travelling between time zones

[doc]

How do you guys handle traveling between time zones when syncing with an Exchange server? I need to change the time zone for my PPC and tablet.

I live in EST and work in CST. Before I just remembered that my stuff was off by an hour, but now I'm in CST during the week and in EST when I go home on the weekends. This whole off by an hour thing is going to give me a hat attack before this 6 month contract is over.

[Sven Johannsen]

I think this depends a bit on what you are trying to accomplish. Recognize that things on the calendar, whether on the server or on the mobile devices are stored in GMT, or Universal time, or whatever you want to call it. They are displayed based on the TZ you have set.

That just means when you put an appointment on your calendar at 9AM when in NY, it goes into storage as 1400. It is the -5 in the TZ that makes it show up as 0900. If you change the TZ to CST, -6, that 1400 stored value will show up at 0800.

So, one option is to know where you are going to be when the appointment happens, shift the device to that TZ and enter the appointment. Then put the TZ back to where you are. When you get there, change TZ and the appointments will all be OK...for that TZ. The drawback here is that the times will appear 'wrong' until you get to where you are going. That 8AM appointment in Chicago will show at 9AM while you are in NY. If you live close enough to the TZ boundry to drive, you might leave at 8:30 to get there by 9:00, but that is already an half hour late.

The other option is to leave the TZ alone, enter the appontments at the time they happen on the clock, and when you get to your new location, just change the time, like you would on your watch. If you don't change the TZ, your appointments never move. It's like writing it in a dayplanner in pencil. The drawback here is that if you have an entry to call somebody in NY at 9AM, and you are in Chicago, and you just changed the time, the alarm will go off at 9AM, but that will be 10AM in NY and you will be late. It also messes with the appointments you send in e-mails. If your TZ is set to NY (-5) and you are in Chicago, and you e-mail somebody in Chicago an invite for later that day, say 3PM, it will be place on their calendar at 2PM. Remember your machine thinks it is in NY. That's just if you send a calendar invite, though. If you just send an email, "meet me at 3" you are OK.

It is now, and always has been a trade off. The first option has been made easier in Outlook 2007, as you can specify TZ when entering a new appointment. There have been a number of add-ons for PPCs to allow that.

I would like to see a concept of static and dynamic (or fixed and relative) appointments. The former is an appointment that happens at a fixed time, and I assume I am going to be in the right location for it. This does not shift according to TZ. A lunch date is a good example. It is going to be at Noon. I don't care if I plan to be at home, across the country or in Paris. Lunch is at Noon and I want to see it on the calendar at noon. I don't want to see lunch at 7PM or something.

The relative appointment matters where I am. This is the teleconference. It is with the home office in NYC at 9AM in Friday. This one needs to move depending on whether I am in NYC, ot LA, or Paris, so I get alerted at the right relative time.

Nobody has implemented this concept unfortunately. So, is it more important to you to have things show up on the calendar at times that make sense? (change the Time, not the TZ), or is it important to have awareness of things that are happening where you aren't? (Enter based on location and change TZ)

BTW, if you are fortunate enough to have a secretary, in NY, and you are in Chicago, and you enter a meeting between 9-10, and you have yourself set to CST, and sync with the exchange server, she will know not to bother you between 10-11, because that is when it will show up on your calendar there in NY. But, if the client in Chicago calls her and wants to change the meeting to 10-11 (from 9-10 CST), she may think you already did that, unless she understands all this too ;)

[doc]

Thanks Sven. I'm using Outlook 2007 so I think that'll do the trick. I use TEO (Great program for TabletPC by the way) and it doesn't show there. If I don't use TEO it shows the time zone. Suweet!

[Sven Johannsen]

Keep in mind that when you enter an appointment and set a different TZ than you are in, it will appear on the calendar at a 'different' time. I got into the habit of specifying the location clearly, so that shows up on the appointment.

[doc]

That's not too big of an issue. I can live with that.

The biggest problem I'm seeing with this is that my all day recurring appointments will leak into surrounding days when I'm not in that appointments time zone. That's pretty ugly.

[Sven Johannsen]

That's not too big of an issue. I can live with that.

The biggest problem I'm seeing with this is that my all day recurring appointments will leak into surrounding days when I'm not in that appointments time zone. That's pretty ugly.

Yea that can happen. If it is stuff you are putting in, can you put it in as 8-5, rather than "all day"

[bigeagle]

We went to the beach last night and my phone picked up the signal from Chicago. My phone switched zones and changed appointment times to correspond. Once I picked up Grand Rapids towers again the timezone switched back, however, the appointment times on the today screen haven't. The today screen shows an appointment at 5:00 but the Pocket PC calendar shows the correct time of 6:00.

Doesn't the Today screen info come from the calendar?

[Sven Johannsen]

Should. Have you tried a soft reset to refresh everything?

Smartphones changing TZs is a fairly new issue for WM devices. I believe there is a place to set it not to do that if you wish. Where that is may depend on the particular device. My SmartFlip has it under Settings>Date and Time, as an Automatic Time/Time zone setting. I have not found my PPC Phone Editions doing this, just the Smartphones.

This is one instance in which it is important to use the 'put the appt in based on where it happens', option. If the phone changes TZs (and time) for you, that is convenient, but if it also changes appt times and you didn't expect it, or account for it, that's bad.