The time may be constant, but your time zone doesn’t have to be. If you’re part of a global team, you may prefer to switch time zones in Google Calendar to make sure you don’t miss important meetings or events.
Fortunately, Google Calendar offers different settings for Google account users to go to different time zones. You can set a one-time time zone for an event, or set primary and secondary time zones for an entire calendar or account.
Changing the time zone settings can be especially useful if your business hours are different from, say, the rest of your team.
Set a custom time zone for a Google Calendar event
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From a web browser
To set a custom time zone from your web browser, open the Google Calendar website in your browser of choice and create a new appointment or meeting by clicking the “Create” button on the left.
You can also press the C key on your keyboard to use a keyboard shortcut to open the “New Event” window.
RELATED: Keyboard Shortcuts for Google Calendar: A Cheat Sheet
To edit an existing appointment or meeting, click the item in your Google Calendar window, then click the “Edit Event” button.
When creating an event, click the “More Options” button at the bottom of the New Event popup menu.
From the event details menu (for new and existing events), tap the “Time Zone” option.
In the “Event Time Zone” popup, select a time zone from the “Event Start Time Zone” drop-down menu.
If you want a different time zone for the event end time, click to select the “Use separate start and end time zones” check box, then select a different time zone from the “Event end time” drop-down menu.
If at any time you would like to delete the custom time zones and return to using the default time zone associated with your Google account, click the “Delete Time Zones” button.
Otherwise, click “OK” to save the settings.
You can then set a time and date for the event, as well as other information (including the event name and participants).
Click “Save” to add the new event (with adjusted time zone settings) to your calendar.
The appointment is added to your calendar using the time zone (or time zones) you specified for the start and end dates and times.
From a mobile device
You can also change the time zone for a new or existing event in the Google Calendar app on Android, iPhone and iPad.
To create a new event, click the “Add” button in the lower right corner and select the type of event you want to create.
To edit an existing event, tap that event in your calendar view and then tap the “Edit Event” button.
From the event details menu, tap the current time zone listed below the start and end dates and times of the event.
Search for a country or specific time zone in the next menu and tap one of the results to select it as the new time zone.
The time zone for the event is added immediately after it is selected in the Search menu.
Confirm that the rest of the event details are correct, then tap the “Save” button in the top right corner to save the event with the new time zone information.
Once saved, the event will be added to your calendar with the date and time set in your new time zone.
Set primary and secondary time zones in Google Calendar
Google uses the time zone set for your Google account as the default time zone for all Google Calendar events associated with your account.
If you want to change this to a different time zone instead, you can do it in Google Calendar settings. You can also set a secondary time zone to see two different times for events. This is useful if, for example, you work in a different time zone than other colleagues.
From a web browser
To do this from your web browser, open the Google Calendar website and click the Settings gear icon in the top right corner. Click on the “Settings” option in the drop-down menu.
The Google Calendar settings menu should be on the ‘General’ tab by default. If not, select it from the menu on the left.
Under the “Time Zone” category, you can set a new primary time zone for your account and label it (for example, “Work” for a time zone that corresponds to your colleagues). Select a new time zone from the “Primary time zone” drop-down menu and write a new label in the text box next to it.
To add a secondary time zone, select it from the “Secondary time zone” menu. You need to make sure the ‘Show secondary time zone’ checkbox is checked to see this appear in your event listing.
Any changes you make will be applied immediately. Your new time zone settings are displayed for previously added events and for any new events you create or have been invited to.
From a mobile device
While you can set an alternate time zone in the Google Calendar app for Android, iPhone and iPad, you can only set one. You cannot set (or see) a secondary time zone for Google Calendar events in the mobile app.
To change the primary time zone, tap the hamburger menu icon in the top left corner of the Google Calendar mobile app.
Scroll down the menu and tap the “Settings” option.
In the “Settings” menu, tap the “General” option.
To set a different time zone from the one currently in use by your device, tap the “Use device time zone” slider in the off position.
Once this is done, tap the “Time Zone” option underneath to set a new time zone.
Search for a country or time zone in the Search menu. Once you find the location you are looking for, tap it to confirm it as the new time zone for your calendar.
The new time zone for Google Calendar on your device will be applied automatically. All entries in your Google calendar will now appear in this new time zone on your mobile device.
