User guide / Your schedule

Bringing in your schedule

Bettersubbook gets more useful the more it knows about your week. There are four ways to tell it. Here's how they compare and which to pick.

Why bring your schedule in at all?

Two reasons. First, it finds your work shifts so you don't type them in. Second, it learns your busy time (classes, meetings, other jobs). Sorting by Best Available uses that busy time to show which open shifts won't clash with your day. You can use Bettersubbook without a schedule, but you'd miss that part.

The four ways in

Method	Sign-in?	Stays up to date?	Good when…
Import a file	No	No. It's a snapshot. Re-import when things change.	You want the simplest, most private route. Works with any calendar app.
Calendar link	No	Yes. Re-read every hour.	You want it to stay current without signing in, or your school or work account blocks apps.
Link Outlook / Microsoft 365	Yes (once)	On demand. Press Scan again.	Your schedule lives in Outlook and your organization allows it.
Link Google Calendar	Yes	On demand. Press Scan again.	Your schedule lives in Google Calendar.

Which should I use?

Not sure? Import a file. It takes a minute, needs no accounts and nothing is sent anywhere. See Importing a file.
Your schedule changes often? Use a calendar link, so changes appear automatically. See Calendar links.
You like “press a button and it just scans”? Link your account. See Linking Google or Outlook.
University Microsoft account that won't let you sign in? Work and school accounts often require an administrator to approve apps. A calendar link avoids that.

Tip

You can combine them. For example, link Google for your work calendar and import a file for your class schedule. If the same shift shows up in two places, Bettersubbook only offers it once.

What happens after you add a schedule

Bettersubbook reads every eventEverything is processed on your computer. Cancelled, declined, “free” and all-day events are skipped.
Shifts go to ReviewEvents that look like shifts are put in the Review tab for you to approve or skip. Nothing becomes a shift until you say so.
Everything else becomes busy timeClasses, meetings and other commitments are saved as availability, used by Best Available and shown on the desktop calendar.

How events are told apart is explained in How shifts are detected.

Sources never overwrite each other

Each source (a file, a link, Google, Microsoft) owns the data it brought in. A new import of the same calendar replaces that calendar's earlier data. Anything you added by hand, and data from other sources, is left alone. So you can refresh one without losing the others.

Something missing or unclear? Tell us and we'll fix the guide.