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
In order to get up to speed
watch getting started video tutorials
and subscribe to our
YouTube channel
to get the latest video tutorials for free.
It's recommended to watch video tutorials first before using the
app. Tutorials are only couple of minutes long but they are packed
with tons of helpful info to boost your productivity.
Basic timetabling terms
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 any modern browser such as the latest version of
Chrome,
Firefox,
Safari,
Edge
or Opera. Automatic
generation in Internet Explorer 11 is many times slower so it's
recommended to install modern browser instead.
Open browser, navigate to
https://primetimetable.com and log in to
start the app. Create shortcut on your
desktop or home screen for faster access.
windows,mac,ios,ipad,iphone,android,windows phone,chromebook,linux
Create application shortcut
Desktop icon enables fast and easy access to Prime Timetable. In
the latest Chrome browser choose
Menu > More tools > Create shortcut... > Create, and the
owl icon will be added to your desktop. Shortcut can be customized
so that
app starts in the full window
just like desktop apps. For other browsers check
how to create a desktop shortcut to a website
and for tablets and phones use a feature called
add to the homescreen.
5. Data
rotated,rotation,day A,day B,cycle,rotating,6 day,5 day
Days
- Choose Manage > Days or click day name in the view
Set the number of days in the timetable cycle by selecting desider
value in the combo above displayed grid. For instance, for 1-week
timetable set 5 days, for 2-week timetable set 10 days and so on.
Click Add to add a new day, or select
the existing day to edit or delete. Each day has name and short
name.
Instead of creating all-in-one timetable sometimes it could be
more practical to create one timetable for each semester, term,
month or week and then create a copy to modify
it for the next semester, term, month or week.
If there are many days and periods use
horizontal zoom to focus on
specific day(s).
Days can be imported and
reordered with arrows in the bottom right
corner of the grid. Rename day to e.g. '9/5/2019' instead of
'Monday' if you need the actual dates.
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 desider value in
the combo above displayed grid.
If the number of periods vary from day to day, set the maximum
number of periods for all days and then use
to forbid positions that are not allowed.
If some activities last 45 minutes and others 15 minutes, add
periods with 15-minute intervals and while adding
activities choose triple length that last
45 minutes (3 * 15min = 45min).
If lower, middle and high schools have different period intervals
consider creating a separate timetable for each school and
optionally merge them later or
use custom periods
Click Add to add a new period, or
select the existing period to edit or delete. For each period set
start/end time and optionally name. For start and end time use
24-hour clock, e.g. instead of 01:15 set 13:15. Choose
Help > Options > Period format to
control how periods will be displayed in the view.
Periods can be imported,
sorted and reordered.
In order to quickly add lots of e.g. 15-minute period intervals:
-
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 for specific resources, e.g. when
scheduling both lower and higher grades in one timetable. Custom
periods handle such scenarios by enabling two different actions:
-
showing custom periods instead of default periods for specific
resources in the related individual views or
-
dragging cards to custom intervals for specific resources/days
and displaying such intervals inside the cards
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
-
Click
, choose class, subject, room or teacher custom period and
select a desired action:
-
drag related cards to specified interval or
-
show custom period instead of default in the related
individual views
- Choose resources/days that custom interval applies to
- Click Add
If a custom interval is valid on all days, it's easiest to just
replace default periods with custom periods in specified classes.
In that case, select
Show custom period instead of default action. For instance,
the first period in
Grade 6A
starts at 08:25, while the first period in
Grade 12 IB
starts at 08:15 in the same schedule. Otherwise, consider creating
10 or 15-minute period intervals to accomodate for all different
activity lengths. Unless creating lots of default periods is
desired, choose
Drag related cards to specified intervals action and watch
video below.
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
Owl > Help > Options > Period format > 12-hour or 24-hour
clock
to display custom interval within these cards in 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.
Notifications "understand" only
default periods, so if you place two or more cards on custom
periods which are all related 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.
In order to change the related default period, select a custom
period(s) and click up/down arrow in the bottom right corner of
the periods grid. Custom text can be displayed in the top and
bottom left corner of cards if custom period name is set in the
following format: "!10:45-11:20".
Filters will appear above the periods grid if a timetable has
custom periods. Choose a specific resource/day to filter custom
periods.
For more information about custom periods please refer to these
blog posts or take
a look at
K-5 example
with lots of custom periods for specific grades on different days,
e.g. for the same subjects, Kindergarten has different intervals
compared to lower grades.
Subjects
course,courses,edit subject,edit course
Click Add to add a new subject, or
select the existing subject to edit, delete or copy using the
buttons on the right. Each subject has the following properties:
- Name, e.g. Math
- Short name
- Color
- Difficulty: Low, Medium or High
- Allow subject to be taught more than once per day
- Insert day off if subject is taught 2 times per week
- Insert day off if subject is taught 3 times per week
The generator will try to optimize each
day so that students don't get too many difficult or too many easy
subjects per day. Otherwise,
notifications will show adequate
warnings.
If Allow subject to be 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 subjects is taught 2 times per week 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 subjects is taught 3 times per week is
checked, having subject on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will
cause error notification for a specific class, whereas Monday,
Tuesday, Thursday will be valid.
classroom
Rooms
Click Add to add a new room, or select
the existing room to edit, delete or copy using the buttons on the
right. Each room has the following properties:
-
Name, e.g. "Computer lab", "Physics lab", "Bio lab", "Conference
room", "Playground", "Meeting room", etc.
- Short name
- Color
- Tags, e.g. "1st floor, lab"
- Capacity
- Building name
In order to group rooms, specify their room tag, e.g. "1st floor".
That way, it will be easier to select them when adding or editing
activities. Multiple tags should be separated with comma.
Room capacity represents maximum student seat number and can be
used for optimizing room usage for students.
Building name can be used to optimize daily moves between
buildings.
staff,educator,professor
Teachers
Click Add to add a new teacher, or
select the existing teacher to edit, delete or copy using the
buttons on the right. Each teacher has the following properties:
- Name, e.g. John Smith
- Short name
- Color
- Maximum activities in a row
- Maximum gaps per cycle
- Maximum gaps per day
- Minimum activities to allow gaps
- Maximum deviation from average daily load
- Minimum activities per day
- Maximum activities per day
- Maximum moves between buildings
Maximum activities in a row assures that the teacher
doesn't have more than specified number of subsequent activities.
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.
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.
Maximum moves between buildings reduces unnecessary teacher
moves. If required, teacher moves after the gaps can be ignored.
grade,grades
Classes
Click Add to add a new class, or
select the existing class to edit, delete or copy using the
buttons on the right. Each class has the following properties:
- Name, e.g. 7A or Grade 8 or Year 9
- Short name
- Color
- Start on 1st period
- Forbid gaps
- Whether groups have to finish activities at the same time
-
Allowed difference between maximum and minimum daily activities
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.
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).
When adding a new class, the following set of groups will be
created: Boys and Girls and Group 1 and Group 2.
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
groups already added. Delete will
delete selected group set(s).
Copy will copy selected group set(s)
to other classes.
Edit opens a window to manage groups
for the selected group set. Add will
add a new group. Edit allows changing
group's name and short name.
Delete will delete selected groups (at
least two groups are required). Both group sets and groups can be
reordered.
In
Example 3
5-A class is divided into French and German groups, and related
cards are clipped so they will always be
scheduled on the same position. In
Egypt example
11A class is divided into Art, Cooking and Music groups.
Students
learner,pupil,junior,scholar,add student
- Choose Manage > Classes
- Select a class on the list
- Click Students
Click Add to add a new student, or
select the existing to edit, delete or copy using the buttons on
the right. Each student has the following properties:
- Name
- Short name
- Groups it belongs to
By adding activities for groups, students belonging to these
groups will be assigned to these activities as well. Individual
class view can be
filtered by specific student and the
browser's url is updated accordingly, so each student will get an
url for their own published timetable.
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)
- Activities per cycle count
- Activity length: single, double, triple, etc.
- Desired room(s)
- 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.
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.
The majority of activities require only one desired room. If more
than one room is required click
More... to add more rooms, e.g.
Physical education might require Sports Hall and Gym. If desired
room is unavailable, the generator will try to allocate the
activity in alternative rooms.
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.
You can
import activities via Excel/Sheets. Alternatively, add activities for one class and then
copy and
edit cards for other related classes or
leave the desired room empty and
assign teachers to their homeroom later.
Subjects, teachers, classes, groups and rooms are displayed in the
grid using full names by default. Click "Total: " above the grid
to switch between full and short names.
recess,snack,break,cafeteria
Lunch
In order to manage lunch, snack, recess, break or similar a new
period should be added (e.g. "Lunch"). There are two common ways
to manage lunch: lunch as pinned cards and lunch as forbidden
positions.
Lunch as pinned cards
Kindergarten through 5th grade example
shows lunch as pinned cards
Lunch as forbidden positions
United States International example
shows lunch as forbidden periods
meetings
Teacher meeting
There are two common ways to manage teacher meetings: add one
activity for several teachers or add meeting activity for each
teacher separately and then clip related cards.
Meeting as activity with several teachers
- 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
Meeting as clipped teacher cards
-
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
Select multiple items
-
Hold down CtrlCmd key and click the items
-
Click the first item, hold down
Shift key, and then click the last item
to select a consecutive group of items
-
Hold down CtrlCmd key and press A to select all
items in the grid
order,move up,move down,alphabetic,ascending,descending
Sort and reorder
Sort days, periods, subjects, rooms, teachers, classes, activities
and other items by clicking desired column name. 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
To reorder items in the grid:
- Select item(s) in the grid
-
Use up and down arrows in the bottom right corner of the grid to
reorder selected items
Undo and 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.
Use History panel to undo/redo several actions at once
Keep the following in mind when using the History panel:
-
Publishing timetable, changing school name, skin,
switching/zooming views, dragging/resizing windows and similar,
are not reflected in the History panel.
-
Once you reopen or save the document, all states from the
working session are cleared from the panel.
-
States are added to the bottom of the list. That is, the oldest
state is at the top of the list, the most recent one at the
bottom.
-
Each state is listed with related icon and the name of the tool
or command used to change the timetable.
-
When you select a state, the states below it are dimmed. This
way you can easily see which changes will be discarded if you
continue working from the selected state.
-
Selecting a state and then changing the timetable eliminates all
states that come after it.
-
If needed, History panel can be resized and dragged elsewhere.
-
History panel lists the previous 100 states by default. The
number of remembered history states can be changed in the
options.
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 finger to drag cards.
If there is already a card on the drop position, those conflicted
cards will be slightly rotated. Clicking the bottom card in
conflicted group will bring it to the front.
Select multiple cards
Select multiple cards in order to perform bulk actions on more
than one card, like multiple drag and drop,
edit cards, clip,
copy, pin/unpin,
merge/split etc. using 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.
-
On touch device, hold card with one finger while tapping other
cards, day, period or resource name with other fingers
Selecting multiple cards using rectangular marquee
Click empty cell to reset selection or click any non-selected card
without CtrlCmd or
Shift key pressed to start a new
selection.
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 rooms + [desired rooms] + (alternative
rooms)
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 (Tuesday in the screenshot) and choose Paste
from the context menu to copy the selected cards into the specific
day
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
substitution,absence
Substitute teacher:
-
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
homerooms
Assign a homeroom to a teacher:
-
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
Add teacher assistant(s):
-
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
teacher. Note that current selected teachers are displayed as
"Current"
-
Select teacher assistant(s), click
Ok and then
Edit
clear,delete
Remove cards
-
Click the
and then click card(s), day(s), period(s) or resource(s),
-
Right mouse click any card(s), day, period or resource and
choose Remove from the context menu or
-
Select one or multiple cards and then press
CtrlCmd +
Backspace
Removed card(s) will be placed outside the timetable, along with
other unscheduled cards.
In order to remove all cards from the timetable click the top
right corner with sponge selected. Alternatively, hold
Shift key while clicking the sponge tool.
Delete cards
-
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 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 rooms, but different
teacher(s) and/or class(es)/group(s).
Video tutorial: How to merge cards
Split 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. Choose Set custom text option from the
list to enter custom text to the selected card(s) that will be
displayed in individual views and custom short text that will be
displayed in master views. Click "Use default" button to remove
custom text and use default instead.
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).
Customization changes are also saved in the timetable document.
Creating a new document will copy the customization from the
previously opened one.
9. Constraints
time request,block,forbid,restrict,availability,not allowed,time
off,part-time teacher
Use markers to draw constraints
Marker draws or erases forbidden, unwanted or mandatory card
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 master teacher view
block,forbid,time off,time request,break
Draw forbidden positions
-
Pick the red marker
to draw/erase forbidden positions
Video tutorial: How to draw forbidden positions
Draw unwanted positions
-
Pick the yellow marker
to draw/erase unwanted positions (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.
Draw mandatory positions
-
Pick the blue marker
to draw/erase mandatory positions (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
Copy marks to other resources
-
Mouse over the first column while using the red, blue or yellow
marker
- Click Copy to
- Select resources and click Ok
Erase marks
-
Pick the eraser
to erase already drawn marks
lock cards, fix cards
Pin cards
The pin
is useful when you are satisfied with the position of card(s) and
want to make sure that those cards won't be moved while
improving the timetable. Click the pin and
then click card(s)/day(s)/period(s)/resource(s) you want to
pin/unpin, or right mouse click any card/day/period/resource and
choose pin/unpin from the context menu. To drop the pin press
Esc or click an empty cell.
Additionally, related conflict notifications will be removed by
pinning conflicted/rotated cards. Also,
pinned unscheduled cards will be ignored by the generator.
Video tutorial: How to pin cards
join,clipping,link,relation
Clip cards
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.
In order to unclip cards:
- Right mouse click any already clipped card
- Choose Unclip
In order to add cards to existing clip relation:
- Click any already clipped card
-
Hold CtrlCmd to add additional cards to
selection
- Right mouse click any selected card
- Choose Clip
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 all notifications upon any change.
The bell icon shows or hides the notification list. The
notification list 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 notification category title or click the
bell icon to hide the whole notification list.
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 position
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 on
notification list and must be resolved first at all costs, before
the automatic generator can move towards
solving other constraints and conflicts.
Resolve 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 using the
and related notifications will be removed.
Resolve gaps
Mark a gap as forbidden using the
and related notifications will be removed. Additionally, uncheck
Owl > Manage > Classes > Edit > Forbid gaps for specific classes.
Resolve subject warnings
The notification "subject appears more than once in a day" can be
resolved by checking
Manage > Subjects > Select specific subject > Edit > Allow
subject to be taught more than once per day.
Resolve missing groups
The notification "missing groups in the class" can be resolved by
unchecking
Manage > Classes > Select specific class > Edit > Forbid
gaps.
Resolve unscheduled cards
The notification "unscheduled cards" can be resolved by
pinning unscheduled cards. The generator will
ignore pinned unscheduled cards.
Exclude resources
To exclude specific subject, room, teacher or class from
notifications and
improvement process:
-
Set "-" (minus without quotes) as a short name for the item you
want to exclude
-
Check
Owl > Help > Options > Exclude items with short name set to
"-"
For instance, set short name to "-" for Lunch (subject) and Gym
(room) and all errors and warnings related to Lunch and Gym will
be completely ignored and won't be automatically improved.
13. Share
user,users
Share with others
Choose Share > Share with others to manage people who have
access to school timetables. The following roles are available:
The owner is a person who created the school account and has the
highest privileges. The owner can add or delete other owners,
creators or viewers. The creator can create and change timetables
but can't manage, add or delete other people who have access. The
viewer can only view timetables and is not allowed to move cards
or save changes.
concurrency,multiple users,sync,multi-user
Collaborate with others
Timetablers can collaborate on the same timetable and at the same
time. All saved changes will be seamlessly synced and merged
across any device you or your colleagues might be using.
For instance, one timetabler can change a teacher's name and the
other one their short name, but there will be no overwrites after
saving changes. In the rarest edge case when merging is not
possible, e.g. timetablers have both changed the same teacher's
name the software uses "last save wins" model: the name saved by
the latter timetabler will overwrite the name saved by the former
one, while all other changes will be properly merged.
Publish to the Web
A teacher, class/group or student can have direct access to their
timetable simply by bookmarking the web page which shows it. Note
that individual class view can be
filtered by specific student or group.
The published web page is accessible from any device, including
phones and tablets, and is automatically updated when the
timetable is saved. Furthermore, the page will automatically
refresh within minutes to make sure the latest timetable changes
have been delivered to all. In order to publish a timetable:
- Choose Share > Publish to the Web
- Click Publish to the Web
-
Copy and share the provided link. If you need the list of links
to all individual class, student, teacher and room timetables,
click
and then "Download links for individual timetables"
-
Visit the published web page by clicking "View published
timetable"
To stop publishing:
- Choose Share > Publish to the Web
- Click Unpublish
The previously published timetable will not longer be accessible
for everyone.
Share on social networks
- Choose Share > Social Networks
-
If timetable is not published, click
Publish to the Web and
customize it by choosing skin,
period format, etc.
-
Click
or
to share timetable on Facebook or Twitter
Embed timetable in school website
- Choose Share > Embed Timetable
-
If timetable is not published, click
Publish to the Web and
customize it by choosing skin,
period format, etc.
- Copy generated Html code and paste it into your website
-
Optionally, adjust Html code to suit your website, e.g. change
background color, size and similar
Customize published timetable
Choose Share > Publish to the Web to customize the
published timetable:
- Choose initially displayed master view
- Choose a desired timetable skin
-
Choose period format: period number or name, 12-hour or 24-hour
clock
- Check whether switching view is allowed
The size of cards in the published page can be adjusted based on
parameters in the link. For instance, this is the
published page for Example 3
where cards are vertically zoomed in by 150% in both master and
individual views.
Rotation of conflicts in the published page can be disabled by
adding rotate=0 to the url.
Advanced customization
Timetables can be completely customized to match your school
branding. With a bit of HTML and CSS knowledge you can:
- Add custom school logo
-
Set custom font family, size and colors, e.g. to match styles in
your school website
-
Make any other HTML or CSS changes
United States International
and
United States
examples are already customized with the most common changes:
- Choose Open > Open Examples
-
Open "United States International" or "United States" example
-
Choose Open > Timetable Info and click
-
Examine Custom HTML and Custom CSS, read the
comments and copy/paste the relevant parts in your timetable but
change url to your school logo, font styles and colors
All textual fields in software supports html tags so you can set
teacher name to e.g.:
<span style="font-weight: bold; font-size:14px; color:red;">Mr.
John Cleese</span>
That will display only that teacher in bold using larger font and
in red color. In that way not only you can add specific html code
that you need, e.g. school logo, customize and override chosen
skin settings to exactly match your school branding, but you can
control individual resources as well, such as day, period,
subject, room, teacher or class and style their names individually
any way you need.