Find your way around the roster

Read the week grid

The roster opens on Week. Each column is a day and each row is a position (for example Barista or Waitstaff). Every shift sits in the cell for its day and position.

The week starts on the day set in the location's Roster week starts on setting, so the first column isn't always Monday. See Add and set up your locations. Today's column is shaded and its header reads Today.

Each day header shows that day's paid hours, number of shifts and people assigned, plus the weather forecast. Hover an icon to see what it counts. Each row shows the same totals for that position across the week.

Two more things sit on the grid:

• The small square at the top right of each day header holds a day note for your managers. See Add a note to a roster day.
• If you can see pay or sales, a Daily totals row runs along the bottom with each day's sales, labour cost and labour percentage. See Track sales and labour cost on the roster.

Check the summary bar

The bar above the roster sums up what you're looking at: total hours, the rostered wage cost (if you can see pay), the number of shifts, and how many people are working right now. When staff have asked for open shifts, an open shift requests count appears too.

On the right is the status legend, Unpublished, Assigned, Open and Active, each with a running count that matches the colours on the shift cards.

Pick a time axis

Week and Day sit next to the view menu. Week is the seven-day grid above. Day lays a single date out along a 24-hour timeline, so you can see exactly when people overlap and where the gaps are.

Read the day timeline

Rows are the same positions (or staff), but each shift is now a block placed by its start and end time. The hour ruler runs from 12am to 11pm across the top, and on today a line marks the current time. A shift that runs past midnight shows a +1d tag.

Above the timeline, Daily summary gives the day's hours, shifts and people. If you can see pay or sales, a second rail at the bottom shows the day's sales, labour cost and labour percentage.

Hover a shift for the detail

Hover a shift's time in either view to see its paid hours, the position and location, every scheduled break with its length and whether it's paid, and the shift's status. If you can see pay, the shift's cost shows too. A shift with no breaks says No breaks scheduled.

Drag an empty row to create a shift

Press on an empty part of a row and drag across the hours you want. A dashed outline previews the shift and its times as you go. Let go and the shift form opens with the position, date and times filled in.

A single click on an empty row does the same thing with a four-hour shift starting at that hour.

Move, stretch and copy

Drag a shift block sideways to change its time, or onto another row to change its position (or, in staff view, who's working it). Drag either end to stretch or shrink it. Hold Alt while dragging to leave the original in place and drop a copy.

If the move would clash with another shift that person has that day, the shift form opens with the clash shown instead of saving. If they're on approved leave for the whole day, the row won't take the shift and you'll see Can't schedule a shift — this employee is on approved leave. Clashes with shifts at another of your locations are refused when Shiftly saves, with a message naming the other shift.

Type new times

Click the start or end time on a card and type the new time. Shiftly accepts forms like 9, 930, 9:30, 5pm or 10:30am. A time without am or pm is read as 24-hour, so 5 means 5 AM and 17 means 5 PM. If the end falls at or before the start, the shift runs overnight.

Press Enter or click away to save, or Escape to cancel. Tab saves the start time and moves on to the end time. If Shiftly can't read what you typed, it tells you and keeps the old time.

Pick who's working it

Click the name on a card to open the assignment list. Each person shows the hours they're rostered this week (against their weekly hours, in red when they're over) and, if you can see pay, their hourly rate. Badges flag anything in the way: On leave, Unavailable (their availability says they can't work some or all of the shift), Blocked (another shift overlaps, with the location named when it's somewhere else) or Not assigned (they don't hold this position). People marked Unavailable or Blocked are listed last, below everyone else, and each group is in name order. Pick Open at the bottom to leave the shift unassigned.

In staff view the list shows positions instead, so you can move a person's shift to another role.

Shiftly still checks for clashes and approved leave when it saves, so a pick that overlaps another shift or leave is refused with a message.

Picking someone marked Unavailable only warns you. The shift saves, and a message names the rule it clashes with, such as Richard is unavailable 9am to 5pm every Monday. You can still assign Richard. See See availability, leave and weather on the roster.

Open the view menu

Use the view menu at the top left (it reads View by position or View by staff). View by position groups the roster by role, so you can spot gaps in each position. View by staff makes each person a row instead.

View by staff

In View by staff, every team member is a row with their own totals, unassigned shifts collect in an Open row at the top, and empty cells show each person's availability (for example Only available with a time range) or their approved leave. It's the quickest way to see who is over or under-booked.

Open the filter panel

Select Filter in the header. You can narrow the roster by Employee (search by name), Status (Unpublished, Published, Active, Open) and Position. Each section shows how many filters are on, the Filter button carries a dot while any filter is on, and Clear All removes them in one go.

If nothing matches, the roster shows No shifts match your filters. Filters reset when you switch location. The summary bar and the Daily totals row only count the shifts that match.

Open a shift's menu

Hover a card and select the ⋮ button at its top right, or right-click the card. The + in the bottom corner adds another shift in the same cell.

The menu has Copy shift, Paste shift, Create timesheet for shift, Find cover for this shift, Publish this shift, Repeat shift on the next day, Repeat shift for rest of the week, Edit shift and Delete shift. Options that don't apply are greyed out: Paste shift until you've copied a shift, Publish this shift on a shift that's already published, and Create timesheet for shift and Find cover for this shift on a shift with no one assigned.

Edit shift and Delete shift are greyed out while the assigned person is clocked in. Any other shift, including ones that have already finished, can be edited or deleted. Clicking a card opens it in the shift form too. See Creating & editing shifts and Copying & repeating shifts.

Open the drag-and-drop tray

Open the Drag and drop tray with the sidebar button at the top left of the roster. It lists everyone who can work this location with their hours and cost this week, and flags anyone over their weekly hours with Over weekly limit. An Open shift card sits at the top of the list. In staff view the tray lists positions instead.

What happens when you drop depends on where you drop:

• A person on an empty cell opens the shift form for that day and position, with the person already picked.
• A person on an open shift assigns them to it.
• A person on someone else's shift asks Replace employee? before swapping them in.
• The Open shift card on an assigned shift takes the person off it, leaving it open.

If the person is already over their weekly hours, Employee over ordinary hours asks you to confirm with Assign anyway.