Setting time zones in Acuity Scheduling

Support your remote clients by enabling them to view appointments in their own time zone.

Squarespace Scheduling is now officially Acuity Scheduling. For help setting up appointments, search “Acuity”, or find related guides under “Acuity Scheduling”. Visit our FAQ to learn more about the rebrand.

Set or change your time zone in Acuity so that synced events and notifications will have the correct information. You can also choose to display available appointments in the client’s time zone by default.

Note: The instructions below include links to Acuity settings separated by the kind of account you use to log into Acuity. Which kind of account do I have?

Set your time zone

To set a time zone for all calendars:

1. Open the Global scheduling limits panel: I log in with an Acuity account | I log in with a Squarespace account.
2. Click the Time zone tab.
3. Select a time zone from the Time zone drop-down menu.
4. To enable Acuity to detect the client’s time zone, check Default to client’s time zone. If this setting is disabled, the time zone field will default to your business’s selected time zone.
5. Click Save changes.

Set different time zones for individual calendars

Users on the Powerhouse plan can add more than one calendar, and set a different time zone for each calendar. Other users have one time zone for all calendars. To set a different time zone for each calendar:

1. Open the Availability panel: I log in with an Acuity account | I log in with a Squarespace account.
2. Find the calendar you want to edit and click Calendar settings. 
3. Click the Time zone drop-down menu and select a different time zone, then click Save. 

How clients set time zones

When a client books an appointment from your scheduler, they can change the time zone using the time zone drop-down menu. If your scheduler defaults to the client’s time zone, available times will display in the detected time zone. The client will also receive notifications in their time zone.

A client can't edit their time zone after booking an appointment. To change the time zone, they should cancel the existing appointment and schedule a new one.

If clients aren't required to enter a time zone, available times on your scheduling page appear in your time zone, but the client can still change the time zone using the drop-down menu on the scheduler.

Note: If the default to client’s time zone setting is disabled, when a client books an appointment using a general class template link, the class template will default to the account’s time zone. However, if using a direct calendar link that defaults to the class template, the direct calendar link will default to the calendar time zone.

Staff notifications

Notifications sent to staff use the business's time zone.

Booking for clients

When you book appointments for clients, you choose from a list of available appointment slots, which are displayed in your time zone.

If your clients set their time zones when booking for themselves, you can choose the client's time zone when booking for them. After you choose the appointment time, it will automatically change to the client’s time zone. The client will then see the appointment time reflected in their own time zone.

Daylight saving time in Acuity

Acuity automatically accounts for daylight saving time. Don’t manually change appointment times to account for daylight saving shifts. When clients book before a time change for an appointment after the time change, Acuity automatically accounts for the shift. The same thing happens if you book for your clients.

If you're in an area that doesn't observe daylight saving time, such as much of Arizona, and your clients are in areas that do observe daylight saving time, Acuity will still automatically translate times from your time zone to your clients' time zones. 

If you think Acuity has made a daylight saving time-related mistake:

• Check if a wrong-looking time could be caused by only one side using daylight saving time. In the United States, daylight saving time isn’t observed in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, or Arizona outside of the Navajo Nation. Globally, many nations don't use daylight saving time or use it only in some areas. If only one of you is using daylight saving time, Acuity will still correctly adjust appointment times. However, times on your end will match with different times on the client's end than they did before the daylight saving time shift.
• Check that your time zone is set correctly using the instructions in this guide. If you have multiple calendars, check that all of them are set to your time zone.
• Check that your client's time zone is set correctly by clicking the appointment to open the appointment details. If the client made a mistake during booking, cancel the appointment and rebook. It's not possible to update the client's time zone. 
• If you're viewing the appointment in a third-party calendar app that syncs with Acuity, check the time zone settings on the calendar app.