Frequently Questions

TopRooster adapts to the small screen, so everything appears logically and clearly. This is called "Responsiveness." It's not just a reduction of what you see on a large screen. We've created an explanatory video about how and why TopRooster looks different on your smartphone. Be sure to watch it, because if you understand what we mean, if you grasp the concept, you might find it very useful. See for this and other explanatory videos.

Tip: Something we didn't mention in the video (because it wasn't possible back then) is this: at the top of the smartphone view, there's an "All Columns" button. This allows you to switch between "one column" and "all columns" (and TopRooster remembers your final choice).

Yes, that's possible. We've made a video showing you how to place a TopRooster icon among the app icons on your smartphone or tablet, so you can access TopRooster with a single tap, just like you launch your apps. See for this and other explanatory videos.

Please check your settings: are the correct checkboxes selected in your account to receive emails? If the Administrator schedules you or unschedules you and you never receive an email, ask the Administrator if they have checked the box for "Send confirmation emails when the administrator schedules you or unschedules" in the Scheduling settings.

Background information: Every email TopRooster needs to send is actually sent. Barring any malfunctions, our system is robust and rigorously tested. However, something can still go wrong with a sent email. This is because a lot happens between TopRooster and your mailbox. For example, the email first travels to a professional email service, with which we – the makers of TopRooster – have a subscription allowing us to send a huge number of emails per day. This email service then forwards the email to you. Because this email service is a reputable professional provider known by all major spam filters, the risk of the email on its way to you being flagged as spam is significantly reduced. But that risk is never zero. And your email will have to pass through many mail servers on the "big bad internet" before it arrives. So there's always a risk, however small, that the email will somehow be labeled "spam" or "probably spam," causing it to end up in your spam box. Or worse, it might simply be blocked somewhere with a "100% spam" label, and then it simply never reaches you. At TopRooster, we send all the emails that need to be sent, and we do everything we can to reduce the spam risk, but as mentioned, that risk is never zero. In short (and this doesn't apply only to emails from TopRooster): no one can guarantee that a sent email will arrive.

Absolutely. On a Windows computer, you can hold down the Control key while scrolling your mouse. This will magnify and reduce the screen. Instead of using the scroll wheel, you can also press the plus [+] and minus [-] keys (while still holding the Control key). Pressing zero [0] will reset the screen to the default. On an Apple computer, you need to hold down the Command key, not the Control key.

NB: This works on every website!

(1) You can do this all by yourself by going to the login screen and clicking on 'Forgotten your password?'. If you follow that procedure, you're all set.

Or (2) you can also ask your schedule manager to send you an email with a link to reset your password (this link will take you directly to step 4 of the aforementioned manual; this means fewer steps for you and you might find it easier). And if you're expecting an email that doesn't arrive, check your spam box as well.

Absolutely. It has pros and cons, and we could discuss them all in detail here, but we won't. The bottom line is that it's a generally accepted login method that's convenient and secure. Also, keep in mind that if you log in to TopRooster with your Facebook account, for example, TopRooster won't know your Facebook password or access your Facebook data, let alone post anything there. Everything is completely private. All TopRooster does is link your Facebook account's unique ID to a unique account within TopRooster. So when you return and log in to TopRooster again with your Facebook account, you'll be logged into your own TopRooster account. So, no personal data whatsoever is exchanged, other than TopRooster recognizing you as the person associated with your TopRooster account. Could it be any more secure? Yes, with Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), for example, you need an additional code in addition to your social media account or password to gain access. Is that necessary? We don't think so if it's just for access to TopRooster, but that's up to you, of course. TopRooster proves that user-friendly scheduling does exist.

Yes. You can export any schedule period to an Excel file, even an entire year, for example. However, if you want to print it, it's usually a weekly or monthly schedule. You can export (part of) a schedule using the Export Schedule option, which you'll find at the bottom of each action menu for the day, week, and month. Using Microsoft Excel or other compatible software, you can make any necessary changes to the file and print it.

To log in, an email address and password are required (apart from logging in with a social media account; see elsewhere). The quickest way is therefore to create a free email address for that User at, for example, Outlook.com or Gmail.com. And because you're creating that mailbox, you'll also have access to it; so do the following right away: (1) add that new email address to that User's account in TopRooster, (2) click the "Send link change password" button in their account in TopRooster, and (3) click the link in that email to immediately set a password for that User.

Tip: use the same password for your email box and for TopRooster access (TopRooster requires: 8 to 16 characters, uppercase letter, lowercase letter, number and a 'strange character' such as an exclamation mark).

(1) You temporarily change the User's email address to another email address to which you have access. Note: Use an email address that is not yet registered anywhere in TopRooster, as this will create unwanted links. (2) Then, in the User's account, click the "Send link change password" button. And because you have access to that email account, you can (3) click the link in the email you receive there to set the password for that User. Note: Once this is done, you will immediately be logged in to TopRooster as that User. (4) You must therefore then log out and log back in as an Administrator. Afterward, don't forget to (5) change the User's email address back. From then on, that User can log in with their own email address and the password you set for them.

You'll want to use User Groups if you have clearly separated User groups and want to prevent a User from one group from scheduling a shift that's only meant for Users from another User Group. But from experience, we can tell you that the "cook" knows perfectly well not to schedule a "cleaning shift." And vice versa. If your scheduling needs are so large and/or complex that you want to use User Groups to create order, well, that's perfectly possible, and the feature works perfectly. However, keep in mind that this will mean extra work, as you'll need to link all Users and all Rule Labels to one or more User Groups. This requires extra time for an Administrator, and they need to be very careful, as a mistake can easily be made, resulting in Users being unable to schedule where they should be, or vice versa. Therefore, we recommend using the User Groups feature only when absolutely necessary.

If you block a spot in the schedule, you're indicating that you don't need anyone there. No one can then be scheduled for that spot. Moreover, that spot won't count as a schedule spot, so it won't be counted as open or occupied in the statistics. Essentially, that spot simply doesn't exist anymore.

"Locked" is something completely different and unrelated: when you lock a slot, line, day, week, and/or month, you essentially freeze that section of the schedule. No one can then make any changes (except the Administrator(s)). This means no more scheduling in or out; the schedule is frozen and will no longer change.
Note: In the "Number of days not to schedule out" section of "Administration, Schedule Settings," you can define a period before a scheduled shift during which users are no longer allowed to schedule themselves out. Scheduling will still be possible during this period, but scheduling out will no longer be possible. This is a useful feature that prevents your schedule from acquiring new open shifts at the last minute, without having to disable the scheduling option.

NB: There are two situations in which services are automatically locked:
1. If you don't have a checkbox checked under "Administration, Scheduling Settings" under "Users allowed to schedule in the past," all open shifts (i.e., scheduling buttons) that are in the past (i.e., "earlier than today") in the schedule will be automatically locked. This prevents users from making changes to a past period.
2. If you use User Groups, users will see open shifts (read: scheduling buttons) that don't belong to their own User Groups as "Locked." This way, they'll never see scheduling buttons that aren't meant for them.

After clicking on My TopRooster in the orange bar at the top, you'll see two buttons on the far right and near the top: Week and Month. Click on Week. Above the schedule, "Week x" will appear in large letters (where x is the week number). Immediately to the left of that is the Weekly Actions menu (the three horizontal orange lines); in that menu, you'll find the option to Copy Weekly Schedule.

Yes, you can: don't copy line by line, but copy an entire day (or even better, an entire week) at once to one or more locations in the schedule. Pay attention to the checkboxes at the top that allow you to indicate what should and shouldn't be copied, such as schedules and blockages.

NB: If you want to copy a week to three other weeks, for example, you don't have to do three separate copy actions, but you can do it all at once by clicking all the 'destination weeks' in succession before clicking OK (even at once to a number of weeks spread over different months).

Absolutely. You can simply double-click on that information to go directly to that window.

To do this, click the Show Groups button in the top right corner of the grid. A User Groups column will then appear to the left of the Rule Label column. TopRooster proves that user-friendly scheduling exists.