Time Zone suggestions for Outlook Calendar

[Ben Knox]

For MANY years, one of the most frustrating "features" for me is how time
zones are dealt with in Outlook - this also seems to be one of the major
problems that other people have too, given the number of questions about this
that come up when you search for 'time zone'.

I travel frequently between many different time zones, and I find that
Outlook is totally unable to work in a useful way in terms of how it handles
time zones.

My suggestions are:

1: provide a way to specify that an appointment should be at a fixed time,
regardless of changes in time zone (e.g. it will ALWAYS appear in the
calendar at 3pm local time, even if you have changed the time zone).

2: provide a way to specify a specific time zone for each appointment (so I
could specify a meeting for 3pm London time, and this would shift around the
calendar as necessary whenever I changed the local time zone). The important
thing here is that the time zone which each appointment is set to should be
displayed whenever you open it (and even on the appointment's summary line in
the day display).

3: provide an option for birthdays and other types of anniversaries to be
tied to a date only (no time), and allow the user to set a reminder time (in
the current time zone) for each anniversary.

The existing implementation of time zones is impossible to use if you travel
a lot and have to put in meetings at different times in different time zones.
Change the PC's time zone a few times and you end up with a total shambles.
And trying to synchronise with a PDA or phone is a disaster too.

At the moment, to keep things in order, I end up either not changing my PC's
time zone or time at all, so I don't get reminders at the right time, or just
changing the time on the PC (not the zone) so the appointments don't get
shifted around (but this messes up other applications which rely on the time
and time zone being correct).

The 'work arounds' available, such as exporting, deleting and reimporting
calendar entries, are totally useless for me, as they mean recurring calendar
entries are turned into individual entries, which is not acceptable.

Microsoft - PLEASE do something about the time zone handling in the next
version of Outlook. I am sure countless people would thank you for it.

Regards,
Ben Knox

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Wait.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Ben Knox asked:

| For MANY years, one of the most frustrating "features" for me is how
| time zones are dealt with in Outlook - this also seems to be one of
| the major problems that other people have too, given the number of
| questions about this that come up when you search for 'time zone'.
|
| I travel frequently between many different time zones, and I find that
| Outlook is totally unable to work in a useful way in terms of how it
| handles time zones.
|
| My suggestions are:
|
| 1: provide a way to specify that an appointment should be at a fixed
| time, regardless of changes in time zone (e.g. it will ALWAYS appear
| in the calendar at 3pm local time, even if you have changed the time
| zone).
|
| 2: provide a way to specify a specific time zone for each appointment
| (so I could specify a meeting for 3pm London time, and this would
| shift around the calendar as necessary whenever I changed the local
| time zone). The important thing here is that the time zone which each
| appointment is set to should be displayed whenever you open it (and
| even on the appointment's summary line in the day display).
|
| 3: provide an option for birthdays and other types of anniversaries
| to be tied to a date only (no time), and allow the user to set a
| reminder time (in the current time zone) for each anniversary.
|
| The existing implementation of time zones is impossible to use if you
| travel a lot and have to put in meetings at different times in
| different time zones. Change the PC's time zone a few times and you
| end up with a total shambles. And trying to synchronise with a PDA or
| phone is a disaster too.
|
| At the moment, to keep things in order, I end up either not changing
| my PC's time zone or time at all, so I don't get reminders at the
| right time, or just changing the time on the PC (not the zone) so the
| appointments don't get shifted around (but this messes up other
| applications which rely on the time and time zone being correct).
|
| The 'work arounds' available, such as exporting, deleting and
| reimporting calendar entries, are totally useless for me, as they
| mean recurring calendar entries are turned into individual entries,
| which is not acceptable.
|
| Microsoft - PLEASE do something about the time zone handling in the
| next version of Outlook. I am sure countless people would thank you
| for it.
|
| Regards,
| Ben Knox

 

[chris.calo]

I strongly agree. This a serious short-coming in Outlook and a big
opportunity for competing scheduling software. I know lots of people
that struggle with this issue.
Microsoft's website
(http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HP010223091033.aspx)
says:

Three factors affect the scheduling of a meeting in Microsoft Outlook:

The clock setting (time) of the computer.
The local time zone setting of the computer.
The daylight saving time adjustment setting of the computer.
All three factors must be set correctly on both the meeting organizer's
computer and on each attendee's computer to ensure meetings display at
the correct times.

*When you have all-day events on your Calendar and then change the time
zone, the all-day events span two days instead of one.

Outlook treats anniversaries, holidays, and birthdays as all-day events
(an all-day event is defined from midnight to midnight in the local
time zone). When the time zones change, all-day events move. Therefore,
when you change the computer's time zone, the all-day event moves to
display in the new time zone. An event, such as a holiday or birthday,
will appear in the Calendar on two consecutive days. For example, a
birthday could appear from 6 A.M. one day to 6 A.M. the next day.

You can do one of the following:

Use the additional time zone feature in Outlook to display the local
time zone and do not change the operating system time zone.
Correct each all-day event for the current time zone setting.
Change the time zone back to the one used when the items were created.

*You need appointments to be at fixed times no matter what time zone
you are in.

You want an appointment to show on the Calendar at a fixed time no
matter what the time zone is. For example, you want to be reminded to
take your medication at the same absolute time regardless of the time
zone you are in. However, when you change time zones, the appointment
changes to reflect the new time zone.

Outlook can't force an appointment to remain fixed when the time zone
changes. If you need the appointment to stay at a fixed time, you
should not change your current time zone. You can add the additional
time zone to track the other time zone times. To change the time zone
setting in Outlook without changing the times for each of your
appointments, you must export the data from your Calendar folder,
change the time zone setting, and then import the data into Outlook.

*You are traveling through two or more time zones and need to display
the local time for each appointment in Calendar.

If you are a salesperson in New York City, New York who has a breakfast
meeting at 8:00 A.M., then flies to Chicago, Illinois for a 1:00 P.M.
meeting, and then flies to Las Vegas, Nevada and has a dinner
reservation at 6:00 P.M., Outlook displays all of these appointments
relative to the time zone you were in when you entered the appointments
in Calendar. Therefore, in New York City when you look at the Calendar,
breakfast is at 8:00 A.M., the Chicago meeting is at 1:00 P.M., and the
Las Vegas dinner is at 6:00 P.M. However, when you look at the Calendar
in Chicago, the breakfast is at 9:00 A.M., the local (Chicago) meeting
is at 2:00 P.M., and the dinner is at 7:00 P.M.

The user should not change their original time zone and should use the
additional time zone feature to display the local time. You can only
display one additional time zone, so you may need to change the second
time zone each time you change time zones.