Forum Discussion
MS Bookings glitches across timezones
Hello, thanks for reading.
Problem: Staff calendars not appearing properly across time zones in MS Bookings
In Microsoft Bookings, staff create recurring Free slots in Outlook to mark availability for schedulers. These slots always display in the business’ timezone, regardless of the viewer’s timezone.
However, all other calendar items (including Bookings appointments, as well as outlook events) shift to the local timezone of the calendar viewer. This mismatch causes schedulers to place appointments that appear to fit to them, but staff in other timezones see them shifted outside the intended Free slots, creating conflicts and misaligned bookings.
Example:
Business timezone = MST.
Scheduler timezone = MST.
Staff timezone = PST.
1. Staff creates a recurring Free slot from 12:00–1:00pm PST (which shows correctly as 1:00–2:00pm MST in the shared business calendar).
2. Scheduler (in MST) books a 1:00pm MST appointment, believing it fits inside the Free slot. But on the staff’s Outlook calendar, the booking appears at 12:00pm PST, which is outside their Free slot, and at an objectively different time.
I have verified that the staff and scheduler have correctly identified their timezones via Outlook on the Web > Settings > General > Language and time > Current time zone.
1 Reply
The issue you’re seeing happens because Outlook “Free” slots don’t adjust across time zones, while Bookings appointments do. This makes things look aligned for the scheduler but off for the staff in a different timezone. The best way to avoid this is to stop using Outlook Free slots for availability and instead set working hours or availability directly inside Microsoft Bookings. Bookings is designed to handle time zones properly, so everyone will see the right times. It also helps to double-check that the business, staff, and Outlook time zones are set consistently. In short, let Bookings manage staff availability rather than Outlook, and the mismatches should disappear.
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