Time Zone

As an admin and developer, you've hit upon a common and often confusing issue in Microsoft Bookings. The problem where a booking page set to Central Time (CT) reverts to Eastern Time (ET) stems from the fact that Microsoft Bookings has two separate and independent time zone settings.

One setting controls what your customers see (the booking page), and the other controls what you and your staff see (the booking calendar), which is tied to your personal Outlook on the Web (OWA) settings. When these are out of sync, it creates the exact issue you're describing.

Ensure your Central Time booking page remains in Central Time for customers, while managing the staff calendar view correctly.

Step 1: Set the Booking Page to Central Time (The Customer View)

This is the most critical step to ensure your customers see the correct time.

1. Go to Microsoft Bookings in your Microsoft 365 app launcher.
2. In the left navigation pane, select Booking page.
3. Select the specific booking page that is set to Central Time.
4. Click on Change language and time zone settings.
5. Under Time zone, explicitly select (UTC-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada).
6. Crucially, check the box for "Always show time slots in business time zone".
7. What this does: It forces the booking page to display times only in the time zone you just selected (Central Time), regardless of the customer's or your own computer's time zone. This is the key to preventing it from "reverting."
8. Click OK and then Save and publish your booking page.

Step 2: Align Your Outlook on the Web Settings (The Staff Calendar View)

This step fixes the calendar view for you and your staff. If you want your Bookings calendar to also reflect Central Time, you must change your personal account setting.

1. Log in to Outlook on the Web (outlook.office.com).
2. Click the Settings (gear icon) in the top-right corner.
3. Go to Mail > Calendar.
4. Under the General tab, find the Time zone section.
5. From the dropdown menu, select (UTC-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada).
6. Click Save.

Note: Outlook on the web will restart to apply the changes. After this, your Bookings calendar should display appointments in Central Time.

Important Caveat: If your organization's IT administrator has locked this setting, you may not be able to change it. In that case, you must use the workaround in Step 3.

Step 3: The Workaround for Locked Accounts (Use a Dedicated Staff Account)

If you cannot change your primary account's time zone because of admin restrictions, the best practice is to use a dedicated "resource" or "staff" account for the Central Time booking page.

1. Create a new user account in your Microsoft 365 admin center (e.g., "Central-Booking-Staff").
2. During setup, or by editing the user's profile, set its Time Zone to (UTC-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada). You may need to go into the user's Outlook on the Web settings to confirm this.
3. In the Bookings app, go to the Staff tab.
4. Add this new "Central-Booking-Staff" account as a staff member for the Central Time booking page.
5. Ensure this new staff account is the one primarily associated with the schedule, not your personal account.

Now, the booking page's calendar will use the new account's Central Time setting, while your personal account's Eastern Time setting remains untouched.

The steps were created by and with AI; I was too lazy to list them step by step myself.

Hope this helps you 🙂