Work schedules settings

Schedules live at Settings → Schedules (/{slug}/settings/schedules). A schedule is a reusable template of recurring working hours. It sets what a person is expected to work.

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Before you start

You need the Manage schedules capability (schedule.manage), and the Work schedules app must be on. By default schedule.manage is held by Owner and Admin only. Everyone else holds schedule.view, which lets them read their own schedule.

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What is on the page

The page is titled Schedules, with the description “Define when people are expected to work, then assign a schedule to the whole workspace, a group, or one person.” It has four parts:

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All schedules

The left rail lists every active schedule. Each row shows the schedule name and, underneath, either Every week or Every 2 weeks.

• Click a row to open it in the editor.
• The + button in the card header starts a new schedule.
• A New schedule row sits at the bottom of the list and does the same thing.
• While the list loads you see “Loading…”.

If the workspace has no schedules yet, the editor opens ready for a new one.

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The schedule editor

The editor card is headed by the schedule’s name. Under it sits a summary line such as “Every week · starts Monday”. Three controls sit in the card header: Duplicate and Delete appear only on a saved schedule.

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Fields

Under the fields a preview strip states how the pattern lands. For a weekly schedule it reads “Repeats every week” and names the week it is showing. For a two-week schedule it shows three cards: Week A, Week B, and Week A again marked “then repeats”. Clicking Week A or Week B switches which week the editor is showing.

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The timezone field

The timezone belongs to the schedule, not to the workspace and not to the person. A new schedule starts with the workspace timezone already filled in, so you only change it when you need to. If a person has no schedule at all, times fall back to UTC. See /schedules/schedule-timezones.

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Working hours and days off

Below the fields is the week pattern. A heading reads Weekly pattern, with the week total on the right, such as “40h / week”. There is one row per day, so every weekday can differ. Each row has: A day that is off is shaded and reads Day off. A day can hold more than one work period. Use Add work period on the three-dot menu to split a day around a long break, for example 09:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 18:00.

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Two-week rotations

Set Repeats to Every 2 weeks and two tabs appear: Week A pattern and Week B pattern. Each tab shows its own total and the dates it covers. Week B starts as a copy of Week A, so you edit only what differs. Rotation starts decides which real calendar week counts as Week A.

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Create a schedule

Anyone with schedule.manage may do this. In Northwind Studio that is Maya Ellis (Owner) and Tom Whitfield (Admin).

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Edit a schedule

Pick it in the left rail, change what you need, and click Save. You see “Schedule saved.” An edit changes the pattern for everyone assigned to it, on every date it covers. It does not change time people have already tracked.

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Delete a schedule

Click the Delete schedule icon in the editor header. A confirmation modal opens:

Delete this schedule? It moves to Trash and can’t be assigned to anyone new. Existing assignments keep resolving until you change them. You can restore it from Trash before it’s purged.

Click Delete schedule to confirm. You see “Schedule moved to Trash.” What happens to people assigned to it: To actually move people off a deleted schedule, assign them a different one.

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Assignments

The Assignments card answers who each schedule applies to. Its description reads “Who each schedule applies to. A person’s assignment wins over their group’s, which wins over the workspace default.” When nothing has been assigned yet, the card reads “No assignments yet. Everyone is on the workspace default schedule.”

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The default schedule

There is no separate “default schedule” setting. The default is whichever schedule is assigned at the Workspace level. That row shows Everyone in the Applies to column and usually Always as its window, meaning it has no start date and covers every date.

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How precedence works

For any date, one schedule wins:

1. A schedule assigned to the person
2. Otherwise, a schedule assigned to their group
3. Otherwise, the workspace assignment

A person can have at most one assignment covering a date at each level.

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Assign a schedule

The count of affected people ignores client-portal contacts, and for a group it counts only the people whose primary group it is.

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Replacing a schedule someone is already on

If the target already has a schedule covering those dates, the dialog shows a panel naming it and its window, plus a field: End the current schedule on – a date that must be on or after the current schedule’s start, and before your new start. The hint reads “The new schedule takes over the next day.” It fills in the day before your new start for you. Saving with this filled in ends the old assignment and creates the new one in a single step. The toast reads “Schedule updated.” Without it the save is refused: “This target already has a schedule covering those dates. End or remove that one first.”

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Remove an assignment

Click the remove button on the row. A confirmation modal opens:

Remove this assignment? The members it covers fall back to their next-most-specific schedule (group or workspace default). This does not delete the schedule itself.

Confirm with Remove assignment. You see “Assignment removed.”

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Assigning from a person’s record

You can also assign from a person’s own record, under Settings → Team Members. Their record has a Schedule section split in two:

• Their own schedule – assignments aimed at this person, with an Assign a schedule button.
• Inherited – what they fall back to, from their groups and then the workspace, each badged with its level.

That section only ever creates a person-level assignment. Group and workspace assignments are changed here on the schedules page.

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Exceptions

The Exceptions card handles a single date that differs from the pattern. Its description reads “One-off changes for a single date. Removing an exception restores the inherited schedule.” When there are none, the card reads “No exceptions yet.”

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The six exception types

The last three ask for hours. The first three do not.

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Add an exception

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Remove an exception

Click the remove button on the row. The confirmation reads Remove this exception? – “The date returns to its inherited schedule.” You see “Exception removed.”

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When an exception does not apply

An exception only applies when its level is at least as specific as the assignment in force for that person.

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Example

Northwind Studio, set up by Maya Ellis:

1. She creates Standard week – Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00, timezone Europe/London. That is 40 hours a week.
2. She assigns it at Everyone (workspace) with no end date. Sarah Lin, Jonas Bergman, Priya Raman and Daniel Okafor all follow it.
3. Ana Ferreira is a part-time contractor. Maya creates Part-time (Mon, Wed, Fri) with 09:00 to 13:00 on those three days and the rest off – 12 hours a week – and assigns it to One person: Ana Ferreira from 1 September, with no end date.
4. For the December bank holiday she adds an exception: Everyone (workspace), 25 December, Public holiday.

Sarah’s timesheet for that week now expects 32 hours instead of 40. Ana keeps her own pattern, because her personal assignment outranks the workspace holiday.

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Permissions

Hiding the sidebar item is a convenience. Every change is re-checked when it is saved, so a stale tab or a bookmarked URL cannot get around it. Capability is only half the question – see /concepts/roles-and-capabilities.

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What happens next

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Common questions

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Troubleshooting

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