What this meeting planner does
Scheduling across time zones is where good intentions go wrong: a "3 PM call" is the middle of the night for someone, or lands a day early. This tool fixes that by showing one moment in every place at once. Set a date and time in your own zone, add everyone taking part, and each place's local time appears side by side — with a clear mark for who is in working hours, who is on the edge, and who would be asleep.
It also does the harder part for you: it scans the whole day and finds the window that overlaps everyone's working hours, so you are not nudging the time up and down by hand. Offsets are read for the exact date you choose, so a meeting planned across a daylight-saving change is still right.
How to use it
Four steps — your own zone is already selected, so you mostly just add people.
- Set your reference zone and date.Choose the zone you are planning from and the meeting date. Your device's zone is picked by default.
- Add the places taking part.Add a time zone for each person or office. Remove any with the × on its chip.
- Set the working hours.Choose the start and end of a reasonable working day. It applies to every place and defaults to 9 to 5.
- Read the overlap and pick a time.See each local time and who is in working hours, plus the window that fits everyone. Copy or download the plan when it works.
How the overlap is worked out
Every place is defined by its offset from UTC, and that offset can change with daylight saving. The planner builds a real point in time from your date and reference zone, then reads what the clock says in each other zone at that same instant — so it converts correctly and rolls the date across midnight where needed.
To find a shared slot, it checks each hour of your day: for every hour, it converts to all the places and counts how many fall inside the working-hours window. The hours where the most places are inside become the suggested window. When every place fits, you get a time that works for all; when none do, it shows the closest you can get, so you can decide who takes the early or late call.
→ in working hours: New York ✓, London ✗ (evening), Tokyo ✗ (night)
A workable compromise: 08:00 New York = 13:00 London = 22:00 Tokyo
Three offices this far apart barely overlap — someone takes an early or late call.
If you only need two places, or a straight conversion against a fixed reference, the GMT converter and UTC converter are quicker. For a live wall of clocks you keep open, use the world clock.
Quick examples
The same instant seen from several places, with a 9-to-5 working day.
| Reference | Other place | Local time | In hours? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10:00 London | New York | 05:00 | No — too early |
| 16:00 London | New York | 11:00 | Yes |
| 09:00 New York | Berlin | 15:00 | Yes |
| 15:00 New York | Tokyo | 05:00 next day | No — night |
| 08:00 New York | Tokyo | 22:00 | No — late |
Seeing an abbreviation like PT or CET on an invite? The time zone abbreviations chart spells out what each one means and its offset.
Who uses it, and when
- Distributed teams booking a standup or review that spans continents without waking anyone at 3 AM.
- Managers & recruiters scheduling interviews with candidates abroad.
- Freelancers & agencies setting client calls across a few zones and needing the fair middle ground.
- Anyone organising a group — a study group, a game, a family call — spread across countries.
Once you have a time, the 24-hour clock chart helps if a colleague quotes it in 24-hour form, and the time zone tools hub holds the rest of the set.
Frequently asked questions
How does the planner decide a time works for someone?
It converts your chosen time into each place's local time and checks whether that falls inside the working-hours window you set. Inside the window it is marked as working hours; a couple of hours either side is marked off-hours; anything further out is marked as night. You can change the window to match your team.
Can I change the working hours?
Yes. Set the start and end of the working day and the planner applies that window to every place. It defaults to 9:00 to 17:00 (9 AM to 5 PM), which suits a standard office day, but you can widen or narrow it to fit shift work or a global team.
Does it handle daylight saving time?
Yes. The planner uses your browser's IANA time-zone data to apply the exact offset each place has on the date you pick, so a meeting planned across a daylight-saving change is still correct. This is why it asks for a date, not just a time.
Why does one place show a different date?
Because zones can be most of a day apart, a single moment can fall on a different calendar day in each place — a Tuesday afternoon in New York is already Wednesday morning in Tokyo. The planner shows each place's own date so you never book a meeting on the wrong day.
What if there is no time that works for everyone?
When no hour lands in everyone's working window, the planner shows the best you can do — the window that fits the most places — so you can decide who takes the early or late call. Widening the working hours often opens up an overlap.
How many places can I add?
As many as you need. Add a zone for each person or office; remove any you no longer need. The overlap and each local time update as soon as the list changes.
Is my data private?
Yes. Everything runs in your browser using its built-in time-zone data. The places, date, and time you enter are never uploaded or stored on a server.
Accuracy & sources
Each place's time comes from building a real point in time from your reference zone and reading the clock in every other zone at that instant — so offsets are added, subtracted, and rolled across midnight correctly, and the working-hours check is a simple comparison against the window you set. The conversion logic was tested against known winter and summer offsets, half-hour zones, and cases where the result falls on another day; the worked example on this page was verified by hand.
Zone offsets and daylight-saving rules come from your browser's copy of the IANA Time Zone Database, the authoritative source operating systems and programming languages use worldwide, so the tool tracks rule changes as your device updates. The working-hours window is a scheduling convenience you control, not a standard. Written and reviewed by Fletcher Langley, and re-checked whenever the tool changes — last reviewed August 2026.
About the author
Operations and workforce-systems specialist with 14+ years inside shift-based industries and payroll platforms, and a BS in Industrial Engineering. Fletcher writes and reviews the calculators, converters, and guides here — from overnight-shift math to decimal payroll hours — drawing on years spent translating between 12-hour, 24-hour, and military time for real timesheets.
Written & reviewed by Fletcher Langley · Last updated: August 2026