1. Setting Up Schedule Workflows

Schedule workflows can perform actions on specific date and time values. They can run once or repeatedly in equal intervals, over a period of time. The two types of schedule Creator offers are:

1. Custom Schedules - Starts to run on a specific date and time you provide.
   Example - An email can be sent to all organization users reminding them to submit claims on the 15th of every month.
2. Form Schedules - Starts to run on the date and time values recorded in a Creator field.
   Example - A notification can be sent to employees on a day before their onboarding, prompting them to collect their assets and access cards. It will be sent based on the onboarding date mentioned by the employee in a Creator form.

1.1. Schedule Workflow Creation Flow

1.2. See How to Configure

1.3. Steps to Create a Custom Schedule

To create a custom schedule where you provide a date and time for the schedule to start running:

1. Navigate to the edit mode of your application and click the + icon in the top-left corner of the page.
   
2. Click Workflow to create an automation from scratch.
   
3. Choose On a scheduled date to create a schedule workflow.
   
   
   Note: Alternately, you can navigate to the Workflow tab and shift to the Schedules section. Afterwards:

   1. If you are creating a schedule for the first time, click Create Workflow in the center or click New Workflow in the top-right corner.
      
   2. If you've already created schedules, click New Workflow in the top-right corner to create a new schedule.
      
4. You will land in the Specify Date and Time section. Here, you configure a custom schedule to run on a date and time that you provide.
   
   
   1. Start date and time - Choose a date and time when the schedule needs to start running.
   2. Run - Choose from Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly, or Once. This decides the period in which the schedule needs to be repeated.
   3. Name the workflow - Enter a name for the workflow.
5. Click Create Workflow after specifying your preferences. You will be directed to the schedule workflow builder to configure actions based on your schedule configuration.

The scheduler will start to run on the custom date and time and might continue to run on a regular interval as specified.

According to the configuration depicted in the above image, the schedule will start at 15:30:00 hours on 29/02/2024 and send a notification to the user every month on the same day and time.

1.4. Steps to Create a Form Schedule

To create a form schedule where you select a Creator application's form field based on which the schedule starts running:

1. Navigate to the edit mode of your application and click the + icon in the top-left corner of the page.
   
2. Click Workflow to create an automation from scratch.
   
3. Choose On a scheduled date to create a schedule workflow.
   
   
   Note: Alternately, you can navigate to the Workflow tab and shift to the Schedules section. Afterwards:

   1. If you are creating a schedule for the first time, click Create Workflow in the center or click New Workflow in the top-right corner.
      
   2. If you've already created schedules, click New Workflow in the top-right corner to create a new schedule.
      
4. Select the Choose a Date Field tab to schedule a workflow based on the input value of a Creator field.
   
   
   1. Start date field - Select a form and a compatible field. The schedule runs based on the date and time that this field provides.
   Note:

   1. Compatible fields are Date, Date-Time, and the system fields Added Time and Modified Time. The schedule runs based on the date and time at which the record is created or edited respectively.
   2. If the chosen field is a Date field, separately choose a time at which the schedule should run.
        
      For the Date-Time field and the Added Time, Modified Time system fields, the time stamp present along with the date value will be considered.
      
   1. Execute workflow - Choose a configuration from the below table that suits your needs:
      1. On the date above - Start the first schedule on the date mentioned in the Creator field.
      2. After - Start the first schedule after a specified number of minutes, hours, days, or weeks from the date mentioned in the Creator field.
      3. Before - Start the first schedule before a specified number of minutes, hours, days, or weeks from the date mentioned in the Creator field.
   Example - Say the Start date field value is 24/02/2001 and the scheduler is configured to start 4 weeks after this date. The actual date on which the schedule will start is 24/03/2001.
   1. After field - Select a single line field. The schedule will run on the final date derived by counting the input from the single line field forwards after the Creator's field's value.
      Input values: <count>minute, <count>minutes, <count>min, <count>mins, <count>hour, <count>hours, <count>day, <count>days
   2. Before field - Select a single line field. The schedule will run on the final date derived by counting the input from the single line field backwards before the Creator's field's value.
      Input values: <count>minute, <count>minutes, <count>min, <count>mins, <count>hour, <count>hours, <count>day, <count>days
   Example - Say the selected single line field's value is "3 days" for a record. The schedule will run after 3 days from the Start date field value for that particular record.

Configurations to execute the schedule workflow on a date based on the Start date field:

Note: The maximum count value for the days and weeks are 1000.

1. Repeat Interval - Choose from Once, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly. This decides the time period in which the schedule needs to be repeated.

Note: If Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly is selected:

1. End date field - Select the necessary Creator field, whose input value up to which the schedule will run. Compatible fields are Date, Date-Time, and the system fields Added Time and Modified Time.
2. Execute workflow Until - Choose On the date above, After, or Before to run the last schedule on the date mentioned in the Creator field or on a date that comes before or after it.
   
   If After or Before is chosen, mention the specific Count of Days or Weeks after or before the chosen field's value, to execute the last schedule.
   
   The maximum count value for the days and weeks are 1000.

1. Name the workflow - Enter a name for the workflow.
2. Run this process - Choose to run the schedule always or on a condition. If on condition is selected, specify the condition further.
   

5. Click Create Workflow after specifying your preferences. You will be directed to the schedule workflow builder to configure actions based on your schedule configuration.

2. Managing Schedule Workflows

Schedule workflows in Zoho Creator include the following manage options:

1. Enabling or disabling schedule workflows
2. Deleting schedule workflows
3. Rearranging the schedule workflow actions
4. Editing and deleting the schedule workflow actions criteria
5. Editing and deleting the schedule workflow actions

2.1. Enabling or Disabling Schedule Workflows

Note: Disabling the workflow will temporarily suspend its execution without deleting it.

1. Navigate to the Schedules tab under the Workflows section in the edit mode of your application. All schedule workflows configured in the application are listed here.
   
2. Click the Status toggle next to the preferred schedule workflow to enable or disable it.
   

2.2. Deleting Schedule Workflows

1. Navigate to the Schedules tab under the Workflows section in the edit mode of your application. All schedule workflows configured in the application are listed here.
   
2. Hover over the workflow and click on the delete icon () that appears to delete the workflow permanently.
   

2.3. Rearranging the Schedule Workflow Actions

1. Navigate to the Schedules tab under the Workflows section in the edit mode of your application. All schedule workflows configured in the application are listed here. Click the preferred schedule workflow to open the workflow builder.
   
2. Click and drag on the left slider to rearrange the action block entirely.
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3. Hover over the action and click and drag on the drag handle to rearrange the actions within the action block. You can also move the action from one action block to another.
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2.4. Editing and Deleting the Schedule Workflow Actions Criteria

1. Navigate to the Schedules tab under the Workflows section in the edit mode of your application. All schedule workflows configured in the application are listed here. Click the preferred schedule workflow to open the workflow builder.
   
2. Hover over the criteria on top of the action block to reveal the edit () and delete icons (). If criteria is not configured for the action block, only the edit icon will be visible.
   
3. Click on the edit icon () to open the Edit Criteria pop-up.
   
   
   1. Modify the existing criteria or add new ones, then click Save Criteria
      
4. Click the delete icon () to remove the criteria from the action block.
   

2.5. Editing and Deleting the Schedule Workflow Actions

1. Navigate to the Schedules tab under the Workflows section in the edit mode of your application. All schedule workflows configured in the application are listed here. Click the preferred schedule workflow to open the workflow builder.
   
2. Hover over the action inside the block to reveal the () and delete icons ().
   
3. Click the edit icon () or directly click on the action to modify its configuration.
   
4. Click the delete icon () to remove the action entirely.
   

3. Points To Note

1. The number of custom schedules that can be executed per user per month depends on your Creator plan. See our pricing page.
2. If you set the schedule to repeat monthly but the chosen date doesn't occur in the current month, the schedule will not run. Instead, it will wait until the next month with the same day number to execute. For example, if the start date value is 31-Mar-2024, the next monthly schedule will be on 31-May-2024.
   
3. A schedule workflow set to repeat 'once' based on a Date-Time field will not reschedule for the newly modified time. This applies when the record's input Date-Time field, on which the schedule is configured, is updated during its own execution. Rescheduling such workflows within their own execution is not supported.
   

4. Related Topics

1. Understand Schedules
2. Create and Manage Schedule Actions
3. Configuring notification actions for schedule workflows 
4. Configuring data access actions for schedule workflows 
5. Configuring Deluge script for schedule workflows 
6. Configuring integration actions for schedule workflows