7shifts 101: How to navigate the Schedule

Updated March 18, 2026 19:17

Let's set up your 7shifts Account! In this article, you'll learn how to configure your account settings and structure - the essential prep work. (16).png

The Schedule page in 7shifts is designed to provide an intuitive interface for managing your team's shifts. Enabling you to create, edit and manage employee schedules. Take the time to familiarize yourself with the various options, and before you know it, you'll be a scheduling pro in no time!

Here, you'll learn how to optimize your scheduling process with a quick overview of its key components - so you can get right to scheduling.

Quick Look
Mobile: Calendar icon, in the bottom menu.
Web: Schedule, in the left navigation bar.

Things to Know

Important: Managers/Assistant Managers require permission "Can manage schedules".

Before you can create and schedule shifts, be sure to:

Organize your 7shifts Account Structure - Locations, Departments, and Roles to make sure you have the right framework in place. This way, when adding staff and assigning shifts, everything is neatly categorized, making scheduling much more efficient.
Add your staff so they can appear in the schedule. Including their contact details means they'll be able to receive schedule updates, announcements, and any changes directly.
Admins should review Company settings. Setting up features like Labor and Overtime rules and defining things like your Start week on ensures that your schedule adheres to company policies and local labor laws.
Leverage scheduling templates for recurring shifts and use reporting tools to analyze labor costs and employee hours. These insights help you optimize staffing and manage budgets within 7shifts.

Navigate the Schedule

Note: Each Location and Department has its own distinct schedule view in 7shifts. Once you set them up, be sure to assign staff to their specific Locations, Departments, and Roles to ensure they appear on the correct schedule.

Use the tabs to change your viewing preferences through the mobile or web app:

Located on the left side, the navigation bar allows you to access different areas of your 7shifts Account. If you need more scheduling real estate, you can hide the navigation bar by click on the arrow next to the 7shifts logo.

(click on the image to expand it)
Select Schedule from the left navigation bar.
Use the date pickers at the top of the page to filter your view by a specific date range:
Click the Location or Department filters to switch between different areas of your business.Each has its own schedule view in 7shifts. You can view one at a time.
Use the Layout icon to change the view to List, List by Role, or Time frames.
Switch between Day view to see shifts by the hour or Week view to see shifts by the weekday:
Hover over an Employee name on the left column to reveal personal details or click to view their profile. They are listed by their Primary Role and respective shifts:
Click the Copy icon to use scheduling templates or move a schedule to a future date:
Click the Tools icon to access advanced scheduling options (print, download, import sales, sync your calendar, the optimal labor tool, month view, revert/clear the schedule):
Select any empty "+" shift space to enter shift details and select Save:
Click Publish changes and choose your notification method to alert the team.
Select the tab at the bottom of the page to reveal the Labor Budget Tool. Click on an empty space on the Labor Budget tool to hide it.

As you add shifts, you'll find it helpful to differentiate between shifts that are published/live or in draft. In the example below, Ayana's schedule displays both live shifts (visible to Ayana) and draft shifts (not visible to Ayana):

Log in to the mobile app > click on the calendar icon on the bottom navigation bar.
Here, you'll be able to see the list of employees scheduled for any given day:
At the top of the page, you can:
1 - Tap the calendar icon to jump to today's date.
2 - Tap on the month to bring down the calendar picker.
3 - Tap the + icon to add a shift.
4 - Tap the copy icon to copy schedule to future weeks.
5 - Swipe through the days at the top to view specific days or weeks.
Click on the current Location name/filter icon to narrow down your results by Location, Department, Role, Employee, and shifts > click Apply:
If there are any Events, they will be visible under the date and day of the week. Tap on it to edit/delete, expand more details, and see an entire list of Events happening on that day:

⚠️ Only Admins or Managers / Assistant Managers with the 'Can manage events' permission will be able to manage Events. Click here to learn more about Events on Mobile.
See the list of Employees scheduled for the day that you're viewing. We'll let you know how many Employees are working that day too (not including open shifts).
Scheduling warnings will be labelled in red for things like overtime and labor exceptions:
Shift Flags will be at the top right corner of an Employee's shift. Edit the shift if you need to change the Shift Flag.
Tap on an existing shift to expand more shift details: