Scheduling appointments in Appsheet in EST for users in different time zones

[alexczar]

I've created an App that's integrated with Google Calendar and that calendar is already set under EST. I am currently based in CST and we have other users that are in MST and PST as well. When I tried to book an appointment for 5 PM on the Appsheet calendar, I noticed that it booked it for 6 PM instead. Does anyone here have any solutions on how to overcome that issue? Ideally, I'd like for them to see the schedules in EST and be able to book the appointment in EST as well. I've tried several expressions but I haven't been successful. 

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[JMPeterson]

I have not done a integration with Google Calendar myself, so there might be some nuances there I do not understand. Apologies in advance for that.

AppSheet has built in NOW() and UTCNOW() expressions. Could you use those to calculate the scheduler's offset from EST and then always display the scheduled time in EST?

e.g. PST is -8 offset, EST is -5 etc.

[alexczar]

I appreciate the quick reply @JMPeterson. So I've used both of them but it doesn't work, unfortunately. I've added the formula UTCNOW( ) - "004:00:00" which works only for the initial value however when I tried to book it for 5 PM, it still booked it one hour ahead for 6 PM since I'm in CST. From the research I've done so far, Appsheet looks at your device's locale setting which would explain why there's a discrepancy especially since my device is on CST. I guess the only way I can remedy that is if I change my computer's setting to EST which is not ideal since we have other users working in different time zones. I was hoping there might be a magical expression that I could use that someone might have already thought of and used for their app.  

[MultiTech · Accepted solution]

Definitely something that can be a bit of a trick to get right, but you can definitely do it with a formula - and also accounting for daylight savings!

When I started putting together the answer portal, and got to all of the scheduling stuff for my apprentices... I had to figure this out. I've got people that I meet with all over the world, and I need time stamps to be centralized in one time zone so that everything makes sense.

Formula and explanation in the Answer Portal 

[alexczar]

This sounds like it might work however where would I put this formula? I've tried placing it on the App formula and the Initial value formula field but that doesn't work. Would I need to create a virtual column for this to work?

[alexczar]

I've found a use for your solution as a guide so that other users will know the time difference instead. Here's what it looks like now in my app:

Thank you very much for the assist @MultiTech!

[AleksiAlkio]

One thing to remember.. when scheduling an Event which is out of daylight saving and today is inside of it, because of AppSheet's bug, the time is saved wrongly with one hour. The same happens with the opposite situation.