Recurring Events

Qik gives you two ways to repeat an event. You can make a fixed set of copies, such as an 8-week course, or you can set up an Event Repeater, which keeps a rolling number of upcoming events in your calendar and adds a new one each time one finishes. This article covers both, how to change a series once it exists, and what happens to individual events when you do.

Two ways to repeat an event

Repeating an existing event

1. Open the event, or select it in an event list.
2. Choose the Repeat this event action.
3. When asked How should this event repeat?, pick Ongoing or A set number of times.

You need permission to create events of that type to see this action.

Ongoing

Fill in how often it repeats and how many events to keep in the calendar at once:

• Every a number of days, weeks or months.
• For monthly repeats, On the same date each month, or the first, second, third, fourth, fifth or last of a weekday (for example, the last Friday).
• How many to have in the calendar at a time: between 1 and 52.
• Ends: Never, or On a date with a Last date.
• Run sheet template (if your organisation uses run sheets): each new event gets its own copy. See Run Sheets.

The modal previews the dates that will be in the calendar. Click Start repeating. The event you started from becomes the first event in the series, and an Event Repeater is created with its details as the template.

A set number of times

Choose Repeat every, the Period (Days, Weeks or Months), and Number of events to create. The dates are listed before you confirm. Click Create Events. Each copy keeps the original event's details, including its scopes, custom fields and rooms.

If a copy's room is already booked at that time, that copy isn't created. You'll see a message for each date that failed and a count of how many were created. See Venues, Facilities and Room Booking.

Creating an Event Repeater from scratch

You can also set up a repeater without an existing event. In the Events section, open Event Repeaters and click the + button. The create page has three parts:

• Title: the repeater's name. Events use it as their title unless you give them a different one.
• Schedule:
  • When: the First date, Start time and End time, or All day. Every event lasts as long as the first. Times use your organisation's timezone unless you click Change.
  • Repeats: every so many days, weeks or months, with the monthly options described above.
  • In the calendar: have the next n in the calendar at a time.
  • Ends: Never, or On a date.
• Event details: what each new event is created with. This includes the event type (if your organisation has more than one), event title, subtitle, body, image, facilities, sessions, forms, group, Expected People, doors open and close minutes, any custom fields for that event type, and an optional run sheet template.

When you save, Qik creates the first batch of events straight away.

How occurrences are created

• A repeater always tries to keep the number of upcoming events you chose. When an event finishes, the next date in the schedule is created, usually within a minute or so of the end time.
• Times are kept on the clock in the repeater's timezone, so a 6pm event stays at 6pm across daylight saving changes.
• Monthly "same date" repeats on the 29th, 30th or 31st fall on the last day of shorter months. Monthly "fifth weekday" repeats skip months that don't have a fifth one.
• Events are created on behalf of your organisation and carry the repeater's scopes, so people who could see the repeater's events can see the new ones.
• If a room in the template is already booked for a date, the event is still created, but without that room. It's flagged Needs a room, and the event's Rooms Not Booked field lists the missing rooms. Add a room to the event and the flag clears.
• If Ends is set to a date, no events start after that day. Once the last one is created and nothing is left to schedule, the repeater stops by itself.

The repeater page

When you edit a repeater, its settings are in tabs: Schedule, Event Template, Upcoming Events and Meta Data. A Summary panel beside them shows:

• The schedule in plain words, for example "Every Wednesday · 6:00pm–8:00pm · next 5 always in the calendar · repeats forever".
• The upcoming events that already exist. Click one to open it. Any that couldn't get a room are marked Needs a room.
• The dates that will be added as each one finishes.
• Buttons to Top up now (create any missing upcoming events immediately) and Stop repeating now. A stopped repeater shows Start repeating again instead.

The Upcoming Events tab also shows Recent activity: events created, rooms that couldn't be booked, failures and stops.

Each event created by a repeater shows a Repeats via button at the top that links back to its repeater.

Editing one event vs the whole series

Editing a single event

Open the event and edit it as normal. That event is now treated as edited individually, and later changes to the repeater won't overwrite it.

Cancelling a single date

Delete that event. The repeater remembers the date was used and won't recreate it, so the gap stays. It will still add another event at the far end to keep your number of upcoming events.

Changing the whole series

Edit the repeater and save. If your change affects the events' details or timing and there are upcoming events already, Qik asks Update upcoming events?:

• Update upcoming events too: upcoming events that nobody has edited individually are updated to match. The description tells you how many will change and how many will be left alone. If you changed the schedule (for example, 6pm to 7pm, or Wednesday to Thursday), their dates move to the nearest date in the new schedule.
• Only new events: upcoming events stay as they are, and the changes apply to events created from now on.

When the dates move, an event that people are already part of stays where it is. That means someone has registered for it, checked in to it, or been rostered on and confirmed or not yet replied. Events edited individually are also left alone.

If you lower the number of events to keep in the calendar (for example, from 8 to 3), Qik asks whether to Keep all of them or Remove the extras furthest out. Events people are part of are never removed.

Stopping a series

Click Stop repeating now and choose:

• Stop, and keep the upcoming events: the events already in the calendar stay.
• Stop, and delete the upcoming events: upcoming events are deleted, except ones people are registered, checked in or rostered on for.

Past events are never changed. A stopped repeater is set to inactive. You can click Start repeating again at any time, and it tops up straight away. Archiving a repeater has the same effect as stopping it.

Permissions

• To create or change a repeater you need the matching permissions for Event Repeaters. To make an existing event repeat you also need permission to edit that event.
• Events created by a repeater, and changes it carries onto upcoming events, are made by the system on your organisation's behalf. The person editing the repeater doesn't need edit access to each event.
• A stopped, archived or deleted repeater creates nothing. Neither does one belonging to an organisation that has been deactivated.

Tips

• Use an ongoing repeater rather than hundreds of copies. Your calendar stays tidy, and changes to the template reach future events without bulk editing.
• Set up the run sheet template and Expected People on the repeater rather than on each event, so every new occurrence starts ready to go.
• An event that is already part of a repeater can't be made into a second repeater. You can still make one-off copies of it.
• Check for Needs a room warnings in the Summary panel after you set up a series that books rooms.

FAQs