Daniel ([info]e_dan) wrote,
@ 2009-01-14 18:42:00
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Current location:comfy cushion
Current mood: contemplative

Hmm, tech question re time zone in calendar programs
The problem: having moved from Perth to Melbourne, I want to change my computer's time zone. However, when I do that, it shifts all my appointments forward 2 hours.

Now I know it hasn't really shifted the times, it's just shifting the time they're *displayed* at because it's clever. But, I'd like it to keep all the appointments displaying at the same time they were put in.

This is mainly because of appointments that occurred in the past - I've been using a PDA since 2001 and I like having a total archive of my life. And when I look back to see something that happened last year, I don't really want to have to remember that I was in Perth at the time and change my calendar program's current time zone to Perth so it'll show it at the right time.

Any ideas anyone? Dave, did you have this problem heading to Alice?

I generally use Outlook 2007 (running in a partition on my Mac), but am happy to switch back to iCal if it helps.


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[info]cricketk
2009-01-14 01:31 pm UTC (link)
We had this problem at work when the computers updated to daylight savings time. The IT department's solution was for everyone to change the meetings manually.

Someone cleverer than our IT guys might be needed.

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[info]mordwen
2009-01-14 03:09 pm UTC (link)
This answer brought to you by the idiot woman upstairs keeping me awake... so it might not be accurate.

I seem to remember that there is a setting in Outlook to tell each appointment what time zone they are in... so if you could work out some script to automatically open all the old appointments and set them to Perth timezone within Outlook then the fact that the Mac is on Melb timezone shouldn't affect how they display.

There might be a cheat's way, which would be something like telling Outlook that the default timezone is Perth for everything and then manually setting all new appointments to Melb... but iCal won't solve it. I did have this exact problem with moving from California with iCal and my appointments shifted a lot more than just two hours.

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[info]e_dan
2009-01-14 08:39 pm UTC (link)
Heya :)

"...open all the old appointments and set them to Perth timezone within Outlook then the fact that the Mac is on Melb timezone shouldn't affect how they display"

Unfortunately, that's exactly what it does effect. It assumes that as I'm in a Melbourne time zone I'll want to know what time the Perth-timed events would be happening in my current time zone i.e. is *displays* them as 2 hours different.

I think there's no choice but to hack all the timezones of every appointment in my calendar (some 9,000) to now be in Melbourne time zone - secure in the knowledge that down the track I can hack them to be in a different time zone.

As near as I can tell after a googlefest there are alternate methods of doing this hack depending on if I want to go with Outlook or iCal:

Outlook: I need to use a Microsoft update tool called "Microsoft Office Outlook Tool Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook" which I *think* will change all the timezones of everything to Melbourne. Alternatively, I can export all items to a .xls or .csv file, change the system time, then import everything back in at which point Outlook assumes they're all the current time zone. Or so I hear.

iCal: I need to open the iCal data file using a text editing program, then do the lord_king_god of find-and-replace functions to change the text of all the time zones from Perth to Melbourne. I *could* change them to this 'time zone' called "Floating" which means they display as the same time no matter which time zone you're in - this _would_ be favourite except that not all calendar and PDA and smartphone programs support this, and I suppose I should probably use a method that allows me to upgrade my palmie.

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[info]strangedave
2009-01-14 03:29 pm UTC (link)
No, but I don't use Outlook.
I vaguely remember it being an Outlook thing.

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[info]e_dan
2009-01-14 08:44 pm UTC (link)
Heya :)

Nah, it certainly happens with iCal, and I hear it also happens with Google Calendar and the rest. I can understand what they're doing - if someone invites you to an appointment at midday Sydney time and you accept, you want it to automatically display in *your* calendar (which is running on Perth time) as going to happen at 10am, otherwise you'll miss the call. And so all the appointments have 'which time zone was this set in' flag which affects when they display.

So I guess I'm going to just do a hack and change all the time zones of the 9,000 odd appointments in my calendar to be Melbourne time zone (using the method I posted in a different reply).

iCal does have a cool time zone options called 'floating' which means that the event time remains static no matter which time zone you're in, but this isn't supported by Outlook, which leads me to believe that PDAs and smartphones (other than the iPhone) and online calendars might not support it either and I want to allow for future interoperability.

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[info]thorfinn
2009-01-15 04:58 am UTC (link)
Use gCal + iCal. :-)

And, yes, the difficulty is to do with whether the event is set to floating, or attached to a specific zone.

Time is a much much nastier problem than people think, essentially.

You're pretty much going to have to go mass-change your appointments.

Whether you change them to Melbourne zone or whether you edit them to be floating is kinda up to you.

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[info]indescribble
2009-01-15 08:36 pm UTC (link)
Actually i have an idea.

Put in a second timezone. It can be done through options -> Calandar Options -> Time Zone. I tested it on mine and it worksish. I means though you will have two time vertical bars but you will always know what the time is in perth :) i realise its not a 'perfect' solution but at least it won't change the appointment times (i think)

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