How to keep Google Calendar from changing event times when I travel

May 15, 2019 9:35 PM

I just want to see the time I set for an appointment, no matter where I am.

For example, I'm currently in the US Central time zone. I have an appointment in Paris at 10:00 am in two weeks. I want Google Calendar to show 10 am no matter what time zone I'm in when I view it. I know I'll be in Paris that day. If I don't set the appointment time zone to Paris, it correctly tells me 10 am until I get to Paris, then it changes to 5 pm. If I do set the appointment time zone to 10 am Paris time, I have to look at 3 am for that appointment for the two weeks until I get to Paris. If I need to tell someone the time of my appointment in Paris before I leave the US, I have to do mental arithmetic to make it 10 am again. (Yes, I know. Plus or minus seven hours. No biggie, but I don't want to have to do that.)

This seems to be a common problem that many people on the internet have complained about, but I haven't seen any solution within the last few years. Is there a workaround I'm missing? Assume I'm married to Google Calendar and not switching to a different calendar system.

posted by Joleta to Technology (9 answers total)

Best answer: I think you can do it like this:

You put it in the calendar for 10am in your own timezone, then, when you get to Paris, Google will ask you whether you want to now view your calendar in the local timezone or not. Choose NO. Then you should continue to see it for 10am.

I finally got that right last time I travelled and it all worked out the way you describe wanting it.
posted by lollusc at 10:12 PM on May 15, 2019

If you commonly travel just between two specific time zones, you can actually view both at once. Follow the instructions here to do so.
posted by nat at 10:48 PM on May 15, 2019

If I know I will need to refer to an appointment in a different timezone before I get to that timezone, I include the local time of the event in its title.

For example, if I'm currently in London and I'm taking a train from Seoul to Busan one evening next week, I'll enter the local times of the journey and specify it's in the KST timezone in Google Calendar and also make the title of the event something like 'Seoul 1800 - Busan 2035'.

That way I'm confident that it will display correctly when I get to Korea, but if someone asks me today when they should meet me off the KTX at Busan Station next week, I can see at a glance what the local time will be from the event title.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 1:35 AM on May 16, 2019 [5 favorites]

Best answer: In the app, go into Settings and uncheck "Use device time zone". I know there's something similar for the desktop version.
posted by Flannery Culp at 5:41 AM on May 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The browser version is "Ask to update my primary time zone to current location" - leave that checked and your appointments will stay at whatever time you originally entered.
posted by Flannery Culp at 6:58 AM on May 16, 2019

Do you use calendar notifications? Because if you just use one time zone for all entered events but travel to other time zones, you'll get notifications at the wrong time. And if you look at your calendar it will think it is 7 hours later than you want.

I like the idea of putting the (local) time in the event title, or at least the notes in the event.

If I need to convert several events at once I toggle the Use device time zone setting temporarily.
posted by mountmccabe at 7:15 AM on May 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

In the browser version, under the gear-symbol menu, there's an "Ask to update my primary time zone to current location" option.

As far as I can tell, not checking it means "autmatically update my primary time zone when making entries to the current device location without asking," which is something nobody on the planet has ever wanted. Checking it means that if you're paying attention to each pop-up, you can prevent scheduling things in the wrong timezone. You then have to translate event times into your home timezone. But, at least it's well-defined and you'll get notifications at the right time.

I find this incredibly frustrating. I can't believe that Google engineers have gotten this so incredibly wrong. Surely the people making high level decisions travel frequently. . .
posted by eotvos at 8:36 AM on May 16, 2019

I think if you choose not to switch your timezone, it may screw you up in other ways because everything will be in different timezones. The answer to your question is that Google will ask if you want to switch to your new timezone and you can just say no.

But I think what you should actually do is this: when you add your 10am appointment in Paris, use the "more options" to go into the more detailed scheduling view, and click "time zone" and then choose Central European Time - Paris, so it sets the appointment for 10am Paris time. That way, everything on your calendar is at the correct time. On my phone it's only slightly different - I still tap "more options" but then I tap on my current timezone and then I can just search for Paris.

Then, you can add dual timezone view to your calendar. It will show you local time in Paris and your current timezone. I have my calendar set up to show me east coast and west coast times. Then I know when everything is without having to do the three-hour math.
posted by AppleTurnover at 10:31 AM on May 16, 2019

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone. I marked a few as "best answer" because these are the things I'm going to try. I did add Paris as a second time zone, but this only appears for the Day, Week and 7-Day calendar views in my desktop browser. I use the Month view on my desktop and the second time zone doesn't work there. On my iPhone, the second time zone doesn't appear in any calendar view, and there doesn't seem to be any way to set it.
posted by Joleta at 1:06 PM on May 16, 2019