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A work schedule says when a person is expected to work. TimeTracker uses it to work out expected hours, to shade days off in the Planner, and to decide which days a time-off request actually consumes.
A schedule is what someone is expected to work. Tracked time is what they actually did. Timesheets compare the two. See /timesheets/expected-vs-tracked-hours.

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What a schedule is

A schedule is a repeating weekly pattern. Each day of the week is either a working day with one or more work periods, or a day off. A schedule carries four things: The timezone lives on the schedule, not on the workspace. That trips people up, so it has its own page: /schedules/schedule-timezones.

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The three pieces

Schedules work as three layers. Learn these names and the rest of the area makes sense.

Schedules

The repeating pattern itself. Build it once, reuse it for many people.

Assignments

Who follows which schedule, and between which dates.

Exceptions

One-off changes for a single date, such as a shutdown day.

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How a day is decided

For any person and any date, TimeTracker picks one answer.
1

Find the governing schedule

The most specific assignment that covers the date wins: a person assignment beats a group assignment, which beats the workspace default.
2

Read that day from the pattern

The pattern gives the work periods for that weekday, or marks it a day off. A 2-week schedule first works out whether the date falls in Week A or Week B.
3

Apply an exception, if one applies

An exception only applies when it sits at the same level as the governing assignment, or a more specific one.
Because an exception must be at least as specific as the assignment, a person on their own schedule does not pick up a workspace-wide exception. Their personal schedule wins. People on the workspace default do pick it up.

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Example

Northwind Studio runs one schedule called Standard week – Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00, Europe/London.
  • Everyone is assigned Standard week at the workspace level.
  • Ana Ferreira is a part-time contractor, so she gets her own assignment to a schedule called Part-time Mon/Wed/Fri.
  • Tom Whitfield adds a workspace exception of type Public holiday for 26 December.
On 26 December, Sarah Lin and Jonas Bergman are off – they are on the workspace default, so the workspace exception reaches them. Ana still shows her normal Friday hours, because her personal assignment outranks a workspace exception. To give Ana the day off too, Tom adds a person-level exception for her.

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Where schedules show up

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Plan and app

Work schedules is an app. Turn it on or off in Settings → Apps. It is on by default and included on Free. Turning the app off hides schedules and stops timesheets showing expected hours. Every schedule you saved is kept. Time Clock depends on Work schedules, so you cannot run Time Clock with schedules switched off. See /concepts/apps-and-modules.

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Permissions

Project Manager can see schedules but not edit them. You can widen that with a custom role. See /schedules/schedule-permissions.

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Common questions

No. Time tracking works without a schedule. A schedule only adds the “expected” side, so a timesheet can say whether the week is short.
No. Only one assignment per level may cover a given date. If you assign a new schedule over an existing one, TimeTracker asks you to end the old one first.
Every day resolves as a non-working day with zero expected hours. Nothing breaks – there is no expectation to compare against.
Approved leave does not rewrite the schedule. Time off is tracked in its own area and shown on the Planner and the Time Off timeline.

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Troubleshooting

Create a schedule

Build a weekly or two-week pattern.

Assign a schedule

Put people, groups or the whole workspace on a schedule.

Working hours and days off

Set hours per day, split shifts and overnight periods.

Schedule timezones

Why the timezone lives on the schedule.

My Schedule

What each person sees for themselves.

Expected vs tracked hours

How the two numbers meet on a timesheet.