Quick Check is a mode in Atlas you open with a keyboard shortcut from any app. A small panel appears, you type a city or pick a teammate, and you see each one's current local time and the overlap between them. One tap adds the meeting to your calendar in everyone's correct local time. Then it closes, and you are back where you were.
Most time zone questions are small and urgent. "Is it a reasonable hour to message Lisbon right now?" "When does the Sydney team's afternoon line up with my morning?" You do not want to open a website, set up a project, or break your train of thought. You just want the answer. That is what Quick Check is for.
What is Quick Check?
Quick Check is a fast, summon-from-anywhere panel inside Atlas. Press the keyboard shortcut and a small window appears over whatever you are doing. Drop in a couple of cities, or pick a person you have saved, and Atlas shows you each one's current local time and shades their working hours so the overlap is obvious at a glance. When you are done, dismiss it and you are right back in your editor, inbox or chat. Nothing is saved unless you want it to be.
How do I open Quick Check?
You do not need Atlas to be the front-most app. From anywhere on your Mac, press the keyboard shortcut and the panel appears instantly. Atlas is keyboard-first, so the whole flow stays on the keys:
- Press the shortcut to summon Quick Check.
- Type a city name, or pick a teammate you have already saved.
- Add a second city or person to compare against your own time.
- Read the current local times and the shaded overlap.
- Dismiss the panel, or add the meeting to your calendar with one tap.
The point is speed. You are not building a permanent dashboard, you are answering one question and moving on.
When should I use it?
Quick Check shines for the throwaway questions that come up a dozen times a day. The full Atlas map, with pinned teammates and saved groups, is where you live when you are planning. Quick Check is where you go for the one-off.
| The moment | What Quick Check does |
|---|---|
| About to message someone abroad | Shows their current local time so you don't ping them at 3 AM |
| A colleague suggests "tomorrow at 4" | Tells you what 4 means in your zone, half-hour offsets and all |
| Booking a quick call with two cities | Shades both sets of working hours so the overlap is obvious |
| Found a time that works | Adds it to your calendar in each person's local time, one tap |
Quick Check is built to be dismissed, but nothing forces you to. If you are deep in a scheduling thread, leave it on screen as a live reference and let it update as the day moves. For more on the keyboard-first flow, see keyboard-first scheduling.
Does it handle daylight saving?
Yes, and this is the part that catches people out. The gap between two cities is not fixed; it shifts whenever one of them changes its clocks for daylight saving, and the two sides rarely change on the same date. Quick Check reads each location's actual current time rather than assuming a static offset, so the overlap it shows is correct today. When you add a meeting to your calendar, it lands at the right local time for everyone, with the daylight saving maths already done.
What happens to my data?
Nothing leaves your Mac. Atlas has no account and no sign-in, and Quick Check runs entirely on your device. The cities you type and the people you check stay private to you. There is nothing to subscribe to either: Atlas is a one-time purchase, so Quick Check is simply part of the app you own.
The scratch pad, not the planner
Think of Quick Check as the back of an envelope. The full Atlas map is where you plan recurring meetings, manage groups and respect everyone's working hours over time. Quick Check is for the question you have right now, answered in two seconds and then gone, so you can stay in flow. Both live in the same app, and both keep you from doing time zone arithmetic in your head. See how Atlas works.
Frequently asked
What is Atlas Quick Check?
Do I have to set up my whole team to use it?
Can I add a meeting from Quick Check?
Does Quick Check send my data anywhere?
Stop doing timezone math
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