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Timeline

Get a bird's eye view of your campaigns and manage durations in the Communicate App.

#timeline #campaign-management #scheduling #organization

Timeline

A Bird's Eye View of Your Campaigns

The Timeline shows your campaigns as colored bars across weeks—overlap, durations, and season planning at a glance—without listing every communication. Open it from Timeline in the sidebar (desktop). Owners, Admins, Managers, and Editors get it; Viewers use a reduced sidebar (Calendar / Campaigns) and don’t see Timeline there.

Use the Timeline for campaign-level planning. Use the Calendar when you need channel rows and individual communications.

Plan: Viewing, filters, View toggles, and Quick Add Campaign are on Essentials and Plus. Dragging or resizing campaign bars needs Plus (Timeline editing).

1. Layout

The Timeline always shows about two months of campaign bars—week mode only (no day mode like the Calendar).

  • Week start: Same personal setting as the Calendar. Change it in User Settings → Profile → Start of Week → First Day of Week (Sunday or Monday). Week bands and day letters update right away.

  • Columns: Eight weeks at a time (56 days). Each week band shows a date range (for example Jan 12 - 18); under it, day letters (S M T W T F S or Monday-first). Column width flexes with the window; the week count stays eight. The current week can show a red marker in the header.

  • Campaign bars: Color-coded by campaign color; overlapping campaigns stack vertically. Draft campaigns can show a Draft label when View → Drafts is on. Hover a bar for date end-caps; arrows can appear when a campaign continues past the visible window.

2. Interacting with Campaigns

1. Quick Add Campaign (create from a date range)

Available on Essentials and Plus—no Plus upgrade required just to create.

  • Where: The date row under the week labels (light blue day cells). Idle hint: Quick Add Campaign (click & drag). Hover a cell for ← + →.
  • How: Click and drag across the start and end days (either direction). A pill shows the selected dates. On release, New Campaign opens (or New Global Campaign / New Campus Campaign when multi-campus applies) with Start date and End date filled—add title, category, color, then Create. You stay on the Timeline (you’re not sent to the campaign page). Close without creating to cancel.

2. Moving a campaign (Plus)

Drag a bar left or right to keep the same length on new dates. The Date Changes modal opens with Campaign (New Dates) and Communications (New Dates) (or (Unscheduled) for items without dates). Confirm saves; Cancel puts everything back.

On Essentials, attempting to drag opens an upgrade prompt for Timeline editing.

3. Extending a campaign (Plus)

Drag the left or right edge outward. Date Changes often shows Communications (No Change) when existing items still sit inside the new range—you’ll adjust placements later on the Calendar or the campaign Communication Schedule. Cancel reverts.

4. Shortening a campaign (Plus)

Drag an edge inward. If communications fall outside the new range, Date Changes lists Communications (Out-of-Range) and asks how to handle them:

  • Set all out-of-range communications to "Unscheduled." — Clears their dates (they stay as drafts to reschedule on the campaign schedule), or
  • Delete all out-of-range communications. — Confirm with Confirm Deletion / Delete (this can’t be undone).

Confirm applies your choice; Cancel reverts. Nothing is auto-deleted without that step.

5. Opening a campaign

Click a bar (without dragging) to open that campaign’s page—details, assets, and Communication Schedule.

Multi-campus (Plus)

When multi-campus is on, global campaigns can’t be dragged or resized from a campus workspace, and campus-scoped users can’t drag or resize global campaigns from any workspace. Campus-owned campaigns follow the usual Timeline rules for your role and plan. Scope badges can show Global or a campus name when relevant. You can still click through to open a locked global campaign.

3. Navigation

  • Always week-based (no Days mode).
  • Title bar: Timeline plus the month range in view (for example Jan, 2026 or Jan - Feb, 2026).
  • Period controls: single step = 1 week; double step = 7 weeks (not a full eight-week page jump). Today brings the current week into view without clearing filters.
  • You can move indefinitely forward or backward through time.

4. Filtering

Filter offers Categories and Campaigns (not channels—channels belong on the Calendar). Matching campaigns stay highlighted; others fade but stay interactive (you can still drag them on Plus). Layer category and campaign filters together. Active filters appear as removable chips.

5. View

Use View (same idea as the Calendar):

  • Campaigns — Global and Campus toggles (most useful when multi-campus is on).
  • Status — Drafts (off by default). Turn on to show draft campaigns with a lighter / Draft appearance.

View options reset when you leave the Timeline and come back.

Tips

  • Use Quick Add when you already know the campaign window—dates are filled for you.
  • Use Date Changes carefully when shortening: choose Unscheduled if you still need those communications.
  • For channel-by-channel placement, jump into the campaign or the Calendar after the bars look right.

Additional Resources

Last updated: 2026-07-14

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