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Getting started guide · Tutorial 2 of 5 · 5 min read

Build your first schedule

A schedule is three things: the jobs (or things to bring), how many people each job needs, and the dates. You fill them in on one page, and VolunteerSlot turns them into a sign-up page for your volunteers.

We’ll use a school PTO as the example, but it works the same for a library, a pantry or a church.

  1. 1

    Press + New schedule

    On your Schedules page, press + New schedule in the top right. (On a brand-new account you can also press the big Build my first schedule button.)

    The top of the Schedules page, with the + New schedule button circled.

    Tap the picture to see it bigger.

  2. 2

    Choose what you're scheduling

    First, what do people sign up for? Tick Shifts to work for time people give, like reading with a student or running a table. Tick Things to bring for food or supplies. You can tick both (there’s more on that in step 6).

    Then, how often?

    • One date is for a single event: a book fair, a food drive, a cleanup morning.
    • Repeats weekly is for the same day or days every week: reading buddies every Tuesday, pantry Sundays, Friday story time.

    Press the ones that fit. They turn green.

    Two questions. What do people sign up for, pick one or both: Shifts to work is ticked, Things to bring is not. How often: One date or Repeats weekly, with Repeats weekly selected.

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  3. 3

    Give it a name and the details

    • Title: what volunteers will see at the top of the page, like “Fall Book Fair”.
    • Description (optional): anything everyone should know. Where to check in, what to wear, who to ask for.
    • Location (optional): where it happens.
    The Details section filled in: Title Fall Book Fair, a description asking volunteers to help students find books and wear comfy shoes, and Location Maple Street Elementary, Gym.

    Tap the picture to see it bigger.

  4. 4

    Pick the dates

    For one date, click the Date box and choose the day from the calendar.

    For a weekly schedule, choose the Month, then press each weekday it happens on. Every matching date appears underneath in green. Tap a date to skip it (a holiday, a closure, a teacher workday). Tap it again to bring it back.

    Good to know: a weekly schedule covers one month at a time. When you’re ready for the next month, you can copy the whole schedule in one step (that’s in the last tutorial).

    For a one-date schedule, a single Date box showing 11/14/2026, with Saturday, Nov 14 written underneath.
    One date: just pick the day.

    Tap the picture to see it bigger.

    For a weekly schedule: Month is November 2026, Tue and Thu are selected, and the dates below are listed with Thu, Nov 26 crossed out and the note: Skipping 1 date — holidays, closures, whatever you need.
    Repeats weekly: pick the month and the weekdays, then tap any date to skip it. Here Thanksgiving is skipped.

    Tap the picture to see it bigger.

  5. 5

    List the jobs

    For each job, fill in:

    • Job: a short name, like “Reading buddy” or “Cashier”.
    • Fewest and Most: how many people it takes. “Fewest 2, Most 4” means you need at least 2 to run it, and you’ll happily take up to 4. If you need exactly 3, put 3 in both.
    • What this job involves (optional): one or two sentences. Volunteers read this before they pick, so mention anything like heavy lifting or a background check.

    Need another job? Press + Add job. Added one by mistake? Press the ✕ next to it.

    The Jobs section with one job: Reading buddy, Fewest 2, Most 4, Date On that date, and the description: Read with one student at a time. Books are waiting on the cart.

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  6. 6

    Optional: add things to bring

    If you ticked Things to bring, a section for them appears under the jobs. For each one, fill in:

    • Item: what you need, like “Brownies (2 dozen)” or “Paper plates”.
    • Needed and Up to: how many people should bring it, and how many you’ll take. Two brownie bakers needed, with room for a third, is Needed 2, Up to 3.
    • Details (optional): anything they should know, like “nut-free, please” or “enough for 50”.

    People can sign up to bring as many items as they like. The one-shift-a-day limit only applies to shifts, so someone can bring the brownies and work the 9–11 table.

    Good to know: a potluck or meal sign-up with nothing but food? Untick Shifts to work and the Jobs section goes away.

    Shifts to work and Things to bring both ticked, with the note: Both on one sign-up link — people can bring something and take a shift. One date is selected under How often.
    Tick both, and bakers and table helpers sign up on the same link.

    Tap the picture to see it bigger.

    The Things to bring section with three items: Brownies (2 dozen), Needed 2, Up to 3, with the note Cut and wrapped in twos, please; Pumpkin bread, Needed 2, Up to 2; and Gluten-free treats, Needed 1, Up to 2, with the note Label them so we can keep them apart.

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  7. 7

    Optional: let the volunteer pick the day

    Some jobs don’t need a set day: copying the take-home folders, picking up donations, shelving returns. For those, change the job’s Date to Volunteer picks a day.

    You can then set which days it can be done, like Monday through Thursday so the folders are ready for Friday. Each volunteer tells you which day they’ll come when they sign up.

    A job called Take-home folder copying, Fewest 1, Most 2, with Date set to Volunteer picks a day, and Can be done Monday through Thursday.

    Tap the picture to see it bigger.

  8. 8

    Press Create schedule

    The yellow bar at the bottom adds it all up for you, for example “1 job × 7 dates, needing 14 sign-ups”. If that looks right, press Create schedule.

    What you’ll see: your new schedule’s page, with its sign-up link at the top and a grid of every job and date underneath. Nobody has been told about it yet. That only happens when you share the link.

    The yellow bar at the bottom of the page reading 1 job × 7 dates — needing 14 sign-ups, with the Create schedule button circled.

    Tap the picture to see it bigger.

  9. 9

    Change anything later

    Nothing is set in stone. On your schedule’s page you can:

    • Change the time a job runs: click the job’s name, fill in Runs … to …, and press Save. (You can also set times on the setup page, under each job.) Volunteers see the time when they sign up and in their calendar invite.
    • Turn a job into something to bring (or back): click its name, tick Something to bring, not a shift, and press Save.
    • Add a job, an item or a date you forgot, with the buttons under the grid.
    • Remove a date by pressing the ✕ at the top of its column.

    Good to know: there’s also an Anytime tasks section, both on the setup page and further down your schedule’s page, for work with no day at all, like making signs before the event. Don’t use + Add a job or item for these; that puts the task on every date.

    The schedule grid: the Reading buddy job down the left, a column for each date with the volunteers signed up, and + Add a job or item and + Add a date buttons underneath.
    The grid on your schedule page. Use + Add a job or item or + Add a date for anything you forgot.

    Tap the picture to see it bigger.

    The Reading buddy job opened for editing: its name, description, 2 to 4 people, an unticked Something to bring, not a shift box, Runs 2:30 PM to 3:00 PM, and the Save button circled.
    Click a job's name to rename it, change how many people it needs, add the time it runs, or turn it into something to bring.

    Tap the picture to see it bigger.