You may love it, or you may hate it, but clock-changing season is approaching, which means many of us will gain an hour, lose track of which clocks we have changed, and spend several days wondering why we are hungry at the wrong time. My computer usually handles the adjustment. The microwave prefers to make this a personal development opportunity for Warren.

This year, however, an extra complication has been added. Some places are turning their clocks back, some are staying put, and others are changing on a different weekend. Whether you work in Canada, the United States, or Europe, that can make scheduling interesting. By interesting, I mean someone ends up alone in a virtual meeting, wondering whether everyone else has quit. Before you assume Outlook will magically sort everything out, take a few minutes to check your computer and calendar settings. “My calendar told me to” is not the most professional explanation for missing an important meeting.

Who is changing, and who is staying put?

In Canadian communities that still observe seasonal clock changes, clocks go back one hour on Sunday, November 1, 2026. Alberta and Manitoba will stay on permanent daylight time, as will most of British Columbia. Most of Saskatchewan already stays on the same time year-round, as does Yukon. These are examples, not an exhaustive list of local exceptions, so check the specific community when scheduling. 

Most of the United States also turns clocks back on November 1. New York, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles make the change, but Phoenix and Honolulu do not; most of Arizona and all of Hawaii avoid the seasonal shuffle. 

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom and European Union countries turn their clocks back on October 25, 2026, a week earlier. That includes London, Paris, and Berlin. For that week, familiar transatlantic time differences change. 

For example:

Europe changes its clocks first, so October 26 is the unusual week. Those times are calculated from the seasonal rules. Nobody moved countries, but the meeting moved on somebody’s calendar.

Here is another calculated example, keeping our Canadian cities and adding American and European colleagues. For a meeting at 2 p.m. in Toronto on November 2, 2026:

These are date-specific examples, not year-round conversion rules. Your trusty “subtract three hours for Vancouver/Los Angeles” habit needs a winter vacation. So does assuming Winnipeg and Chicago always share the same time.

Start with updates – before the clocks change.

Install available operating-system, browser, and calendar-app updates, then restart as needed. For a work computer, ask IT to confirm that current time-zone updates have been applied, especially if you work with regions adopting new rules, including B.C., Alberta, and Manitoba. Microsoft has published specific guidance for B.C. and Alberta; these changes need more attention than the usual seasonal adjustment. 

If you look at the time in a newly updated time zone today, do not assume that displaying the correct time today proves it will behave correctly in November. Also, avoid manually subtracting an hour from a computer that is already configured to adjust automatically. Check the time zone and its rules before changing the clock itself.

Outlook says the October 15, 2026, update will apply the service changes for British Columbia and Alberta, but installing the update alone may not fix existing meetings. You may need to do those manually (collective gulp, right?).

Check your Windows computer.

Open Start > Settings > Time & language > Date & time. Turn on Set time automatically. Check Set time zone automatically and confirm that the selected zone matches your location. If automatic detection is unavailable or selects the wrong zone, choose the correct regional zone manually, or ask IT to do it. 

Where seasonal changes apply, let Windows handle them automatically. For regions staying on one time, use the updated regional setting. Don’t choose a different city just because its clock happens to match yours today. 

Check your Mac

Open Apple menu > System Settings > General > Date & Time. Enable Set time and date automatically and Set time zone automatically using your current location. Confirm the detected location is appropriate. Wording may vary slightly by macOS version. 

Whether you use Windows or a Mac, repeat the check after the relevant change date. Automatic settings help, but they still deserve a quick look when the rules change.

Give Outlook its own check.

Your computer clock and calendar display deserve separate attention. In new Outlook or Outlook on the web, open Settings > Calendar > View. Under Time zones, check Display my calendar in time zone, select the appropriate regional zone, and save.

In classic Outlook for Windows, go to File > Options > Calendar, then find Time zones. Confirm the selection. These paths are for those Outlook versions; Outlook for Mac has a different settings layout. If you coordinate across regions, add a second time zone to your calendar view to compare working hours. Label it with the city (e.g., London or New York) to make the comparison clear. 

Then open actual meetings after October 25 and November 1. A correct setting is encouraging; a correctly displayed appointment is what matters to your executive.

For Gmail users, check Google Calendar too.

For email-time discrepancies, start by checking your computer’s date and time settings, then reopen Gmail and compare a newly sent test message. For appointments associated with your Gmail account, open Google Calendar in your browser.

Select Settings > Settings > Time zone > Primary time zone and choose the correct city or regional zone. If you manage several calendars, review their individual time zones under My calendars > the calendar’s three-dot menu > Settings and sharing. You can also display a secondary time zone for comparison. 

Pay particular attention to older invitations. Google warns that events created before it knew about a regional time-zone change may have an incorrect time zone. Therefore, update your settings and then review existing appointments. 

If you use Gmail’s scheduled sending, check messages waiting in Scheduled as well. Google says scheduled messages use the time zone in which they were scheduled. That 9 a.m. reminder deserves a second look. 

Check the meetings, not just the clock.

Review important meetings for both the week of October 26 and the week of November 2, especially recurring series, interviews, webinars, and international appointments. Compare the calendar entry with the organizer’s intended time. If necessary, confirm explicitly: “Are we still meeting Monday, November 2, at 10 a.m. New York time, which is 3 p.m. in London?”

Include the date and a city when confirming across borders. A bare “9 a.m.” leaves too much room for interpretation. Use a calendar invitation with the correct time zone so everyone can see their local time.

A meeting can legitimately move by an hour on one person’s calendar while staying at the same local time for the organizer. Do not drag every appointment into its familiar slot. If an invitation is wrong, ask the organizer to correct it and send an update.

After October 25 and again after November 1, check the appointments affected by those changes. Confirm your local time, reopen your calendar, and compare one important appointment on your computer and phone. Even if your own clock stays put, a colleague’s change can affect your schedule. Investigate any disagreement before the meeting begins.

And keep the URL www.timeanddate.com open in your browser too!

We cannot make every clock in the world follow the same rules. We can spend a few minutes checking the technology we depend on. I would much rather use that extra hour for a cup of tea than spend it explaining why I arrived just in time for everyone to leave.