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Best answer

Timing text messages in different time zones

  • 24 August 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 720 views
C

Hi I’m trying to automate timed text reminders for people in multiple time zones however is ET a supported format instead of EST or EDT so i don’t have to convert twice a year? 

 

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Best answer by Danvers 1 September 2022, 15:33

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This post has been closed for comments. Please create a new post if you need help or have a question about this topic.

3 replies

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Hi @Chris Daou 

Good question.

What app are you trying to use to send the SMS?

What other apps are you trying to use in the Zap steps?

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
C

I am using RingCentral. step 1 the trigger is a new row in my google sheet which contains a supported format time and time zone 

step 2 is a delay until date/time in the give timezone - 1 hour 

step 3 automate the message through ring central 

 

Now my issues are

i also have people in Canada in Atlantic daylight time that need to get reminders and it always malfunctions when i input ADT or AST as the time zone so i’m wondering what’s a good way to input Canadian time zones 

also i’m not sure if Zapier Delay will just convert standard to daylight when it converts or if i’ll have to input EDT/CDT then 

Danvers
Userlevel 7
Badge +12

Hi @Chris Daou!

It’s a little tricky to say without knowing what the other steps in your Zap are, but based on what you’ve said I think that you need to add a Formatter by Zapier step after the trigger. 

With the Formatter step, choose the Event Date/Time and the transform ‘Format’. This will convert any time into a specific timezone, you just need to make sure that the To and From timezones are set to the correct value. The timezones are based on location rather than something like UTC+1, so you can choose the Canada/Atlantic timezone. 

 

You mentioned that there might be different timezones (ie some people might be in New York, some in Vancouver), if that’s the case, then you’ll need to make sure that the formatter step can account for that. To do that, you will need to include the timezone of the person in the Google Sheet. The easiest way (in terms of building the Zap) would be If you’re able to enter the timezone in Google Sheets exactly as it is in the dropdown list of timezones in Zapier. The timezone needs to be the small text under each timezone options

 

If you add the timezone in that format to the Google Sheet, in the Zap, select ‘Custom’ for the To Timezone and enter the timezone from the Google Sheet. 

 

If you can’t enter the timezone in the Sheet in the same format as what you can see in the dropdown list, you’ll need to use a Lookup table (which you can make with a Formatter step, choosing Utilities) to tell the Zap which timezone to use based on the information in the Google Sheet. 

 

I hope that’s clear - timezones can be tricky - let us know if you have any other questions!

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