MacOS, Windows, iOS, Linux, tablet, phone, smartphone, iPad, iPhone, Android, Chromebook, primary, secondary

Overview

Prime Timetable is a school scheduling software designed for automatic and manual timetabling on any device. Trusted in over 120 countries worldwide, it efficiently schedules elementary, middle and high schools, universities and similar institutions.

Video tutorial: Introduction

pdf,localization,Afrikaans,Albanian,Amharic,Arabic,Armenian,Assamese,Aymara,Azerbaijani,Bambara,Basque,Belarusian,Bengali,Bhojpuri,Bosnian,Bulgarian,Catalan,Cebuano,Chichewa,Chinese (Simplified),Chinese (Traditional),Corsican,Croatian,Czech,Danish,Dhivehi,Dogri,Dutch,English,Esperanto,Estonian,Ewe,Filipino,Finnish,check,French,Frisian,Galician,Georgian,German,Greek,Guarani,Gujarati,Haitian Creole,Hausa,Hawaiian,Hebrew,Hindi,Hmong,Hungarian,Icelandic,Igbo,Ilocano,Indonesian,Irish,Italian,Japanese,Javanese,Kannada,Kazakh,Khmer,Kinyarwanda,Konkani,Korean,Krio,Kurdish (Kurmanji),Kurdish (Sorani),Kyrgyz,Lao,Latin,Latvian,Lingala,Lithuanian,Luganda,Luxembourgish,Macedonian,Maithili,Malagasy,Malay,Malayalam,Maltese,Maori,Marathi,Meiteilon (Manipuri),Mizo,Mongolian,Myanmar (Burmese),Nepali,Norwegian,Odia (Oriya),Oromo,Pashto,Persian,Polish,Portuguese,Punjabi,Quechua,Romanian,Russian,Samoan,Sanskrit,Scots Gaelic,Sepedi,Serbian,Sesotho,Shona,Sindhi,Sinhala,Slovak,Slovenian,Somali,Spanish,Sundanese,Swahili,Swedish,Tajik,Tamil,Tatar,Telugu,Thai,Tigrinya,Tsonga,Turkish,Turkmen,Twi,Ukrainian,Urdu,Uyghur,Uzbek,Vietnamese,Welsh,Xhosa,Yiddish,Yoruba,Zulu

tips, tricks, introduction, guidance, cheat sheets

Video Tutorials

Watch our popular "Getting Started" tutorials with 180K+ views - equivalent to a week-long training seminar, yet condensed into just a few minutes for quick, helpful insight. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest free tutorials.

basic,terms,glossary,dictionary

account,trial

Sign Up

To access the software, follow these steps:

1. Click Sign Up on the home page
2. Select the Free plan
3. Enter your email and password, and optionally, provide additional information about the school
4. Click Start my free month

A new timetable will be opened, allowing you to begin importing or entering your own data.

login,sign in,log out,logout,sign out

Log In

1. Click Log In on the home page
2. Enter your email and password
3. Click Log In

forget,forgot,lost,account,retrieve

user,account

Profile

To update your profile in the app:

1. Click in the top right corner
2. Click My Profile
3. Set your email, password, first name and last name
4. Click Edit

zip, backup

UI, interface, layout

Intro

To start the app on any device:

1. Open a browser and navigate to https://primetimetable.com
2. Log In if you already have an account or Sign Up if you are a new user

The app consists of a timetable view and top/bottom boards.

The top board contains owl icon which opens the main menu. Next to it is a Quick Access Toolbar letting you save changes, access history or open timetable. Timetable name is at the center, while bell and profile icons are in the right corner.

The bottom board contains card details, play icon at the center and marker, pin, sponge and zoom icons in the right corner.

A screenshot of K-12 school with opened main menu and pop-ups showing the list of subjects and notifications

MacOS, Windows, iOS, Linux, tablet, phone, smartphone, iPad, iPhone, Android, Chromebook, laptop

System Requirements

• Software requires a modern browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Safari

Create a New Timetable

1. Go to Open > New Timetable
2. Enter the name of the timetable and description
3. Click Ok

Open Timetable

1. Go to Open > Open Timetable or click
2. Select a timetable from the list
3. Click Open

search,find

rename,example

Open from File

To open a timetable from a previously saved file:

1. Go to Open > Open from File
2. Use Choose File to locate the file on your device
3. Click Open
4. Click if you want to keep the timetable on your list

Save Changes

• Click to save changes

All changes will be synchronized and merged across any device you or your colleagues might be using.

Create a Copy of Timetable

copy timetable,make copy,copy schedule

1. Go to Save as > Copy of Timetable
2. Enter the name of the timetable and description
3. Click Ok

Delete/Restore Timetable

1. Go to Open > Open Timetable or click
2. Select a timetable from the list
3. Click Delete

restore,recover,undone,backup

Merge Timetables

1. Open the base timetable
2. Go to Open > Merge timetables
3. Select the timetable to merge with and click Merge

If there is already a day, subject, room, teacher, class, group or view with the same name in the base timetable, it will be used as it is; otherwise, it will be added. Periods are going to be merged based on entered start and end times. Activities, clips and marks from the selected timetable will be added to the base timetable.

Import Resources

To import data from other software using copy/paste, follow these steps:

1. Open the application where you have a list of resources, such as Excel, Sheets, Word, Docs or Notepad
2. Select the resources you wish to import, right-click the selection and choose Copy
3. In Prime Timetable, go to the Import menu and choose the resource type you want to import (e.g. Import > Teachers)
4. Right-click in the text field provided for import and choose Paste
5. Click Import

Video tutorial: How to import data

In the Import Sheets document, each sheet provides an example of how to import days, periods, subjects, rooms, teachers, classes/groups, students and activities. For successful import, ensure resources are separated by rows (or new lines) and properties are separated by columns (or TAB character).

A resource with an existing name will not be imported again to prevent duplication.

Import Activities

To import activities and optionally the entire timetable using copy/paste:

• Go to Import > Activities
• Follow the instructions provided in the Import document, specifically the Activities sheet
• Watch the video tutorial titled How to import data for a visual guide

Note: Resources with non-existing names will be added during the import. Use a comma as a delimiter when there are multiple teachers, classes/groups or rooms involved in an activity.

Columns when importing activities

Basics

Resources are displayed in grids allowing you to manage data efficiently.

order,move up,move down,alphabetic,ascending,descending

The multi-selector is a powerful tool for selecting resources, particularly when assigning activities to classes/groups, teachers or rooms, or when copying constraints to specific set of resources. Here's how to use it:

1. Optionally, filter resources in the selection list:
   • For better organization and especially in larger schools, consider adding tags, to filter resources more efficiently
   • The multi-selector retains the selected tag for future use
   • Resize the window to make lists more accessible
2. Click an item in the source list to select it, or click an item in the selection list to remove it
   • Alternatively, use Select all and Remove all when you want to select or remove all resources
3. Click Ok to confirm the selection

Selecting teachers using multi-selector

The multi-selector is also accessible using the keyboard:

• Use Tab to set focus on the source or selection list
• Type the first letters to find a resource or navigate with keys like ↑ ↓ PgUp PgDn Home and End
• Press Space to (de)select and Enter to confirm the selection
• Hold CtrlCmd and press A or X to select/remove all
• Hold Alt while pressing ↑ or ↓ to reorder selection

info,title,change

Timetable Info

To update timetable info, follow these steps:

1. Go to Open > Timetable Info or click the timetable name in the view
2. Update timetable name and description, school name and school year (e.g. "2024/2025")
3. Optionally, expand
   • Set custom school logo, font family, colors and similar to align with your school's branding
   • Set tags or copy the unique timetable identifier
4. Click Ok

The school name and school year are displayed as a title and subtitle on the published page and when printing.

rotated,rotation,day A,day B,cycle,rotating,6 day,5 day,two-week

Days

To configure your timetable's days:

1. Go to Manage > Days or click the day name in the view
2. Set the number of days in the timetable cycle by choosing the desired value in the combo box above the grid, e.g.:
   • Set 5 days for a 1-week cycle or opt for 6 days if you are scheduling Saturdays
   • Select 10 days for a 2-week timetable, 15 days for a 3-week timetable and so on
3. Click Add, Edit and Delete to manage days
   • Each day is identified by a name and a short name
4. Alternatively, explore other approaches, for instance:
   • Set only one or two days, like "Day A" and "Day B" suitable for rotating schedules
   • Create separate timetables for each week or month, optionally merge them into all-in-one timetable

Periods

time slot,time,times,bell

To configure your timetable's periods:

1. Go to Manage > Periods or click the period name in the view
2. Set the number of periods in a day by choosing the desired value in the combo box above the displayed grid:
   • If you are scheduling breaks, lunch, after-school activities or similar, increase the number accordingly
3. Click Add, Edit and Delete to manage periods
   • For each period, specify the start/end time (using the 24-hour clock) and optionally add a name

Custom Periods

Period intervals might vary across classes, especially when scheduling both lower and higher grades in one timetable. If you don't want to manage a large number of 15, 10 or even 5-minute period intervals to accommodate these differences and other options don't work for you, consider using custom periods. To add a custom period:

1. Go to Manage > Periods
2. Select a default period to link a custom interval with and then click Add
3. Set the start/end time and expand to choose class, teacher, room or subject custom period
4. Select Drag related cards to specified interval action
5. Select resources/days that custom interval applies to and click Add
   • Related cards will be resized and repositioned based on the specified custom interval and its default period
   • When you drag a card, the card's shadow will change its length and position according to the default and custom periods below, allowing you to know exactly where to drop the card
6. Go to Help > Options and set Period format to e.g. 12-hour clock or 24-hour clock
   • If Period format is set to Period number then intervals won't show up inside cards
   • Optionally, check Show interval inside cards to display intervals in all cards

Video tutorial: How to use custom periods

Subjects

course,courses,edit subject,edit course

1. Go to Manage > Subjects
2. Click Add, Edit, Delete and Copy to manage subjects
3. For each subject, specify a Name (e.g. "Math"), Short name (e.g. "Ma") and Color
   • Optionally, set Difficulty, check or uncheck Taught more than once per day, set tags, notes and more

classroom,classrooms

Rooms

1. Go to Manage > Rooms
2. Click Add, Edit, Delete and Copy to manage rooms
3. For each room, provide the Name (e.g. "Physics lab", "Bio lab", "Playground", "Meeting room"), Short name and Color
   • Optionally, set Capacity, Building name, tags, notes and more

staff,educator,professor,part time

Teachers

1. Go to Manage > Teachers
2. Click Add, Edit, Delete and Copy to manage teachers
3. For each teacher, provide the Name, Short name and Color
   • Optionally, set constraints related to teacher's gaps, load and moving between buildings, set tags, notes and more

grade,grades

Classes

1. Go to Manage > Classes
2. Click Add, Edit, Delete and Copy to manage classes
3. For each class, provide the Name (e.g. "5A", "5B", "Grade 9", "Year 10"), Short name and Color
   • Optionally, set constraints related to load and gaps, tags, notes and more
4. Upon adding a new class, the following set of groups is automatically created: Boys and Girls and Group 1 and Group 2

Manage classes for United States International example

groups,division,divisions

Groups

A class can be divided into one or more sets of groups to handle electives (choices/selections):

1. Go to Manage > Classes, select the class from the grid and click Groups
2. Click Add to add a new group set with 2 predefined groups: Group 1 and Group 2
3. Click Edit to manage groups for the selected group set:
   • Click Add, Edit and Delete to manage groups within a group set
   • For each group, provide the Name and Short name

Manage group sets and groups for Grade 12 IB in United States International example

Students

learner,pupil,junior,scholar,add student

1. Go to Manage > Classes, select the desired class from the grid and click Students
2. Click Add, Edit and Delete to manage students
3. For each student, provide their Name, Short name and specify the Groups they belong to
   • By adding activities for specific groups (even across different classes/grades), students in those groups will automatically be assigned to those activities

Students can be imported, sorted, reordered, printed and you can view their statistics.

lesson,lessons,activities,section,assignment,assign,allocate,allocation

Activities

1. Go to Manage > Activities to manage and filter activities or view statistics
2. Click Add, Edit, Delete and Copy to manage activities
3. For each activity the following can be specified:
   • Teacher(s): Assign a teacher or No teacher, or click More.. to select more teachers
   • Subject: Select a subject, such as Math, English, Biology, but also Lunch, Teacher meeting and similar
   • Class(es)/Group(s): Assign a class e.g. "Grade 5A" or choose No class
     • Alternatively, click Groups to select class(es)/group(s) involved in activity
   • Activities per cycle: Set the total number of recurring activities in one cycle (e.g. 5 English lessons per week)
   • Activity length: Define the duration as Single, Double, Triple, etc. aligning with the period interval, e.g. set Double for 30-minute period intervals for an activity that lasts 1 hour
   • Desired room: Choose the primary room where the activity occurs or No room
     • Click More... when more desired rooms are needed, e.g. PE might require "Sports Hall" and "Gym"
     • Alternative room(s): The generator will use these rooms if the desired room is unavailable

By adding activities, cards are created for specified resources. These cards can be freely dragged to the desired time slot or you can let the generator create the schedule for you.

recess,snack,break,cafeteria

Lunch

To manage lunch, snack, recess, break or similar activities, add a new "Lunch" period. You can then place pinned cards during this period or forbid the entire period based on your scheduling needs.

1. Add a new subject called "Lunch"
2. Add lunch activities and select related resources:
   • Click Groups to add more classes/groups
   • Click More... to add more teachers
3. Drag lunch cards to the "Lunch" period (note that all cards will be moved together)
4. Pin lunch cards so they won't be moved by the generator

Kindergarten through 5th grade example shows lunch (abbreviated as "LUN") as pinned cards

1. Use to mark lunch periods as forbidden for all days
2. Avoid dragging cards to forbidden lunch period (will be reported as an error)
3. Alternatively, click and let the generator handle it for you

United States International example shows lunch as forbidden periods

meetings, preparatory, prep, prep time, prep-time, preparation, prepare

Other teacher activities

Other teacher activities include meetings, prep time and similar. Scheduling meetings can be approached in two common ways: either add one activity for multiple teachers or add a separate meeting activity for each teacher and then clip cards.

Tags

Tags are a crucial organizational tool for efficiently managing entered data, especially in larger schools. For instance, you can tag a class as "9th graders, High school" or a teacher as "Eng, Middle school" or a room as "Lab, 1st floor" (note that multiple tags should be separated by commas). Tags enable selecting multiple resources without the need to pick them individually.

History

The states of timetables can be controlled using the Undo/Redo commands and the History panel:

• Click to undo the latest action
• Click to redo the latest undone action
• Click to show or hide the History panel

Use the History panel to undo or redo several actions at once

Statistics

In order to view and export statistics:

1. Go to Manage > Activities
   • Pay attention to the row just above the activities grid, which shows the total number of resources, activities and hours
2. Use the toggle icon to cycle through different statistics categories: teachers, classes, rooms and subjects
3. Utilize the combo boxes to filter activities by selected resource(s) and view related statistics
4. Click to generate a tab-separated values file containing detailed statistics
   • Open the file with a spreadsheet app to examine the report more closely

Teacher Alexander has 18 English lessons, 15 hours in total

Timetable Views

Each view includes:

• View type icon: found in the top left corner, just below the owl, it opens the view picker
• Timetable with cards displaying resource(s) and their schedules
• Area with unscheduled cards

You can adjust the timetable width by dragging the vertical splitter that separates scheduled from unscheduled cards.

View picker enables switching between predefined master or your own views

Master Views

By default, there are four predefined master views showing classes, teachers, rooms and subjects. To navigate between views:

1. Open the view picker
2. Choose , , or to switch to the corresponding master or your own view

Each master view displays a list of resources in the first column along with cards in the respective rows. Unscheduled cards are grouped by subject and placed outside of the timetable, aligning with the row of the respective resource.

Individual Views

An individual view provides a focused look at a specific resource. To switch to an individual class, teacher, room or subject view, click the first column (resource name) in the related master view. An individual class view can be filtered by specific student or group (if added). Click on a student or group to view their individual timetable and click again to remove the filter.

Filtering 6A view to get an individual student timetable for Donna Gordon

Extra Views

Extra views provide an extended perspective by displaying additional views simultaneously. Moreover, the shadow of the dragged card appears in all open views, making it easier to avoid conflicts. To show or hide extra view:

1. Click any card to display card details in the bottom left corner
2. Click , , or in the card details

Video tutorial: How to use extra views

custom view

Manage Views

To create a customized view, e.g. to display 5th graders or English teachers:

1. Click from the view picker and click Add
2. Provide a name and short name for your view
3. Choose the view type (classes, teachers, rooms or subjects)
4. Select resources you want to include
5. Optionally, exclude certain days or periods
6. Click Add

Now, you can schedule, customize, publish, print or export created view.

Video tutorial: How to manage views

Zoom

Here are the steps to adjust the row height and column width:

1. Click located in the bottom right corner
2. Use the vertical slider to adjust the row height
   • The row height can be adjusted separately for both the master view and individual views
   • Note that the row height settings are preserved when printing
3. Use the horizontal slider to adjust the column width, particularly useful when dealing with a large number of days/periods

Timetable Cards

Cards are a visual representation of an activity. For example, if an activity occurs five times a week, then five cards will be displayed in the related view. Initially, cards are placed in the same row as the related resource, within the area containing other unscheduled cards. You can freely drag them to the desired time slot or let the generator create the schedule for you.

Drag and Drop

move,change,move card

1. Select a card by clicking it with the left mouse button
2. While keeping the left mouse button pressed, drag the card to a new position
3. Drop the card by releasing the left mouse button

On touch devices, use a finger to drag cards.

status, status bar, card info

Card Details

The details of the last selected card (or the mouse-overed card if there is no selection) are displayed in the bottom left corner:

1. Click , , or to show or hide related extra views
2. Click the resource name to select that resource in the related grid
3. Click to select the activity from the grid represented by the current card

Showing details of the last selected card: subject, teachers, classes and scheduled + [desired] + (alternative) rooms

Select Multiple Cards

You can select multiple cards to perform actions on more than one card simultaneously:

1. Click an empty area in the timetable and start dragging the cursor across the timetable
   • A rectangular marquee will appear, with one corner where you started dragging and the opposite where you stopped
2. Stop dragging by releasing the left mouse button and all cards inside the marquee will be selected
3. Right-click any selected card and choose the desired action from the card's context menu

This can be useful when you want to drag and drop, edit, clip, copy, pin or merge several cards at once.

Selecting multiple cards using rectangular marquee

Edit Cards

change,change cards,teaching

1. Select one or multiple cards
2. Right-click any selected card and choose Edit cards
3. Change subject, teacher(s), class(es)/group(s), length, desired or alternative rooms
4. Click Edit

substitute,substitution,absence

homeroom,home room

repeat

Copy/Paste Cards

Cards can be copied from one resource, day or period to another:

1. Select one or multiple cards
2. Right-click any selected card, day or period and choose Copy
3. Right-click the desired resource name, day or period and choose Paste

Right-click day to open the context menu

clear,remove,delete

Clear/Delete Cards

To clear cards and move them outside the timetable, where they will be placed alongside other unscheduled cards:

• Click the and then click card, day, period or resource name
• Alternatively, right-click on the card, day, period or resource name and choose Clear from the context menu

Merge/Split Cards

Merge allows combining two or more cards into one, thus avoiding conflicts:

1. Right-click any conflicted/rotated card to open the context menu
2. Choose Merge

Cards can be merged if teachers and/or classes/groups are different and everything else is the same: position, subject, length and (scheduled, desired and alternative) rooms.

Video tutorial: How to merge cards

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 for all cards in the view:

1. Switch to the desired master, individual or your own created view
2. Right-click the card and choose Customize (or choose Print > Customize Cards)
3. Choose the displayed card's text, background color and border

Customization for master and individual views is independent, e.g. use short names for the master view and full names for individual views.

Video tutorial: How to customize cards

lock cards, fix cards

Pin

The pin tool, located in the bottom right corner, ensures cards won't move while improving the timetable and more:

1. Click and then click on the cards, days, periods or resources you want to pin/unpin
   • Alternatively, right-click any card, day, period or resource and choose Pin or Unpin from the context menu
   • Pinned cards have a little pin icon in the top right corner
2. Pin conflicts, unscheduled cards and other issues you want to ignore to eliminate related notifications
3. To release the pin, press Esc or click on an empty cell

Video tutorial: How to pin cards

time request,block,forbid,restrict,availability,not allowed,time off,part-time teacher

Markers

Markers are essential tools for defining constraints for any resource:

1. Select one of the following from the toolbar in the bottom right corner:
   • marks forbidden positions and leaves red minuses while drawing
   • marks unwanted positions and leaves yellow exclamation marks while drawing
   • marks mandatory positions and leaves blue plus signs while drawing
   • erases previously drawn marks

   When a marker is selected, previously drawn marks will be colored (red, yellow and blue), while the cards fade away

2. Click on any position, day or period to draw marks (clicking again will erase marks)
3. To release the marker, press Esc or click outside of the timetable

Use markers in any master, individual, extra or your own view and notifications will be updated upon any change.

Forbidden (red minus), unwanted (yellow exclamation mark) and mandatory (blue plus) marks in the teacher master view

block,forbid,time off,time request,break

Red Marker

The red marker is used to define forbidden positions for any resource:

1. Switch to the desired view, such as class, teacher, room or subject master view
2. Pick and draw minus signs by clicking on any position, day or period

For example, you can specify when a part-time teacher is unavailable, avoid scheduling students for the last period on Fridays, forbid a room that is already booked, prevent difficult subjects from being scheduled in the last period or ignore gaps.

Video tutorial: How to draw forbidden positions

Blue Marker

The blue marker is used to indicate preferred or mandated positions for specific resources:

1. Switch to the desired view and pick
2. Draw blue pluses by clicking on any position, day or period
3. Mouse over the first column (resource name) to access mandatory settings:
   • Set Allowed number of missed mandatory activities per week/day to desired value

If Allowed number of missed mandatory activities per week/day is set to Arbitrary, which is the default value, mandatory positions will be completely ignored by the generator.

Marker settings when the blue marker is selected

1. Go to Open > Open Examples and open Example 3 where all classes have 2 lessons of Physics per week
2. Switch to the subject master view and pick
3. Note that there are 15 drawn mandatory marks (plus signs) for Physics (3 first periods x 5 days)
4. Mouse over the Physics subject to find that the Allowed number of missed mandatory activities per week is set to 14

This implies that one lesson (15 mandatory - 14 allowed to be missed = 1 mandatory) of Physics per class must be scheduled within the first three periods. Failure to do so will trigger a warning, and the generator will try to fix this for you.

validator,verify,verification,correct,health,status

Notifications

Notifications are crucial for ensuring that the timetable meets specific constraints and aligns with school requirements:

• Accessing Notifications: Click to show or hide the Notification panel. You can resize and relocate the panel for better visibility. The number in the top right corner of the bell icon indicates the total number of errors or warnings.
• Instant Updates: Notifications are instantly updated whenever there is any change in the timetable.
• Understanding Notification Types: Notifications are color-coded for clarity:
  • Red notifications indicates critical errors that needs to be fixed
  • Blue notifications signify warnings that may not necessarily prevent the timetable from being valid
• Spotting Issues: Click on red or blue notifications to make the related cells blink in the timetable view. To stop the blinking effect, click on the category title or to hide the Notification panel.
• Validity of Timetable: A timetable is considered valid when there are no notifications present.

Video tutorial: How to validate a timetable

resolve,ignore,exception,error,warning,errors,warnings,clash

Resolve Notifications

To ensure optimal performance of the generator, it's crucial to actively monitor and resolve listed errors and warnings. Any intentional error or warning must be addressed before the automatic generator can proceed. Here are some examples:

• Pin Conflicted Cards: If cards are intentionally scheduled at the same time, use to resolve the errors by pinning the conflicted cards
• Mark Gaps as Forbidden: Use to mark a lunchtime class gap as forbidden, preventing it from being listed as an error
• Ignore Unscheduled Cards: Use to pin intentionally unscheduled cards, ensuring they are not counted as errors

By resolving these notifications, you help the generator function smoothly and maintain the validity of your timetable.

Improve Timetable

generator,solver,builder,optimizer,creator,scheduler,engine,optimize,play,module,automatic

To start the automatic generator:

1. Click located at the center of the bottom board
   • Observe the progress as cards are automatically scheduled based on the provided input
2. If you don't see noticeable progress, click Stop to review and revise the data and/or constraints
   • Once stopped, resume generation by clicking Continue

Video tutorial: How to automatically generate a school timetable

Best Practices

To optimize the generator's performance and maximize efficiency, adhere to the following best practices:

1. Single Activity per Resource/Period:
   • Ensure each resource is assigned only one activity per period to prevent conflicts
   • Use More... or Groups when adding activities that require multiple resources, such as lunch breaks or meetings
2. Start Without Constraints:
   • If the timetable can't be generated even without constraints, revise your data or check statistics
3. Gradual Introduction of Constraints:
   • If progress is not evident, click Stop and review constraints and/or data
   • Adjust constraints gradually to identify and resolve issues in a timely manner
4. Monitor and Address Notifications:
   • Use to ignore intentionally conflicted cards or mark empty lunch periods as forbidden using
   • Resolve other notifications to allow the generator to focus on constraints that matter
5. Priority Management:
   • Lower priority requirements won't be addressed until higher ones are resolved
   • Top priorities include conflicts, forbidden positions and gaps, followed by subject taught more than once a day
6. Utilize Undo/Redo and History:
   • Use undo/redo to revert any changes made during the scheduling process

By adhering to these best practices, you can streamline the scheduling process and achieve optimal timetabling outcomes.

Improvement Priorities

The 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:

1. Do not expect instant perfection:
   • It's impossible to know in advance whether such perfect timetable is even possible
2. Start with moderate requirements:
   • At first, set moderate requirements and let the generator automatically create the timetable
3. Gradually introduce constraints:
   • Only when you manage to get a valid timetable should you increase constraints and start the generator again

user,users

Share with Others

Users with the Owner role can manage access to school timetables:

1. Go to Share > Share with others
2. Click Add, Edit and Delete to manage users
3. Assign roles such as Owner, Creator or Viewer based on user permissions:
   • Owner - Authority to manage timetables, users and their roles
   • Creator - Ability to manage timetables
   • Viewer - Permission to view timetables without making changes

Collaboration

concurrency,multiple users,sync,multi-user

Timetablers can collaborate on the same timetable simultaneously with all saved changes seamlessly syncing and merging across any device in use. For instance, one timetabler might modify a teacher's name while another adjusts their short name and the changes will integrate without overwriting each other when saved.

Publish to the Web

To publish a timetable:

1. Go to Share > Publish to the Web
2. Click Publish
3. Click Copy to share the link with others
4. Optionally, click Visit published page to open it in a new window

The published web page is accessible from any device, including phones and tablets. It automatically updates to ensure the latest changes are delivered to all. This allows a teacher or class/group/student to have direct access to their timetable by bookmarking the link you have sent to them. Note that the individual class view can be filtered by a specific student or group.

Advanced Customization

Timetables can be fully customized to align with your school's branding. With some basic HTML and CSS skills, you can:

1. Add a custom school logo
2. Adjust the font size and font family for all the text displayed in the timetable
3. Implement any other style changes to match the design of your school's website

For reference, the United States International and K-12 examples have been pre-customized with common changes:

1. Open either United States International or K-12 example
2. Go to Open > Timetable Info and expand
3. Review Custom HTML and Custom CSS, then copy and paste the relevant code to your timetable and adjust it as needed

colour

Print Timetable

In order to print the current master or individual timetable:

1. Go to Print > Print Timetable
2. Click the title or year to edit
3. Set paper size, orientation, color and optionally margins and scale
4. Click Print

Print Individual Timetables

To print all individual timetables (e.g. timetables for all classes, teachers, rooms or subjects):

1. Switch to the desired class, teacher, room or subject master view
2. Go to Print > Print Individuals
3. Set paper size, orientation, color and optionally margins and scale
4. Click Print

Save as Local File

1. Go to Save as > Local File
2. The timetable will be downloaded to your device as an JSON file, which can be opened later

SIS,MIS,integration,integrate,Student Information Systems,School Management Information System,third-party software

Save as Custom File

Follow these steps to save your timetable in different formats:

1. Go to Save as > Custom File
2. Select PowerSchool, iSAMS, SmartSchool, SmartSchool CSV or Siged format
3. Customize options and click Download

Use the downloaded file to import the timetable into other software such as SIS, MIS or similar systems.

Save as Spreadsheet(s)

Follow these steps to export timetable(s) to the spreadsheet app:

1. Switch to the desired master view and go to Save as > Spreadsheet(s)
2. Select Current timetable view or All related individual timetables and click Download
3. Open the downloaded HTML document and create a rectangular marquee around the desired timetable(s):
   • Click outside the timetable in the top-left corner
   • Hold the left mouse button and drag the cursor to the bottom-right corner of the timetable
4. Right-click the selection and choose Copy
5. In Excel, Google Sheets or any spreadsheet app, right-click the desired cell and choose Paste

Export Grid Data

To export various types of data from the grid, such as activities, teachers, subjects, rooms, classes/groups, days or periods:

1. Go to Manage > Activities (or other relevant section)
2. Create a rectangular marquee around the grid:
   • Click outside the grid in the top-left corner
   • Hold the left mouse button and drag the cursor to the bottom-right corner of the grid
3. Right-click inside the selected grid area and choose Copy
4. In Excel, Google Sheets or any spreadsheet app, right-click the desired cell and choose Paste

time

Options

Go to Help > Options to customize:

• Skin:
  • Choose Blue (default), Green, Red, Violet, Orange, Pink, Cyan, Brown, Gray or Dark skin
• Default view:
  • Set the master view that will be displayed when the application starts
• Period format:
  • Select Name or period number, Name or 12-hour clock, Name or 24-hour clock, Period number, 12-hour clock or 24-hour clock format
  • For instance, if you choose Name or 12-hour clock, you can customize a specific period by setting period name to "Lunch", thus overriding the default 12-hour clock display
• Resize periods based on duration:
  • By default, all periods appear to have the same size in the view regardless of their actual duration
  • Check this option if you want to resize periods based on their actual duration
• Show interval inside cards:
  • Check this option to display start time in the top left and the end time in the bottom left corner of each card