Build the month as a private draft, then publish it
Updated October 10, 2026 · 4 min read
In Capillary, you build each month as a private draft that only the department owner and schedulers can see. You can publish once every shift has someone on it. Publishing checks every shift and records who published and when. Until you publish again, clinicians see the last published version.
The draft and the published schedule
Each month in Capillary has a draft for you to build in and a published schedule for your team to work from.
| Version | Who sees it | What changes it |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | The department owner and schedulers | Save draft, or a completed trade or call-out coverage |
| Published schedule | Everyone on the team. Clinicians can also get their own shifts through a calendar link. | Publish, or a completed trade or call-out coverage |
From draft to published
- 1
Build and save
Add each shift for a range of dates, then pick a person for each one. Save draft stores your work. It checks each pick for role, overlapping shifts, approved time off and minimum rest. Published shifts at another site count in the overlap and rest checks. More in schedule rule checks.
- 2
Publish
Publish turns on once your edits are saved, every shift has someone on it and something has changed since the last publish. Capillary runs the checks again on every shift. Time off you approved after your last save can stop it here. So can a shift that another site published for one of your clinicians after your last save. Once publishing goes through, the Published schedule tab shows who published and when.
- 3
Invite your team
On the Clinicians tab, Invite emails a person a link that ties their account to their shifts. On the Team tab, you can invite anyone by email as a Clinician or a Scheduler. Each link expires after 14 days.
- 4
Clinicians see their shifts
A clinician who has joined sees their own month in My schedule, plus who else works on any day they choose. They can also make a private calendar link for Google, Apple or Outlook calendar. The link carries their published shifts from every department they work in.
- 5
Change and publish again
Edits you make after publishing stay in the draft until you publish again. To change a shift's start or end time, remove the shift and add it again. A completed trade or call-out coverage changes the published schedule and your draft at the same time.
One month's cycle, with dates
Say Dana Ortiz schedules a fictional ED, with Sam Patel as a second scheduler.
| Date | What happens | What clinicians see for December |
|---|---|---|
| Tue Nov 10 | December requests are due | No December shifts |
| Wed Nov 11 to Mon Nov 16 | Dana builds December and saves the draft as she goes | No December shifts |
| Tue Nov 17 | Dana fills the last open shift, saves and publishes at 15:00 | Their December shifts |
| Fri Nov 20 | Dana moves Ana Ruiz's Dec 24 evening shift to Leo Cho in the draft, then saves | The Nov 17 version, with Ana on Dec 24 |
| Mon Nov 23 | Dana publishes again | The new version, with Leo on Dec 24 |
Once Dana publishes on Nov 17, the Published schedule tab reads "Published Nov 17, 2026, 3:00 PM by Dana Ortiz."
Sam opened December on the morning of Nov 20, before Dana's save. When he saves his own edits that afternoon, Capillary stops him with "Someone changed this schedule. Reload before saving." Nothing Dana saved is lost. Sam reloads to get her change, then makes his edits again.
Ana's phone calendar keeps Dec 24 until Dana publishes on Nov 23. Then the shift moves from Ana's calendar to Leo's.
- 1
Schedule published
Your scheduling app publishes your shifts as a calendar feed.
- 2
Calendar link
A private address, usually starting with https or webcal.
- 3
Your calendar
Google, Apple or Outlook subscribes and refreshes it on its own timetable.
Exporting the published month
On the Published schedule tab, Export CSV saves the month as a file such as ed-schedule-2026-12.csv, with one row per shift. Clinicians export their own shifts from My schedule. The columns are listed in roster import and schedule export.
What it does not do yet
- It does not build the month for you. You pick who works each shift.
- Publishing sends no email or text.
- You publish the whole month at once. You can't publish part of it or leave shifts open to fill later.
- You can't open or restore an earlier published version.
- A department's month holds up to 1,000 shifts.
Try it
Open the demo to see a published sample month for a fictional department and export it as a CSV. It needs no account. To build and publish your own, sign in or create an account. The ED scheduling page covers the rest of the product.
Common questions
- Can clinicians see the draft?
- No. Only the department owner and schedulers see it. Clinicians see the last published version until you publish again.
- Can two schedulers edit the same month at once?
- Yes, without overwriting each other. If someone saved after you opened the month, your save stops and asks you to reload first.
Build your ED schedule with rest checked on every save.
Capillary checks role, overlapping shifts and rest, including shifts at other sites, before anything is published or traded.