Adding Shifts - Shifton Help

Learn how to add individual shifts to employees using the Add Shift form, including the Period and Specific Days tabs, shift templates, and all available fields.

What Is This?

Adding shifts is one of the most common actions on the Schedule page. Whether you are filling in an Empty schedule from scratch or making adjustments to an automatically generated schedule, the Add Shift form lets you assign a shift to a specific employee with full control over dates, times, breaks, locations, and notes.

Prerequisites

#	Prerequisite	Details
1	Access to the Schedule page	You must have at least one project with a schedule
2	Admin, Owner, or Manager role	You need permissions to add shifts
3	Employees assigned to the project	You can only add shifts to employees in the project
4	At least one schedule created	Shifts must belong to a schedule

Step-by-Step Instructions

Opening the Add Shift Form

On the Schedule page, locate the employee row where you want to add a shift.

Click the context menu (three-dot icon) on the employee’s row.

Select Add shift to employee.

A side panel opens on the right with the Add Shift form.

Understanding the Two Tabs

The Add Shift form has two tabs at the top:

Tab	Description
Period (default)	Add shifts over a date range with specific days of the week selected
Specific days	Add shifts on individually selected dates

Adding a Shift Using the Period Tab

Make sure the Period tab is selected (it is the default).

Fill in the following fields:

Field	Description
Date from	The start date of the period
Date to	The end date of the period
Days of week toggles	Click to select which days of the week the shift should apply to (e.g., Mon, Tue, Wed)
Shift template	Select a pre-defined shift template from the dropdown to auto-fill time and break fields. The template’s color is also applied.
Shift period	Auto-calculated based on the From/To times — shows the total shift duration
From (time)	The shift start time
To (time)	The shift end time
Break (minutes)	The break duration in minutes
Marks	Add any custom marks or tags to this shift
Location	Assign a work location to the shift
Note	Add a text note with additional information
Hide note	Check this box to make the note visible only to managers (not employees)

Review all fields.

Click Add a shift to save.

Adding a Shift Using the Specific Days Tab

Click the Specific days tab at the top of the form.

Instead of a date range and day-of-week toggles, you will see a calendar picker.

Click on the individual dates when you want to add the shift.

Fill in the remaining fields (shift template, times, break, marks, location, note) — same as the Period tab.

Click Add a shift to save.

Using Shift Templates

In the Shift template dropdown, select a template.

The From, To, Break, and Color fields are automatically populated.

You can still modify any auto-filled field before saving.

If no templates are available, you can create them on the Shift Templates tab of the Schedules page.

Access Permissions

Role	Add Shifts	Edit Shift Details	Use Shift Templates	Add Notes
Owner	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Admin	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Manager	Yes (assigned projects)	Yes (assigned projects)	Yes	Yes
Employee	Only if “Create own shifts” permission is enabled	No	No	No

FAQ

Q: What is the difference between the Period and Specific Days tabs?
A: The Period tab lets you add shifts over a date range with selected days of the week (e.g., every Monday and Wednesday from March 1-31). The Specific Days tab lets you pick individual dates on a calendar, which is useful for irregular schedules.

Q: Can I add multiple shifts to the same employee on the same day?
A: Yes, you can add more than one shift per day for the same employee, such as a split shift (morning and evening).

Q: What does the “Hide note” checkbox do?
A: When checked, the note is only visible to managers and administrators. Employees will not see it on their schedule view. Use this for internal comments or reminders.

Q: Do I have to use a shift template?
A: No. Shift templates are optional. You can manually enter all the time and break values without selecting a template.

Q: Can I add shifts to the Open Shifts row instead of a specific employee?
A: Yes. You can add open shifts using the context menu on the Open Shifts row. See the Open Shifts article for more details.

Possible Issues and Solutions

Issue	Possible Cause	Solution
“Add shift to employee” option is not available	Insufficient permissions or the employee is not in the project	Confirm your role and that the employee is assigned to the project
Shift template dropdown is empty	No shift templates have been created	Create templates on the Shift Templates tab of the Schedules page
Shift period shows incorrect duration	The From/To times are set incorrectly	Adjust the start and end times — the period recalculates automatically
Cannot select certain days of the week	The schedule’s date range does not include those days	Check the schedule’s start and end dates
Shift note is visible to employees	The “Hide note” checkbox was not checked	Edit the shift and enable the “Hide note” option