The 2007 Daylight Savings Time Change and Outlook

(Updated 2/22/07)

In 2007, Daylight Savings Time changes. This change, passed by the US Congress in 2005, alters the start and end dates of Daylight Savings Time in the United States and Canada.

This change directly affects Outlook 2003 users and indirectly affects Outlook 2007 users. The basic information you need to deal with this change is on this page, while detailed information for network administrators as well as regular users is available direct from Microsoft here

What's Changed and How Does it Affect Outlook?

Starting in 2007, Daylight Savings Time (DST) begins three weeks earlier (The second Sunday of March) and ends one week later (the first Sunday of November) than it used to. For calendar year 2007, this means that DST starts on March 11 and ends on November 4.

Because of this, the start and end dates of Outlook appointments and meetings scheduled for between March 11 and April 1, and between October 28 and November 4, could be off by an hour.

In general, this change affects anyone with a computer or software that knows the date and time. It definitely affects us Outlook users. Microsoft Windows, Outlook, Exchange, and SharePoint are all programs that must be updated to deal with the changing dates of DST.

Note: If you don't use the Calendar or Tasks sections of Outlook, and you don't care if your computer's clock is off by an hour now and then, you can get away with ignoring all of this.

What Can You Do?

So what can you do to get through the affected weeks without missing too many meetings and appointments? The specifics vary, but the first step is to update Windows and Outlook with the fixes for this problem. Beyond that, things get more complicated, and some of the tasks may be out of your hands, so let's start with what we can control.

Updating Windows and Outlook

You must update Windows, then update Outlook, in that order, to make this work.

All versions of Windows prior to Vista are affected by the DST change. If you are running Vista, you can skip ahead to updating Outlook since Vista already handles the change properly.

If you aren't using Vista, then the best case is that you are using Windows XP Service Pack 2 (this includes Media Center Edition). In this case, Microsoft has published an update that adjusts the calendar in Windows correctly.

Note: If you aren't sure which version of Windows you are running, open the System applet in the Windows Control Panel. On the General tabbed page you will see which version of Windows you are running.

Look here to figure out which version of Windows you have.

If you aren't running Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Vista, you'll need to get help from your corporate IT department or search microsoft.com for information related to your version of Windows.

If you are running Windows XP Service Pack 2, use Windows Update or Automatic Update to download and install the update. If you don't use Windows Update or Automatic Update, you can go to the Microsoft security updates for February 2007 page to download the DST fix along with the rest of the February updates.

After you install the updates you'll probably have to reboot your computer. Then you'll be ready to update Outlook.

Updating Outlook

It's time to take care of Outlook. There are two possible cases here. They are:

You use Outlook standalone on Windows XP. That is, you run Outlook on a computer with the Windows XP operating system, and Outlook is not connected to a Microsoft Exchange server.

Note: There seems to be some confusion as to when you should run the time zone tool. If you are using Outlook on Windows XP, you should run the tool after you update Windows, regardless of which version of Outlook you have.
You use Outlook on a smartphone or a PDA. You will need to install an update for you device, once Microsoft publishes it to the Windows Mobile site.

Updating Standalone Outlook on Windows XP

If you are here, you should have updated Windows XP with the time zone fix. This means that you need to run the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook.

Note: Before you run the tool, you may want to print your Outlook calendar for the dates between March 11 and April 1, and between October 28 and November 4. After you run the tool, you can compare the printed calendar to Outlook's calendar to confirm that all your meetings and appointments still appear at the correct time.

Download the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook from this page and run it according to the directions on the page. Once you complete this process, your copy of Outlook should handle the Daylight Savings Time change properly. Still, you should heed the suggestions in the following section to minimize the chance of problems.

Here is a detailed walkthrough of the update for a standalone installation of Outlook running on Windows XP.

What Else Should You Do?

There will almost certainly be scheduling problems during the transition to the new Daylight Savings Time, even if you personally do everything exactly right. Microsoft recommends a few things that you can do to minimize the headaches:

Confirm the times for any meetings or appointments scheduled between March 11 and April1, and between October 28 and November 4.

Include the starting time of the meeting in the Subject field of the request so the recipients can confirm that it gets into the calendar properly.

The change to DST is coming quickly (March 11). The basic information you need to deal with this problem is here, but the details are still changing. I'll be updating this page as I learn more, and including a walk-through of the fixes when I apply them.

Note: Please check back here often for the latest information. If you subscribe to the LWO blog, you'll be notified whenever I update this page. If not, I strongly urge you to check back here every week or so until we get through the transition.

From here you can:

Return to the top of this Daylight Savings Time page.

Go to the Calendar Tips page.

Go to the General Outlook Tips page.

Go to the Living With Outlook home page.