Which program entry wins when entries overlap?

Overlaps are allowed and normal: a holiday notice may sit on top of the weekly rhythm without you rebuilding anything. The program decides which entry wins, using four fixed rules, without any action from you.

Four rules in a fixed order#

Paused entries drop out beforehand: an entry with the badge Paused does not run and therefore does not cover anything. For all remaining entries that apply at the same moment, the following rules apply in order:

1. One-off beats recurring. An appointment set through One-off only is the deliberate exception to the rhythm. It wins against every daily or weekly entry.
2. The shorter occurrence beats the longer one. The two-hour promotion prevails over the all-day block, because the more specific one carries the intention. For recurring entries, the entry's shortest day window counts.
3. In case of a tie, the most recently created entry wins. Whoever plans the same window twice means the newer plan.
4. If no entry applies, the base program runs.

How it looks in the weekly plan#

Overlapping blocks lie on top of each other in the Weekly plan. The winning block lies almost fully over the other, of which a narrow strip stays visible. There is neither a warning nor a lock: you plan, the program resolves it. What a single display makes of it at a given moment is shown by its Playback tab.

1 winning block · 2 visible remainder of the losing block

Two examples#

A workshop shows its offers from 07:00 to 18:00 using the quick pick Weekdays — a recurring entry. On October 3, a holiday notice should run instead. You create the notice as a one-off appointment for that day. Rule 1 applies: the one-off appointment wins, and the recurring entry stays unchanged and continues on the next weekday.

A store has an all-day block set with All day (24 h) and plans a promotion from 15:00 to 17:00, also daily. Both are recurring, so rule 2 applies: the shorter window wins. From 15:00 to 17:00, the promotion runs, and before and after it the all-day block.

What follows#

• Create exceptions for a specific day as a one-off appointment. You do not need to touch the recurring entry for that.
• Place a promotion as a short window over the longer block. The shorter window wins on its own.
• To avoid an overlap for certain, pause the losing entry instead of deleting it. Paused entries drop out of the rule and can be switched on again later.
• Two entries of the same length and the same recurrence in the same window are rarely intended. If the wrong one wins, a look at the creation date helps: the newer one wins.

Related#

• Create, edit, pause, or delete a program entry
• Read the weekly plan
• How does a display decide what is playing?