How patterns work
Three kinds of rota, one question, and a calendar that keeps itself filled.
A pattern is your rota, set up once. Clock Shift puts it on your calendar as real shifts, a year ahead, and keeps it going. You can still change any single day on the calendar.
Which kind of rota do you have?
The first time you open Clock Shift, and under Patterns, it asks How does your rota work? Each answer takes you somewhere different.
| Answer | For | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| The same every week | Monday to Friday, 9 to 5, or any fixed week. | You set one week, and it repeats. No cycle to work out. |
| It repeats every few days | 4 on 4 off, days then nights, a four-week rota. | You start from a common shape, change it to match yours, and say where today falls in it. |
| It changes every time | A new rota every week or month. | No pattern. You go straight to the calendar to add your shifts as you get them. |
Where you are in the cycle
There are no dates to work out. For a cycle, you answer one question: Which day of the cycle is today? If your cycle is a whole number of weeks — two weeks, four weeks — it is laid out in weeks and asks Which week of the rota is this week? instead. Today is marked on the cycle, so you can check it lines up with your rota before you save.
An example
It keeps your calendar filled
- When you save, the shifts go on your calendar from the date you pick — today, unless you want past weeks too — to a year ahead.
- After that it keeps itself going. There is no end date to set and nothing to refill.
- When a rota stops — a new job, a new rota — you end it. See change, end or delete a pattern.
Your changes win
Change or delete a single day on the calendar — a swap, a day off — and the pattern leaves that day alone, even when you change the pattern later. You can always go back to what the pattern says with Reset to your pattern or Put it back.
Ready? Set up a pattern.