Repeating Shifts and Shift Patterns

Most schedules repeat: the same early shift every weekday, the same cleaner at the same site every Tuesday, a care visit at 9am every morning. Copying those into each new week by hand takes time, and one missed copy leaves a gap. Set a shift to repeat once, and ShiftApp fills the schedule for the months ahead.

Open any shift and choose Repeat. A repeating shift can bring its staff, clients and resources with it, or repeat empty so you assign people each time.

Repeat patterns include:

• every day, or every 2nd or 3rd day
• chosen days of the week, every week or every other week
• the same dates each month, such as the 2nd and 16th
• a week of the month, such as the first Wednesday

A pattern can run until an end date or carry on with no end. Repeating shifts fill the schedule as far ahead as your plan allows: 12 months on Essential plans and 24 months on Extended plans.

• When you add or remove someone on a repeating shift, choose whether it applies to that shift only, to that shift and every one after it, or to a range of dates.
• Edit the whole series, or edit it from a chosen date onwards. ShiftApp splits it into two series, so earlier shifts keep their old times.
• Take one shift out of the series to change it on its own, such as a late finish for a big booking.
• Once a repeating shift is in the past, it leaves the series and stays on the schedule as an ordinary shift.

Patterns that don't follow the calendar week work as well. For 2 days on and 2 days off, create the shifts for the first 4 days and set each one to repeat every 4 days. The same method gives 4 on, 4 off with an 8-day repeat, or any other cycle. See how to set up a 4-on, 4-off pattern.

Repeating and one-off shifts can share a schedule, or you can keep them on separate schedules if that is easier to read.

The repeating shifts video shows each pattern, and the repeating shifts guide covers the settings.