How to use When2meet (and the bits that catch everyone out)

Making one

Go to when2meet.com and give the event a name. Choose the dates — either specific days or days of the week — then the earliest and latest hours worth considering, and your time zone. There is no account and no email step; you get a URL, and that URL is the event.

Keep the hour range tight. A grid from 8am to midnight across a fortnight is hundreds of squares, and every extra square is a reason for somebody to close the tab.

Filling one in

Open the link, type your name, optionally set a password so only you can change your answer, then click and drag across the times you are free. Green means available. On a phone you drag with a finger, which is where most people give up and paint something roughly true instead of actually true.

• Drag, don't tap each square — tapping one at a time takes forever.
• Set a password if you expect to change your mind later.
• Check the time zone shown at the top before you start painting.

Editing your answer

Open the same link, enter the same name and password, and drag again. Without a password anybody who types your name can overwrite you, which is worth knowing before you use it for anything sensitive.

Time zones, and reading the result

When2meet converts to each person's selected time zone, so a group spread across countries sees their own local hours. The result is a heat map rather than a decision: you still have to pick, announce it, and chase the two people who never filled it in.

When to use something simpler

If the real question is 'Thursday, Friday or Saturday?', a grid of half-hour blocks is far more work than the question deserves. A three-option poll gets answers within the hour, and a plan that ends in a booking rather than a heat map is one step further on again.