FigureNorth · Time Tools
Time Zone Meeting Planner
Use this free time zone meeting planner to find the best meeting time across time zones for 2–6 participants. It compares configured working hours, not live calendar availability.
Plan a meeting
Choose a date and at least two cities. Inputs begin empty—no example schedules are submitted automatically.
👤 Participant 1
👤 Participant 2
Recommended slots use 15-minute starts and real elapsed meeting duration. Only configured working hours are checked—not busy calendars or holidays.
Disclaimer: Meeting suggestions use your configured working hours and your browser's time zone rules. This tool does not check holidays, calendars, actual availability, or send invitations. Confirm each attendee's local date and time before scheduling.
How to schedule a meeting across time zones
- Choose the meeting date and the reference participant. The search uses that person's local calendar date.
- Select at least two cities or named IANA time zones. Add up to four participants in the standard view, or open Advanced Options for up to six.
- Set each person's local working hours. Choosing a city starts with 09:00–17:00; Advanced Options adds working weekdays, lunch breaks, split or overnight shifts and preferred times.
- Choose a meeting duration of 15–240 minutes in 15-minute increments, then select Find meeting times.
- Review complete meeting slots and each person's local date and offset. Select a slot to copy its summary or download an ICS file; share the settings link to let someone else recalculate.
How working hours overlap is calculated
As a working hours overlap calculator, the planner converts each person's local work windows into real UTC intervals using IANA time zone rules for the selected date. It intersects those intervals and accepts a start only when the entire meeting duration fits within every configured schedule.
Common time = A₁ ∩ A₂ ∩ … ∩ Aₙ
A start t is valid only if the complete interval [t, t + meeting duration) lies within the common working-time intervals.
Candidates start on a 15-minute grid in the reference city. Meeting length is real elapsed time, including across clock changes. For ranking, the tool compares the actual meeting midpoint with each person's preferred local midpoint, using the shorter distance around the 24-hour clock. It first minimizes the largest individual distance, then the total; earlier UTC starts break ties.
If no complete slot fits, outside-hours alternatives first minimize the most minutes any one participant spends outside work, then the combined outside-work minutes, then the same preference ranking. These clearly labeled compromises require agreement with attendees.
New York and London meeting time example. On March 20, 2026, New York is UTC−04:00 and London is UTC+00:00. With both participants working 09:00–17:00 Monday to Friday, the common window is 13:00–17:00 UTC: 09:00–13:00 in New York and 13:00–17:00 in London. A 60-minute meeting has 13 valid starts, from 13:00 through 16:00 UTC on the 15-minute grid.
On March 30, 2026, London is on UTC+01:00 while New York remains on UTC−04:00. With the same schedules, the common window narrows to 13:00–16:00 UTC: 09:00–12:00 in New York and 14:00–17:00 in London, leaving nine complete 60-minute starts. These date-specific examples show why US and European daylight saving changes must be checked for the actual meeting date.
Local dates can contain 23 or 25 hours, or 23.5 or 24.5 hours around Lord Howe Island's half-hour DST change. The planner also handles offsets such as Kolkata's UTC+05:30 and Kathmandu's UTC+05:45. Rules come from your browser and may change after time zone data updates; a fixed offset is not a substitute for a named zone.
When to use a meeting planner across time zones
Remote team meetings
Schedule meetings across time zones for colleagues with different working weekdays, split shifts or overnight hours.
International meetings and interviews
Use an international meeting planner to compare each attendee's local date before an interview or client call.
Different daylight saving dates
Compare meeting time across multiple time zones during weeks when US and European clocks change on different days.
US and India coordination
For a US and India meeting time, compare the selected US city with Mumbai / Delhi (Asia/Kolkata). Account for India's UTC+05:30 offset and the US city's date-specific daylight saving rules.
Frequently asked questions
Can I plan a meeting across more than two time zones?
Yes. Compare 2–4 participants in the standard view, or open Advanced Options for up to 6. Each participant can have a different city, working schedule and preferred local meeting time.
How does the planner handle daylight saving time?
It applies your browser's IANA time zone rules to the selected date. Nonexistent spring-forward times are skipped, and repeated fall-back times keep separate UTC instants and offsets. US and European change dates can differ; future results may change if time zone rules are updated.
Can a meeting cross midnight or appear on a different date?
Yes. The search date belongs to the reference participant. Other cities may be on the previous or next date, and a meeting can finish after midnight. Review each participant's displayed start date, end date and UTC offset before scheduling.
Can I enter working weekdays, lunch breaks and overnight shifts?
Yes. Advanced Options lets each person choose working weekdays and additional local work windows. Enter separate windows around a lunch break. A 22:00–06:00 shift starts on a checked weekday and continues into the next date, even if that next weekday is unchecked.
What if there is no complete meeting time within everyone's working hours?
The planner shows separately labeled outside-hours alternatives, including each person's minutes outside their configured schedule. It first minimizes the largest individual outside-hours penalty, then the total. Agree any exception with participants before sending invitations.
What does the best meeting time mean here?
Among complete slots on the 15-minute start grid, the ranking first minimizes the largest participant's distance from their preferred local meeting midpoint, then the total distance. Earlier UTC starts break ties. Each preference defaults to 13:00 and can be changed in Advanced Options.
What do the share link and ICS calendar export contain?
The share link restores the date, participant labels and working-hour settings so the recipient can recalculate. Copy meeting and ICS export use the selected slot. The ICS file contains UTC event times and local-time details; it does not send invitations or reserve anyone's calendar.
Which meeting durations can I choose?
Choose 15–240 minutes in 15-minute increments, using a preset or custom duration. The full elapsed duration must fit inside every participant's configured working time for a strict slot to qualify, including across a daylight saving change.
How is a meeting time zone planner different from a converter?
A converter translates a chosen clock time between places. This time zone overlap calculator also checks the full meeting against several working schedules and ranks suitable starts. Use the related Time Zone Converter for a single conversion.
Does this planner check real calendars, holidays or actual availability?
No. It checks only the working windows and weekdays you configure. It does not read Google Calendar, Outlook, existing appointments or holiday calendars. Confirm real availability with attendees; a recommended slot is not a booking.
Related Tools
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