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Level 1

74 points

TIME ZONE SUPPORT SETTINGS?! What the what?

i am totally perplexed by the various documentation on time zone support and i would /simply/ like to walk through an example where i want to be able to enter a flight /out/ of Austin at 10:00 AM tomorrow (CST) and to enter a flight /back/ from Boston at 10:00 PM on Sunday (EST).

does anyone know if i can do this by SIMPLY entering 10:00 AM for tomorrow and 10:00 PM for sunday on the ACTUAL DAYS at the ACTUAL TIMES while i am sitting here on my laptop so that there won't be some muckabout when i expect to get an alert from my iPhone a HALF HOUR IN ADVANCE of my flight out of Boston?

are there settings that i need to check in iCloud to get this to happen? in iCal preferences on my MacBookPro? in iCal preferences on my Mac Pro? do i do one, two or all three? OTOH (i mean does this work differently on my laptop than on my iPhone or can it work the same if i check the right settings??!!). i mean, if i open my laptop while i am on the road do i have to change something to get things to read correctly or is there a way to get it to work correctly - like show me the actual times of the outgoing flight at the correct time and giving me a half hour advance alert at the actual Eastern Standard Time while i am in Boston! - without adjusting anything?

here is the documentation that seems to pertain but i am not following this and the last time i did it it got all screwed up with unhappy consequences.

TIA

iCloud: Change your calendar’s time zone

The default time zone for your calendars (and their events) is the time zone you set when you set up your iCloud account. However, by turning on time zone support, you can create events and view calendars in time zones other than your default time zone. If you’re in the Pacific time zone (Pacific daylight time), but you wish to create or view events for the eastern time zone (eastern standard time), time zone support lets you do so.

If time zone support is on, your calendar doesn’t update if you move between time zones. For example, if you have a meeting at 10 a.m. Pacific time in California, and you fly to New York, that meeting still appears at 10 a.m. in iCloud Calendar.

If time zone support is off, your calendar moves as you move; that is, the time zone settings update as you change time zones. For example, if you have a meeting at 10 a.m. Pacific time in California and fly to New York, your calendar items are shown in local (eastern) time. So your meeting at 10 a.m. Pacific time shows up at 1 p.m. eastern time.

Note: If you turned on iCloud Calendar on your devices, changes you make to the time zone for an event appear on every device. However, time zone support needs to be turned on individually for each device. Therefore, if your computer and iPhone, for example, don’t have the same time zone support setting, the events may show up at different times on these devices.

Use a time zone other than the default time zone

In iCloud Calendar, choose Preferences from the Action pop-up menu at the top of the window.
Click Advanced, select the “Enable time zone support” checkbox, then click Save.

With time zone support on, a “time zone” pop-up menu appears when you create an event, letting you set any time zone you want.

You can also reset the default time zone for your calendars (and their events) at any time.

Change an event’s time zone

You can change any event’s time zone. For example, if you’re traveling to another time zone for an event, you could change its time zone in Calendar.

In Calendar, choose Calendar > Preferences, click Advanced, and then select the “Turn on time zone support” checkbox.
Double-click the event and click Edit.
Choose a time zone from the Time Zone pop-up menu.
To pick a location that isn’t listed, choose Other. Click the time zone’s approximate location on the map, and then choose a city from the pop-up menu.

The time zone you set for an event affects where it appears on the calendar. For example, if you create an event at noon and set its time zone to France Time, but you have the Calendar time zone (in the top-right corner of the Calendar window) set to Pacific Time, the event appears 9 hours before noon. When you change the Calendar time zone to France Time, the event then appears at noon.

View all your events in a different time zone

By default, Calendar events are displayed in your computer’s current time zone (set in Date & Time preferences). However, you can choose to view all your events in a different time zone. For example, you might want to change the Calendar time zone if you’re traveling to a different time zone and want to see your events shifted to the new time.

Open Calendar

In Calendar, choose Calendar > Preferences, and then click Advanced.
Select “Turn on time zone support.”
A time zone pop-up menu appears in the top-right corner of Calendar.
Choose a time zone from the time zone pop-up menu.
If you don’t see the time zone you want, choose Other, and then click the map near the location. Choose the city nearest you from the pop-up menu below the map.

All events in Calendar are moved to the correct dates and times for the time zone. To see all your events shifted back to their original dates and times, choose the original time zone from the pop-up menu.

If you create any new events, the events take the time zone you set in Calendar. If you switch the time zone back to the time zone on your Mac, the events created in the shifted time zone retain the shifted time zone setting.

iPhone 4, iOS 6

Posted on Dec 13, 2012 8:44 PM

Best reply

jeannedes

Level 1

13 points

Posted on Jan 15, 2013 11:52 AM

Yeah, this doesn't work very well in Calendar. For flights, I add info to the event title:

"UA486, lv SFO 3:50pm ar IAD 11:59pm".

It only took once for me to learn. Very tense from the moment of realization through panic packing, taxiing and (politely, of course) pushing my way to the front of security to actually making that plane.

Outlook has the time zone management down, though there was a learning curve for the programmers there, too. I love my 6-month old MBA, but this is one non-supportive piece of code. I should have a sign on my MBA that my other computer is Windows. Will figure this out after adding a Windows platform to my well-equipped MBA.

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35 replies

May 19, 2014 5:04 PM in response to jesushcrisco

This problem is truly ridiculous. As a frequent traveller working in many time zones, I have only come up with one solution that works for a calendar that is synced between my iphone and mac: turn all timezone features off. I set time zone support to OFF on both mac and iphone and neither one automatically detects time zone. This means that when I travel, I manually set my clock on my phone without changing the timezone. This is inconvenient, but better than missing flights and meetings. While "floating" works fine in Mac, it cannot be set as a default as others have mentioned and making appointments from the iphone doesn't support floating, so that is out for me. If both mac and iphone would allow setting floating as a default, that would solve all my problems. Another solution would be to separate the iphone detection of time and timezone so that the iphone automatically sets the local time, but not timezone. That is what I used to do on my Android. That would also be fine.

Jul 24, 2014 6:12 AM in response to hotwheels22

Apple needs to eradicate Time Zone Support from all of their operating systems! It's less than worthless: it causes me to MISS APPOINTMENTS! I live in California, but I travel internationally about 6 months per year. I am currently in Japan. Japan is 16 hours ahead of CA, so the events I add in Japan are DISPLAYING on the FOLLOWING DAY in CA! ****, I was supposed to do an interview for a story in the Wall Street Journal last week. I dutifully entered the appointment (10pm here in Japan) a week in advance - with alarms, to be sure I called on time. The day of the interview, I looked on my iPhone and it showed a free evening. I went out with friends. I didn't see the appointment, because Time Zone Support caused it to move to the next morning! THAT was embarrassing.

Time Zone Support has caused me countless headaches, missed telephone conferences, missed appointments. And this is with Time Zone Support turned OFF on all my devices!

When creating an event in the OSX Calendar app, choosing "Floating" for the time zone DOES keep it at the same time, regardless of where you travel to. Great. Except you have to remember to take that extra step EVERY time you create an event: there is no way to choose "Floating" as the default for ALL new events. Arrrrgh! Why the heck not , Apple??!!

On iOS devices, there is no option to choose "Floating" when creating an event! Arrrrgh! Are you kidding me here??

Apple: either find a way to REALLY disable this useless function, or ditch it altogether. PEOPLE HAVE BEEN COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS PROBLEM FOR OVER 5 YEARS. What is your problem???

Oct 5, 2014 4:57 PM in response to hotwheels22

Until I realised I had to change the Calendar time zone I was confused by this but extracting the relevant information from the above I got it working.

Now I cannot see what the problem is for all the people complaining above. Apple engineers aren't God. Someone has to tell the calendar that Time Zone you are currently in. Its going to get that information from the system (the Apple Clock). On Phones, in your own country it's easy and automatic- it connects to the mobile network and updates time if you allow it to. On a laptop in foreign countries an internet connection can do it automatically (if you allow it to) otherwise its up to YOU to tell the computer (i.e set the time) what your local time is.

1. Turn Time Zone Support on (Calendar Prefs). Now you get the option to set an appointment time zone different to your system time (which unless you are a weird time traveler is your local time).

2. Add event and in the timezone drop down choose the time zone of the event or choose floating if the event has to happen at the same time whatever time zone you are in (like take medicine, go to bed etc).

3. Be aware that you now have system time (the time your computer thinks it is) and calendar time (the timezone your calendar displays time in). Set calendar time with the disclosure triangle, top tight of the calendar app.

4. Now also be aware that you can change system time manually (by choosing the time zone you are in) or automatically by letting the system determine local time from an internet connection. (Apple prefs). Unless you think apple is tracking your movements you have to make human powered intervention here.

5. By understanding what local time and time zones are you will realise that local time + time zone defines an absolute time anywhere in the world that can be converted to local time anywhere else.

6. Points of confusion. 1. You have not set calendar time to the local time so your appointment times don't look right. (I have a 4am dinner appointment?). Don't worry it is the correct (absolute) time its just displaying in a different timezone. (of course only if you set all your appointments by time zone)

2. My alarm didn't go off at the right time. Does your computer know what time zone it is or you are in. Is your appointment set in the correct timezone for where the appointment is? It can only be user error if the alarm doesn't sound. Time + time zone is an absolute time.

I can't see what else the software can do but this. If you don't know what time zone you are in or you need to be reminded what you are supposed to be doing at your destination while you are on a transcontinental flight there, perhaps life is a bit too busy.

DJMc1961

Level 1

0 points

Sep 30, 2015 5:14 AM in response to hotwheels22

I work around the problem with flights taking off and landing in different times zones as follows:

Open a New Appointment
Enter the Start (take off) and End (landing) times
Select a Time Zone OTHER than that to which your system is set
Select Recurrence
Select different (the actual) times zones of take off and landing
Select Recur Daily
Select End After 1 day

It seems to work, however ridiculous it is that this should be necessary.

Mar 8, 2016 2:27 PM in response to isisandgranta

isisandgranta wrote:

Until I realised I had to change the Calendar time zone I was confused by this but extracting the relevant information from the above I got it working.

Now I cannot see what the problem is for all the people complaining above. Apple engineers aren't God. Someone has to tell the calendar that Time Zone you are currently in.

Wrong. It doesn't matter what time zone you're in. When most people create a calendar appointment, they enter the time at which the event will take place FOR THEM. That means if I live in California but my flight leaves Chicago at 2 p.m., I expect to put 2 p.m. in my calendar. My phone will be in Chicago, and it will DISPLAY 2 p.m. when it's time for my flight.

We want the calendar to work on the time AS SHOWN ON THE PHONE. Since the phone obtains its time automatically from the LOCAL network, time zones don't matter. Unfortunately, Apple pretends not to understand this excruciatingly simple fact. So we end up with this craven stupidity:

TIME ZONE SUPPORT SETTINGS?! What the what?