Microsoft's Canada timezone troubles leave admins fixing calendars, pretending they're in Bogota
Canadian regions stop turning back the clocks, Microsoft wishes it could
Microsoft's recent switch to new time zones in Canada has left administrators scrambling to fix their calendars and schedules. Parts of British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba have permanently shifted to UTC-07:00, UTC-06:00, and UTC-05:00, respectively, since November 1. However, Microsoft's software hasn't fully adapted to these changes.
Outlook users, in particular, have faced issues with incorrect times and broken schedules. Simply switching the time zone in Outlook won't automatically update existing calendar entries. Organizers must manually adjust meetings, while non-recurring meetings will require additional effort to resolve. Recurring meetings present an extra challenge, as changing the time zone resets previous occurrences, necessitating their recreation.
Microsoft is developing a solution for Power Automate and Fabric, temporarily involving users pretending to be in different locations like Saskatchewan, Arizona, or even Bogota. SharePoint On-Prem customers must wait until November 10 for the correct time zones, while Power Pages users may encounter server-formatted dates an hour off until a service fix.
Admins are understandably frustrated, with some reporting lengthy efforts to rectify their systems, including writing extensive PowerShell scripts. Microsoft's guidance was published on October 26, just a week before the change, and administrators are advised to test their calendars and schedules before the November 1 switch, leaving little time for troubleshooting.
Written by urgent.news from The Register's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
