Shift Scheduling
Use this page to build the week's staff schedule, print it, and email each employee their own shifts.
Quick steps
- Turn it on once: Settings > Edit Settings > Operations, under Time Tracking Settings tick Enable Shift Scheduling, click Update Settings.
- Click Time Tracking in the top navigation, open More Actions and click Shift Schedule.
- Click + Add in the day cell for an employee. Set the Start Time and End Time and click Add Shift. Repeat for the week.
- Next week, click Copy to Next Week to start from this week's shifts, then adjust.
- Click Print PDF for the back-room copy, and Email Schedules to send each person their own week.
Common questions
I can't find Time Tracking in the top navigation. It only shows when Enable Employee Time Tracking is on. Otherwise use Settings > Manage Users > More Actions > Shift Schedule (admins).
A shift won't save. It overlaps another shift for that person, or their approved time off. The message names the date.
Copy to Next Week isn't showing. It only appears when next week is still empty.
Someone didn't get their schedule email. They have no email address on file — the confirmation names them. Add one under Settings > Manage Users, then use the Email link on their row.
Can clerks see the schedule? Not this page. Clerks see their own upcoming shifts at the register's time clock.
More detail: who can use it and how to open it
The Shift Schedule is a week-at-a-glance grid of who works when. You add shifts by clicking an empty day, copy a whole week forward, print the schedule for the back room, and email every scheduled employee their own week with a printable copy attached.
It works alongside the time clock: the schedule is the plan, the time clock is what actually happened.
Shift scheduling is only available when it is switched on. Go to Settings > Edit Settings > Operations tab, find Time Tracking Settings, tick Enable Shift Scheduling, and click Update Settings.
Turning it on adds Shift Schedule to the More Actions menu on the Staff Members page and a Scheduling Reports card on the Reports page.
Who Can Use It
| Role | What they can do |
|---|---|
| Admin | Everything: build, edit, print, email, and answer time off requests. |
| Manager | Everything: build, edit, print, email, and answer time off requests. |
| Clerk | Cannot open the schedule. Clerks see their own upcoming shifts at the register — see Time Tracking (POS). |
| Driver | Not scheduled here. Drivers are not listed on the grid. |
If a clerk opens the page by its address, they are sent back to their home screen with Access denied.
Opening the Schedule
There are two ways in:
- Time Tracking > More Actions > Shift Schedule. Click Time Tracking in the top navigation bar, then open More Actions at the top of the page and click Shift Schedule. This is the route managers use.
- Settings > Manage Users > More Actions > Shift Schedule. Only admins can open the Staff Members page.
The Time Tracking entry in the top navigation only appears when Enable Employee Time Tracking is also on. If your store uses scheduling but not the time clock, reach the schedule from Settings > Manage Users instead.
More detail: the week grid
The Week Grid
The page opens on the current week and is titled Week of the first and last day.
| Part of the page | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Employee column | Every active staff member — Admin, Manager, Clerk and any custom role your store has made (for example a "Shift Lead") — with their role underneath and PDF / Email links for that person's week. Drivers are not listed. |
| Day columns | One column per day, with today's column highlighted. Each cell holds that person's shifts for that day. |
| Hours column | Total scheduled hours for that employee that week, or a dash if they are not scheduled. |
| Summary cards | Total Shifts, Staff Scheduled and Total Hours for the week, shown under the grid once at least one shift exists. |
Use Previous, Today and Next in the page header to move between weeks.
Deactivated staff are not listed, so someone who has left stops appearing on next week's grid automatically.
More detail: adding, editing and removing shifts
Adding a Shift
- Click + Add in the day cell for the employee you want to schedule.
- Fill in the Add Shift window.
- Click Add Shift.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Start Time | When the shift begins. Defaults to 09:00. |
| End Time | When the shift ends. Defaults to 17:00. |
| Role | General, Opener, Closer or Mid. Anything other than General is printed on the shift so staff can see what they are on for. |
| Notes | Optional free text, for example "training with Sam" or "stock delivery at 10". Notes appear in the employee's emailed schedule and on their personal PDF. |
A live hint under the times shows the length as you type — for example Duration: 8h 0m.
Overnight Shifts
If the end time is earlier than the start time (for example 21:00 to 02:00), the shift is treated as crossing midnight. The hint reads (overnight, ends next day), the grid marks the shift +1, and the printed schedule shows (+1 day). The hours count correctly — 21:00 to 02:00 is five hours, not minus nineteen.
An Overnight shift (ends the next day) checkbox appears under the times whenever a shift crosses midnight. For an overnight shift longer than 12 hours — 9:00 to 5:00, say, when you meant 17:00 — the form warns "That's a long shift. Did you mean a PM end time? Tick the box to keep it." and won't save until you either tick the box or fix the end time.
Shifts the Schedule Will Refuse
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| The start and end times are identical | Refused — can't be the same as start time. |
| The shift overlaps another shift that person already has that day | Refused, naming the date. Split shifts are fine as long as the two halves don't overlap. |
| The employee has approved time off covering those hours | Refused, naming the person and the date. Cancel or shorten the time off first — see Time Off Requests. |
Editing and Removing Shifts
Every shift in the grid has Edit and Remove links.
Edit opens the same window with one extra field:
| Field | Options |
|---|---|
| Status | Scheduled (the default, shown in blue), Confirmed (green), No Show (red), Completed (grey). |
Status is a note to yourself about the shift — it does not clock anyone in or out. Marking someone No Show does not change their timesheet; the hours that get paid come from the time clock.
Remove asks Remove this shift? and deletes it.
More detail: copying a week forward
Copying a Week Forward
Most schedules repeat. The Copy to Next Week button in the page header copies every shift on the week you are looking at into the following week, keeping the same people, days, times, roles and notes.
- The button only appears when next week is completely empty, so you can't accidentally double-book a week you have already built.
- Any shift that would clash with something already there is skipped rather than failing the whole copy. The confirmation reads, for example, Copied 24 shifts. Skipped 2 that overlapped existing shifts.
- You land on the new week, ready to adjust it.
More detail: printing and emailing the schedule
Printing the Schedule
Two print buttons produce a PDF that opens in a new tab:
| Button | Where it is | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Print PDF | Page header | The whole team's week, landscape, one row per employee and one column per day. |
| Under each employee's name | That one person's week, portrait, as a Day / Shift / Hours list. |
Both PDFs carry your store name, the week's dates, and a footer with the date and time it was printed and the page number.
The team grid shows each shift as 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM with the role beside it where it isn't General, approved time off marked TIME OFF (or OFF 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM for part of a day), a per-employee Hours column, and a bold Total row with hours per day and for the week.
The single-employee PDF lists all seven days, writes Not scheduled on days off, totals the hours at the bottom, and adds a Notes section listing any shift notes.
The landscape team grid is the one to pin up in the back room. Staff who want their own copy are better served by the emailed version, which already has their personal PDF attached.
Emailing the Week to Staff
Everyone at Once
Click Email Schedules in the page header (it appears once the week has at least one shift) and confirm Email each scheduled employee their schedule for this week?
Each employee receives their own week only — nobody gets the whole team's roster. Recipients are everyone with a shift that week, plus anyone with approved time off that week.
The confirmation tells you how many went out, for example Emailed the schedule to 7 employee(s). Anyone without an email address on their staff profile is named so you know who still needs a paper copy: No email address on file for Jordan Lee and Sam Ruiz.
One Person
Each employee row has an Email link beside their PDF link, which sends that person their week on its own. The link only appears when that employee has an email address on file.
Schedules are queued and sent in the background, so the page comes straight back. Give it a minute before assuming one didn't arrive.
What the Email Contains
| Part | Content |
|---|---|
| Subject | "Your [Store Name] schedule for the week of Sep 15" |
| Heading | Your store name and the week's dates |
| Day list | Each day of the week with the shift times, the role where it isn't General, and any shift notes. Days with nothing read Not scheduled; approved time off reads Time off (or Time off 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM). |
| Total | Total scheduled hours for the week. |
| Footer | "Schedules can change. Check with your manager if something looks wrong." |
| Attachment | That employee's week as a printable PDF. |
More detail: time off and reports
Time Off on the Schedule
Approved time off is shown on the grid in amber — Time off for whole days, Off 09:00-12:00 for part of a day — so an empty cell reads as "this person is off", not "somebody forgot to schedule them".
- The + Add button is hidden on a day where the employee has all-day time off.
- A shift that overlaps approved time off is refused when you try to save it.
- The Time Off button in the page header carries a yellow count of requests Waiting for an answer.
Full details of the request and approval flow are on Time Off Requests.
Reports
With scheduling on, the Reports page gains a Scheduling Reports card covering shift coverage, staff attendance and hours worked over a date range. For what staff were actually paid for, use the Payroll Summary, which is built from clock-ins, not from the schedule.
More detail: troubleshooting and good habits
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| No Shift Schedule in any More Actions menu | Shift scheduling isn't switched on. Tick Enable Shift Scheduling in Settings > Edit Settings > Operations, under Time Tracking Settings. |
| Access denied when opening the schedule | Only admins and managers can open it. Clerks see their own shifts at the register time clock instead. |
| An employee is missing from the grid | Every active staff member is listed except drivers. Check they are not deactivated, and check their role on Settings > Manage Users. |
| "overlaps another shift for this employee" | That person already has a shift covering some of those hours that day. Edit the existing one, or pick times that don't overlap. |
| "has approved time off on ..." | Their time off covers those hours. Cancel or shorten the time off on the Time Off page first, then book the shift. |
| Copy to Next Week isn't showing | Next week already has at least one shift on it. The button only offers itself when next week is empty. |
| Someone says they never got their schedule | Check the notice after you clicked Email Schedules — staff with no email address on file are named there. Add an address on Settings > Manage Users, then use the row's Email link to send just theirs. |
| The PDF opens blank or is missing a name | Names are drawn with a standard print font; unusual characters that can't be printed are dropped rather than failing the whole schedule. Nothing else is affected. |
Best Practices
- Build next week before this week ends. Use Copy to Next Week on a settled week, then adjust the handful of days that differ.
- Deal with time off first. Approve or decline outstanding requests before you build the week — the schedule refuses shifts on approved time off, and it is easier to plan around it than to unpick it.
- Email after you have finished editing. Every send is a fresh snapshot, so a week that is still moving produces emails that contradict each other.
- Put email addresses on every staff profile. Anyone without one can only be given a printed copy.
- Use Notes for anything unusual — training, deliveries, a late opening. Notes reach the employee in their email and on their personal PDF.
What's Next?
- Time Off Requests — how staff ask for days off and how you answer.
- Time Tracking — clock-ins, corrections and timesheets.
- Time Tracking (POS) — what staff see at the register, including their own upcoming shifts.
- Payroll Summary — hours and gross pay for a pay period.
- User Management — adding staff, roles and email addresses.