Configuring Outlook for Multiple Time Zones

If you frequently travel to locations outside of your usual time zone, you will find it helpful to change the time zone on your computer. You can do this from Microsoft Windows or from Outlook. When you change the time zone, information such as the receipt time of e-mail messages and appointment times changes to match the new time zone, and if you display the clock in the Windows taskbar notification area, the time shown there also changes.

To change the time zone:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options. Then on the Preferences tab of the Options dialog box, click the Calendar Options button.

2. In the Advanced Options area of the Calendar Options dialog box, click the Time Zone button.

3. In the Time Zone dialog box, click the Time zone arrow, and in the list, click the time zone you want. Then click OK in each of the open dialog boxes.

   

When preparing to travel, or if you schedule meetings involving participants in different time zones, you might want to configure Outlook to display two time zones in your calendar. Outlook then displays the time zones in Day view in two columns to the left of the Calendar pane.

To simultaneously display two time zones in your calendar:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.

2. In the Options dialog box, on the Preferences tab, click the Calendar Options button.

3. In the Calendar Options dialog box, click the Time Zone button.

4. In the Time Zone dialog box, select the Show an additional time zone check box. Then in the second Time zone list, click the time zone you want to display.

5. Type a label for each time zone (such as San Diego and Copenhagen) in the corresponding Label box.

6. Click OK in each of the open dialog boxes.

If you set up two time zones in your Outlook calendar, you can quickly switch between them by clicking the Swap Time Zones button in the Time Zone dialog box.