Shift Templates: How to Create and Use Them

This article is for shift supervisors, managers and business administrators.

Some schedules follow a recurring pattern, whether for a single day or an entire week. To save time when designing schedules, you can create shift templates and quickly apply them to a selected period.

There are two types of shift templates: day templates and week templates. A day template can be applied to any specific day but only covers one day at a time. A week template, on the other hand, can be applied to any given week, allowing you to include all or only selected days from the template.

Adding a shift template

To add a shift template, open the options menu. This menu is available only for days within the past 30 days and for weeks that include at least one editable day.

For day options click on the arrow near the date:

For week options click on the arrow near the week's number:

1. Select "Create template".
2. Each template is available only in the view mode in which it was created. The view mode—"Location" or "Employee"—is determined by the currently selected calendar view.
3. A template must include at least one shift. The number of shifts depends on the shift status and mode and updates automatically as you adjust the template settings.
4. Assign a name to the template to make it easy to identify later.
5. You can filter shifts in the template based on their status (published, unpublished, or all) and mode (assigned shifts, unassigned/open shifts, or both).
6. When creating a week template, you can specify which weekdays to include. Later, only shifts on these selected days will be available for replication.
7. Click "Save" to add the template to your template library.

Applying a shift template

Now that you’ve created a template, you can apply it to parts of your schedule. If the template was created in Location view, it will only be available in Location view. However, if you manage multiple locations, all templates will be accessible for any location. The same applies to Employee view.

1. Open the options menu for a day or a week.
2. Select "Apply template"
3. Select the template you want to apply to the chosen period.
   1. For a day template, you can apply it to a different day than originally saved. For example, if the template was created from a Wednesday schedule but you want to use it on a Thursday, simply select Thursday instead.
   2. For a week template, all originally saved days will be pre-selected. However, you can deselect specific days if you only want to apply the template to certain days within the selected period.
4. If you attempt to apply a shift template to a different location or employee than the one originally saved in the template, the app will display a warning.
5. Click "Apply" to add shifts to the chosen period.

Managing shift templates

You can view all shift templates in the Template Manager. To open it, click the "Template" icon in the schedule options above the schedule.

The Template Manager displays all the templates you’ve created. For each template, you can view the number and list of saved shifts, its view mode, and its label.