Bug: Problem when switching time zones

I have discovered that the times on due/defer dates change when switching time zones. While I guess there are times when we might want them too, for most of my tasks I want them to stay at the same time, regardless of time zone. This is particularly relevant for repeating tasks that I do daily. Can you please address this. I recently arrived in the UK on holiday from China (where I live) and all my repeating tasks are completely messed up making the app unusable.

The date/time is preserved as you move between time zones. In some cases this is desirable. For example, if I’m in Vancouver and set a due date/time that reflects a commitment to deliver a report by 5pm (Pacific Time) this Friday, then I want this due date/time to update automatically when I move to a different time zone since. Regardless of what time zone I’m in, the report is due at 5pm Pacific Time on Friday, so if I’m in Montreal, which is three hours ahead of Vancouver, I want the due date/time to show as Friday at 2pm.

Where I find this breaks down is when, for example, I defer something to a future date and then switch time zones. For example, if I’m in Paris on Monday and defer a task to Wednesday it will be assigned a defer date/time of 12am Paris Time on Wednesday. But if I happen to be back in Vancouver (which is typically nine hours behind Paris) on Tuesday, this task will become available at 4pm on Tuesday. While this is technically correct, it’s not very useful as I really don’t want to see the task until Wednesday.

I think what’s needed is the option to keep the date/time in the current time zone. Perhaps have a default setting, with the ability to override this on a case-by-case basis. I’ve already submitted this request to the Omni Group. I encourage you to do the same (if you haven’t already) by emailing omnifocus@omnigroup.com.

Thanks for the suggestion Tim. I agree that there should be a default option (lock to time zone) that can be over rided (always at a particular time regardless of time zone). I have emailed OG.

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Agree 100%! I just emailed omnifocus@omnigroup.com about this also. But it’s more than two years since the last comment on this thread. So I’m not very hopeful. 😥

I travel a fair bit between PST and EST (three-hour time difference).

When I deferred items while on EST they would default to midnight on the defer date, which is 9pm PST (i.e. they’d show up before the intended calendar date when I got back to PST.

To circumvent this issue I set the default defer time to 3am. Actions created while I’m on PST translate to 6am in EST (which is fine). And actions created while on EST become 12am PST (which also works).

Not a perfect solution, but it has helped.