How to use the planner
- Your own time zone is added automatically and shown first. That first row is the home row, and the hour labels along the top follow it.
- Add every city that will join the meeting. You can type a city name or an official time zone name such as America/Denver.
- Pick the date. This matters, because daylight saving time changes the gap between cities on different dates.
- Look for columns that are green in every row. Select one to see the meeting time in each city, then copy it into your invitation or share the link.
Best meeting times between common city pairs
These are the hours when both cities are inside a 9 AM to 5 PM working day on most dates of the year. During the few weeks when one region has switched to or from daylight saving time and the other has not, the overlap moves by an hour, so check the planner for your exact date.
| Cities | Usual time difference | Shared working hours |
|---|---|---|
| New York and London | 5 hours | 9 AM to 12 PM in New York (2 to 5 PM in London) |
| New York and Berlin or Paris | 6 hours | 9 to 11 AM in New York (3 to 5 PM in Berlin) |
| Chicago and London | 6 hours | 9 to 11 AM in Chicago (3 to 5 PM in London) |
| Los Angeles and London | 8 hours | No full overlap. 8 to 9 AM in Los Angeles is 4 to 5 PM in London. |
| New York and São Paulo | 1 to 2 hours | Most of the working day |
| New York and India | 9.5 to 10.5 hours | No full overlap. Early morning in New York is evening in India. |
| New York and Tokyo | 13 to 14 hours | No overlap. Around 7 to 8 PM in New York is the next morning in Tokyo. |
| San Francisco and Sydney | 17 to 19 hours | No overlap. Mid to late afternoon in San Francisco is the next morning in Sydney. |
Why daylight saving time breaks meeting schedules
Countries do not change their clocks on the same day. The United States moves clocks forward on the second Sunday in March and back on the first Sunday in November. The European Union switches on the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October. For roughly three weeks in spring and one week in autumn, New York is only four hours behind London instead of five, and a recurring 10 AM call in New York lands an hour earlier in Europe than usual.
The southern hemisphere runs the opposite way: Sydney and much of Australia use daylight saving time from October to April, so the gap between the US and Australia can change by two hours across the year. Many places do not change their clocks at all, including Japan, China, India, Hawaii and most of Arizona. The planner uses your browser's built-in time zone database, so every one of these rules is applied for the date you select.
Tips for scheduling across time zones
- Always write the time zone. "10 AM" means nothing to a distributed team. "10 AM New York (3 PM London)" leaves no room for mistakes, which is why the copy button lists every city.
- Rotate the inconvenient slot. When there is no shared working time, alternate early and late meetings so the same people are not always on calls at 7 AM or 9 PM.
- Watch the date line. A Friday afternoon call from the US is Saturday morning in Australia and Japan. Look for the +1 marker in the planner.
- Use UTC for written plans. For deadlines and release times shared across many regions, Coordinated Universal Time avoids confusion. Read more in our guide to UTC, GMT and EST.
Frequently asked questions
Does the planner account for daylight saving time?
Yes. Every time is calculated for the specific date you pick, using the official IANA time zone rules built into modern browsers.
What counts as working hours?
Green cells are 9 AM to 5 PM local time. Light cells, from 7 to 9 AM and 5 to 10 PM, are outside normal hours but usually acceptable for an occasional call. Dark cells are night.
Can I share a plan with my team?
Yes. Select a time and use "Copy link to this plan". The link includes the cities, the date and the selected hour, so your colleagues see exactly the same view.
Is my data stored?
No. Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent to a server.