How to find a meeting time across time zones
- Pick the cities. Add every place someone will join from. Two is enough; add up to four.
- Set working hours. The default is 09:00 to 17:00. Change it if your teams start earlier or finish later.
- Choose the date. Daylight saving changes on different dates in different countries, so the date matters.
- Read the result. The summary gives the shared window in each city's local time and a suggested one-hour slot. The table shows every hour of the first city's day against the others.
- Share it. Copy the summary into an invitation, or copy a link that opens the planner with the same choices.
Why time zones cause so many missed meetings
Most scheduling mistakes come from two things: forgetting that the clocks change on different dates in different countries, and writing a time without a place. In March and again in the autumn there are weeks when the gap between two cities is an hour different from the rest of the year. A recurring meeting set in January can quietly move out of someone's working day.
The fix is to name the city next to every time, and to check recurring meetings when clocks change. This planner does the arithmetic from your browser's own time zone data, so it follows the rules for the date you choose.
When there is no shared time
Some pairs of cities have no overlapping working hours, such as places about ten or more hours apart. When that happens, the planner shows the hour where the worst-placed person is closest to their working day. That is a starting point, not a solution. Rotate the awkward slot between teams, keep live meetings for decisions that need them, and move updates and reviews to writing.
Common city pairs
Pages for common pairs show the shared window in both January and July and how the gap changes through the year. See all time zone pages, or start with London and New York, London and Mumbai or New York and Singapore.
Once you have a time, start the call well with a quick remote team icebreaker, and check what the meeting costs with the meeting cost calculator.
Questions people ask
How does the planner find a good meeting time?
It checks every half hour of the day in each city you choose and marks the times when everyone is inside their working hours. If there is a shared window it suggests a slot in the middle of it. If there is none, it suggests the hour where the worst-placed person is closest to their working day.
Does it handle daylight saving time?
Yes. It uses the time zone rules built into your browser for the date you pick, so the same cities can give different answers in January and July. Change the date to see how a recurring meeting would move.
Are the cities I choose sent anywhere?
No. The planner runs in your browser. A share link carries your choices in the part after the # in the address, which browsers never send to a server.
Can I change the working hours?
Yes. The default is 09:00 to 17:00 in every city. Change the start and end to match your teams, for example 08:00 to 18:00 if people are flexible.
Why is my city not in the list?
The list covers 31 cities that many distributed teams use. If yours is not there, pick a city in the same time zone. We add more cities over time.