Recurring Unavailability
Most volunteers can serve most weeks, but almost every team has someone with a standing conflict: a small group leader who is never available on the 1st Sunday of the month, a parent who can't do Saturdays, a chorister who travels every other Sunday. Adding individual blackout dates one Sunday at a time is tedious and error-prone. With recurring unavailability, a volunteer sets a single repeating pattern and the system fills in the actual blackout dates automatically.
How It Works
There are two pieces:
- A recurring unavailability pattern saved for a volunteer on each of their serving teams (e.g., "Sarah Smith: every other Sunday").
- Concrete blackout dates for the next three months, created as soon as the pattern is added and topped up by an automatic process every Sunday at midnight. Those concrete dates feed into the same availability system the auto-scheduler already uses, so a volunteer's recurring conflict is honored everywhere.
Because the dates are topped up weekly with a 3-month look-ahead, your team's blackout calendar always stays roughly 90 days ahead of "today", even for months in the future where new occurrences haven't been generated yet.
Supported Patterns
| Pattern | Matches |
|---|---|
| Every Sunday | Every Sunday |
| Every Other Sunday | Sunday on even-numbered weeks of the year |
| 1st Sunday of Month | The first Sunday each month |
| 2nd Sunday of Month | The second Sunday each month |
| 3rd Sunday of Month | The third Sunday each month |
| 4th Sunday of Month | The fourth Sunday each month |
| 5th Sunday of Month | The fifth Sunday (when one exists) |
| Every Saturday | Every Saturday |
| Every Wednesday | Every Wednesday |
Note: The current pattern set is Sunday-heavy because most repeating church services are Sunday-based. If you need a custom day pattern that isn't on this list, fall back to entering specific blackout dates (or a date range) from the Serving Availability page (see Managing Volunteer Availability).
Adding a Recurring Unavailability Pattern
From the Member Portal (volunteer-side)
- Sign in to the Member Portal and open My Schedule.
- Tap Scheduling preferences to open the Serving Availability page.
- Find the Recurring Patterns section and click Add Pattern.
- In Add Recurring Pattern, pick a Pattern (e.g., "1st Sunday of Month").
- Optionally add a Reason (optional) (e.g., "Work schedule", "shared custody weekends"). The reason is stored on every generated blackout date so leaders know why you're unavailable.
- Save.
The pattern is immediately active, and your blackout dates for the next three months are created right away.
What Happens After You Save
- Your pattern is saved on every serving team you belong to.
- For each Sunday/Saturday/Wednesday in the next 3 months that matches the pattern, the system creates a blackout date on your availability.
- Existing blackout dates are not duplicated. Dates that already exist are left untouched.
- The auto-scheduler, smart suggestions, and self sign-up all start treating you as unavailable on those dates immediately.
Removing a Pattern
If your standing conflict ends (you step down from small group leadership, custody arrangement changes, etc.):
- Go to Serving Availability in the member portal (My Schedule → Scheduling preferences).
- In the Recurring Patterns section, find your pattern.
- Click remove and confirm "Remove this recurring pattern?".
When a pattern is removed, already-generated blackout dates stay in place. They are not auto-deleted. This is intentional: if you remove the pattern but actually still want to be off this coming Sunday, you'd be frustrated to lose that blackout. To clear specific upcoming dates, remove them individually from the Upcoming Unavailable Dates list (or tap a blocked Sunday in My Schedule → Availability).
Admin View
Admins do not have a dedicated "recurring unavailability" admin screen, but they can see the resulting blackout dates:
- On the volunteer's Serving tab in People (under Unavailable Dates).
- As an On Leave badge on the team's Members tab.
- In the Unavailable group of the Find Volunteers window, and as – cells on the Schedule Grid.
How the Dates Are Worked Out
For each active pattern, the system:
- Takes a date range from "now" through "now + 3 months".
- Walks through every day in that range.
- For each day, asks the pattern "do you match this date?" (e.g., is it a Sunday? is it the 2nd Sunday of the month?).
- For matching dates, adds a blackout date to the volunteer's availability. Dates that already exist are left alone, and only genuinely new dates are inserted.
- Stamps each generated record with the pattern's reason (or a default like "Recurring: 1st Sunday of Month") so admins can see at a glance why the date is blocked.
Edge Cases
| Situation | Behavior |
|---|---|
| You add a pattern, then add an event-specific blackout for the same date | Both records exist; the date is treated as unavailable. No conflict. |
| You add a pattern, then want to serve on a specific generated date | Removing just that one date doesn't last, because the weekly top-up adds it back. Remove the pattern, remove that date, and add the pattern back afterwards. |
| You change pattern (e.g., from 1st Sunday to 2nd Sunday) | Currently you must remove the old pattern and add a new one. Already-generated dates from the old pattern stay until manually removed. |
| You leave a team | Patterns on memberships that are no longer active generate no new dates. |
Related Automation
The recurring unavailability dates are topped up by an automatic process every Sunday at midnight. See Automation and Scheduled Jobs for the complete list of automatic volunteer tasks.
Tip: Because a new pattern creates its dates right away and the weekly top-up keeps them three months ahead, auto-fill always sees a volunteer's standing conflicts.
Removing a Recurring Pattern
When you remove a recurring unavailable pattern, you are warned that the dates it already blocked stay on your list until you remove them. The message afterward says how many dates stayed. (8.205.305)
Last updated: 2026-10-21 (8.205.306).