The Schedule makes it easy to create shifts or dispatch jobs for your team. When you publish or edit shifts, you can use customized shift notifications to let employees know what changed; using your own message and notifying only the employees you choose.
This helps you keep notifications relevant, reduce clutter, and make sure the right people see important updates.
Why Use Customized Notifications?
Customized notifications help you:
Publish shifts without notifying employees to avoid clutter (by selecting Don’t notify assigned users).
Notify only specific employees when editing a shift, instead of alerting everyone assigned.
Send targeted reminders to employees who may miss updates (for example, employees who arrive late or forget to check the schedule).
Communicate last-minute changes clearly with a personalized message so employees understand what’s different.
Prevent notifications when removing a user from a shift or making minor updates (e.g., color changes) to avoid unnecessary alerts.
How to Publish Shifts and Customize a Notification
When you publish multiple shifts at once, publishing and notifying happen in one place. After you click Publish, a single modal lets you decide whether to notify users, choose who to notify, pick the notification method, and write a custom message, then publish.
This unified flow applies wherever you publish multiple shifts at once: publishing a day, a week, or a month, bulk-selecting shifts, publishing from a user, resource, or layer row, publishing a shift series, and publishing open claiming assignments from the Requests modal.
To publish shifts and set their notification, follow these steps:
Go to the Job Schedule and open the view or selection you want to publish.
Click the Publish button.
In the publish modal, choose whether to notify assigned users or not to notify them.
If you choose to notify, select which assigned employees should receive the notification.
Select the notification method: Email and push, or SMS.
Write a custom notification message to match your needs.
Click Publish.
Tip: 💡 Selecting SMS as the notification method may add a per-message cost, so the modal shows the SMS price before you send.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does creating a new schedule send notifications?
No, creating a new schedule does not trigger notifications. Assigned employees can view the schedule in the app without receiving alerts.
Does turning off notifications affect future shifts?
No, disabling notifications applies only to the specific shift being published. Future shifts will follow the default notification settings.
Can I prevent notifications when removing someone from a shift?
Yes, by clicking the bell icon after removing a user and toggling off "Notify users" before confirming and publishing.
What happens if I accidentally send a notification?
Once sent, notifications cannot be retracted. To correct errors, delete or unassign the published shifts (which will notify users of the changes), and optionally send a clarifying message.
Can I Notify Users That Turned Off Their Job Schedule Notifications?
In short yes. If your employees toggled off their notifications from the job schedule feature on their app when you publish the shift and they won't receive a notification regarding the published shift. However, if you decide to customize the notification, a notification will be sent regardless of their notification settings, making sure they don't miss out on anything important.
I don’t see the bell icon—why could that be?
The bell icon appears in the publish flow when you’re creating or editing a shift and have the option to adjust notifications. Make sure you’re editing a shift and viewing the Publish section in the shift sidebar.
What’s the difference between publishing and notifying?
Publishing updates the schedule. Notifying sends a push notification to employees. You can publish a shift and choose whether or not to notify employees using the bell icon.
Can I Customize the Publish Notifications For an Open Shift?
Not directly. Open shifts don’t have assigned employees (they’re meant to be claimed), and customized notifications are only available for shifts with assigned users; so you can’t customize publish notifications for an open shift. If you want to use a customized notification, first assign employees to the shift, then publish it with a custom message. Additionally, if notifications are enabled for "When a schedule is published," qualified users will still receive alerts for open shifts. To avoid claim prompts, do not publish shifts as open/claimable.
Need more guidance? 🙋 Our LIVE support team (at the bottom right corner of your screen) replies to ANY question.