Shift Templates & Patterns
Save time by creating reusable shift templates and recurring patterns that fill your calendar in seconds.
What Are Shift Templates?
The basics of templates and why they save you time.
A shift template is a saved shift pattern that you can reuse over and over again. Instead of manually creating the same shift every day (for example, "Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm at the warehouse"), you save it once as a template and apply it whenever you need it.
Think of templates like a rubber stamp for your calendar — one click and an entire week of shifts appears.
You create each shift one at a time — 5 shifts for a Mon-Fri pattern means clicking 5 times
You apply one template and all 5 shifts are created in a single click
Regular patterns that repeat each week, such as standard working hours
Each template has its own name, colour, times, and days
You can have as many templates as you like. Most agencies create one for each common shift pattern, such as "Day Shift", "Night Shift", "Early Start", or "Weekend Cover".
Creating a Shift Template
Set up a reusable pattern step by step.
Go to Shifts and click "Templates"
Open the Shifts page from the sidebar, then click the Templates tab at the top of the page. This shows all your saved templates.
Click "New Template"
Click the + New Template button in the top-right corner to open the template form.
Give your template a name
Enter a descriptive name for the template so you can recognise it easily later. For example, Day Shift (Mon-Fri) or Weekend Night Shift.
Set the start and end times
Enter the Start Time and End Time that this template represents. For example, 08:00 to 17:00 for a standard day shift.
Select the days of the week
Tick the days that this template should cover. For a Monday to Friday pattern, tick Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, and Fri. For weekends only, tick Sat and Sun.
Choose a colour
Pick a colour for this template. When shifts created from this template appear on the calendar, they will use this colour. This makes it easy to tell different shift types apart at a glance.
Click Save Template
Click Save Template to save it. The template will appear in your templates list, ready to be used.
Choose colours that make sense for your team. For example, blue for day shifts, purple for night shifts, and green for weekend cover. Consistent colours help everyone read the calendar quickly.
Applying a Template to the Calendar
Fill a week with shifts in one click.
Go to the Shifts calendar
Navigate to the Shifts page and make sure you are on the calendar view (not the templates tab).
Click "Apply Template"
Click the Apply Template button at the top of the calendar. A dialog will open asking you to choose a template.
Choose your template
Select the template you want to apply from the dropdown list. You will see a preview of the days and times it covers.
Select the week
Choose the start date for the week you want to fill. The template will create shifts for each of the selected days within that week.
Assign workers
Choose the workers you want to assign. You can pick one worker or multiple. If you select several workers, each one gets their own set of shifts for that week.
Click Apply
Click Apply and the shifts will be created on the calendar. They will appear as draft shifts, ready for you to review and publish.
Applying a template does not overwrite existing shifts. If there are already shifts on those days, the new ones will be added alongside them. You can delete any duplicates from the calendar.
Recurring Patterns
Set up shifts that repeat automatically week after week.
For workers who follow the same schedule every week, you can set up a recurring pattern. This tells TempClock to automatically create shifts based on a template, repeating for as many weeks as you choose.
Open a template
Go to the Templates tab and click on the template you want to make recurring.
Enable "Recurring"
Toggle the Recurring switch to on. New options will appear letting you set how long the pattern should repeat.
Set the date range
Choose a Start Date and End Date for the recurring pattern. For example, "10 March 2025 to 30 June 2025" would generate shifts for roughly 16 weeks.
Save and generate
Click Save. TempClock will create all the shifts across the date range. They appear as drafts, so you can review them before publishing.
Recurring patterns are great for long-term placements where a worker is on the same schedule for months at a time. You can always stop the pattern early by editing the end date.
Auto-Generating Shifts
Select a template and date range to bulk-create shifts.
The auto-generate feature is a quick way to fill your calendar with shifts across a specific date range. It works like applying a template, but for multiple weeks at once.
Click "Auto-Generate" on the Shifts page
On the shift calendar, click the Auto-Generate button. This opens the generation wizard.
Choose a template
Select which shift template to use. The wizard shows the template name, times, and days.
Pick a date range
Set the Start Date and End Date. TempClock will create shifts for every matching day within this range.
Assign workers
Select one or more workers to assign. Each selected worker will get a full set of shifts across the date range.
Review and confirm
The wizard shows a summary of how many shifts will be created. Click Generate to create them all at once.
Auto-generated shifts are created as drafts. Make sure to review and publish them so your workers are notified. See the Publishing & Notifying guide for how to do this.
Managing Your Templates
Edit, duplicate, or delete templates you have already created.
All your saved templates are listed on the Templates tab under the Shifts page. From here you can:
Deleting a template only removes the template itself. Any shifts that were already created from that template will remain on the calendar and are not affected.
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