How does TimeTrade handle time zones?

TimeTrade applies the time zone setting established on the local computer, both for Inviter and Invitee. TimeTrade stores all times in Universal Time (also known as GMT). When a TimeTrade Inviter defines or views his or her availability in an Activity, TimeTrade adjusts the time periods to display in his or her time zone. When an Invitee views the available time slots for an appointment, TimeTrade automatically converts the available time slots to the time zone set on the Invitee's computer. 

If an Inviter and Invitee are in different time zones, the confirmation email from TimeTrade makes this difference clear by specifying the time and time zone for each participant as shown on example below.

TimeTrade has been built to account for the time zones of the inviter (you, the user) and the invitee (your customer, prospect, etc.) in all of its functionality including:

• setting up and viewing available time in the Availability grid
• viewing and selecting a time slot, as an invitee
• appointment confirmation emails and in the start time used when appointments are added to an Outlook or Google Calendar

TimeTrade uses the time zone established for your computer clock to ensure that it remains in sync with local calendars like MS-Outlook, which also use the computer clock time zone. Based on your computer clock settings, TimeTrade picks the most common time zone as the default. However, you may change to your specific time zone:

• From the select list presented to you when you register for TimeTrade
• From the main dashboard in TimeTrade:
  • Select the tab labeled Admin and then select the listing for My Account.
  • Select the tab labeled Personal Information.

For example, if you live in eastern Canada, TimeTrade would set your time zone to US/Eastern by default—because this is the most common of eastern time zones. However, you can change this to your specific time zone, Canada/Eastern, from the Edit Personal Information tab. 

TimeTrade uses the time zone setting to present the correct availability and appointment times to you. For example, if you go on a business trip to a different time zone and want to see your TimeTrade appointments in the new time zone, you must change the time zone setting of your local computer clock.

Your TimeTrade invitees, customers, and prospects have the same experience. The available time slots will be presented from the perspective of their current time zone, which in turn is detected by TimeTrade from the invitee's local computer clock.

When you and your invitee are in different time zones, the appointment confirmation email presents the two start times and the corresponding time zone to avoid confusion, as shown below:

In fact, the only time zone case that TimeTrade cannot handle is when your computer clock or that of your invitee is not set to the appropriate time zone! As long as your computer clock has the corrent time zone setting, you can relax and count on TimeTrade to handle everything else related to time zones.