Summary

This guide helps you troubleshoot and resolve: How to fix Google Calendar events showing the wrong time or off by one hour after a timezone change in Australia. Follow the steps below to fix the issue.

Common Causes

If your Google Calendar events are showing the wrong time, appearing off by one hour, or shifting unexpectedly after a daylight saving change or while travelling between Australian states, the issue is almost always related to your primary calendar timezone setting or a conflict between your device and calendar settings. This guide walks you through checking and correcting each potential cause so your events display at the correct local time.

Quick Fix Steps

If you need to resolve this quickly, work through these steps in order:

1. Open Google Calendar on a desktop browser and confirm your primary calendar timezone is set correctly.
2. Check that your device's system timezone matches the timezone you want Google Calendar to use.
3. Disable any secondary calendars that may be applying their own timezone overrides.
4. Verify the event itself is not locked to a custom timezone.
5. Sign out of Google Calendar on all devices, then sign back in to refresh the sync.

Detailed Instructions

Step 1: Check Your Primary Calendar Timezone

Your primary calendar's timezone is the anchor Google Calendar uses to display all events. If this is set incorrectly, every event will appear at the wrong time.

1. Open Google Calendar in a desktop browser.
2. Click the gear icon in the top right corner, then select Settings.
3. In the left sidebar, click General.
4. Scroll down to the Time zone section.
5. Confirm that Primary time zone is set to your current Australian location, for example (GMT+10:00) Sydney, (GMT+9:30) Adelaide, or (GMT+8:00) Perth.
6. If the setting is incorrect, click the dropdown, choose the correct Australian timezone, and save your changes.

Step 2: Confirm Your Device System Timezone

Google Calendar relies on your device's system clock and timezone to determine where you are. If your device is set to the wrong timezone, your calendar will follow suit.

On Windows

1. Right-click the clock in the taskbar and select Adjust date and time.
2. Ensure Set time zone automatically is turned on, or manually select the correct Australian timezone from the dropdown.
3. Click Sync now under Additional settings to refresh the system clock.

On macOS

1. Open System Settings from the Apple menu.
2. Click General, then Date & Time.
3. Turn on Set time and date automatically using your current location, or turn it off and choose the correct Australian timezone manually.

On iPhone or iPad

1. Open Settings, then tap General.
2. Tap Date & Time.
3. Enable Set Automatically, or disable it and choose your timezone manually.

On Android

1. Open Settings, then tap General management or System.
2. Tap Date and time.
3. Enable Automatic time zone, or disable it and select your Australian timezone manually.

Step 3: Check Secondary Calendars for Timezone Overrides

If you have added calendars from other sources, such as public holiday calendars, sports fixtures, or shared work calendars, they may be configured with their own timezone. This can cause events to display at the wrong local time.

1. In Google Calendar on a desktop browser, click the gear icon and select Settings.
2. In the left sidebar, click the name of each secondary calendar listed under Settings for my calendars.
3. Scroll down to the Time zone section for that calendar.
4. If a specific timezone is selected, change it to match your primary calendar timezone, or select Use the time zone from your primary calendar if that option is available.
5. Repeat for each secondary calendar.

Step 4: Check Individual Events for Custom Timezones

When creating or editing an event, you can lock it to a specific timezone. This is useful for travel or scheduled meetings with people in other regions, but it can also be the cause of an event appearing at the wrong time.

1. Open the affected event in Google Calendar.
2. Click the pencil icon to edit the event.
3. Click the timezone dropdown next to the event time.
4. If a specific timezone is selected, change it to your current local timezone.
5. Click Save.

Step 5: Refresh the Sync on All Devices

After making changes, force Google Calendar to refresh on every device you use.

1. Open the Gmail app or Google Calendar app on your phone or tablet.
2. Pull down from the top of the inbox or calendar view to trigger a manual sync.
3. On desktop, refresh the browser tab or press Ctrl + F5 (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + R (Mac) to force a hard reload.
4. If the issue persists, sign out of your Google account on the device, wait thirty seconds, then sign back in.

Troubleshooting

Events Are Still Off by Exactly One Hour

An exact one-hour offset almost always points to a daylight saving transition. Check the following:

• Confirm whether daylight saving is currently active in your state. Daylight saving begins at 2:00am on the first Sunday of October and ends at 3:00am on the first Sunday of April in participating states.
• Ensure your primary calendar timezone uses the daylight saving variant, such as (GMT+11:00) Sydney during summer rather than (GMT+10:00) Sydney.
• Update your device operating system to the latest version, as older versions sometimes fail to apply daylight saving rules correctly.

Events Shift After Travelling Between States

If you travel from Sydney to Perth, for example, your device timezone will change but your primary calendar timezone may not. To prevent events from shifting unexpectedly:

• Set your primary calendar timezone to floating if you do not need a fixed reference. In Settings, under General, choose Time zone and select a floating option. Events will then follow your device timezone wherever you go.
• Alternatively, manually update your primary calendar timezone to match your destination before you travel.

Shared Calendars Show the Wrong Time

If a calendar shared with you by a colleague or organisation is displaying the wrong time, the issue lies with the calendar owner's settings, not yours. Contact the owner and ask them to verify their primary calendar timezone and any per-event timezone overrides. Once they correct the settings, the shared events will display correctly on your end after a sync.

Browser Extensions or Add-ons Interfering

Some browser extensions that modify calendar behaviour or inject scripts into Google Calendar can cause events to display at incorrect times. To rule this out:

• Open Google Calendar in an incognito or private browsing window, which disables most extensions by default.
• If the times display correctly in incognito mode, disable your extensions one at a time to identify the culprit.
• Remove or configure the problematic extension once identified.

Clearing the Google Calendar Cache

If the issue persists after all the steps above, clearing your browser's cache and cookies for Google Calendar can help resolve stale data issues.

• In Chrome, go to Settings, then Privacy and security, then Clear browsing data.
• Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
• Choose All time as the time range and click Clear data.
• Sign back into Google Calendar and verify the event times.

When to Contact Support

If your events still display at the wrong time after completing all the steps in this guide, you may need to contact Google Workspace support or your organisation's IT administrator. Before reaching out, gather the following information to speed up the troubleshooting process:

• A screenshot of the event showing the incorrect time.
• The timezone currently set on your primary calendar.
• The timezone currently set on your device.
• The date the issue first appeared.
• Whether the issue affects all events or only specific ones.

Providing this information upfront will help your support team diagnose the issue more quickly and get your calendar back on track.

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