eastern time zone along
with New York. Is the problem you're experiencing related to some of the
Indiana counties in the Central time zone?

Again, the city makes no difference. It is for human reference only, not
the computer's. If your Mac OS X system is set for Eastern then what
time zone is Entourage picking?

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[mandebooks]

Bill,

You are still not understanding the problem.

The OS Timezone is correct. I realize the city doesn't matter.

The problem is that while the computer is set to EST for its timezone when I setup a new Office Identity/Entourage configuration Entourage is setting its default timezone to the Indiana EST timezone instead of the proper Easter Timezone.

So for some reason within Entourage the following equation is true:

EST/EDT == (GMT-04:00) Indiana East

This is WRONG.

Entourage should use this:

EST/EDT == (GMT-04:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Entourage should only use the Indiana East timezone setting if the computers timezone is actually set to Indiana East.

(GMT-04:00) Indiana East DOES NOT EQUAL (GMT-04:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Is this finally clear? If not feel free to contact me outside the forum at mandebooks(@)gmail.com and I'll send you my phone number so I can setup a webex and demonstrate the problem.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

EST/EDT == (GMT-04:00) Indiana East

This is WRONG.

Entourage should use this:

EST/EDT == (GMT-04:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Entourage should only use the Indiana East timezone setting if the
computers timezone is actually set to Indiana East.

(GMT-04:00) Indiana East DOES NOT EQUAL (GMT-04:00) Eastern Time (US
& Canada)

You're correct. I don't think I'm understanding the problem you're
presenting. New York and Indiana (East) are the same time zone. What
difference does different cities make?

Why does Indiana East NOT EQUAL Eastern Time if both are GMT-04:00?

As of 2005 or 2006, Indiana started observing Daylight Saving Time along
with other states in the U.S., so this shouldn't be the issue.

I live in Minneapolis and my Mac OS X system is set to "Minneapolis".
However, this option doesn't exist in Entourage. If Mexico City were
selected in Entourage, this still would not be a problem for me.

Let's approach this from a different angle.

Other than appearance of the cities, how is this adversely affecting
your calendar? Are your events displaying incorrectly?

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[mandebooks]

I apparently missed the announcement that Indiana was now observing standard EST. To that end why is there even an option listed for the Indiana Timezone settings?

The reason this became a problem is that we have had users reporting problems with Calendar Invites not coming through with the correct time - they were coming through an hour-off and the fix was to change the Entourage timezone setting from the "Indiana (East)" setting to the actual "Eastern Time" setting.

Either way, even if Indiana is now on standard EST why isn't Entourage choosing the standard "Eastern Time" setting? Wouldn't that help at least avoid causing confusion? I used to live in Indiana so this has been especially confusing (I honestly didn't know they had changed their Timezone to EST or CST depending on county location).

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

I apparently missed the announcement that Indiana was now observing
standard EST. To that end why is there even an option listed for the
Indiana Timezone settings?

It's probably there because part of Indiana (about 12 counties) observe
Central time while the rest observer Eastern time.

More information:
<http://www.timetemperature.com/tzus/indiana_time_zone.shtml>

Microsoft is not defining the official list of time zones. It's
reflecting the list as it's defined by the "tz database" that's used by
computer systems.

The reason this became a problem is that we have had users reporting
problems with Calendar Invites not coming through with the correct
time - they were coming through an hour-off and the fix was to change
the Entourage timezone setting from the "Indiana (East)" setting to
the actual "Eastern Time" setting.

If you're finding that the "Indiana (East)" setting is reflecting
Central time and not Eastern time then report this to Microsoft using
Help --> Send Feedback in any Office application.

I'm inclined to think you have found a bug because I'm noticing that
while the "Indiana (East)" setting in Entourage does indeed say -4:00,
it is the only item out of order and is mixed in with the -5:00 items.

Either way, even if Indiana is now on standard EST why isn't
Entourage choosing the standard "Eastern Time" setting? Wouldn't that
help at least avoid causing confusion? I used to live in Indiana so
this has been especially confusing (I honestly didn't know they had
changed their Timezone to EST or CST depending on county location).

This may be too late to help, but I have an Exchange setup script for
configuring Exchange settings for users. The plus to this script and how
it works is that it will allow you to pre-define every preference
(including time zone). You can find it here:

<http://entourage.mvps.org/exchange/exchangesetupv3.html>

Hope this helps!

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>