How can I make Thunderbird show time zone in an event invitation message?
Someone sent me an event invitation message. When Thunderbird displays this message, there is a special part of the message which has the event details. The event details include "When", with the date and time when the event starts and finishes.
Expected behaviour: the date and time includes a time zone, so that I can compare it to: a) the time zone of the event host, b) my current time zone, c) the time zone of the location where I will be when the event occurs, and d) UTC time, so that I can know when the event happens independent of time zones and daylight savings time rules.
Observed behaviour: the date and time is displayed with no time zone, e.g. "2019-11-04 21:15 – 22:45".
How can I configure Thunderbird to display a time zone with the event details?
If there is no setting for this (and I suspect there may not be), should I file a bug ticket with a feature enhancement request for this time zone display?
What I mean by "a special part of the message which has the event details": This is an outlined box within the message body. It has a blue header at the top. In this header, there is the text, "<Host name> has invited you to <event title>". Below that, the box has a left part in grey and a right part in white. The left part has labels like, "Title", "Location", "When", etc.
When I look at the message source, I do not see HTML content for this event details box. I do, however, see a MIME message part that looks like this:
{{{ --_000_b9217c07d661460693845db28d2047f3PMBX112W1CA1PEXCH112ICA_ Content-Type: text/calendar; charset="utf-8"; method=REQUEST Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
QkVHSU46VkNBTEVOREFSDQpNRVRIT0Q6UkVRVUVTVA0KUFJPRElEOk1pY3Jvc29mdCBFeGNoYW5n ...[base64 text omitted]... QVINCg==
--_000_b9217c07d661460693845db28d2047f3PMBX112W1CA1PEXCH112ICA_--
--===============0479938929717374914== }}}
When I decode the base64 content, I get what appears to be a VCALENDAR record from Microsoft Exchange Server. It looks like this (abbreviated):
{{{ BEGIN:VCALENDAR METHOD:REQUEST PRODID:Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 VERSION:2.0 ...[lines omitted for brevity]... BEGIN:VEVENT ...[lines omitted for brevity]... DTSTART;TZID=Eastern Standard Time:20191104T151500 DTEND;TZID=Eastern Standard Time:20191104T164500 ...[lines omitted for brevity]... }}}
The VCALENDAR record includes a definition of the "Eastern Standard Time" time zone.
From the VCALENDAR information I can do arithmetic, and see that the unlabelled time displayed by Thunderbird is in my local time zone. But I want not to have to remember this or figure it out each time I get an invitation. I want Thunderbird to label the event time with a timezone.
Wšě wotmołwy (4)
In a New Event window, right-click on an empty space in the Event Toolbar - Customize. Drag the 'Show Timezones' button to the toolbar. Press 'Done'.
Thank you for your reply, @Christ1. Unfortunately, it doesn't relate to my situation, as far as I can see.
The Show Timezones button appears to control only what happens in the New Event window, and maybe elsewhere in the Calendar features of Thunderbird. My problem concerns the mail features of Thunderbird — specifically, how Thunderbird displays a VCALENDAR attachment within an email message.
I'm not sure I really understand what you're trying to achieve. Try to raise a bug in Bugzilla.
I suspected it would turn into a bug report. And since my verbal description wasn't clear, I think I will need to make a screenshot of how Thunderbird displays the VCalender email, and point out the lack of time zone information.