2. Account
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
- Choose Free plan
-
Type your email address and desired password and optionally provide
school info
- Click Start my free month
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,
My profile and
- 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,
My profile and
-
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.
School info
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.
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.
Extend subscription
renew
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. Check
sales frequently asked questions for more info.
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 desired value
in the combo above 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 rotated schedules.
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 month or week and then
create a copy to modify it for the next 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 date.
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 desired value in the combo
above displayed grid. If you are scheduling breaks, lunch, after school
activities or similar, increase the number accordingly.
If the number of periods varies from day to day, set the maximum number of
periods and then use
to forbid positions that are not allowed.
If period intervals are different across days, resources or activities 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.
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 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
Drawing forbidden positions is useful in the following scenarios:
- avoid students having the last period on Friday
- specify when a part-time teacher is not available
- mark the room which is already booked
- avoid having difficult subjects on the last period
In any of above or similar scenarios, switch to the desired view and pick
the red marker
to draw/erase forbidden positions which are displayed as red minus signs.
Video tutorial: How to draw forbidden positions
Draw unwanted positions
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.
Draw mandatory positions
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.
Copy marks to other resources
-
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
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.