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Interim guidance for Alberta time zone changes 2026

Naveen_Shankar

Microsoft

Aug 07, 2026

Microsoft has made a decision about addressing the new time-related change for Alberta.

Editor's note October 13, 2026: Microsoft has released an update to address the new time-related change for Alberta. Please refer to Alberta 2026 time zone update available now

Earlier in June 2026, the Alberta government made an official announcement that it will stay on Permanent DST or UTC-6 time zone.

The impact of this change is as follows:

Clocks will not be set back by an hour at 02:00 a.m. on November 1^st, 2026, for the Alberta time zone.
The Alberta time zone will permanently shift to the UTC-6 time zone.

Microsoft plans to release an update to support this change. However, we require sufficient time to properly build, test, and release such an update for all platforms before the change goes into effect. See How Windows manages time zone changes to better understand the complexities of this process.

Customers must install the update before permanent time changes take effect on November 1^st, 2026. This Windows update introduces a new time zone:

Affected area	Name displayed in Windows Settings (New Time Zone)	Registry time-zone ID
Alberta and affected Northwest Territories locations including Yellowknife and Inuvik	(UTC-06:00) Mountain Time (Alberta)	Alberta Standard Time

The Alberta time zone also applies to affected Northwest Territories locations, including Yellowknife and Inuvik.

The registry time-zone IDs are intended primarily for administrators and command-line tools. End users normally see only the windows settings display names.

Release Plan

The following platforms will receive an update to support this time zone change as part of September 2026 non-security update, scheduled for September 22, 2026:

Windows 11, version 26H2
Windows 11, version 25H2
Windows 11, version 24H2

The following platforms, including windows server versions will receive the update as part of October 2026 security update, scheduled for October 13, 2026.

Windows 11, version 23H2 (supported editions)
Windows Server 2025
Windows Server 2022
Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2016

Note: Windows 11, version 26H1 OS platform will receive an update to support this time zone change as part of October 2026 cumulative non-security update, scheduled for October 28, 2026

For additional information, please review our official policy page and How Windows manages time zone changes.

After installing the update, verify the selected time zone under: Settings > Time & language > Date & time

Case #1 - Automatic time-zone selection

If Set time zone automatically is enabled and location services are available, Windows will automatically select the appropriate time zone based on the device's location. No manual action is required. It shall be reflecting to (UTC-06:00) Mountain Time (Alberta) windows display name.

Case #2 - Manual time-zone selection

If automatic time-zone selection is disabled, users must select the appropriate zone manually:

Open Settings > Time & language > Date & time.
Turn off Set time zone automatically, if it is enabled.
Under Time zone, select the applicable Windows display name:
- (UTC-06:00) Mountain Time (Alberta) for Alberta and affected Northwest Territories locations, including Yellowknife and Inuvik.
Confirm that the displayed date and time are correct.

Interim Guidance when the update is unavailable

Before the permanent-time transition takes effect on November 1^st, 2026, the existing seasonal zones continue to provide the expected current offset. In cases where the monthly update cannot be received or installed before 1^st of November, affected organizations with devices in Alberta are advised to use the following workarounds:

After November 1^st, 2026, we suggest using the below fixed-offset alternatives only as temporary workarounds:

Affected area	Existing choice before the transition	Temporary choice after the transition
Alberta	(UTC-07:00) Mountain Time (US & Canada) (Mountain Standard Time)	(UTC-06:00) Saskatchewan (Canada Central Standard Time)
Yellowknife and Inuvik	(UTC-07:00) Mountain Time (US & Canada) (Mountain Standard Time)	(UTC-06:00) Saskatchewan (Canada Central Standard Time)
Southeastern B.C. locations aligning with Alberta	(UTC-07:00) Mountain Time (US & Canada) (Mountain Standard Time)	(UTC-06:00) Saskatchewan (Canada Central Standard Time)

These alternatives provide the required UTC offset but have different names, geographic mappings, and historical rules. They should not be treated as permanent replacements.
We recommend installing the Windows monthly update and move to the appropriate region-specific time zone as soon as possible.

Guidance on Outlook: Users will need to update their Outlook settings and change the time zone on any existing calendar events. Refer to Outlook Time Zone Changes for Alberta and British Columbia | Microsoft Support

Updated Oct 27, 2026

Version 7.0

Naveen_Shankar

Microsoft

Joined February 20, 2023

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39 Comments

Philip Elder
MVP
Nov 02, 2026
Naveen_Shankar

We received the new Alberta time zone in the October 2026 Windows Server updates.

All y'all missed the British Columbia time zone that was legislated in March of 2026 and left us scrambling this morning.

Pacific Time (PCT), set at UTC−07:00 year-round

Could we get an update for this too please?
- BisonBrianTownsend
  Tin Contributor
  Nov 02, 2026
  This one?
  
  And yeah, I don't know why it's sorted up between a -9 and a -8, when it should be down with Arizona/Yukon time....Alberta and MB are sorted weird, too....
  - Philip Elder
    MVP
    Nov 02, 2026
    Yeah, that is the one.
    
    Get-TimeZone Pac
    
    ^^^
    On up to date servers that does not show the "Pacific Time (British Columbia)" as an option.
Montell335
Tin Contributor
Oct 21, 2026
This is causing alot of issues, our campus computers were updated to Alberta PC time, now Chrome time is an hour behind. Also our outlook classic despite showing Alberta time as well as per Microsoft guide is showing an hour ahead for reoccurring meetings in November. Microsoft needs to fix this right away.

Reoccuring meetings are fine for November in Outlook on the web though.
- BisonBrianTownsend
  Tin Contributor
  Nov 02, 2026
  What time zone is your web set to? What time zone are the meetings set to? Changing the time zone on Outlook doesn't change the time zone the calendar events are scheduled in. If they were scheduled in Mountain Time (US & Canada) then they are still showing that time. If you want them to be at that time in Mountain Time, the owner needs to change it.
  Changing the time zone in Outlook Classic does not change the time zone in New Outlook or Outlook on the Web.
  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/calendar/timezone-changes-for-canada-provinces
JT16
Copper Contributor
Oct 21, 2026
Has anyone experienced similar issues with Microsoft 365 following Alberta's upcoming time zone change on November 1, 2026?
1. SHAREPOINT The (UTC-06:00) Mountain Time (Alberta) option is unavailable in SharePoint Regional Settings, causing time zone discrepancies and errors in SharePoint Lists.
2. EXCHANGE ONLINE / OUTLOOK Room Booking: Switching to Mountain Time (Alberta) causes meeting rooms to disappear. Using Saskatchewan time temporarily resolves the issue.
Existing Meetings: Previously scheduled meetings are not automatically adjusting to the new time zone and may require manual updates.
Microsoft Support:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/calendar/timezone-changes-for-canada-provinces
Has anyone experienced these issues or found a solution? Any guidance would be appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
- Mike2068
  Tin Contributor
  Oct 23, 2026
  I would imagine the workaround would be to set the TZ for Sharepoint sites to Saskatchewan until the new TZs are available.
  Devops (Visual Studio Online) has finally got the new TZs, just changed our yesterday.
  Haven't seen the meeting rooms disappearing effect that you mentioned and yes meeting post October 31 (recurring) will need manual intervention to fix the time.
  One new thing I found is our bookings are also showing in Outlook as one hour ahead.
  Regards,
  Mike.
mr-roboto
Tin Contributor
Oct 19, 2026
What is the guidance for macOS and iOS?
ricky_chippy
Copper Contributor
Oct 17, 2026
It is patently embarrassing how badly you fumbled this change, Microsoft.
Teams for Desktop and MS Edge both show the wrong times when I'm in the new Alberta Time Zone. Fortunately, I can get by with the Saskatchewan time zone, but I feel sorry for the BC folks left holding the bag because you choose AI slop and firing QA teams over the stewardship of your users.
Honestly, shame on you. This should have been released months ago for testing, and it should have been tested more in house. The fact that Microsoft-built applications are pulling the wrong time zones says that no internal testing was done by competent people, just more of the same AI slop beta code foisted on paying customers.
The promise of the Microsoft platform has always been "use only our products and everything should work" and although that was never really true, it's never been more false.
avp_ahs
Copper Contributor
Oct 15, 2026
What is the rationale to have BaseUtcOffset = -07:00:00?
Id : Alberta Standard Time
DisplayName : (UTC-06:00) Mountain Time (Alberta)
StandardName : Alberta Standard Time
DaylightName : Alberta Daylight Time
BaseUtcOffset : -07:00:00
SupportsDaylightSavingTime : True

It makes time zone groups weirdly
- JamesEpp
  Iron Contributor
  Oct 18, 2026
  Same thing for the new MBT timezone:
  PS C:\> Get-TimeZone -Id "Manitoba Standard Time" Id : Manitoba Standard Time DisplayName : (UTC-05:00) Manitoba StandardName : Manitoba Standard Time DaylightName : Manitoba Daylight Time BaseUtcOffset : -06:00:00 SupportsDaylightSavingTime : True
Eduoliv
Copper Contributor
Oct 08, 2026
Any plans to update the Outlook Guidance to include info about Outlook for iOS and Apple Calendar which are automatically moving all meetings past Nov 1st to one hour later?
alexvakula
Tin Contributor
Oct 01, 2026
This morning, for a moment, I thought I was losing my mind. 😄 My computer clock showed the correct time, but every message I sent in Teams was stamped one hour in the past, on Vancouver time.
Restarted the computer. Same thing.
Then I found the culprit. Windows had automatically switched me to a brand-new time zone, (UTC-06:00) Mountain Time (Alberta), while some applications were still running on the old Mountain Time (US amp; Canada) configuration.
As a QA, I have only one thought:
Great feature https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft/. But maybe time travel should be tested in the test environment before its deployed to PROD. 😄 I suspect it was tested by AI.
Fellow Albertans: has anyone elses calendar or chat started living in a different time zone this week?
- hansel228
  Copper Contributor
  Oct 06, 2026
  All pages that depend on time zones (like Gmail) also calculate UTC-7, though my computer time shows UTC-6 and shows the correct time.
Milt
Copper Contributor
Oct 01, 2026
There was supposed to be an update come out on September 22 for Windows 11? We have not seen anything yet. Has anyone else?
- Mike2068
  Tin Contributor
  Oct 01, 2026
  The september 22 release was the preview release for the full monthly update. I installd it on one of our test machines and the new TZs are there.
  The regular cycle will be Oct 13 (patch Tuesday).
  Mike.
patriciav
Copper Contributor
Oct 01, 2026
What about Manitoba?

And when can we expect the update for servers?
- gary_sch300
  Copper Contributor
  Oct 01, 2026
  In Manitoba, we are considering changing to "Bogota, Colombia" which is UTC-5 and does not observe daylight savings. Would that not work in the interim?
  - JamesEpp
    Iron Contributor
    Oct 01, 2026
    This same timezone is where I am leaning as well.
    If you run the below in powershell, it seems to be the best candidate (DST unsupported and UTC-05):
    > Get-TimeZone -ListAvailable | ? -Property BaseUtcOffset -eq "-05:00" | ? -Property SupportsDaylightSavingTime -eq $false Id : SA Pacific Standard Time DisplayName : (UTC-05:00) Bogota, Lima, Quito, Rio Branco StandardName : SA Pacific Standard Time DaylightName : SA Pacific Daylight Time BaseUtcOffset : -05:00:00 SupportsDaylightSavingTime : False