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Invariant calendar event times

While in my home time zone, I often create calendar events (using my MacBook or iPad) for things that will occur when I'm traveling in another time zone. For example, when I make a lunch appointment for a day next week (when I'll be in a different time zone), I'll enter "Lunch w/Bob" and set the time as 12:15 pm. I want that event to always appear as a "12:15 pm" event regardless of the time zone I'm actually in. The trouble is, the system alters the event times when I travel (that event might show as "9:15 am" or "3:15 pm," depending on which way I'm traveling), and if I travel across the international dateline, the date might change, too.


I want all of my events to appear as if I wrote them in ink on a paper calendar. The dates and times should be invariant -- never changing from the value I enter, regardless of my location. And if I'm sharing my calendar (via iCloud) with "Bob" (who's in a different time zone), I want him to always see "12:15 pm," too, as if I sent him a paper note. Meanwhile, I want the time shown on my devices to reflect local time. What I'm asking for are dumb calendar events that don't understand time zones, just like a paper calendar.

I know about the "Time zone support" checkbox, but it doesn't seem to help, and the explanation of that setting's function is totally confusing.


How can I achieve this when entering and viewing events using my Mac or my iDevices? (MacOS 10.12 and later, iOS 10amd later)


Jeff

Posted on Dec 16, 2017 4:48 AM

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7 replies

Dec 16, 2017 5:59 PM in response to Malcolm J. Rayfield

Thanks for the tips. Because my wife and I share calendars, and we have two Macs and several iDevices (with various versions of macOS and iOS), ... and we each make new calendar entries on all those devices, (whew!) I'll work on those settings and report back. To me, the descriptions of those settings read like doublespeak -- very unclear what is meant by, "When off, events will display according to the time zone of your current location." I don't know if that means it adjusts the times or not.

Dec 16, 2017 7:52 PM in response to Jeffrey Mattox

Jeffrey Mattox wrote:


very unclear what is meant by, "When off, events will display according to the time zone of your current location." I don't know if that means it adjusts the times or not.

That's for Time Zone Override off. It means the phone will show the event time adjusted to its current location.


For example, suppose you and your wife are in New York and Bob is in London and you set up to meet Bob in London at noon.

With Time Zone Support on (and Time Zone Override off) you would create the event for noon London time zone. You ad you wife's Macs and phones would show it as 7 AM. Bob's would show noon. When you fly to London, your phone will show the meeting as noon. If your wife (in New York) wants to call you before the meeting, she would look in her calendar and see that she has to call before 7 AM.

Dec 16, 2017 8:01 PM in response to Malcolm J. Rayfield

But "adjusted to current time zone" is what I *don't* want. I want the event time to appear as noon no matter where I am or where my wife it's, etc. Like I said, as if it the event and time were written on paper or in Notes app. Noon or 1:00 pm should appear as "noon" or "1:00 pm" no matter where I am, no matter where my wife is. (If necessary to make a phone call, as in your example, I'll do that figuring myslef.) Paper -- invariant -- ignorant of time zones.

Dec 31, 2017 9:37 PM in response to Jeffrey Mattox

To understand just how confusing this has been for well over a decade, google this four-word search: [Apple calendar "floating" time] (put "floating" in double quotes to help restrict the results). Over the years, people have asked my same basic question, and some think "floating" is the answer (which is an event timezone field choice on the Mac desktop when timezone support is turned on), but that only seems to exist on the Mac desktop (and it requires an extra step of setting that timezone). There is no matching setting and selection on iOS. The only safe method people have found is to put the time in the description, which is a clumbsy workaround.


There are two types of events: (1) a timezone agnostic event like a noon luncheon which should always show the time as noon (or whatever time was entered) regardless of the local timezone, and (2) events which are timezone sensitive such as an international conference call whose clock time will vary depending on the timezone. Some people need both types of events. There are three places events can be created: Mac Calendar desktop, iOS devices, and iCloud (webview). And, there are three places events can be viewed: desktop, iOS, and iCloud. iCloud glues everything together, and there are iCloud settings, too. The settings everywhere have to mesh.


With so much confusion for so long, I'm disappointed that Apple hasn't solved this, or clarified how to adjust the settings.

Invariant calendar event times

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