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Time Zone change in Argentina – Effects on Outlook clients

  • Artikel

 

 

Background

Starting December 30th 2007 at 12:00a, Argentina adopts Daylight Saving Time.

 

From the Windows Operating Systems perspective, this change will involve the creation of a new time zone, since Argentina is currently sharing its time zone Buenos Aires with Georgetown.

After you have configured the new time zone “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires” on your Operating System, Microsoft Outlook calendars will display items 1 hour ahead their actual time during the DST period (initially defined between December 30th 2007 and March 15th 2008).

Please see the article on how to implement the new time zone on Windows Operating Systems.

 

What can I do to fix my appointments?

      

-or-

  • Manually modify each appointment after the operating system time zone has been changed.

The Time Zone Data Update Tool for Outlook must be used with the /PHYSICALMOVE command-line parameter, which is not the default mode for the tool and, perhaps most importantly, not the mode in which the tool is launched automatically during setup.

Many of the special command-line options available for the Outlook tool are not supported when doing a time zone move. Most notably, /QUIET mode is not supported and the procedure needs manual intervention from the end-user.

Step by step procedure to use “Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Outlook”

The following describes the ideal set of steps to be followed by end-users performing a time zone move. This is a slight modification of Atsim's article on the DST2007 blog:

                    I. Update the Operating System’s time zone information according to “How to update Windows Servers and Desktop Operating Systems ”

                  II. Switch the current time zone “(GMT -03:00) Georgetown” to the target time zone “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires”.

                III. Download and run the installation package from https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=%20E343A233-B9C8-4652-9DD8-AE0F1AF62568&displaylang=en.

                IV. When the tool is automatically launched as part of the above install, click the Cancel button.

NOTE: Step IV is necessary because the tool is automatically launched in time zone update mode rather than physical move mode. The above screen shot is of the tool in time zone update mode; note that there is only one time zone selector for “Your Time Zone” in update mode. Below you can find a screen shot of the tool running in time zone move mode; note that there are two time zone selectors for “Original Time Zone” and “New Time Zone.”

                  V. Restart the installed executable using the /PHYSICALMOVE switch

a. On a 32-bit OS, run “%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Office\Office12\Office Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool\tzmove.exe” /PHYSICALMOVE

b. On a 64-bit OS, run “%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Microsoft Office\Office12\Office Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool\tzmove.exe” /PHYSICALMOVE

NOTE: Do not confuse the installation package with the tool itself (both have the same name tzmove.exe). The resulting dialog should look like the following:

 

                VI. Properly select “(GMT -03:00) Georgetown” from the “Original Time Zone:” drop down, and “(GMT -03:00) Buenos Aires” from the “New Time Zone:” drop down and click OK.

NOTE: As with standard time zone updates, the tool defaults to updating affected items on your Calendar and in your Reminders folder. If you would like to update additional items (e.g. items in additional Calendars or a PST), you can do so by clicking the ‘Custom…’ button and manually selecting the target folder.

              VII. The tool will inspect your mailbox and will report how many appointments will be moved:

If you click “Details” the appointment list will appear and you will be able to select all (default) or some of the appointments. In a normal situation you will move all the appoinments to the new time zone.

Click “OK” in the following dialog to proceed moving the appointments. A log file “Outlook Time Zone Update .log” will be generated in the %temp% directory.

            VIII. After moving Click “OK” again to close the tool.

In addition to simply using the above guidance, IT administrators might consider streamlining the above procedure as follows:

  • Automatically launch the tool in time zone move mode after having installed it in quiet mode.

The above two steps can be captured in a simple .bat file similar to the following thus allowing end users to combine steps III, IV, and V above into one (i.e. just launch the .bat file):

@echo off

<path to tzmove.exe that was saved from https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=%20E343A233-B9C8-4652-9DD8-AE0F1AF62568&displaylang=en >\tzmove.exe /quiet

"%PROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Office\Office12\Office Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool\tzmove.exe" /physicalMove

@echo on

This is the maximum level of automation allowed by the tool in Time Zone Move mode. As you can see it still requires end-user intervention from the dialog in step V and forward.

Additional recommendations

  • Simulate the changes on a lab environment, so you know what will happen and what to expect.

  • Before doing any change in Outlook, request the users to print their schedule so they have a reference to follow if they have to manually update the appointments or double check after running the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Outlook.

  • For manual updates and meetings with multiple attendees, only the meeting requestor should update the time and send the update to the others.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Alvaro, There are known issues for OWA and Mobile platforms as you noted. Unfortunately the workaround posted here does not address those issues. There will be an update from Microsoft for Exchange and Mobile platforms (no ETA yet). We will post information on this site whenever they become available. Thanks for your comments!

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    Pablo, Specifically for the OWA's option page you have to restart the "World Wide Web Publishing Service" for the new time zone to show up in the listing. Other services that should be restarted after you import the registry key, are "Microsoft Exchange Mail Submission” and “Microsoft Exchange Transport”

  • Anonymous
    January 01, 2003
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 30, 2007
    Hi DTSlatam, I did exactly as this article says but today (the day the time change occur) I found all may appointments moved forward one hour. The TZMove /PHYSICALMOVE only fixed some recursive appointments but none of the standard ones. I talked to some friends and they had no problem with this... only difference between them and me: I'm running exchange 2007 SP1 and they are on 2003. As mentioned on several articles, yesterday, after the new time zone was created and applied, I restarted the server so that the services can apply the new time zone. (this was before the time change). Any ideas on how to fix the appointments? Thanks in advanced. Julián

  • Anonymous
    January 04, 2008
    Hi DTSlatam, We have an issue with our Exchange 2007 RTM. I have installed your TZupdate.reg and change to the new timezone in all our Exchange's Servers. But in the OWA's interface this timezone doesn't appear in the Options' Web Page. How can i do to show that timezone in the OWA's Options page?. Thanks Pablo

  • Anonymous
    January 10, 2008
    Hi guys, very useful info, but... what about Outlook Mobile and OWA? This procedure works fine with Outlook, but all my mobile users and OWA users have problems with their appointments. I have Exchange 2003, and Windows Mobile 5 users. thanks in advance.