Why do the hours have a tilde?

Because they only count what can be counted: past spots that have both a start and an end time. A spot with no date yet, a spot without times, an RSVP, a carpool answer, or a form response adds nothing. Give your slots times and the hours take care of themselves.

Does spots per person stop me adding someone twice?

No. The cap applies to the public page only. From the Sign-ups tab you can add, move, and reassign people as much as you need.

Is “can't this time” the same as unsubscribing?

No, and the page says so. It marks one person as unavailable for one sheet; the last call skips them and the invite card shows it. They stay on your People page and still hear about the next sheet. The stop-these-emails link at the bottom is still there for people who want out altogether.

What if my range doesn't divide evenly into shifts?

The last shift is clipped to the end time. Six to seven o'clock in 45-minute shifts gives you 6:00–6:45 and 6:45–7:00, never a shift that runs past the end.

Roundup · October 15, 2026

the small things add up

Four small things: hours served, spots per person, “can't this time,” and shifts by time

None of these is a headline. Each of them came from a church that wrote in with a sentence, and each one took a sentence to describe back. Here they are together, all on every plan unless noted.

The short version: The People page now shows hours served and prints them on the certificate. A sheet's Settings tab gains Spots per person. Invitations end with a one-click Can't this time that the last-call blast respects. And the Slots tab gains Add shifts (by time) beside Add dated slots.

Hours served

A youth pastor asked how to get a student's service hours off the People page without a calculator. The slots already knew the answer: a 9:00–10:30 greeter shift is an hour and a half. So every past spot a person held that has both times now adds up, beside their sign-up count on People, in the People CSV, and on the certificate as the line a service-hours form wants. Help: Volunteer milestones & certificates.

Spots per person

An angel tree with 60 tags and one very generous family taking nine of them before Sunday lunch. Spots per person caps how many spots one email can hold on a sheet. The page says the limit at the top, the limit counts what they already hold plus what they're picking, and it never applies to people you add yourself. Sheets that don't require an email can't count a sign-up that gave none, and the card tells you so.

“Can't this time”

Invite your regulars sent the invitation and never heard back, so the last-call blast nagged people who had already decided. Each invitation now ends with Can't this time? Let them know. One click, no reply needed. The invite card shows who said it and how many, and the last call leaves them be.

It is deliberately not an unsubscribe. They stay on your People page and still hear about the next sheet. The stop-these-emails link is still at the bottom for people who want out altogether. Help: Invite your regulars & the last-call blast.

Add shifts by time

Add dated slots makes one slot per date. Its new sibling makes one slot per time: a start, an end, and a shift length, and every slot between is laid out with its own times. Six PM to six AM every hour is a 24-hour prayer vigil, and yes, it runs overnight. Nine to noon every twenty minutes is a morning of pastor appointments. The preview shows exactly the shifts you'll get before you press the button. Help: Create a sign-up sheet.

Common questions

Why do the hours have a tilde?: Because they only count what can be counted: past spots that have both a start and an end time. A spot with no date yet, a spot without times, an RSVP, a carpool answer, or a form response adds nothing. Give your slots times and the hours take care of themselves.
Does spots per person stop me adding someone twice?: No. The cap applies to the public page only. From the Sign-ups tab you can add, move, and reassign people as much as you need.
Is “can't this time” the same as unsubscribing?: No, and the page says so. It marks one person as unavailable for one sheet; the last call skips them and the invite card shows it. They stay on your People page and still hear about the next sheet. The stop-these-emails link at the bottom is still there for people who want out altogether.
What if my range doesn't divide evenly into shifts?: The last shift is clipped to the end time. Six to seven o'clock in 45-minute shifts gives you 6:00–6:45 and 6:45–7:00, never a shift that runs past the end.

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