# Setting up scheduling

Get a location ready to schedule in Mays — choose Mays or 7shifts as its schedule, set the day its week starts, and pick who appears on the schedule.

For: Admins, Managers · On: Web · [Help Center](https://www.mays.app/help) › [Scheduling](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling) · Last updated October 4, 2026 · Mays Team

Before you build your first schedule, tell Mays how each location schedules: in Mays or in 7shifts, which day its week starts, and who should appear on the schedule.

Scheduling is part of the **Pro** plan (and the 30-day free trial). If your plan doesn't include it, **Scheduling** shows a small lock in the sidebar and opening it says *"Scheduling isn't included in your plan"* with an **Upgrade plan** button; the apps have no **Schedule** tab.

## Open a location's scheduling settings

1. Go to **Locations & Users → Locations** and click the location.
2. On the **Edit Location** page, open the **Scheduling** tab.

You can also go to **Scheduling → Settings** and click a location's name at the top of the page.

Every setting on this tab **saves as soon as you change it** — there's no Save button.

![The Edit Location page for the South location on its Scheduling tab: the Scheduling source card set to Native (Mays), the Schedule week start card set to Mon, the Temporary availability and Auto punch-out cards, and the Time clock card on the right](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__set-up-scheduling__01-location-scheduling-tab.4289981a07.png)

## Choose where the schedule lives

The **Scheduling source** card has two choices:

| Choice | Use it when |
| --- | --- |
| **Native (Mays)** | You build and publish the schedule in Mays. Your team sees it in the **Schedule** tab of the app. This is what the rest of the scheduling articles describe. |
| **7shifts mirror** | The location still builds its schedule in 7shifts. Mays reads who's working from 7shifts for things that need to know who's on shift — sending tasks to the people on shift, late clock-in calls and reports. |

With **7shifts mirror**, the Mays schedule screens still work, but those features follow 7shifts rather than shifts built in Mays. The **Schedule** tab in the app only shows shifts built in Mays, so your team keeps using 7shifts to see their shifts. The Time Clock's **Today** view isn't available for these locations yet.

The card says **Explicitly set** once someone has picked a source, and **Auto-resolved** if nobody has. An auto-resolved location switches to **7shifts mirror** by itself as soon as a 7shifts connection covers it, so pick the source on purpose.

**Moving from 7shifts to Mays?** An admin can turn on **Scheduling data sync** under **Integrations → 7shifts**. Mays then copies your 7shifts shifts, time off, availability, positions and wages into Mays and switches the connected locations to **Native (Mays)**. Anything copied from 7shifts carries a **7shifts** badge; once you edit it in Mays, 7shifts stops updating it. Changes you make in Mays aren't sent back to 7shifts.

## Set the day the week starts

The **Schedule week start** card picks the day this location's schedule week begins — the first column of the schedule grid, the week the team sees in the app, and the week you publish.

- A location that has never been changed follows the organization's day: **Scheduling → Settings → Workweek & overtime → Schedule week starts on** (Monday unless an admin changed it). Only admins see that setting.
- Once you pick a day on the location, it keeps that day even if the organization's day changes later.
- Payroll weeks are separate — they follow the pay-period start date in **Scheduling → Settings**.

## Choose who appears on the schedule

1. Go to **Scheduling → Schedule** (the page follows the location picked at the bottom of the sidebar).
2. Click **Manage staff**.
3. Tick **Scheduled** for everyone you schedule, and untick the rest.
4. Drag people by the handle to set the order of the rows.
5. Click **Save**.

![The Manage staff dialog listing Ava Admin, Emma North, Olivia South, Owen South and Sam South with drag handles and a Scheduled checkbox, ticked for the three employees](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__set-up-scheduling__02-manage-staff.d3a21a1eb0.png)

- The list shows everyone assigned to the location. To add someone, assign them to the location on the **Locations & pay** tab of their page under **Locations & Users → Users** first — see [Add and invite team members](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/add-team-members).
- Employees start out **Scheduled**; admins and managers don't, so tick yourself if you work shifts.
- On the web, only **Scheduled** people can be picked for a new shift. Unticking someone never hides shifts they already have that week.
- The order you save is the order of the rows on the schedule grid.

## Other settings on the Scheduling tab

The same tab holds the location's other scheduling rules. The ones you'll meet in the next articles:

- **Temporary availability** — lets staff send availability for a date range (on by default). See [Setting your availability](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/set-your-availability).
- **Shift confirmations** — staff tap **Confirm** on each published shift (on by default). See [Shift confirmations](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/shift-confirmations).
- **Event reminders** — the morning push about events on the schedule (on by default). See [Schedule events and birthdays](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/schedule-events-and-birthdays).
- **Labor & compliance** — break rules, including the break warning before you publish. See [Labor & compliance (per location)](https://www.mays.app/help/time-clock/labor-compliance).
- **Time clock**, **Punch verification**, **NFC punch tags**, **Auto punch-out**, **Auto-scheduler** and **Tip pool** — how clocking in works and what the scheduling assistant may do. [Scheduling settings](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/scheduling-settings) lists where each one is explained.

## Who can do this

- **Admins** can change any location; **managers** can change the locations they're assigned to (anyone whose role can build the schedule).
- The organization-wide settings in **Scheduling → Settings** — the default week start, pay periods, overtime, approvals and time-off categories — are for **admins** only. Managers see a note that an admin manages them.
- All of this is on the web; the apps use what you set here.

## Good to know

- Next, set up your jobs and pay — see [Positions and wages](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/positions-and-wages) — then [build the weekly schedule](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/build-the-schedule).
- If a change doesn't stick (the box snaps back), your role can't change scheduling settings for that location. Ask an admin.
- Staff use the **Schedule** tab of the app for their shifts, and can add them to their own calendar — see [Calendar sync](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/calendar-sync).

## Related articles

- Scheduling: [Positions and wages](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/positions-and-wages) — Create the jobs people work — Barista, Cashier, Line Cook — with a colour and a default hourly wage, give people their positions and pay, and see where Mays uses them.
- Scheduling: [Building the weekly schedule](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/build-the-schedule) — Build a location's week on the web — add, move, copy and edit shifts, add open shifts, and keep an eye on time off, availability and labor cost while you work.
- Scheduling: [Publishing the schedule and notifying staff](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/publish-the-schedule) — Your team only sees a week once you publish it. Check the warnings, choose who gets notified, publish — and republish, undo or clear a week when plans change.
- Team & roles: [Add and manage locations](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/add-and-edit-locations) — Add your stores to Mays, keep their address, phone, email and time zone up to date, and find each location's billing, phone receptionist and scheduling settings.
- Team & roles: [Roles and permissions](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/roles-and-permissions) — What the built-in Admin, Manager and Employee roles can do, how location access works, and how to build a custom role from individual permissions.
- Scheduling: [Calendar sync — see your Mays schedule in your own calendar](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/calendar-sync) — Subscribe to your shifts, the full schedule or events from Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or Outlook — and what to do when they don't refresh.
- Scheduling: [Scheduling settings](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/scheduling-settings) — The organization-wide scheduling settings admins control — the schedule week, overtime, pay periods, approvals and time off — and where each location's own settings live.
- Scheduling: [Shift confirmations](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/shift-confirmations) — Staff confirm each published shift in the Mays app, managers see who has confirmed, and anyone who hasn't gets a reminder when the shift is close.
- Scheduling: [Schedule events and birthdays](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/schedule-events-and-birthdays) — Mark catering orders, inspections and other one-off days on the schedule, with a morning reminder for that day's staff. Birthdays show on the schedule too.

## Still need help?

Send us a support request and a real person on the Mays team will get back to you.

[Contact support](https://www.mays.app/contact?topic=support) · [Call +1 (561) 286-3939](tel:+15612863939)

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/set-up-scheduling