How to Reserve Time in a Calendar for Breaks and Shifts
If breaks and shift handovers keep filling up with work, reserve time in a calendar before anyone plans around it. In Planfix this happens in the hourly calendar, a planner list that shows the day hour by hour, so a held block becomes part of the hourly schedule everyone plans against. This 90-second video shows how to hold a time period so tasks are not placed on it, and how to do the same for shifts and flexible work schedules.
What you’ll learn: how to reserve time in a calendar
- Add an hourly calendar list to a planner.
- Choose what the calendar displays: a data tag such as Planned working time, or task dates.
- Reserve a period by drawing a block on the calendar grid.
- Hold the same hour every day for a lunch break.
- Reserve time for shifts and flexible work schedules.
- Let colleagues see booked time even when they cannot open the task behind it.
How to reserve time in a calendar in Planfix, step by step
Step 1. Add an hourly calendar list to your planner
Open a planner in Planfix and add a list with the Hourly calendar display view, often called the hourly block. It shows data tags that contain a Date field and a Time period field, such as the standard Planned working time and Actual working time.
Step 2. Choose what the calendar displays
The Display data section of the list settings defines what appears on the grid. One list can show several types of data tags at once, each in a color you set yourself, stored separately from the filter color. The first item in Display data is Task dates: pick it and the calendar works with tasks themselves, by their start and due date and time, instead of data tags. Two details are worth knowing: tasks longer than one day are not shown in the hourly calendar, and when more than one data tag is displayed, the one listed first is the one added to a task you create from the grid.
Step 3. Reserve the period on the grid
Click the calendar at the hour you want to hold and drag the new box to the length you need. Planfix creates a task for exactly that interval with the data tag already attached, so the slot is taken. Name it plainly — Lunch, Shift handover, Maintenance window — and the block reads as reserved to everyone who plans in the same list. With Task dates selected, the same click sets the task’s own start and due time instead, without adding a data tag.
An existing task can be reserved the same way: drag it from a list or task calendar onto the grid, and the data tag set in the hourly block is added to it. Moving or stretching the block changes the values in its Time period field, and the same task can be dragged in several times, each time taking another slot.
Step 4. Reserve breaks, shifts and flexible hours
A break repeats, so the block that holds it should repeat too: keep one reserved block per day and the hour stays out of reach of new work. Shifts follow the same pattern — one block per shift, in a color of its own, so a day covered by two shifts reads at a glance. For a flexible schedule, reserve only the hours that are already committed and leave the rest of the grid open: the calendar then shows real availability instead of a nominal nine-to-five.
Step 5. Show booked time without giving access to tasks
Colleagues who plan in the same calendar do not need access to the tasks behind a reserved block. Tasks they cannot open are shaded diagonally, and clicking one shows only who booked the time and for how long — enough to stop them scheduling anything over it. One condition applies: the calendar’s selection parameters must not filter by statuses or custom fields the person cannot access, because tasks that fail such a condition are not displayed for them at all.
Example: a lunch hour that stays free
Say the team eats between 13:00 and 14:00. Click the hourly calendar at 13:00, drag the box down to 14:00 and name the task Lunch. The data tag set in the block is attached, so the hour is occupied in the very list where the team’s work is planned. Anyone hunting for a free slot sees it taken and puts the call or the meeting at 12:00 or 14:00 instead.
The same block drawn across a longer period holds a maintenance window, a shift or a shared resource. Booking a meeting room in the hourly calendar works on exactly this principle: the room’s time is occupied, visibly, before anyone else needs it.
Who it’s for
- Team leads: protect breaks and handovers so planning does not quietly eat them.
- Support and shift teams: one reserved block per shift, so cover is visible for the whole day.
- Field and service teams: hold travel time between visits instead of planning back-to-back jobs.
- Office managers: book meeting rooms and equipment in the same hourly grid as the work.
- Anyone doing focused work: reserve the first hours of the day and keep meetings outside them.
FAQ
How do I reserve time in a calendar so no tasks are placed on it?
Draw the block yourself. Click the hourly calendar at the start of the period, drag to its end, and Planfix creates a task for that interval with the data tag attached. The slot then shows as occupied to everyone who plans in the same list.
Can I reserve time for a lunch break every day?
Yes. A break is an ordinary reserved block, so holding the same hour in each day of the hourly calendar keeps it out of reach of new work. Shifts and flexible hours are reserved the same way.
Will colleagues see a reserved slot without access to the task?
Yes. Tasks they cannot open appear shaded diagonally in the hourly calendar, and clicking one shows only who booked the time and for how long — enough to keep them from planning over it.
Start with one reserved hour
Pick the hour your team keeps losing — lunch, a shift handover, the first hour of the morning — and hold it in the hourly calendar this week. Reserved blocks sit next to employee work schedules, so planned absences and held hours appear in the same picture. If the block repeats on a fixed rule, see how to schedule recurring tasks. New to Planfix? Sign up to try it.
