Time zones can be a little confusing with regard to The Events Calendar by Modern Tribe because most people probably don’t have events in multiple time zones. However, it’s very important to understand how time zones work and what settings would be best for your situation. The good news is there are some recommended settings (see below) that should work well for most websites.
First, a little bit about time zones. Obviously, you know times have a corresponding time zone that makes it possible to compare times at a single point in time in different locations. So, for example there is a 3-hour difference between times in Los Angeles and New York. If it’s 6:00 am in Los Angeles, it’s 9:00 am in New York.
When using The Events Calendar there are 4 places you need to pay attention to time zones:
- WordPress general settings
- The Events Calendar settings
- Event-level settings
- What is displayed on the calendar
WordPress Settings
The WordPress general settings are located in Settings => General => Timezone (it’s near the middle of the page). This is fairly straightforward and should reflect the time zone of where your organization is located. This will be very important as it relates to The Events Calendar. If all your events are in New York, then you should set the time zone to New York.
The Events Calendar Settings
The Events Calendar settings are located in Events => Settings => Time Zone Settings (very bottom of the page). There are 2 choices here: “Use the site-wide time zone everywhere” and “Use manual time zones for each event” (recommended). If you use a lot of different time zones it’s recommended to also check “Show time zone.”
Note: within The Events Calendar settings you may see a button labeled “Update Time Zone Data.” You can safely click this button and then it will show the “site-wide” and “manual” options explained above.
Event-Level Settings
The Event-level settings are located in the “Time & Date” section when creating or editing an event. There is a link that shows the timezone. When you click on the link, it will allow you to select a time zone. The time zone shown will default to the time zone you have set in your WordPress general settings.
You can always set a time zone at the event level and it will be saved with your event. However if you have “Use the site-wide time zone everywhere” set in your The Events Calendar settings, the calendar will display the time in the time zone in WordPress general settings. For example, if you have a WordPress time zone of New York, and an Events Calendar setting of “Use the site-wide time zone everywhere” and you create an event at 8:00 am – 5:00 pm in the time zone Los Angeles, the calendar will display 11:00 am – 8:00 pm EDT. This is probably not what you want.
Recommended Settings
- WordPress general settings: set it to the time zone where most or all of your events are located.
- The Events Calendar settings: set it to “Use manual time zones for each event”. This will inherit the time zone you have set in WordPress general settings but allow you to set the time zone at an event level. Note: if you have events in multiple time zones, it’s also recommended to select the “Show time zone” checkbox.
- Event-level settings: here you usually don’t need to change the default and just leave it as-is (it will show what you have set in your WordPress general settings).
Here is the info provided by The Events Calendar: