Import a schedule someone sent you

A .schedlock file holds a complete schedule: rotation, term dates, breaks, alarm groups and alarms.

Opening one takes you to a review screen listing everything in the file with a switch beside it. Nothing saves until you tap Import, and nothing rings until you activate the schedule. This page covers both, and what happens when the same person sends you a revised file later.

1. 01

   Open the file with ScheduleLock

   Save the .schedlock file to Files first, from wherever it arrived — a Drive link, a message, an email.

   In Files, tap the Share button in the bottom corner and choose ScheduleLock. Don't tap the file itself: iOS previews .schedlock as a text document and shows you the raw contents instead of opening the app.

   If ScheduleLock isn't in the row of apps, tap More. To import without the share sheet: in the app, menu → Schedule Settings → the upload icon at the top of the Schedules screen.

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2. 02

   Check the header first

   The card at the top shows the schedule's name, its cadence, its term dates, and counts of groups, alarms and holidays.

   Check the cadence and term dates match your school. A file built for a different school imports without complaint — nothing here warns you it's the wrong one.

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3. 03

   Switch off what you don't want

   Every group and every alarm in the file has its own switch, and all of them work before anything is saved.

   Switching a group off still imports it, disabled — turn it on later from the Alarms tab if you want it. Individual alarms work the same way. Use this for anything specific to the sender: a duty period, an early meeting, a prep block you don't teach.

   The line above the list — “3 of 3 groups enabled · 7 of 7 alarms enabled” — recounts as you flip switches.

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4. 04

   Set what each break does

   Each break arrives with the sender's setting on a chip. Tap the chip to change it.

   All three keep the same days silent; they differ in what the rotation does afterwards. Pause resumes where the cycle left off. Reset restarts at Day 1 on the first day back. Continue counts through the break without ringing.

   Only applies to a rotating schedule. Change it if the sender's school returns on a different day type than yours — the Pause, reset, or continue tutorial linked below shows each setting on a real calendar.

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5. 05

   Tap Import

   Import saves exactly what's on screen, then asks whether to activate the schedule.

   Not yet saves it without changing what you're currently running. Activate now makes it the schedule the app runs from. Imported schedules are never activated on their own.

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6. 06

   Activate it when you need it

   Imported schedules are listed under menu → Schedule Settings, each with its cadence, term dates, and an Activate button.

   One schedule is active at a time. Activating this one deactivates your current schedule — it isn't deleted, and its own Activate button switches back.

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7. 07

   If they send a revised file

   Open a newer file for a schedule you already have and the header compares the two by revision number and offers Update or Import as copy. The button at the bottom reads Update.

   Update overwrites the schedule you already have, in place. Import as copy leaves it untouched and saves a second, separate schedule.

   Update re-proposes the sender's switches, so a group you turned off last time is on again — check the list. It does keep the sound and volume you customised on any alarm whose time and label haven't changed.

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