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How to Use Time Zone Support in Teamup Calendar

ℹ️ Teamup provides flexible time zone support with automatic time zone detection and event time zone conversions. You can configure time zone settings, set the default time zone, change the time zone manually, and use time zone link parameters. 

Work with multiple time zones

When a calendar is shared by a group of people in different regions of the world, proper handling of time zones and daylight saving time (DST) becomes very important.

Handling time zones is tricky. Every year, many countries switch between standard time and daylight saving time. Unfortunately, they don’t make these shifts simultaneously. Furthermore, different regions may decide to change their time zones or DST rules entirely. Fortunately, Teamup Calendar helps users deal with that complexity.

Event time zone conversions

The time of all events displayed on the calendar is relative to the displayed time zone.

So it’s simple to create an event for participants in multiple time zones

  1. Create the event at the scheduled time in your local time zone. 
  2. The event’s time will automatically adjust to correspond with the time zone setting it’s being viewed in.

You can check this functionality yourself: Create an event while viewing the calendar in your local time zone. Then manually change to a different time zone. You’ll see the calendar events automatically adjust to display at the appropriate time for that selected time zone. 

Automatic DST adjustment

Teamup automatically adjusts to daylight saving time on the appropriate dates.

Change the time zone manually

When the Show time zone option is enabled (details below), the time zone indicator is visible and users can manually change the time zone.

On a browser

The time zone indicator is visible on the calendar footer (bottom right) and the calendar menu (top right).

To change the time zone:

  1. Click the time zone indicator (from the footer or the menu).
  2. Select the preferred time zone from the menu. Check Show all timezones to make all time zones visible in the drop-down menu:

    image.png

Any user (at any permission level) can manually change the time zone for their view, and their choice will be remembered for the duration of their browser session. 

On mobile

On the Teamup app, the time zone indicator is visible in the settings. 

To change the time zone:

  1. Swipe or tap to open the left sidebar.
  2. Tap the Gear icon.
  3. Tap the current indicated time zone to open the list of time zones.
  4. Tap the desired time zone, then tap the back arrow. 

Configure time zones

Reminder: to access calendar settings, you must have administrator access and use a browser. Calendar settings are not the same as user account settings. 

As the calendar administrator, you can set the default time zone and control how your Teamup Calendar applies time zones.

To configure time zone options, go to Settings > Date & Time

Choose the default time zone for your Teamup Calendar.

Set the default time zone

When creating a new Teamup Calendar, you are required to choose a time zone. This time zone will be the default time zone for your calendar. To change the default time zone, go to Settings > Date & Time and select the preferred time zone from the menu.

Option 1: Show time zone

If this option is disabled, calendar users will not see the time zone link in the footer or menu, and will not have the option to change the time zone.

If this option is enabled, the default time zone will be displayed on the calendar (in the menu and the footer).

With the Show time zone option enabled
With the Show time zone option enabled, you’ll see the time zone indicator.

 

With the Show time zone option disabled

 

All users (with all permissions) will have the option to change the time zone in the calendar menu or by clicking on the time zone.

If a user changes the time zone, this selection will be remembered in a browser cookie.

See an example of the same calendar displayed in the time zone of New York and in the time zone of Tokyo.

Option 2: Enable automatic time zone detection

When this option is enabled, the calendar will automatically open in the time zone set as local (on the computer or mobile device) for the person viewing the calendar.

Teamup Calendar will try to detect the local time zone of the user’s location and use it as the default time zone for the calendar. Thus, if a user’s computer has Eastern Standard Time set as the local time zone, the calendar will open in EST. If a user has Central European Time set as their local time zone, then the calendar will open in CET.

Enabling automatic time zone detection will automatically show the time zone.

If a user manually changes the time zone, their manually selected time zone will be given higher priority than the automatically detected time zone or the default time zone.

If this option is not enabled, the time zone specified in the Settings will be used as the default time zone for the calendar no matter where it is viewed.

If both options are unchecked, the calendar’s default time zone will always be used; calendar users will not see the time zone link in the footer or menu, and will not have the option to change the time zone.

Link parameters force certain options for a calendar when appended to a calendar link. Any calendar user can append a time zone parameter to a calendar link, which will force the calendar to be loaded in that specific time zone. Time zone parameters work even if the Show time zone option is disabled in the calendar settings. 

Example:

Time zone use cases

Time zone support in Teamup Calendar is configurable in different ways, so you can use the configuration which works best.

The following use cases can help you decide which configuration is right for you:

Use Case 1: Hidden time zone

A small local organization manages meeting room reservations with Teamup Calendar.

All calendar users are located within the same time zone. Support for the conversion of times between different time zone is not needed. To keep the calendar interface lean, all time zone-related information is hidden.

The recommended configuration looks like this:

Use Case 2: Static time zone

A theater uses Teamup Calendar to publish their performance schedule online. Users of this calendar may be located in different time zones. However, since one needs to travel to the theater’s location to attend a performance, it is likely that users would want to see event times in the time zone where the theater is located.

The recommended configuration looks like this:

With this configuration, by default, the calendar will always show times in the configured time zone of the theater. But users have the option to manually select another time zone, if desired.

Use Case 3: Automatic time zone detection

A project team spread across different continents uses Teamup to coordinate their virtual meetings using video conferencing. In this use case, each calendar user would need to see meeting times relative to his or her time zone.

The recommended configuration looks like this:

With this configuration, Teamup Calendar will try to detect the local time zone of the user’s location and use it as the default time zone for the calendar. In addition, users always have the option to explicitly select a time zone. This is useful if the automatic detection does not return the correct or preferred time zone.

Keywords: multiple time zones, automatic time zone, how to set default time zone, local time zone setting

Updated on March 27, 2024
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