🌍 Timezones And Scheduling

A scheduled email that arrives at three in the morning is usually a timezone setting, not a fault. The Mailer reads every time you type in your WordPress site timezone, shows every time back to you in that same timezone, and keeps its schedules in universal time underneath so nothing drifts.

Set your site timezone once, correctly, and everything else follows.

Where to find it:

• Your site timezone: WordPress Settings, then General, then Timezone.
• The Mailer's clock: Delivery, then Safety, in the Timezone panel.
• The schedule box: in a broadcast, step 4 Review and send.

Setting your site timezone:

1. In WordPress, go to Settings, then General.
2. In Timezone, choose a city near you, for example Chicago or London, rather than a fixed UTC offset.
3. Click Save Changes.

Choosing a city means summer time is handled for you. A fixed offset such as UTC+1 stays at +1 all year.

Checking your clock:

On Delivery, then Safety, the Timezone panel shows the Site timezone, the time Now (UTC) and the time Now (site local). If Now (site local) matches the clock on your wall, everything you schedule will go out when you expect.

How the Mailer handles time:

• Times you type, such as a broadcast schedule or a sending window, are read in your site timezone.
• Schedules are saved in UTC, the universal clock, and the sending queue compares them with UTC. That way a change of server or a summer time switch never moves a send.
• Everything shown on screen, such as When columns, report dates and the Sending Now tile, is shown in your site timezone.
• Date ranges on the Dashboard and Reports, such as Today and Yesterday, start and end at midnight in your site timezone.

Scheduling a broadcast:

1. Write your broadcast and go to step 4, Review and send.
2. The box above the buttons says, for example, Times below are America/Chicago (UTC-5) and what time it is there right now, with a Change it in Settings link.
3. Pick a date and time next to Schedule.
4. Click Schedule.

The time you pick is your site's time, not your computer's. If your site is still on the WordPress default of UTC, the box says so, so you can set your real timezone first.

Automation waits:

• A wait of 1 day means 24 hours after the previous step, exactly. Someone who joins at 9 in the morning gets the next email at 9 the next morning.
• In the automation's settings, Send every email at sets a time of day for the whole flow. Each wait then runs its full length first, and the email goes at the next occurrence of that time. A wait of 3 days with Send every email at 08:30 arrives three days later at 8:30, site time.
• A single wait step can set its own time, which wins over the automation's time.

The sending window:

On Setup, then Settings, Sending window (optional) lets broadcasts go out only between two times, in your site timezone. Outside those hours the broadcast queue waits and resumes by itself. A window past midnight, such as 22:00 to 06:00, works. Automation emails are never held by it.

How often the queue runs:

A background job runs every minute to send due emails and move automations along. It uses WordPress cron, which runs when your site has visitors. On a very quiet site, sends can start a little late. For exact timing, ask your host to set up a real server cron that calls wp-cron.php every minute. Diagnostics shows the next run of each job, and the Safety pre-flight table says whether WordPress cron is available.

A real example:

Leafwise Gardening is set to London in WordPress. Anna schedules the Seed swap announcement for Thursday 5 November at 8:30. The schedule box says Times below are Europe/London, so she knows 8:30 means 8:30 in London. The Sending Now tile on her Dashboard shows the broadcast and Thu 5 Nov, 8:30am. Her Raised Bed Masterclass onboarding automation uses Send every email at 09:00, so every lesson lands at nine in the morning, whatever time each buyer bought.

Tips:

• Set the timezone before you schedule anything.
• Pick the city, not the offset.
• If a send time looks wrong, open the Timezone panel on Safety and compare Now (site local) with your own clock.
• See Diagnostics And Fixing Problems if the queue seems slow.