DoqScheduler

DoqScheduler is a free, simple tool for building monthly shift schedules for small-to-medium sized groups. No account required—just open the page and start building!

Version 7 rebuilds how a schedule gets made. Setup now happens step by step on a single page—pick your month, choose your shift types, and build your roster without ever leaving it. Finished steps fold away so only the part you're working on stays on screen.

• Find a Trade. Getting someone off a shift no longer has to be a straight swap. Find a Trade searches the whole month for every legal way to cover it—moving to an open day, a two-way swap, or a three- or four-way trade between providers—and lists them from least to most disruptive, showing how many providers each one involves. Every option obeys the rules you've set, and any of them can be copied as plain text to paste into an email. The original one-to-one swap is still there, now called Swap Shift; both live in the ⋯ options menu in the date column.
• Solo and Collaborative schedules. Every schedule now says which kind it is and where it's saved, so you always know whether your work lives online or only in this browser. A solo schedule can be made collaborative at any time from the menu in the top corner.
• A provider roster. Everyone attached to the schedule appears as a row of avatars, colour-coded by whether they've been invited, responded, or been imported. Click any one to open their settings.
• Protected responses. When you import a provider's submission, their details are locked by default, so a stray click can't overwrite what they told you. Unlock to override.
• A clearer summary. A progress bar shows how much of the schedule is filled, and the whole summary collapses to a single line when you don't need it.
• Everything in one menu. Your admin link (with one-click copy), printing, sharing, backups, and starting over now live together in the top corner.
• Safer saving. If the same schedule was edited on another device, DoqScheduler now loads the newer copy instead of overwriting it. Downloaded backups open as separate copies, so reviewing an old one can no longer overwrite your live schedule.
• Safer links. Admin links are now kept out of server logs and browser history, and a PIN protects edits as well as viewing.

1. Pick a month or block of up to three months
2. Choose a shift type: 24-hour shifts or custom shifts that you define
3. Add providers' availability yourself, or make the schedule collaborative and invite providers to submit their own
4. Assign shifts manually or use Auto-Fill to assign them based on availability and preferences
5. Review stats, perform trades, shuffle shifts, and generate calendars

• 24-hour: Defaults to one shift per day. You can also split any day into an AM and PM shift by selecting "Split" in the ⋯ options menu in the date column.
• Custom: define up to five of your own shift names and times.

Auto-Fill assigns providers to open shifts based on their availability and preferences. It respects any rules you've set and will not overwrite manually assigned shifts. You can click Auto-Fill again to shuffle and generate a different arrangement. See What rules can I set? below for the full list.

Rules come in two kinds. Schedule-wide rules live in Settings and Rules (under “More” above the schedule), where you switch them on and drag them into priority order — the one at the top wins when two rules disagree. Per-provider rules live on each provider's own card; click any provider to open it.

Schedule-wide

• No consecutive shifts. Nobody works two days in a row.
• Max consecutive days. Allows a run, but caps how long it can get.
• Distribute weekends evenly. Shares weekend and holiday shifts across the group.
• Balance total shifts. Keeps everyone's overall count close together.
• Cluster shifts together. Groups someone's shifts into the same stretch instead of scattering them.
• Avoid work-off-work patterns. Discourages a single day off wedged between two shifts.
• Keep weekends together. Gives the whole weekend to one person rather than splitting Saturday and Sunday between two. This can't do anything while No consecutive shifts is on, since working both weekend days is exactly what that rule prevents — the app will tell you if you switch both on.
• Protect one weekend off. Auto-Fill leaves everyone at least one whole weekend free each month. In a small group this can leave a weekend shift open rather than take someone's last free weekend; you can always assign it by hand, which the rule never blocks.

Per provider

• Max and min shifts per month. A ceiling, and a floor Auto-Fill works to reach.
• Day preferences. Mark the days of the week someone prefers or would rather avoid.
• Does not work this shift type. A hard exclusion — they're never given that shift.
• Prefers this shift type. A nudge rather than a rule; they can still be given another shift when one needs covering.
• Not adjacent to / not on the same day as. Keeps two people apart.
• Pair with. The opposite — tries to schedule two people together, either on the same day or on days next to each other. A preference, not a guarantee: Auto-Fill won't leave a shift empty to satisfy it, and the summary tells you which days it couldn't pair.

Shift types can carry their own rules too — minimum rest between shifts, whether a shift can repeat on consecutive days, and whether someone can work more than one in a day.

In the Add Providers section, open the Invite Providers tab and follow the steps to generate an Admin Link. Use that link to return to your schedule and invite up to 20 providers to submit their availability and preferences. You can track responses, resend invites, and import submissions directly into your schedule. Keep your admin link secure—anyone who has it can modify the schedule and view all responses. For added protection, you can set an optional PIN code.

Check the email (including your junk or spam folder) that the link was sent to. If you're using the same browser, the schedule may still be available from your local cache. Unfortunately, if neither option works, the link cannot be recovered and you'll need to create a new schedule.

A template saves your current setup (providers, shift types, invite list, and rules) to a personal link. Load that link at the start of any future month and everything will be pre-populated so you can jump straight into building the schedule.

Collaborative schedule data is stored on DoqScheduler's servers for 6 months, after which it is permanently deleted. You can download your schedule at any time to keep a local copy. Templates are tied to your email address and stay active as long as you use them. They will be deleted if inactive for 6 months.

Click the DoqScheduler title at the top of the page to switch between light and dark mode.

Glad you like it! Please share it with colleagues and send feedback to help make it better :)