How to Set Starting Times Using Daily Planner in PT

Once your brackets are verified, the Daily Planner lets you schedule start times for each event across your available courts. This generates a projected schedule you can review, adjust, and share with players before tournament day. Watch the short video below or follow the step-by-step instructions for full detail.

Note

All events must be verified and listed under the Waiting tab in Live Console before you can generate the Daily Planner. If any events still show under Verify, complete verification first.

Table of Contents

  1. How to set starting times
  2. Sharing start times with players
  3. Frequently Asked Questions
  4. Related Resources

How to set starting times

  1. From your Live Console, click Generate Planner at the top of the page. Verify that the number of Verified events matches Events in Planner, and that Not Verified is zero. Click Generate.
  2. Open the 3-line menu and select Daily Planner.
  3. Click Edit Start Times to see all events and their current scheduled times.
  4. Enter your preferred start time for each event. If you're unsure, set the earliest available time for all events — you can adjust after viewing the projected schedule.
  5. Click Save Changes, then View Daily Planner.
  6. Review the planner. The T column shows total matches starting at that time; W shows matches waiting (can't go directly to court). If you have too many waiting matches, go back to Edit Start Times and stagger your start times.
  7. Repeat for each day of your tournament.

Sharing start times with players

  1. Once satisfied with the schedule, click List of Start Times and use the email option to send start times to players.
  2. Go to Edit Tourney and scroll to Show Start Times. Choose whether to pull start times from the Daily Planner or the event record, then toggle Post Start Times Now to Yes. This adds a start times link to your public tournament page.
  3. Set when draws are shown to players — most tournaments use Day of Event.
Warning

If you make any changes to events after generating the planner — adding or removing teams, changing score format, adjusting start times — you must re-generate the Daily Planner from Live Console for those changes to be reflected.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do T and W mean in the Daily Planner view?

T stands for Total — matches whose brackets start at that time. W stands for Waiting — matches that can't go directly to court because courts are already occupied. High W numbers mean your schedule is congested at that time slot. Stagger start times to reduce waiting matches.

Do I need to re-generate the planner if I make changes?

Re-generate the planner from Live Console after any event change. Even adjustments to start times in the Edit Start Times screen require a re-generate to update the planner view.

What's the difference between Daily Planner start times and event record start times?

In Show Start Times under Edit Tourney, you can choose to pull start times from the Daily Planner or the event record. If you have overlapping events, pulling from the event record may give cleaner results since the Daily Planner accounts for sequential bracket endings.

Can I switch between Daily Planner and event record for start times while my tournament is running?

Yes — you can switch which source Show Start Times pulls from at any point in Edit Tourney. Be aware the two can show different times: Daily Planner is only an estimate, since it assumes every match takes exactly the time you programmed and can't account for matches that finish early or for empty courts opening up mid-round-robin that let other brackets squeeze in. If you're intentionally running more matches than you have courts for using Next Available Court — an advanced technique not recommended for first-time TDs — event record may reflect a faster, more accurate schedule than Daily Planner predicts. If you switch sources mid-tournament, let players know their start time may shift.  However, switching between these two is not recommended.  We highly recommend picking one and sticking with it.

Questions about scheduling? Email support@pickleball.com.