# Campaign schedules and time zones

> How schedules, sending windows, start and stop dates and time zones work in EmailPal campaigns, including what happens when a campaign has more than one schedule.

Source: https://emailpal.io/help/campaign-schedules-and-time-zones

## What a schedule does

A schedule says when a campaign's emails may go out. The sequencer only sends inside a window. A campaign can have up to 5 schedules, and each one has:

- a name,
- a mode,
- a time zone,
- and, in Custom mode, up to 14 weekly windows.

Open the campaign's **Settings** and look at the **Schedule** card.

## Modes

| Mode | Window |
| --- | --- |
| **Any time** | Any hour, every day. |
| **Office hours** | Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00. |
| **Custom** | Your own windows: pick the days, a start time and an end time. Use **Add a window** for more. |

Each custom window has to cover at least one day and has to end after it starts. A window cannot run past midnight, but it can end at 24:00. To send across midnight, add a window on each side of it. A schedule that does not pass these checks is not saved, and the card says what is wrong.

New campaigns start with one schedule called **Weekday schedule**, set to Office hours in your browser's time zone.

## Time zones

Pick a **Time zone** for each schedule. Its windows are read in that zone.

The time zone is the zone you pick. EmailPal does not look up each lead's own time zone, so a window of 09:00 to 17:00 in `America/New_York` is 09:00 to 17:00 in New York for everyone on the campaign, wherever they are. If your leads are all in one region, pick that region's zone. If they are spread across regions, run a separate campaign per region.

## More than one schedule

When a campaign has several schedules, their windows are combined. An email can go out whenever any schedule is open, and each window is read in its own schedule's time zone.

Two things always use the first schedule's time zone:

- the day boundary for daily limits, and
- waits counted in days. [Steps, waits and A/B variants](/help/campaign-steps-and-variants).

Waits in minutes or hours are elapsed time, so they ignore time zones.

## Start and stop dates

Under the schedules, **Start date** and **Stop date** are optional.

- Nothing is sent before the start date.
- The campaign stops sending after the stop date.

The stop date has to be after the start date. A campaign whose stop date has passed cannot be launched or resumed until you move or clear it.

## Why an email didn't go out

An email can be held for several reasons besides the schedule. Check:

1. The campaign's daily limit and **Max new leads per day**. [Sending limits and mailbox rotation](/help/campaign-sending-limits-and-mailbox-rotation).
2. The mailbox's own daily cap and minimum gap.
3. Whether the lead replied, unsubscribed or bounced, which ends the sequence.
4. **Diagnose** on the campaign page.

## FAQs

### Can I send in each lead's local time?

Not automatically. A schedule uses the time zone you set on it, not the lead's. Adding a second schedule widens the hours the campaign can send, it does not match each lead to its own region. Use one campaign per region instead.

### My campaign is Active but nothing is sending

It may be outside its windows, before its start date, or at its daily limit. Open **Diagnose**.

### Which time zone do daily limits use?

The first schedule's.

## Need More Help?

[Create a campaign](/help/create-a-campaign), [Sending limits and mailbox rotation](/help/campaign-sending-limits-and-mailbox-rotation).