Setting up a workspace for another country (time zone, format, country)
After reading this article you'll know what happens when you change your workspace's country, time zone and date format — from calendar and emails to tickets, the tax column and the payment page — and how existing appointments stay protected.
By default, Univents assumes a workspace in Germany: time zone Europe/Berlin, format German (Germany), country Germany. If you run an event or location outside Germany, Austria or Switzerland — for example in the US — you set country, time zone and format under Settings → Language & region → Region & format. This article explains what changes as a result.
What the setting controls
The three fields under Region & format:
- Country — among other things, determines the country used for payment processing (Stripe onboarding) and whether documents show "VAT"/"USt." or "Tax"/"Steuer" as the tax column.
- Time zone — the IANA time zone (e.g.
Europe/Berlin,America/New_York) in which appointments are entered, displayed and calculated. - Date and number format — German (Germany), German (Austria), German (Switzerland), English (US) or English (UK). Controls how date, time and numbers are displayed (e.g. "15.10.2026, 19:00" vs. "10/15/2026, 7:00 PM").
How to navigate there is described in Setting Language, Region & Time Format. Only the owner and admins with the "edit settings" permission can change it — everyone else sees the fields but can't edit them.
What changes with the time zone
Once the time zone is set, Univents calculates every time entry in that zone instead of fixed Berlin time:
- Events, shifts, schedule items, task deadlines — entered and displayed in the workspace time zone.
- Calendar view and calendar subscription (ICS) — a subscribed shift plan shows a shift at the same local time it was entered.
- Connected calendar (Nylas) — a synced appointment lands in the external calendar at the correct local time.
- Emails and PDFs — invoices, quotes, function sheets and ticket emails show date and time in the workspace time zone and the chosen format.
- Public ticket page and ticket PDF — visitors see the event's date and time in local time and the chosen number format.
- Automations and reminders — an automation "1 day before the event" sends its email at 9:00 AM local time, not 9:00 AM Berlin time; a task reminder without a time arrives in the morning in the workspace time zone, not at night.
- Quote validity — a deadline of e.g. 14 days expires at end of day in the workspace time zone.
- AI chat — if you ask the chat to create an event "tomorrow at 7 PM", that's 7:00 PM in your workspace time zone.
Existing appointments keep their point in time
If you change the time zone of an existing workspace, the stored point in time of past or future appointments does not move — only their displayed time shifts by the time zone difference. Univents shows you a warning with an example before saving. There's no automatic rewriting of existing appointments — after a time zone change, check your upcoming events and shifts if the new display isn't what you expect.
Daylight saving time
The US and Europe switch to daylight saving time on different dates. During the few weeks in between (e.g. mid-March to late March), the time difference between a US and a European time zone is briefly different from the usual offset. Univents applies the rule in effect at the time of each entry — you don't need to configure anything for this.
Public holidays
Under Settings → Holidays, alongside Germany, Austria and Switzerland, you can now also choose the United States — nationwide, or individually for all 50 states and Washington D.C. The holidays you pick show up in the calendar and apply to holiday surcharges on wage products. Holidays for other countries aren't available yet.
Payment and tax
- Payment page in the right language: when a customer books through an English-language booking page of a workspace outside Germany, Austria or Switzerland, Stripe shows the payment page in English. For booking pages from Germany, Austria and Switzerland it stays German, regardless of the booking page's language.
- Connecting payment processing: when you connect payment processing, Stripe onboarding starts for the country set under Region & format.
- Tax column on documents: for workspaces in the EU, Switzerland, Norway or the UK, the tax column keeps saying "VAT (%)" (German: "USt. (%)"). For all other countries (e.g. the US), it says "Tax (%)" (German: "Steuer (%)").
- Tax ID when sending: for workspaces in the EU, Switzerland, Norway or the UK, a missing tax number/VAT ID still blocks sending a document. For all other countries, it's shown only as a hint — sending isn't blocked.
Frequently asked questions
Does anything change for my existing workspace in Germany if I don't do anything? No. The default stays Germany / Europe/Berlin / German (Germany), byte-identical to the previous behaviour.
Where do I find this setting? Under Settings → Language & region, on the Region & format card. See Setting Language, Region & Time Format.
Do events shift if I change the time zone? No, their stored point in time stays the same. Only the displayed time shifts by the time zone difference.
Can I pick holidays for countries other than Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the US? Not currently — more countries are planned for a later expansion.
Who can change the country, time zone and format? The owner and admins with the "edit settings" permission.