1. Get started
ipad,iphone,android,windows phone,chromebook,linux
Overview
Prime Timetable is a school scheduling software
designed for both automatic and manual timetabling on any device: Mac, PC, tablet, smartphone.
Prime Timetable is used for scheduling primary/elementary, junior/middle/high/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.
Teacher / Educator / Professor / Tutor / 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.
Room
Place where teaching, learning or any other school activity can occur, e.g. biology
room, history room, but also dining room, reception hall...
Class / Grade
Resource
Class, Teacher or Room
Subject / Course
For instance, Math, English, Biology,
but also school recess, lunch, some non-class activities like teacher meetings,
sport events, etc.
Period / Time slot
Activity
Structured period of time where a school
activity is intended to occur,
e.g. lesson, prep-time, lunch, recess, etc.
Timetable / Schedule
Table which displays activities.
Card
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.
The basic timetabling rule
One school resource during one school period can be scheduled in only one activity.
Otherwise, there is a conflict.
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 might be forbidden for all classes or teacher should have even daily load.
Time constraint
Automatic timetable generator
Software that automatically
improves a school timetable based on provided input.
Manual timetabling
Creating a timetable by dragging cards manually.
Timetable validation
School scheduling/timetabling software
Software designed to simplify and automate scheduling/timetabling process.
ipad,iphone,android,chromebook,linux,smartphone
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.
account,trial
Free sign up
To evaluate the software and see if it meets your school needs, you first need to sign up:
- Click Sign up on the home page or click here
- Choose Free plan
- Type your email address and desired password and optionally provide additional school info
- Click Start my free month
After sign up, the app starts and a new timetable is opened for you.
Premium support
By signing up you get a 30-day free trial and premium support included.
Support team will contact you shortly after the sign up
to provide you with the necessary guidance and answer any question you might have.
login,sign in
Log in
To start Prime Timetable you need to log in first:
- Click Log in in the header of the home page
- Enter your email and password
- Click Log In
After successful login, the last opened timetable will be displayed.
forget,forgot,lost,account,retrieve
Forgot password
- Go to forgot password page
- Type your email and click Send code
- An email containing a code (random alphanumeric string) will be sent to you
- Copy and paste the code from the email and enter the new password
- Click Change password
Login window will open where you can log in using the new password.
Log out
To leave the app:
- Click in the top right corner
- Click Log out
Your session will end and home page will show up.
user,account
Profile
- Click in the top right corner and then My profile
- Set your email and password used for login, and your first and last name
- Click Edit
zip
Download my data
One of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) rights is Right to Data Portability:
- Click in the top right corner, then My profile and then
- Click Create archive
- Click Download now
Created archive is available for download for the next 24 hours and contains all your data: school info, timetables, users and communication with support team.
Delete school account
gdpr,terminate,unsubscribe,deactivate,cancel,cancellation request,suspension,termination,disposal,erase
Right to Erasure or Right to be Forgotten (one of General Data Protection Regulations rights) have user with the
Owner role who can delete school account by following below steps:
- Click in the top right corner, then My profile and then
- Click Delete school account and confirm
The whole account including timetables, users and all related school data will be deleted in the next two weeks.
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.
Update school account
By signing up a new school account is created that can be shared with other colleagues and teachers.
In order to provide more info about your school:
- Click in the top right corner
- Click Purchase and then select Free plan
- Click Add more info in "Step 2. School account info"
- Enter your school name, address, contact name, phone and other info
- Click Continue evaluation to save changes
If there is more than one account for your school, contact us to merge them.
Extend subscription
If subscription is about to expire or free evaluation period is over:
- Go to plans and pricing
- Select Basic (up to 40 teachers) or Premium plan (up to 100 teachers)
- If you want to take advantage of special discounts, choose billing term by dragging year slider
- If you are not logged in enter your email and password
- Click Buy from 2Checkout
You will be redirected to 2Checkout form where you can purchase the software online.
2Checkout supports Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Diners, JCB, PIN debit cards with the Visa or MasterCard logo, Debit cards with the Visa or MasterCard logo and PayPal.
Contact us for alternative payment methods.
4. Data
rotated,rotation,day A,day B,cycle,rotating,6 day,5 day
Days
- Click day name in the view or choose Manage > Days and Periods > Manage days
For each day set name and short name.
E.g. for 1-week timetable add 5 days, for 2-week timetable add 10 days and so on.
If there are many days and periods use horizontal zoom to focus on specific day(s).
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.
Days can be reordered with arrows in the bottom right corner of the grid.
In the case you need the actual dates, just rename days, e.g. set day name to '9/9/2018' instead of 'Monday'.
Periods
time slot
- Click period name in the view or choose Manage > Days and Periods > Manage periods
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 Owl > Options > Period format to control how periods will be displayed in the view.
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.
E.g. 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
Periods can be sorted and reordered. In order to align period intervals with period numbers:
- Choose Manage > Days and Periods > Manage Periods
- Click Start time in the header of the grid
Custom periods
In order to add custom period interval for specific day(s) and/or resource(s):
- Click on a default period for which you want to add another custom interval and then click Add
- Set start and end time
- Choose class, subject, room, or teacher custom period
- Choose days and/or classes, subjects, rooms or teachers where the new interval applies
- Click Ok
Video tutorial: How to use custom periods
If a timetable has custom periods, the filters will appear above the periods grid. Check show custom
periods and choose specific day and/or class, subject, room or teacher to filter custom periods.
When custom period(s) are added, related cards will be resized and repositioned
based on specified custom interval and their related default period.
Choose Owl > 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".
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 by using up and down arrows in the bottom right corner of the grid.
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
add student,change student,edit student
Students can be managed in two ways:
In English College Example students are managed as classes.
The other option is to manage students as groups, e.g. here is direct link to demo student called Clark of published schedule for 7th grade. Click the class icon in the top left corner to filter activities by other groups/students.
lesson,lessons,activities,section,assignment,assign,allocate,allocation
Activities
Choose Manage > Activities to manage activities and view statistics.
In order to speed up the process it's recommended to 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.
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)
Click More... to add more teachers, e.g. two teachers might be needed for Physical education.
Activity can have any number of classes/grades and/or groups.
Choose Manage > Classes > Groups to manage class groups.
In Example 3,
French and German groups are clipped
so that they will always be scheduled on the same position,
and 2 classes have Physical education (PE) at the same time.
Right mouse click these cards and choose Edit activity to better understand the example.
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.).
E.g. 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.
E.g. 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.
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 appropriate 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 appropriate position
- Clip related meeting cards so they are scheduled/dragged together
Select multiple items
- Hold down the CtrlCmd key and click the items
- Click the first item, hold down the Shift key, and then click the last item to select a consecutive group of items
- Hold down the 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:
-
Changing skin, switching/zooming views, dragging/resizing windows and similar, are not reflected in the History panel, because they are not changes
to a particular timetable.
-
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.
7. 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
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.
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 text, background color and border in any
master and/or
individual view:
-
Right mouse click the card and choose
Customize from the context menu
or
-
Choose
Print > Customize Cards
Customization panel will open showing related enlarged card. Changing text, background color or border will update all cards in the related view.
The text inside the cards can be any combination of class, teacher, room or subject names or their related short names. Selecting
the card text from the list will add text to the card, while clicking the text in the enlarged card removes it.
Background card color can be from the current class, teacher, room or subject or no background color at all.
Card border can be set to: round, square, round (no border) and square (no border).
Customization changes are also saved in timetable document. Creating a new document will copy customization from previously opened.
Video tutorial: How to customize cards
8. 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/removed all together.
Clipping can be useful in block scheduling, 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
In order to unclip cards:
- Right mouse click any already clipped card
- Choose Unclip
Unclipping already clipped French and German groups
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
9. 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.
Total generation progress is displayed in the window title as well as progress for specific categories:
card conflicts, forbidden positions, class gaps, same day subjects, unwanted or mandatory positions, class and teacher warnings.
During the generation process, pinned cards won't be moved.
Automatic timetable generation with teacher extra view and real-time notifications
Improvement tips & tricks
- 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.
- 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/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.
Conflict or gap exceptions should be resolved first. For example, if you pin conflicted/rotated cards with
or mark gap position as forbidden with
, related notifications will be removed.
- Instead of pinning, a more convenient way to resolve conflicts is to merge cards: right mouse click the rotated card and choose Merge from the card's context menu. When you clip two or more cards, they will always be scheduled on the same position.
- Changes can be reverted by using undo/redo icons
and there is also a history icon
which lets you see all previous changes and undo more actions at once.
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 appears 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.
10. Validate
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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 blinking cells will appear
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.
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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 > 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.