What are time zone settings in the calendar?

Time zone settings in your calendar allow you to set which time zone you’re located in to accurately present your schedule. Each calendar app gives you the ability to set your time zone and change your time zone when you travel to a different region to update your schedule to the new time.

How to set your time zone in the calendar?

Here’s how to set your time zones in both Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar.

Setting time zones in Google Calendar

You can set your time zone in your Google Calendar Settings. This time zone will be inherited by all other calendars in your Google account, and be used to display times in your schedule and for events.

Go to the “Time zone” tab in the left sidebar, and then update your primary time zone in the Settings editor. You can also choose whether you’d like Google Calendar to ask you if you’d like to change your time zone when you’re moved to a different time zone location. This setting allows you to save time when updating your settings while traveling, and avoid forgetting to make this change to prevent yourself from missing an event.

How to set a secondary time zone in Google Calendar? 

If you travel frequently or work with a distributed team, you can create a secondary time zone in Google Calendar to display another time zone in your schedule. Just remember that this secondary timezone won't be used to display your event, nor will it be used when scheduling events – it’s basically just an overlay to see an additional time zone.

Go to the “Time zone” tab in the left side bar, and then select the “Display secondary time zone” checkbox in the Settings editor. You can now add a secondary time zone to overlay in your Google Calendar. 

How to set time zones for a secondary Google Calendar?

You can also set a custom time zone to display for any of your secondary calendars in Google Calendar. This is not usually recommended as it can over-complicate your calendar and make it difficult to read. 

But there are use cases where this setting is helpful — for example, a team calendar for a team located in a different time zone, where you want to see it in their time zone as opposed to yours (you can still modify that under the calendar’s settings). 

However, you cannot have a different time zone than your default time zone on your primary calendar. 

To set a custom time zone for a specific secondary calendar in Google Calendar, go to your Settings, scroll down to “Settings for other calendars”, select the secondary calendar you wish to update, and change to time zone for this calendar in the Settings editor.

How to set a custom time zone for a Google calendar event?

It's also possible to set a custom time zone for a specific event. When scheduling an event, it will always use your default time zone — but you can override this time zone if you’re scheduling an event with someone in a different time zone, and you want to schedule the event at a time that works for them.

For example, if you have an upcoming trip and are coordinating meetings for it — you'd want to schedule meetings in the future time zone that you’re going to be in. 

To set a custom time zone for an event in Google Calendar, click the “Time zone” selector under the date and time in the event creator, and use the time zone you wish to use the for event.

Setting time zones in  Outlook Calendar

Like Google Calendar, setting and changing your time zones in Outlook is pretty straightforward. First, open Outlook and navigate to the Calendar view. Click on the settings icon in the right-hand corner — the "View" tab will be open by default, which is where you can find your timezone settings. Scroll down, and you'll see a setting for "Display my calendar in time zone," where you can change your time zone.  

How to set a secondary time zone in Outlook?

You can create a secondary time zone in Outlook to display another time zone in your schedule. In that same View tab, where you set your primary timezone, you'll see a + Add time zone button. From there, you can add another timezone as you would your primary. 

How to set a custom time zone for an event in Outlook?

You can also assign a specific timezone to specific calendar events in Outlook. Locate the appointment or event you want to modify or create a new one. Click "More options" to edit the full event details, and look for the "Time zones" button. From there, you can enter your desired time zone.