Canvas @ Yale

Changing Your Time Zone Settings in Canvas / Zoom Integration

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By default, all assignment due dates and calendar events in Canvas are set to Eastern Time (ET) because that is the location of Yale's primary campus. Individuals can change their personal time zone settings.

If you change your time zone setting and create a new event or assignment, the date / time will appear in your selected time zone for you, but will appear for everyone else in their selected time zone.

If you or your instructor are using any third-party tools or integration, like Zoom, activities and events listed within these tools may not be automatically updated based on your Canvas settings. However, any associated Canvas calendar events for those activities will be updated.

Table of Contents

This article will address the following information:

Updating Your Time Zone in Canvas

  1. In the left side global navigation menu, click the "Account" button.
  2. In the pop-out, select the "Settings" button.
  1. On the next screen, click the "Edit Settings" button on the right-hand side.
  1. Click on the "Time Zone" drop-down menu that is now available to edit.
  2. From the list, select the appropriate time zone for your location.
  3. Once selected, click the "Update Settings" button to save your changes.

Updating Your Time Zone in the Zoom Integration

When you update your time zone setting for Canvas, all of your Calendar events will update as well.

Zoom sessions scheduled through your Canvas course integration get an associated Canvas Calendar event for students and instructors to use. When you go to your Calendar area [A] (left), your Calendar events will reflect the time change.  

However, if you go directly to the Zoom Tool [B] in your course (right), the times will still be listed in the old time zone. This is because the Zoom Tool has its own time zone setting preference.

A) Canvas Calendar area with course events displaying in Pacific Standard Time. A pop-up says "Canvas time zone preference change upadted. Canvas calendar events for Zoom sessions." B) The Zoom integration page in a course with Zoom sessions listed. A pop-up on this page says, "Canvas time zone preference changed, but Zoom tool still displays Zoom sessions in ET."

To update your Zoom Tool time zone:

  1. Go to one of your Canvas courses that has the Zoom Tool enabled and click the "Zoom" tool link in the course navigation menu.
  2. At the top of the page, click the Pencil edit icon next to the current time zone.
  1. In the pop-up, click on the "Time Zone" drop-down menu and select the appropriate time zone.
  2. Once selected, click the "Update" button.
  1. When you return to the Zoom Tool, your session dates will reflect the time zone you selected.
Zoom integration page on Canvas with the session times set to the new time zone. A pop-up says, "Now the Zoom tool displaus the newly selected time zone preference."

For more help, please contact [email protected].

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