Timezone settings and Shield delivery windows
The Shield delivery snoozer holds messages outside your configured time windows and delivers them when the window opens. But these time windows depend on your timezone setting. If your timezone is wrong, your delivery windows are wrong. This article explains how to set it up correctly.
The problem
If you do not set a timezone, Cleanbox defaults to UTC. This means a delivery window of 08:00-18:00 would be interpreted as 08:00-18:00 UTC — not your local time.
For someone in New York (UTC-5), that would mean email arrives between 03:00-13:00 local time instead of the intended 08:00-18:00. For someone in Tokyo (UTC+9), it would mean email arrives between 17:00-03:00 local time.
If you have not set a timezone and try to configure a delivery snoozer, Cleanbox shows a warning:
No timezone set — delivery times use UTC. Set your timezone
Setting your timezone
- Go to Settings in the sidebar
- Find the Timezone dropdown
- Select your timezone from the list — each option shows the current time in that zone to help you verify
- Click Save changes
Your timezone is saved to your user account and applies everywhere in Cleanbox that uses time:
- Shield delivery windows (snoozer)
- Message timestamps in the dashboard
- Activity log timestamps
- Dashboard greeting (Good morning/afternoon/evening)
What happens to existing delivery windows
Delivery windows are stored as absolute times in your configured timezone. If you change your timezone:
- The stored window times stay the same numerically (e.g., 08:00-18:00)
- But they now refer to the new timezone
- Review your windows after changing timezones to make sure they still make sense
Daylight saving time
If your timezone observes daylight saving time (DST), Cleanbox handles it automatically. When clocks spring forward or fall back, your delivery windows adjust accordingly. An 08:00-18:00 window always means 08:00-18:00 in your local time, regardless of DST changes.
Team members and timezones
Each team member sets their own timezone independently. This means if a team has members in different time zones:
- Each member sees timestamps in their own timezone
- Shield delivery windows are per-alias, not per-user — the window applies to when email is delivered, not when it is viewed
- The person who configures the Shield snoozer should set the delivery window based on when they want email to arrive, using their own timezone
Common scenarios
| Goal | Configuration |
|---|---|
| Only receive work email during business hours | Snoozer: Mon-Fri, 08:00-18:00 |
| No email during sleep hours | Snoozer: Every day, 07:00-23:00 |
| Weekend-only delivery for personal alias | Snoozer: Sat-Sun, 00:00-23:59 |
| Morning digest — all email delivered at 8 AM | Snoozer: Every day, 08:00-08:01 (narrow window delivers accumulated messages) |
Messages arriving outside your delivery window are not lost — they are held with status "snoozed" and delivered automatically when the next window opens. You can see snoozed messages in your message log.
Contacts with state whitelisted or prioritized always bypass the snoozer and are delivered immediately, regardless of delivery windows.
