A Shift Series lets you set up recurring shifts from a single pattern instead of building each shift by hand. This article explains what a Shift Series is, how it differs from a regular shift, how to create and manage one, the Opportunity settings that control it, and how users join and leave a recurring schedule.

1. What is a Shift Series?

A Shift Series is a set of recurring shifts created from one shared template and a repeat pattern (for example, "every Tuesday from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM").

Instead of creating each shift by hand, you define the pattern once and Vome generates the individual shifts for you automatically.

A helpful way to think about it: the series is the rule, and each shift is a real, dated event created from that rule, much like a recurring event on a calendar.

This is ideal for:

• Weekly or monthly recurring programs
• Ongoing commitments
• Standing schedules
• Any Opportunity that repeats on a regular pattern

2. How is a Shift Series different from a regular shift?

A regular shift exists on a single date (or a few set dates), and users reserve one shift at a time.

A Shift Series works differently:

• It is built from a repeat pattern plus a template, rather than a single date.
• Vome creates the upcoming shifts automatically and keeps generating future shifts over time.
• Users can join the entire schedule in one action, rather than reserving each occurrence individually.
• Series shifts display a Series badge and a "Repeats" line showing the cadence (for example, "Repeats: Every Tuesday, 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM").
• Guest and party size are set once for the whole series and applied to every shift.
• When editing, you choose how widely the change applies.

A note on future shifts: Vome creates shifts roughly six months ahead and keeps extending the schedule automatically. Dates beyond that window appear as read-only "Upcoming recurring shift" rows. There is nothing to do for those. They are scheduled automatically as the date approaches, and the user's spot is already held.

3. How do I create a Shift Series?

When creating shifts, choose "Recurring shifts" instead of a single or consecutive date.

Then set:

1. A start date and one or more time slots.
2. The repeat pattern (for example, every Tuesday, or every two weeks).
3. An end date, or select "No end date" to create an open-ended series that continues indefinitely.
4. The shift details that make up the template: title, description, capacity, location, tags, coordinators, visibility, group reservation settings, and more.
5. Optionally, pre-assign profiles so that selected users are added to every shift in the series.

When you create an open-ended series, Vome generates roughly the first six months of shifts right away and continues adding future shifts automatically. Later auto-generated shifts will not re-send the "new shift" notification for the Opportunity.

4. How do I edit or manage an existing series?

You can edit a series in two ways.

Editing from the calendar with a scope. When you open a shift that belongs to a series, you choose how widely your change applies:

• This shift only
• This and future shifts
• All shifts in the series

The same scope choice applies when you cancel a shift, assign users, or remove users.

A few things to know:

• For "this and future" or "all" edits, the series template is updated too, so shifts created later use the new values.
• For time changes applied to future or all shifts, only the time of day moves. Each shift keeps its own date.

Editing the series template directly. Open "Manage recurring series," select a series, and edit the template (title, capacity, and so on). Your changes apply to every active future shift in the series and to new shifts generated later.

5. What happens if I customize one shift and then edit the whole series?

This is the most common question, so here is exactly how it works.

When you edit a single shift, Vome remembers which fields you customized on that shift. If you later make a series-wide edit (this and future, or all), Vome respects those customizations and skips any field you changed individually. Your one-off change survives the bulk edit.

If you want the series value to override a customization, the edit screen shows a checkbox: "Force every shift to match the series." This checkbox appears only when an affected shift has a customization, and it lists which fields were customized. Checking it clears those customizations first, so the new value applies everywhere.

Example:

1. You have a "Setup" series on Tuesdays with five shifts.
2. You open Thursday's shift, rename it "Setup (STAFF ONLY)," and save with the scope "This shift only." Only Thursday shows the new title.
3. Later, you open Tuesday's shift, rename it "Volunteer Setup," and choose the scope "All shifts."
   • If you leave the checkbox unchecked (the default), every shift becomes "Volunteer Setup" except Thursday, which keeps "Setup (STAFF ONLY)."
   • If you check "Force every shift to match the series," Thursday's customization is cleared too, and every shift becomes "Volunteer Setup."

6. How do I end or cancel a series?

You control this through the cancel scope:

• Cancel with the scope "This and future shifts" truncates the series. Future shifts are cancelled and Vome stops generating new ones past that point.
• Cancel with the scope "All shifts" ends the series. Every future active shift is cancelled, while past shifts are preserved for your records.

7. Can I edit or cancel shifts far in the future that have not been created yet?

Yes. You can act on a future occurrence even before Vome has generated it. Vome records your change (a skip or an edit) and applies it automatically when it generates that date. Already-created shifts are edited or cancelled directly.

8. What settings control how users join a series?

Shift Series behavior is controlled at the Opportunity level, on the Opportunity customize page under "Shift series settings."

By default, series are invisible to users, so existing Opportunities behave exactly as before until you choose to turn this on.

Reservation policy

• Disabled (default): series shifts behave like regular one-off shifts, with no option to join the recurring schedule.
• Allowed: users can either reserve a single shift or join the recurring schedule.
• Required: if a shift belongs to a series, the user must join the series in order to reserve it.
• Admin only: series shifts are hidden from the user calendar, and only an administrator can enroll users.

Cancellation policy

• Disabled (default): users must contact an administrator to leave.
• Anytime: users can leave whenever they choose.
• Follows the shift: users can leave, but any shift already inside its cancellation window stays locked.

Other settings

• Let users choose their start date: when on, a user can pick when their commitment begins. Otherwise it starts immediately.
• Require ongoing commitment: forces an open-ended commitment with no set end date.
• Minimum and maximum commitment length: set the shortest and longest commitment a user can choose.
• Notify admin on join and Notify admin on leave: send a notification each time a user joins or leaves the series. Both are on by default.

In addition, if the Opportunity is set to request to book, series joins are submitted for approval. An administrator must approve the request before the user is added to the shifts.

9. How do users join a Shift Series?

When the Opportunity allows it, a user selects "Join recurring schedule." Depending on your settings, the join screen may include:

• A start date picker (if you allow users to choose a start date).
• A commitment length option (within the minimum and maximum you set).
• A notice when an ongoing commitment is required.
• A guest or party size option, captured once and applied to every shift.
• A plain-language summary of the commitment.

After joining:

• On an instant-book Opportunity, the user is added to the recurring schedule right away and can drop any single shift from My Shifts.
• On a request-to-book Opportunity, the request is sent to the coordinator for approval before the user is added.

10. What does joining a series reserve?

Joining a series reserves every upcoming shift in the series, plus every new shift the coordinator adds later.

Users cannot pick only some occurrences when joining a series. They join the whole schedule. If you want to allow single-shift reservations instead, set the reservation policy to Allowed so users can reserve individual shifts one by one.

11. How do users leave a series?

The leave screen lets a user choose the scope:

• Just this shift
• This and all future shifts
• All shifts in the series
• Schedule a last day

If your cancellation policy follows the shift, any shift already inside its cancellation window stays on the user's schedule and they are still expected to attend. If cancellation is disabled, the user is asked to contact their coordinator.

12. Common questions

If I add a new recurring shift months from now, does it notify everyone again?
No. Auto-generated shifts past the initial window do not re-send the "new shift" notification. Users already on the recurring schedule are simply added to them.

Can a user reserve just one week of a series?
Only if the reservation policy is Disabled or Allowed. If it is Required, the user must join the whole series. Admin only hides series shifts from users entirely.

A user joined indefinitely. When do they stop being scheduled?
When they leave, or an administrator removes them. Past attendance is always kept.

I customized one shift and it did not change when I edited the whole series. Is that a bug?
No, this is intended. See question 5. Use "Force every shift to match the series" if you want the customization overwritten.

Why do I see greyed-out "Upcoming recurring shift" rows with no buttons?
Those are future shifts beyond the current generation window. They are scheduled automatically as the date approaches, and the spot is already held. There is nothing to do.