Channel Preferences and Schedules

Fine-tune how each channel behaves when you plan communications on the Calendar and inside campaigns. Channel Preferences and Channel Schedules are configured in the same Channels side panel you use to add, edit, and reorder channels (open Channels from the sidebar). For focused feature tutorials, see Quick Start: Channel Preferences and Quick Start: Channel Schedules.

Think of three layers:

1. Your channel list — what touchpoints you plan against (Email, Instagram, and so on).
2. Channel Preferences — light rules (preferred send day, days to avoid) when you want guidance without a full recurring structure.
3. Channel Schedules — named, repeating slots per channel (Plus / schedule-enabled plans), with optional Lock to schedule so communications must sit inside those slots.

Channel Preferences

Expand a channel row to find the Preferences section.

• Turn Preferences on or off. When on, you can set:
  • Preferred day — choose None or a weekday.
  • Excluded weekdays — tap the day chips (Mon–Sun) to block days you do not want for that channel.
• Save or Reset.
• If your role cannot edit preferences, you may see a note such as Only owners and admins can edit preferences.
• If the preferred day conflicts with excluded days, validation can show Invalid scheduling setup with Preferred day cannot also be excluded.

Preferences help with patterns like “we avoid bulk email on Sundays” or “this channel posts on a Tuesday/Thursday rhythm” without defining a full schedule. For how Preferences interact with the Calendar, Campaign Schedule, and Smart Templates, see Quick Start: Channel Preferences.

Channel Schedules

Expand a channel row to find the Schedule section.

Channel Schedules are available on Plus (schedule-enabled) plans.

• Turn Schedule on to configure a recurring pattern for that channel.
• Give the schedule a Schedule name (for example, “Weekly Email”), pick a Color, and set how it Repeats (for example Weekly, Monthly (by weekday), or Monthly (by date)), how often (Every N week(s) or month(s)), which day or week it Occurs on, and a Start Date.
• Optionally set Min comms and Max comms to hint at capacity per slot (leave Max comms empty for no limit when that option is shown).
• Save when you’re done.
• Clear removes a schedule (confirm Clear schedule?).
• Turning Schedule off may prompt Turn off schedule? (assignments vs comms that stay on the calendar).

Lock to schedule

Lock to schedule (or unlock) forces that channel’s comms into the defined slots. You may see Lock channel to schedules with counts and options such as Lock Only or Lock + Auto-Assign. Locking doesn’t delete comms; auto-assign moves what it can.

Switching between Preferences and Schedule

Unsaved changes in one section may prompt Switch to schedule? or Switch to preferences? before you continue.

Collapsed channel rows

When a channel row is collapsed, you may see a short hint: schedule name, a preferred-day chip, Auto when no preference or schedule chip applies, or a lock icon when the channel is Locked to schedule.

Related features

• Calendar — Channel rows and, when applicable, Schedule on the calendar and messages about preferences or locked schedules while you plan.
• Campaigns — Communications Schedule on the campaign page respects these rules; Options can include showing schedule-related views where the product provides them.
• Templates — Smart Templates can work with schedules and preferences when placing communications.

Additional Resources

For more detail on managing the channel list itself (add, edit, reorder, delete), see Channels. Explore Documentation for all guides, or email [email protected] with questions.