1. Get started
MacOS, Windows, iOS, Linux, tablet, phone, smartphone, iPad, iPhone,
Android, Chromebook
Overview
Prime Timetable is a school scheduling software designed for both
automatic and manual timetabling on any device. The software is used in
100+ countries for scheduling primary or elementary, junior/middle/high or
secondary schools, international schools, universities and other
educational organizations (art and language schools), as well as for
scheduling various events: school camps and courses.
Video tutorial: Introduction
tips, tricks, using
Video tutorials
It's recommended to
watch getting started tutorials
before using the app. Videos are only a couple of minutes long but packed
with tons of helpful info to boost your productivity. Subscribe to our
YouTube channel
to watch the latest tutorials for free.
pdf
basic,terms,glossary,dictionary
Interpret terms as best suits your organization, e.g. use
grade instead of class or course instead of
subject.
School
Institution designed to allow and encourage student groups to attend
school activities under the supervision of teachers
Subject / Course
For instance, Math, English, Biology, but also school recess, lunch,
some non-class activities like teacher meetings
Room
Place where school activity occurs, e.g. biology
room, history room, but also dining room, reception hall...
Teacher / Educator / Professor / Instructor
Person who teaches, guides, instructs, trains
or helps another in the process of learning knowledge
Student
Learner, or someone who attends an educational
institution
Class / Grade
Group
Class group attending a specific activity, e.g.
"English", "French" or "Italian" groups
Resource
Class, Teacher or Room
Period / Time slot
Activity
Structured period of time where a school
activity is intended to occur, e.g. lesson,
prep-time, lunch, recess, etc.
Card
Timetable / Schedule
Table which displays cards
Unscheduled card
Card waiting to be scheduled and therefore placed outside the
timetable
Pinned card
Card locked on a specific period, meaning it won't
be rescheduled while improving the timetable
Timetable view
Master or
individual view that displays activities,
e.g. class, teacher, room master view, Grade 8 view, etc.
Timetabler
Person who creates a school timetable
Conflict / clash
Group of cards on the same position or overlapping each other
Gap / Pause / Window
Empty period between school activities
Constraint
Requirement that should be met in the final timetable, e.g. gaps
should be forbidden for all classes
Time constraint
Manual timetabling
Working on timetable by manually dragging the cards
Automatic timetable generator
Algorithm that
improves a school timetable
based on entered data and constraints
Timetable validation
School scheduling/timetabling software
Software designed to simplify and automate scheduling/timetabling
process
MacOS, Windows, iOS, Linux, tablet, phone, smartphone, iPad, iPhone,
Android, Chromebook
System requirements
Software requires a modern browser such as
Chrome,
Firefox,
Edge or
Safari. Go to
https://primetimetable.com and
create a free account or
log in to start the app on any device.
Here are blog posts listing
what's new in the latest releases.
Full features list is available
here.
5. Data
Basics
Resources are displayed in grids allowing you to manage data efficiently.
order,move up,move down,alphabetic,ascending,descending
In order to add a new item in the grid click
Add. The item will be added after the last
selected item in the grid.
For instance, in order to add a teacher:
-
Choose Manage > Teachers and click
Add
- Type name, short name and other details
- Click Add
Click Edit to edit previously selected item
in the grid. Click Copy to create a copy of
the existing item. The copy can be modified independently without
affecting the source item.
There are several ways to select item in the grid:
- Click desired row
- Start typing first letters of desired name
-
Use the following keys to navigate and select:
↑
↓
PgUp PgDn
Home End
Click the desired column name to sort data. For instance, in order to
sort teachers by their names:
- Choose Manage > Teachers
- Click Name column in the grid header
- Click it once again to sort in the reverse order
-
Hold down CtrlCmd key and click the desired rows
-
Click the first row, hold down
Shift key, and then click the last row to
select a consecutive group of items
-
Hold down CtrlCmd key and press A to select all items
in the grid
Selected items can be deleted or reordered using arrows in the bottom
right corner of the grid.
- Select item(s) in the grid
-
Use up and down arrows in the bottom right corner of the grid
- Select item(s) in the grid
- Click Delete
The app warns when deleting affects related data, e.g. when a teacher is
deleted, all related activities are deleted as well. Therefore, it's
recommended to delete/change related data prior to deleting a resource.
Keep in mind that if you made a mistake, you can always
undo.
rotated,rotation,day A,day B,cycle,rotating,6 day,5 day,two-week
Days
- Choose Manage > Days or click day name in the view
Set the number of days in the timetable cycle by selecting a desired value
in the combo above the displayed grid.
For instance, set 5 days for 1-week, or set 6 days if you are scheduling
Saturdays, or set 10 days for 2-week timetable and so on. Another option
is to create a separate timetable for each week or month and later
merge them into one. You can also set only one or two
days, e.g. "Day A" and "Day B" for rotating schedules. Each day has name
and short name.
-
Use
horizontal zoom to focus on specific day(s) or
-
Separate timetable into smaller once and later
merge them into all-in-one timetable
-
Create a view where some days/periods are
excluded
- Right mouse click day name in the view and choose Copy
- Right mouse click target day and choose Paste
Check copying cards for more info.
One way is to reorder and then rename days:
- Choose Manage > Days
-
Use arrows in the bottom right corner of the grid to
reorder days and related cards will follow
-
When you are finished reordering, select reordered days and click
Edit to rename them
The other way is to add temporary day so that you can switch cards:
-
Choose Manage > Days and click
Add to create a new day
-
In the view, click the first day name while holding
CtrlCmd key
to select all cards on the first day
- Drag cards to newly created day
-
Click the second day name while holding
CtrlCmd key
to select all cards on the second day
- Drag cards to the first day
-
Click newly created day name while holding
CtrlCmd key
- Drag cards to the second day
-
In the view click the newly created day and then click
Delete to delete temporarily created day
There are two ways to create a two-week timetable. For majority of cases
it is perfectly fine to create one timetable and set 10 days for the
number of days in the timetable cycle. For instance, you can
copy activities from one day to another, you
can create subjects called "Math Week 1" and "Math Week 2", add related
activities and use the red marker to
forbid time slots for these subjects in the
non-related weeks and you can make any manual adjustments for specific
days.
The other option is to create two separate weekly timetables and
optionally
merge them later. For example, let's assume that 4
days in a week have exactly the same timetable and there are some
differences only on Friday. In this scenario we have two types of
activities:
-
(A) Activities that are held the same number of times in both weeks
- (B) Activities that are held over one week but not the other.
All other variations boil down to these (A) and (B) types. For instance,
there could be an activity occurring 1.5 times per week, which means
there are two activities in the first week and one in the second. In
that case one activity is type (A) and the other (0.5) is type (B).
Here is the procedure of scheduling such two-week timetables:
- Create a new timetable with 5 days
-
Add all type (A) activities using 'Owl > Manage > Activities > Add'
-
Forbid Friday using the red marker: pick the
red marker and click the Friday
- Generate the timetable using play icon
-
Pin all cards: pick the pin and click in the top
right corner of the timetable
-
Pick the red marker and click in the top
right corner to forbid all time slots, then click Friday to free time
slots only on that day
-
Save two copies of this timetable: 'Week 1' and 'Week 2' by choosing
'Owl > Save As > Copy of Timetable'
-
For each timetable add type (B) activities and generate the timetable
again.
Of course, there are many more variations but the procedure is similar.
Periods
time slot,time,times,bell
- Choose Manage > Periods or click period name in the view
Set the number of periods in a day by selecting a desired value in the
combo above the displayed grid. In case you are scheduling breaks, lunch,
after school activities or similar, increase the number accordingly. For
each period set start/end time (use 24-hour clock) and optionally name.
-
Set the maximum number of periods and then use
to forbid positions that are not allowed.
In case lower and higher grades have different period intervals:
-
The recommended approach is to find the least common denominator. For
instance, if some activities last 45 minutes while others are 15
minutes, add periods with 15-minute intervals and while
adding activities choose Triple length for
45-minute activities and Single length for 15-minute activities.
-
Otherwise, consider creating a separate timetable for each school (and
optionally merge them later), or
- Use custom periods or
-
Add all kinds of periods and then
create separate views for lower and higher
grades with adequate periods excluded, use the
red marker to forbid periods for specific
grades
-
Multi-select all periods except one and
click Delete
-
Click Edit and set start time to e.g.
08:00 and end time to 08:15
-
From the list above periods grid select the number of periods you need
Custom periods
Period intervals might vary across classes, e.g. when scheduling both
lower and higher grades in one timetable. If you don't want to work with a
load of 15, 10 or even 5 minute period intervals to accomodate for
differences you might consider using custom periods. In order to add a
custom period:
-
Choose Manage > Periods and select a default period to link a
custom interval with and then click
Add
-
Set start/end time and expand
to choose class, subject, room or teacher custom period
- Select 'Drag related cards to specified interval' action
-
Choose resources/days that custom interval applies to and click
Add
Video tutorial: How to use custom periods
When custom period(s) are added, related cards will be resized and
repositioned based on the specified custom interval and its default
period. Choose
Help > Options > Period format > 12-hour or 24-hour clock
to display the custom interval in the desired format.
When you drag a card, the card's shadow changes its length and position
according to default and custom periods below. Thus, you will know exactly
where to drop the card. Also, filters will appear above the periods grid
if a timetable has custom periods. Choose a specific resource/day to
filter custom periods.
It's easiest to just replace default periods with custom periods only in
specified classes and their related individual views:
-
Choose Manage > Periods and select a default period to link a
custom interval with and then click
Add
-
Set start/end time, expand
, and choose class custom period
-
Select 'Show custom period instead of default in the related
individual views' action
-
Choose classes that custom interval applies to and click
Add
For instance, the first period in
Grade 6A
starts at 08:25, whereas the first period in
Grade 12 IB
starts at 08:15 in the same timetable.
Notifications "understand" only default
periods, so if you place two or more cards on custom periods which are
linked to the same default period, these cards will be listed as
conflicts. Pin such cards to resolve conflicts. Also,
pin "custom" cards if you don't want them to be moved by the
generator.
-
Set custom period name in the following format: "!9:15-9:45" (without
quotes)
Subjects
course,courses,edit subject,edit course
For each subject you need to specify name (e.g. "Math"), short name (e.g.
"Ma"), color and optionally tags, notes and other
properties.
If you want to forbid positions only for a specific subject and class,
create a new "combined" subject e.g. "7A Math" and then switch to the
subject master view and forbid positions for this subject. After that
you will want to use the newly created subject when adding/editing
related activities.
Difficulty can be set to Low, Medium or High and
the generator will try to avoid scheduling too
many difficult or too many easy subjects per day. Otherwise,
notifications will show adequate warnings.
Set difficulty to Low for each subject if you want to ignore all
related notifications, e.g.:
-
Choose Manage > Subjects, select subject and click
Edit
-
Expand
and set difficulty to Low
-
Click Copy to and then
Select all
-
Click Ok and then
Edit
-
Choose Manage > Subjects, select subject and click
Edit
-
Expand
and set constraints to desired values
-
Optionally, click Copy to to copy day off
constraints to other subjects
- Click Edit
If Taught more than once per day is unchecked, placing two or
more subject cards a day for one class will be reported as an error, for
instance, 2 cards of English on Monday for 5A class will show an error.
If there are 10 English cards for 5A in 1-week timetable, errors are not
going to be displayed, because there are more cards than days in a cycle
and it's impossible to fix these errors. Otherwise, if this option is
checked, placing a subject's card more than once in a day will never be
reported as an error.
If Insert day off if taught 2 times per cycle is checked, that
subject will not be scheduled on subsequent days, e.g. having that
subject on Monday and Tuesday will show an error notification.
In case that
Insert day off if taught 3 times per cycle is checked, having
subject on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will cause error notification
for a specific class, whereas Monday, Tuesday, Thursday will be valid.
If you need to add English activities that include different grades then
you can add only one subject called "English" or create combined
subject, e.g. "English 5 + 6".
-
Choose Manage > Subjects, select subject and click
Edit
-
Expand
and check Exclude from statistics
- Click Edit
Activities for subjects excluded from the
statistics will not be taken into account when generating
statistics/reports. For instance, you might want to exclude lunch,
break, recess, teacher meeting, preparation, duty, assembly,
after-school activities (e.g. study hall, pack-up) or similar. Ignored
subjects and related activities are displayed in italic.
-
Choose Manage > Subjects, select subject and click
Edit
-
Expand
and check Exclude from the generator and notifications
- Click Edit
Non-teaching activities (teacher meeting, preparation, duty, lunch,
etc.) shouldn't affect teacher/class load, e.g. max. activities in a
row, max./min. activities per day, etc., so you might consider ignoring
related
notifications. Also, this option can be
handy if there are lots of "desired conflicts", e.g. for Physical
Education (PE) in the Gym. "Desired conflicts" can be resolved by
merging or
pinning conflicted cards, or excluding a related
subject from the generator and notifications.
It's recommended to forbid the time slots where
ignored cards are placed, so the generator won't
use them for regular cards or count them as gaps.
Ignored subjects and related activities are underlined, while the
ignored cards are transparent/italic.
classroom,classrooms
Rooms
For each room you need to specify name (e.g. "Physics lab", "Bio lab",
"Playground", "Meeting room", etc.), short name, color and optionally
tags, notes, capacity, building name and other
properties.
Room capacity represents the maximum student seat number and can be used
for optimizing room usage for students.
-
Choose Manage > Rooms, select room and click
Edit
-
Expand
and set capacity to desired value
-
Optionally, click Copy to to copy capacity
to other rooms
- Click Edit
Rooms can be filtered based on desired capacity, e.g. when adding
activities.
-
Choose Manage > Rooms, select room and click
Edit
-
Expand
and set building name
-
Optionally, click Copy to to copy building
name to other rooms
- Click Edit
Rooms can be filtered based on desired building name, e.g. when adding
activities. Additionally, teacher moves between
buildings can be optimized by setting related
teacher constraints.
staff,educator,professor,part time
Teachers
For each teacher you need to specify name, short name, color and
optionally tags, notes and constraints related to
teacher's positions, load, gaps and moves.
-
Choose Manage > Teachers, select teacher and click
Edit
-
Expand
-
Set
Maximum activities in a row to desired value
-
Optionally, click Copy to to copy gaps
constraints to other teachers
- Click Edit
Maximum activities in a row assures that the teacher doesn't have
more than specified number of subsequent activities.
-
Choose Manage > Teachers, select teacher and click
Edit
-
Expand
-
Set
Maximum gaps per cycle/day and
Minimum activities to allow gaps to desired values
-
Optionally, click Copy to to copy gaps
constraints to other teachers
- Click Edit
Maximum gaps per cycle/day can minimize the number of teacher
gaps (pauses/windows) per cycle/day.
Minimum activities to allow gaps assures the teacher has a
specified number of subsequent activities before gaps (pauses/windows)
are allowed.
-
Choose Manage > Teachers, select teacher and click
Edit
-
Expand
-
Set
Maximum deviation from average daily load and
Minimum and maximum activities per day to desired values
-
Optionally, click Copy to to copy load
constraints to other teachers
- Click Edit
Maximum deviation from average daily load is used to evenly
distribute teacher's activities across the cycle. For instance, let's
say a teacher has a 5-day cycle with total of 20 activities. Average
daily load is 20 / 5 = 4. If the value is set to 1 that means that
allowed daily load can be 3, 4 or 5 activities, while 2 or 6 activities
in a day will be reported as an error because the deviation is greater
than 1.
Minimum and maximum activities per day is used to make sure the
teacher doesn't have too few or too many activities per day.
-
Choose Manage > Teachers, select teacher and click
Edit
-
Expand
-
Set
Maximum moves between buildings to desired value
-
Optionally, click Copy to to copy building
constraints to other teachers
- Click Edit
Maximum moves between buildings reduces unnecessary teacher
moves. The constraint requires Building name set for related
rooms. Teacher moves after gaps are ignored by
default or optionally counted.
grade,grades
Classes
For each class you need to specify name (e.g. "7A", "Grade 8", "Year 9"),
short name, color and optionally tags, notes and
constraints related to positions, load and gaps. When a new class is
added, the following set of groups are created: Boys
and Girls and Group 1 and Group 2.
-
Choose Manage > Classes, select a class and click
Edit
-
Expand
and set gap constraints
-
Optionally, click Copy to to copy gap
settings to other classes
- Click Edit
When Start on 1st period is checked, the class activities starts
from the first period. Otherwise, gap will be reported as an
error.
When Forbid gaps is checked, the class will have no gaps
(pauses/windows), meaning there will be no empty periods between
activities. Otherwise, each gap will be reported as an
error.
When Groups finish at the same time is checked, each group will
finish activities at the same time. Otherwise, missing group(s) will be
reported as an error.
-
Choose Manage > Classes, select a class you want to optimize
and click
Edit
-
Expand
and set desired value for
Allowed difference between maximum and minimum daily activities
-
Optionally, click Copy to to copy load
settings to other classes
- Click Edit
Allowed difference between maximum and minimum daily activities
assures that the class has nearly the same or equal number of activities
per day. For instance, if the value is set to 1 and class has 4
activities on Monday and 6 on Tuesday, this difference of 2 activities
between days will be reported as an error as it is greater than the set
value (1).
groups,division,divisions
Groups
A class can be divided into one or more sets of groups:
- Choose Manage > Classes
- Select a class on the list
- Click Groups
Manage group sets and groups for Grade 12 IB in
United States International example
A window with group sets for the selected class is displayed.
Add will add a new group set with 2 predefined
groups and Edit opens a window to manage
groups for the selected group set. For each group you can specify name and
short name.
Let's say that two or more classes have the same or similar group sets.
Instead of adding group sets for each class you can simply add them once
and then copy to other classes:
-
Choose Manage > Classes, select class and click
Groups
- Select group set(s) and click Copy
-
Select classes you want to copy group set(s) to
-
Click
Ok
Students
learner,pupil,junior,scholar,add student
- Choose Manage > Classes
- Select a class on the list
- Click Students
Each student has name, short name and groups it belongs to. By adding
activities for groups, students belonging to these
groups will be assigned to these activities as well.
Students can be imported,
sorted, reordered,
printed and you can view their
statistics.
Alternatively, students can be managed as classes or groups. For
instance, students are managed as classes in
English College Example
as there are fewer students.
lesson,lessons,activities,section,assignment,assign,allocate,allocation
Activities
Choose Manage > Activities to manage and filter activities or
view statistics. When adding, editing or copying
activities the following information can be specified:
- Teacher(s)
- Subject
- Class(es) and/or group(s)
-
Number of activities per cycle represents the total number of
recurring activities in one cycle (5 days for 1-week, 10 days for 2-week
schedule, etc.), for instance, a class can have 5 English lessons in a
cycle
-
Activity length can be Single, Double,
Triple and so on depending on default period interval, for
instance, if default period interval is 30 minutes and activity lasts 1
hour, length should be set to Double
- Desired and alternative room(s)
More... buttons allow you to add activities
with more teachers, classes, groups and rooms. For instance, more teachers
are needed for teacher meeting and more classes are
needed for lunch.
By adding activities you are creating cards in the related views that you
can freely drag to the desired time slot or let the
generator create the schedule for you.
With a couple of adds you can add any combination of activities and
their length. Let's say Math teacher John has 4 Single and 2 Double
activities in Grade 5:
- Choose Manage > Activities > Add
-
Select Math, teacher John, Grade 5, 4 times per cycle, Single length
and click Add
- Click Add to add another activity
-
Again, select Math, teacher John, Grade 5, but this time choose 2
times per cycle and Double length and click
Add
The majority of activities require only one desired room. If the desired
room is unavailable, the generator will try to allocate the activity in
alternative rooms.
Otherwise, click
More... to add more desired rooms, e.g.
Physical education might require Sports Hall and Gym.
Click "Total: " above the activities grid to switch between full and
short names.
recess,snack,break,cafeteria
Lunch
In order to manage lunch, snack, recess, break or similar, add a new
period e.g. "Lunch" and place pinned cards there or forbid the whole
period.
meetings
Teacher meeting
There are two common ways to manage meetings: add one activity for several
teachers or add meeting activity for each teacher separately and then clip
related cards.
- Add "Teacher meeting" as a subject
-
Add new activity
- Set Teacher meeting as a subject
-
Assign related teachers by clicking
More...
- Leave classes/groups empty
- Optionally add desired room
-
Switch to teacher master view and drag meeting cards to desired
position and optionally pin them
-
Add teacher meeting as a new
activity for each teacher separately
-
Switch to teacher master view and drag meeting cards to desired
position
-
Clip related meeting cards so they are
scheduled/dragged together
History
The state(s) of timetables can be controlled by using the Undo/Redo
commands and the History panel. To undo the latest action click
. To redo the latest undone action click
. To display or hide the History panel click
.
Use History panel to jump to any recent state of the timetable created
during the current working session. Each time you apply a change to
timetable, the new state is added to the panel. For example, if you drag a
card, draw constraints, improve timetable, each of those states is listed
separately in the panel. When you select one of the states, the timetable
reverts to how it was when that change was first applied. You can then
work from that state. Once you reopen or save the document, all states
from the working session are cleared from the panel. If needed, History
panel can be resized and dragged elsewhere.
Use History panel to undo/redo several actions at once
Any action that causes a change to data will be listed in the History
panel. Instantly saved actions, such as publishing timetable, changing
school name and choosing a different skin will not be listed.
The oldest state is displayed at the top of the list, while the most
recent one is at the bottom. When you select a state, the states below
it are dimmed. That way you can see which changes will be discarded if
you continue working from the selected state.
History remembers the previous 100 states. Adjust the number in the
options.
stats,report,reports,track,tracking,hours
Statistics
- Choose Manage > Activities
-
Total number of resources, activities and hours is displayed above the
activities grid
-
Click the class icon above the grid to cycle through classes, teachers,
rooms and subjects statistics
-
Open class combo to filter activities by specific class and
group/student and see their total activities count and total hours
-
Click the class icon above activities grid to filter activities by
teacher
-
Select a teacher from the combo to filter their activities and see the
total activities count and total working hours
Teacher's activities can be filtered by specific subject in case they
teach two or more subjects.
- Choose Manage > Activities
- Set desired filter above the grid
-
Click TXT icon to export report in tab separated values file
-
Open file with spreadsheet app to customize and print, alternatively
copy/paste the content of file into spreadsheet app
Based on selected filters you can export statistics for classes,
teachers, rooms or subjects, as well as individual class, group,
student, teacher, room or subject statistics. Individual statistics
provide more details, e.g. if a teacher teaches two or more subjects,
the statistics will be displayed for each subject separately. If some
activities are not scheduled, total hours will be approximated based on
the average period length.
Hold down CtrlCmd key when no filter is selected and
click TXT icon to export all individual statistics in one file.
7. Views
Master views
By default, there are 4 predefined views showing classes, teachers, rooms
and subjects but you can also
add your own views. Each master view displays
the list of related resources in the first column along with cards in the
respective rows. Unscheduled cards are grouped by subject and placed
outside of the timetable in the same row where the resource is.
Open the view picker and choose
,
,
or
to switch to the related master view.
Individual views
In order to switch to individual class, teacher, room or subject view,
click the first column (resource name) in the related
master view. Individual class view can be filtered
by specific student or
group(s) (if you have added them). Click student or
group to view their individual timetable and click again to remove the
filter.
Filtering 6A view to get individual student timetable for
Donna Gordon
When the view is changed, the browser's URL is updated accordingly, so
you can share a specific student/class/teacher's URL to others provided
they have access or the timetable is
published online.
-
Hold
CtrlCmd+↑,↓,Home,End
to navigate through other individual views
To revert to master view:
- Click the first column again or
- Select the desired view in the view picker or
- Press Esc
custom view
Manage views
In order to create your own view, e.g. to display 5th graders or English
teachers only:
-
Choose
from the view picker and click
Add
- Type name and short name
-
Choose view type: classes, teachers, rooms or subjects
- Select resources you want displayed
-
Optionally exclude days/periods and click
Add
Now you can schedule, publish,
export,
customize or
print created view.
Video tutorial: How to manage views
-
Choose the desired icon in the view picker
The icon contains the first 3 letters of its short name. For instance:
-
Choose
from the view picker
-
Use up/down arrows to reorder views
-
Select view and click
Edit
-
Change visibility
- Click Edit
Hidden on the web means that the view won't be displayed on the
published page. For instance, subjects view is
often used to mark forbidden positions for difficult subjects, etc.
However, it's of no interest to others and therefore can be hidden on
the published page. Hidden in the app is the opposite option.
If a view is not needed, e.g. rooms are not scheduled, you can simply
hide rooms view by setting its Visibility to Hidden.
Zoom
-
Click
in the bottom right corner
-
Use vertical slider to adjust row height (master and individual views
are adjusted separately)
-
Use horizontal slider to adjust column width which helps when there are
lots of days and periods
Note that row height is also preserved while
printing.
Browser also comes with built-in
zoom:
-
Hold CtrlCmd and press
+ or - to zoom in or
zoom out
-
Hold CtrlCmd and press
0 to reset zoom to default value
8. Cards
Drag and drop
move,change,move card
- Select card by clicking it with the left mouse button
-
While keeping the left mouse button pressed, drag card to a new position
- Drop card by releasing the left mouse button
On touch devices use a finger to drag cards.
Two or more cards on the same position will be slightly rotated and a
conflict notification will appear. Clicking
a card below will bring it on top. There are many ways to resolve
conflicts:
Cards can only be dragged horizontally across the class, teacher and
subject master views to prevent changing the resource by mistake. Room
master view allows dragging cards vertically to change scheduled,
desired or alternative room. In
individual views cards can also be dragged
both ways because that affects only day/period.
Note that card can be dragged to a non desired/alternative room.
However, this will change the desired/alternative room for that activity
and potentially scheduled room for other related cards. Similarly, if
you change desired/alternative rooms while editing an activity, all
related cards will be updated, too. If this behavior is not desired and
you want to freely drag cards in the room master view without affecting
related cards, add all rooms as alternative rooms for that activity.
status, status bar, card info
Card details
The details of the last selected card (or the currently mouse overed card
if there is no selection) are displayed in the bottom left corner. Icons
show/hide related
extra views. The text selects a resource in the
related grid. Click
to edit activity represented by the selected card.
Showing details of the last selected card: subject, teachers, classes and
scheduled + [desired] + (alternative) rooms
Select multiple cards
Select multiple cards in order to perform actions on more than one card.
For instance, drag and drop cards, or
edit multiple cards, clip,
copy, pin/unpin,
merge/split, etc. via card's context menu.
There are many ways to select multiple cards:
-
Click and drag the cursor across timetable. A rectangular marquee will
appear, with one corner where you started dragging and the opposite
corner where you stopped and all cards inside the marquee will be
selected.
-
Hold CtrlCmd while clicking cards to add or remove
cards from the selection
-
Hold CtrlCmd while clicking day, period or resource
name to (de)select the whole day, period or resource cards
-
Hold Shift while you click the last card that
you want to include in the new selection. The rectangular range between
the active card and the card that you click becomes the new selection.
Selecting multiple cards using rectangular marquee
-
Hold CtrlCmd and click the top right corner of the
timetable
If there are no unscheduled cards then all scheduled cards will be
selected. Otherwise, all unscheduled cards are selected.
This can be useful if you want to pin,
delete or edit all
(un)scheduled cards in which case you need to right mouse click any
selected card and choose desired option from the context menu. For
instance, pinned unscheduled cards are ignored by the generator.
Edit cards
change,change cards,teaching
- Select one or multiple cards
- Right mouse click any selected card and choose Edit cards
-
Change subject, teacher(s), class(es)/group(s), length, desired or
alternative rooms
- Click Edit
substitute,substitution,absence
-
Switch to teacher master view and hold
CtrlCmd while
clicking teacher name to select all teacher's cards
-
Right mouse click any selected card and choose Edit cards
- Choose different teacher
- Click Edit
homeroom,home room
-
Switch to teacher master view and hold
CtrlCmd while
clicking teacher name to select all teacher's cards
-
Right mouse click any selected card and choose Edit cards
- Choose desired room
- Click Edit
-
Select one or multiple cards where teacher
assistant(s) are needed
-
Right mouse click any selected card and choose Edit cards
-
Click More... next to selected teachers (
note that current selected teachers are displayed as "Current")
-
Select teacher assistant(s), click
Ok and then
Edit
repeat
Copy/paste cards
Cards can be copied from one resource/day/period to another:
- Select one or multiple cards
-
Right mouse click any selected card/day/period and choose
Copy
- Right mouse click resource name, desired day or period
- Choose Paste from the context menu
Right mouse click day to open context menu
clear,remove,delete
Clear/delete cards
-
Click the
and then click card, day, period or resource name, or
-
Right mouse click any card, day, period or resource name and choose
Clear from the context menu
Cleared cards will be placed outside the timetable, along with other
unscheduled cards.
-
Click the
and then click the top right corner, or
-
Hold
Shift key while clicking the sponge tool
-
Right mouse click unscheduled card(s) and choose
Delete from the context menu or
-
Select one or
multiple unscheduled cards and then press
CtrlCmd +
Backspace or
-
Choose Manage > Activities and click
Delete
Merge/split cards
Merge allows combining two or more cards into one, thus avoiding
conflicts:
-
Right mouse click any conflicted/rotated card to open the context menu
- Choose Merge
Two or more cards can be merged into one if they are on the same position,
have the same subject, length and (scheduled, desired and alternative)
rooms, but different teacher(s) and/or class(es)/group(s).
Video tutorial: How to merge cards
Split is the opposite of merge as it creates more cards out of the one
when there is more than one group or teacher. For instance, if card has
2 teachers and 3 groups, 6 new cards will be created after split all
with only one teacher and one group. In order to split card:
- Select card(s) which have more than one teacher or group
- Right mouse click selected card(s) to open context menu
- Choose Split
Customize cards
change text,template,style,custom text,edit card text,change card
text,change card name,edit card name,rename card,card text,change text
To change the text, background color and border in any
master or individual view:
-
Right mouse click the card and choose
Customize from the context menu or
-
Choose
Print > Customize Cards
The opened customization panel shows the related card enlarged. Changing
the text, background color or border will update cards in the related
view.
Video tutorial: How to customize cards
The text inside the cards can be any combination of class, teacher, room
or subject names, their short names or even custom text. Selecting the
text options from the list will add the related text to the cards, while
clicking a row in the enlarged card will remove it.
Background card color can be picked from the current class, teacher, room
or subject, or you can choose no background color.
Card border can be set to: round, square, round (no border) and square (no
border).
- Right mouse click the selected card and choose Customize
- Choose Set custom text option from the list
-
Enter text that will be displayed in individual views
- Enter short text that will be displayed in master views
If you change your mind, click
Use default to remove custom text.
Master and
individual are customized independently, e.g.
you might want to choose short names for the master view and full names
for individual views. For instance, if you want to add room short names
to all cards in the teacher master view and room names to all cards in
the teacher's individual timetables:
- Switch to teacher master view
-
Right mouse click any card, choose Customize and add room short
name
- Switch to any teacher individual view
-
Right mouse click any card, choose Customize and add room name
to all individual teacher timetables
In a similar way, you can customize any other master/individual view.
Also, you can create your own view and
customize it independently, otherwise, styles are inherited from the
related predefined master/individual view.
9. Constraints
time request,block,forbid,restrict,availability,not allowed,time
off,part-time teacher
Markers
Marker draws or erases forbidden, unwanted or mandatory positions for
classes, teachers, rooms and subjects. When a marker is selected,
previously drawn marks will color (red, yellow and blue) while the cards
fade away. To draw or erase marks click on any position in the timetable
view or any day/period/resource with a selected marker. To drop the marker
press
Esc or click outside of the timetable.
Markers can be used in any master,
individual or
extra view and
notifications will be updated upon any
change.
Forbidden (red minus), unwanted (yellow exclamation mark) and mandatory
(blue plus) marks in the teacher master view
-
Pick the eraser
to erase already drawn marks
-
Mouse over the first column in the timetable while using the marker
for
forbidden, unwanted or
mandatory positions
- Click Copy to
- Select resources and click Ok
block,forbid,time off,time request,break
Red marker
In order to draw forbidden positions for specific resources:
- Switch to the desired view
-
Pick the red marker
to draw/erase minus signs
For instance, you can specify when a part-time teacher is not available,
avoid students having the last period on Friday, forbid already booked
room position, avoid having difficult subjects on the last period or
ignore gaps.
Video tutorial: How to draw forbidden positions
Yellow marker
Drawing unwated positions is used to avoid or completely miss certain
positions for specific subject or resource:
-
Switch to the desired view and pick the yellow marker
to draw/erase unwanted positions which are displayed as yellow
exclamation marks
-
Mouse over the first column (resource name) to open unwanted settings
- Set allowed number of unwanted activities per week/day
If allowed number of unwanted activities per week/day is set to
Arbitrary which is a default value, unwanted positions will be
completely ignored by the generator.
-
Choose Open > Open Examples and open
Example 3
where all classes have 2 lessons of Physics per week
- Switch to the subject master view and pick the yellow marker
-
Note that there are 5 drawn unwanted marks displayed as exclamation
marks for Physics at the end of every day
-
Mouse over Physics subject to note that
Allowed number of unwanted activities per week is set to 1
This means that only one lesson of Physics per class is allowed at the
last period. Otherwise, there will be a warning when clicking the
bell icon and the
automatic generator will try to fix this
constraint for you.
Blue marker
Drawing mandatory positions is used to favor or mandate certain positions
for specific subject or resource:
-
Switch to the desired view and pick the blue marker
to draw/erase mandatory positions which are displayed as blue plus signs
-
Mouse over the first column (resource name) to open mandatory settings
-
Set allowed number of missed mandatory activities per week/day
If allowed number of missed mandatory activities is set to
Arbitrary which is a default value, mandatory positions will be
completely ignored by the generator.
Marker settings when mandatory marker is selected
-
Choose Open > Open Examples and open
Example 3
where all classes have 2 lessons of Physics per week
- Switch to the subject master view and pick the blue marker
-
Note that there are 15 drawn mandatory marks (plus signs) for Physics
(3 first periods x 5 days)
-
Mouse over Physics subject to note that 'Allowed number of missed
mandatory activities per week' is set to 14
This means that one lesson (15 mandatory - 14 allowed to be missed = 1
mandatory) of Physics per class must be placed within the first three
periods. Otherwise, there will be a warning when clicking the bell icon
and the automatic generator will try to fix this constraint for you.
lock cards, fix cards
Pin
-
Click
and then click card(s), day(s), period(s) or resource(s) you want to
pin/unpin, or
-
Right mouse click any card, day, period, resource and choose Pin/Unpin
from the context menu
The pin is useful when you are satisfied with the position of card(s) and
want to make sure that these cards won't be moved while
improving the timetable. Additionally, by
pinning conflicted (rotated) cards related error
notifications will be removed. Also, pinned unscheduled cards will be
ignored by the generator. To drop the pin press
Esc or click an empty cell.
Video tutorial: How to pin cards
join,clipping,link,relation
Clip
Clipped cards have a little clip icon in the top left corner and will be
scheduled, selected, dragged and removed all together. Clipping can be
useful for electives, e.g. when one class group has French and the other
German language (see
Example 3) or when two or more activities from different classes needs to be
scheduled at the same time. In order to clip two or more cards:
Video tutorial: How to clip cards
Only non-conflicted cards with the same length and which are on the same
day and period but have different set of teachers and classes can be
clipped. Otherwise, the clip won't be visible in the context menu.
- Right mouse click any already clipped card
- Choose Unclip
- Click any already clipped card
-
Hold CtrlCmd to add additional cards to selection
- Right mouse click any selected card
- Choose Clip
10. Generate
Improve timetable
generator,solver,builder,optimizer,creator,scheduler,engine,optimize,play,module,automatic
Click
to start improving the timetable. The automatic generator will try to find
the best solution by rearranging cards in order to solve all constraints
and avoid any conflicts.
Video tutorial: How to automatically generate a school timetable
-
Hold Shift key while clicking
-
Use keyboard shortcut: CtrlCmd + Shift +
Space
-
Clear all cards and then click
Best practices
-
First generate a timetable with no constraints at all and then gradually
add them. If the timetable can't be generated even without constraints
revise your entered data by checking
statistics.
-
The generator will always try to find a better solution no matter how
hard the constraints. If there is no progress for a couple of seconds or
so, stop the generator and revise constraints or data.
-
Always follow basic timetabling rule:
One school resource during one period can be scheduled in only one
activity, otherwise, there is a conflict. If you need more resources click
More... to add
activities with more than one group, class,
teacher or room.
-
As long as there are cards scheduled on forbidden positions, card
conflicts or class gaps, the generator will not be working on improving
the rest of the timetable because of
priorities
-
Click
to open notifications and start
resolving them, e.g. pin or
merge conflicted/rotated cards, or mark gap
position as forbidden, or
clip elective cards
-
Keep in mind that all changes can be reverted using
history
Improvement priorities
Automatic generator is supposed to solve about thirty highly complex
requirements. Since these are commonly conflicted and it is usually
impossible to solve them all, priority levels have been introduced, which
the generator manages in the following way:
lower priority requirements will not be solved as long as there are
unsolved higher priority requirements.
The problem is that the generator is not always capable of detecting that
some requirements cannot be satisfied and will keep trying to solve them
at all costs, perpetually working without progress, leaving the rest of
the timetable in poor state. That's why it is necessary to prepare quality
data in order to help the generator do its best. Notifications are an
irreplaceable tool for this task. However, some of the oversights made
while entering data cannot be seen even in the notifications. The problem
can be solved only if you abide by the following rules:
-
Do not expect an instantly perfect timetable, because it is impossible
to know beforehand whether such timetable is even possible
-
At first, set moderate requirements and let the generator automatically
create the timetable
-
Only when you manage to get a valid timetable should you gradually
increase the requirements and start the automatic improvement again
The generator recognizes three levels of priority, each consisting of a
number of individual requirements:
1. Fatal error level
This group includes:
- card conflicts
- cards scheduled on forbidden positions
- class gaps
As long as any of these errors exist, the generator will not be working
on improving the rest of the timetable. Here are some typical beginner mistakes that should be avoided at all
costs:
-
A teacher/class has so many forbidden positions that some cards must be
placed on a forbidden time slot
-
There are more activities you want to put in a room or assign to a
teacher than the total number of periods in the timetable
-
Too many forbidden positions for a specific activity and related
resources
2. Difficult warning level
Difficult warning level includes only one item: a subject taught in some
class timetables more than once a day. You should make sure to enter as
many subjects as really taught in the school and choose the right subject
for each activity.
3. Warning level
There are over twenty different warnings that will often appear in
notifications. The generator will solve them only when all other errors
and warnings have been solved.
11. Validate
validator,verify,verification,correct,health,status
Notifications
Notification number in the bell icon
shows the total number of errors or warnings. The number is instantly
updated along with notifications upon any change. The bell icon shows or
hides the notification panel. The panel can be dragged and resized to best
suit your device screen.
Video tutorial: How to validate a timetable
The timetable is valid if there are no notifications, which means that all
entered requirements and constraints have been resolved. The red
notification indicates that the timetable has a fatal error which needs to
be fixed, whereas the blue one represents a warning. When red or blue
notifications are clicked, related cells will blink in the view, making it
easy to spot the problem. To stop blinking click the category title or
click the bell icon to hide notification panel.
resolve,ignore,exception,error,warning,errors,warnings,clash
Resolve notifications
In some cases there might be exceptions to the rules, e.g. two or more
cards might be purposely scheduled at the same time causing a conflict, or
a class gap should be allowed only for lunch (otherwise gaps are
forbidden), or unscheduled card(s) should be ignored, etc. These
exceptions will appear in notifications and
must be resolved first at all costs, before the
automatic generator can move towards solving other
constraints and conflicts.
Conflicts should be resolved by
merging cards. If merging is not possible or
desired (e.g. conflicted cards have different subject, room(s) or
length), pin conflicted/rotated cards
and related notifications will be removed.
Mark a gap as forbidden
and related notifications will be removed. Additionally, uncheck
Manage > Classes > Edit > Forbid gaps for specific classes.
The notification "subject taught more than once a day" can be resolved
by pinning these cards or by checking
Manage > Subjects > Select specific subject > Edit > check 'Taught
more than once a day' > Edit.
The notification "missing groups in the class" can be resolved by
unchecking
Manage > Classes > Select specific class > Edit > Forbid gaps.
If you pin unscheduled cards the generator will
ignore them and the related notifications will be removed.
Non-teaching activities (teacher meeting, preparation, lunch, etc.)
shouldn't affect teacher/class load, e.g. max. activities in a row,
max./min. activities per day and similar. Furthermore, it might be
helpeful instead of resolving to just ignore
"desired conflicts", e.g. for Physical Education (PE) in the Gym. In
both cases, consider
excluding subjects from the generator and notifications.