Scheduled triggers

Scheduled triggers fire a workflow template on a calendar. You can fire it once at a specific moment, or repeat it on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly pattern. This page covers both.

The two scheduled trigger kinds

You pick a scheduled trigger from the kind picker on the trigger node. Two of the four options are scheduled:

Run just once -- the workflow fires at one specific date and time and never again
Run on a schedule -- the workflow fires repeatedly on a pattern you set

Pick "Run just once" for events that happen on a single date, like the launch day of a new product or a one-off training session. Pick "Run on a schedule" for anything routine, like the morning open, the weekly stocktake, or the monthly fire alarm test.

Set up a "Run just once" trigger

The one-off scheduled trigger is the simplest of the two.

Open the workflow template on the canvas
Click the trigger node at the top of the canvas
Click the kind picker and choose Run just once
In the Starts section, pick the start date and start time
In the Ends section, pick the end date and end time
Publish the template

The workflow run is created on that start date and is expected to be finished by the end. It will not fire again.

The field descriptions are:

Starts date (date picker, required) -- the date the workflow run is scheduled for
Starts time (time picker, required) -- the time of day the workflow run is expected to start
Ends date (date picker, required) -- the date by which the run should be finished
Ends time (time picker, required) -- the time of day by which the run should be finished

If you set a start date in the past, the run will not appear on the date scroller because that day has already gone. Pick a future date.

Set up a "Run on a schedule" trigger

The recurring trigger fires the workflow over and over on a pattern.

Open the workflow template on the canvas
Click the trigger node
Click the kind picker and choose Run on a schedule
Pick start date and start time, and end date and end time (the same way as the one-off trigger)
A second dropdown appears next to the kind picker, showing the frequency (for example "Daily" or "Weekly"). Click it to open the frequency popup
Configure the frequency, the days, and how the schedule ends
Publish the template

A new workflow run will be created for each occurrence the pattern produces.

The frequency popup is where you set the repeating pattern. The top of the popup has a Frequency label with four buttons:

Daily
Weekly
Monthly
Yearly

The fields shown underneath change depending on which button is picked. The sections below describe each.

Daily

Every N day(s) (number input, required) -- pick how many days between each run. Set to 1 for every day, 2 for every other day, 7 for every seventh day, and so on
Weekdays only (Mon-Fri) (checkbox, optional) -- when ticked, the run skips Saturdays and Sundays

Weekly

Every N week(s) on (number input, required) -- pick how many weeks between each cycle. Set to 1 for every week, 2 for every other week
Day buttons (toggle buttons, required) -- pick one or more days from Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun. The workflow fires on each picked day inside each cycle

Monthly

Monthly has two modes, picked with the radio buttons:

On day N (number input from 1 to 31) -- fire on a fixed day of the month, like the 1st or the 15th. If the day does not exist in a given month (for example the 31st of February), that month is skipped
On the [position] [weekday] (two dropdowns) -- fire on a relative day. The position dropdown has 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and Last. The weekday dropdown has Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, plus three shortcuts -- Day (any day), Weekday (Mon to Fri), and Weekend Day (Sat or Sun). So you can pick patterns like "the 1st Monday of every month" or "the Last Weekday of every month"

The Every N month(s) input above the radio sets how many months between each cycle.

Yearly

Every N year(s) (number input, required) -- pick how many years between each run. Set to 1 for every year. The workflow fires on the same date and time each year, based on the start date

How the schedule ends

Underneath the frequency controls there is an Ends section with three options:

Never (radio, default) -- the workflow keeps firing for as long as the template exists
After N occurrences (radio with number input) -- the workflow stops after the chosen number of runs have been created
On (radio with date picker) -- the workflow stops on the chosen end date. The date picker only allows dates after the start date

The 7-day preview

Below the controls is a Next occurrences preview showing when the next 7 runs will be created. It updates as you change the frequency, the days, the start date, and the end conditions. This is your safety net -- if the preview does not match what you expect, the rule is wrong, not the preview.

The preview only appears for recurring triggers, not for "Run just once" or for manual templates.

Gotchas

A few things catch people out:

If your start date is in the past, the frequency button in the popup disables and shows Only future dates can repeat. Pick a future start date to enable repeating
When the interval is 1, the popup label drops the number. So a daily schedule with an interval of 1 shows as Daily, not Every 1 day. With an interval of 2 it shows as Every 2 days. Same pattern for weekly and yearly
The popup label for a monthly schedule always shows as Monthly, regardless of the interval, because the monthly mode is more about the day pattern than the count
The label Weekdays shows up instead of Daily if you tick "Weekdays only (Mon-Fri)"
A monthly "On day 31" pattern skips months that do not have a 31st. If you want the workflow to fire on the last day of every month, use "On the Last Day" in weekday mode instead

Tips

Always check the Next occurrences preview before publishing. If you scheduled "every Friday" but the preview lists Mondays, your weekday toggles are wrong
For most weekly patterns, leave the interval at 1 and just pick the day buttons. Use "Every 2 weeks" only when you really do skip a week
Use the relative monthly mode ("1st Monday", "Last Weekday") for things tied to a working pattern, not a date. It avoids the "month skipped because there is no 31st" trap
If the schedule should stop on a specific known date, set Ends -- On rather than counting occurrences -- it is much easier to reason about later
Start dates can be in the future. Pick a Monday next month to delay rollout while you finish testing the template

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