This article is for people with visual or cognitive impairments who use a screen reader program such as Windows Narrator, JAWS, or NVDA with Microsoft 365 products. This article is part of the Microsoft 365 screen reader support content set where you can find more accessibility information on our apps. For general help, visit Microsoft Support.
Use the Microsoft Shifts app in Microsoft Teams with your keyboard and a screen reader to create a schedule. We have tested it with Narrator, JAWS, and NVDA, but it might work with other screen readers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques. You'll also learn how to add and edit shifts, copy and share schedules, and more.
Notes:
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New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.
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To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
In this topic
Create a schedule
You must be a team owner to create a schedule.
A schedule belongs to a team in Microsoft Teams, so you can only add members of that team to the schedule. If you don't find the person you want to add, you can make them a team member or owner. For instructions, refer to Use a screen reader to add members to a team in Microsoft Teams.
Changes you make to the team might not be available right away in Shifts, so if you don't find the new team member you want to add to the schedule, wait a bit and try again.
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In Microsoft Teams, open the Shifts app as instructed in Basic tasks using a screen reader with Microsoft Shifts. The Select a team schedule window opens. Press the Tab key until you hear "Link, create a new schedule," and then press Enter.
Tip: If you already have a schedule open in Shifts and want to create a new one, press the Tab key until you hear "Shifts header," and then press Enter. Press the Tab key until you hear "New schedule," and then press Enter.
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You hear: "Create a new team schedule." Press the Tab key or the Down arrow key until you hear "Create," followed by the name of the team you want, and then press Enter. The shifts grid view opens.
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To add a group to organize your schedule, press the Tab key until you hear "Schedule view options," press the Right arrow key until you hear "Add group," and then press Enter. An unnamed group is created.
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To name the group, press the Tab key until you hear: "Group name, unnamed group." Press the Tab key once more. You hear: "More options." Press Enter. Press the Up arrow key until you hear "Rename group," press Enter, and then type a new group name. Press the Tab key until you hear "Save," and then press Enter. To learn how to rename a group later, refer to Rename a group.
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To add people to the group, press the Tab key until you hear "Add people," and then press Enter. The focus is in the search text field. Start typing the name of a person you want to add to the group. The search results are updated as you type. To browse the results, press the Down arrow key until you hear the name of the person you want to add, and then press Enter. Press the Tab key until you hear "Add," and then press Enter. Press the Tab key until you hear "Close," and then press Enter. To learn how to add people to the group after you've created the group, refer to Add people to the group after creating the schedule.
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The schedule is created. You are now ready to add shifts for team members. For instructions, refer to Add a shift.
Open a schedule
If you need to edit or update an existing schedule, you can quickly open it and then rename a group or add people to it, or add or edit a shift, for example.
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In Microsoft Teams, open the Shifts app as instructed in Basic tasks using a screen reader with Microsoft Shifts. The Select a team schedule window opens. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "View schedule for," followed by the name of the team you want. Press Enter to select.
Tip: If you already have a schedule open in Shifts and want to open another one, press the Tab key until you hear "Shifts header," and then press Enter. Press the Tab key until you hear the name of the first team in the list, press the Down arrow key until you hear the team you want, and then press Enter.
Rename a group
You can rename a group at any time to give it a more descriptive name and keep your schedule organized.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Group name," followed by the name of the group you want to rename.
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Press the Tab key once. You hear: "More options." Press Enter to select.
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You hear: "Rename group." Press Enter to select, and then type in the new name.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Save," and then press Enter.
Add people to the group after creating the schedule
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Group name," followed by the name of the group where you want to add people.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Add people to group," and then press Enter. A dialog box for adding people opens. The focus is in the search text field.
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Start typing the name of a person you want to add to the group. The search results are updated as you type. To browse the results, press the Down arrow key until you hear the name of the person you want to add, and then press Enter.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Add," and then press Enter.
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If you want to add more people to the group, repeat steps 3 and 4 for each person you want to add.
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When you're done, press the Tab key until you hear "Close," and then press Enter.
Add a shift
When you have created the basic schedule as instructed in Create a schedule, you can start adding shifts to your team members. You can create a shift from scratch, add an existing shift, or copy a shift to another place in the schedule. You can also create an open shift.
Create a shift from scratch
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In the schedule, press the Tab key until you hear "Open context menu for," followed by the name of the team member to whom you want to add a shift.
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When you're on the right row in the schedule, press the Tab key until you hear "Open context menu," and then press Enter. You hear: "Add shift." Press Enter to select.
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To create the shift as an open shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Open shift," and then press Enter. To learn how to create open shifts later, refer to Create an open shift.
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To set the date for the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Select a date for this shift," and then press Enter. Use the arrow keys to navigate to the date you want, and then press Enter.
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To set the start time for the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Shift start time picker," and then press Enter. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate to the time you want, and then press Enter.
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To set the end time for the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Shift end time picker," and then press Enter. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate to the time you want, and then press Enter.
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If you want to show a label instead of shift time, press the Tab key until you hear "Custom label, Show instead of time," and then type in the label text.
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If you want to add an unpaid break time, press the Tab key until you hear "Add unpaid break," press Spacebar, type in the break time, and then press Enter.
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If you want to add notes related to the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Notes for this shift or time off," and then type a note.
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If you want to add additional breaks or the breakdown of daily activities to the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Add activity," press Enter, and then do the following:
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Type in the name of the first activity.
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To set the activity start time, press the Tab key until you hear "Start," press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the time you want, and then press Enter.
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To set the activity end time, press the Tab key until you hear "End," press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the time you want, and then press Enter.
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To add another activity, press the Tab key until you hear "Add new," press Enter, and then repeat the steps a - c. Repeat this step for each additional activity you want to add.
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When you're ready, press the Tab key until you hear "Done," and then press Enter.
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When you're done creating the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Command bar, Add shift," press the Right arrow key until you hear "Save," and then press Enter.
Add an existing shift to the schedule
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In the schedule, press the Tab key until you hear "Open context menu for," followed by the name of the team member to whom you want to add a shift.
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When you're on the right row in the schedule, press the Tab key until you hear the date where you want to add a shift.
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When the focus is in the right date cell, press the Tab key until you hear "Open the shift lookup menu," and then press Enter. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Use shift," followed by the name of the shift you want, and then press Enter to select.
Tip: If the list of existing shifts is long, you can search for the shift you want. Press Shift+Tab until you hear "Search for shifts," and then type your search term. To browse the search results, press the Tab key until you hear the name of the shift you want, and then press Enter.
Copy a shift to another place in the schedule
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In the schedule, use the Tab key, Shift+Tab, or the arrow keys to navigate to the shift you want to copy, and then press Ctrl+C.
Tip: To select several shifts at once, move the focus to the first shift, then press and hold the Shift key and use the arrow keys to select the adjacent shifts.
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Press the Tab key until you hear the location where you want to paste the shift, and then press Ctrl+V.
Create an open shift
When you create a shift as an open shift, you can assign it to someone later as part of your schedule planning or share it with the team so people can request it.
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In the schedule, press the Tab key until you hear the name of the group where you want to add an open shift.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Add people to group," and then press the Tab key once more. The focus is on the Open shifts row of the selected group.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Open context menu," and then press Enter. You hear: "Add open shift." Press Enter to select. The Add shift window opens.
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To set the number of shift openings available to the team members, press the Tab key until you hear "Select the number of slots," and then press Spacebar. Press the Down arrow key until you hear the number you want, and then press Enter.
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To set the date for the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Select a date for this shift," and then press Enter. Use the arrow keys to navigate to the date you want, and then press Enter.
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To set the start time for the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Shift start time picker," and then press Enter. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate to the time you want, and then press Enter.
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To set the end time for the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Shift end time picker," and then press Enter. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate to the time you want, and then press Enter.
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If you want to show a label instead of shift time, press the Tab key until you hear "Custom label, Show instead of time," and then type in the label text.
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If you want to add an unpaid break time, press the Tab key until you hear "Add unpaid break," press Spacebar, type in the break time, and then press Enter.
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If you want to add notes related to the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Notes for this shift or time off," and then type a note.
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If you want to add additional breaks or the breakdown of daily activities to the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Add activity," press Enter, and then do the following:
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Type in the name of the first activity.
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To set the activity start time, press the Tab key until you hear "Start," press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the time you want, and then press Enter.
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To set the activity end time, press the Tab key until you hear "End," press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the time you want, and then press Enter.
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To add another activity, press the Tab key until you hear "Add new," press Enter, and then repeat the steps a - c. Repeat this step for each additional activity you want to add.
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When you're ready, press the Tab key until you hear "Done," and then press Enter.
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When you're done creating the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Command bar, Add shift," press the Right arrow key until you hear "Save," and then press Enter.
Edit a shift
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In the schedule, use the Tab key, Shift+Tab, or the arrow keys to navigate to the shift you want edit.
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When the focus is on the right shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Open context menu," and then press Enter. You hear: "Edit shift." Press Enter to select. The Edit shift window opens.
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To browse the options in the window, use the Tab key or Shift+Tab. To edit the shift, you can type in the updated info to the text fields, for example. To select options and open menus, press Spacebar.
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When you're done editing the shift, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear "Command bar, Save," and then press Enter.
Copy a schedule
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In the schedule, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear "Shifts header," press the Right arrow key until you hear "Copy schedule," and then press Enter. The Copy schedule dialog box opens.
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You hear: "Start date." To set the start date for the timeframe you want to copy, type in the date.
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To set the end date for the timeframe you want to copy, press the Tab key once, and then type in the date.
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The default method is to copy all items in a schedule. If you want to select what to copy, press the Tab key until you hear: "Include shift notes, activities, time off, and open shifts." Press Spacebar to select. Press the Up or Down arrow key to browse the list, and then press Spacebar to select or unselect items to copy. When you're done, press Esc.
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All schedule groups will be copied by default. If you want to select which groups to copy, press the Tab key until you hear "Copy schedule groups," and then press Spacebar. Press the Up or Down arrow key to browse the list, and then press Spacebar to select or unselect groups to copy. When you're done, press Esc.
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To set the date where you want to paste the copied schedule, press the Tab key until you hear "Destination date," and then type in the date.
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To select how many times the copied schedule is pasted, press the Tab key until you hear "Copy," and then press Spacebar. Press the Down arrow key until you hear the number you want, and then press Enter.
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When you're ready, press the Tab key until you hear "Copy," and then press Enter.
See also
Video: What is Shifts?
Basic tasks using a screen reader with Microsoft Shifts
Basic tasks using a screen reader with Microsoft Teams
Set up your device to work with accessibility in Microsoft 365
Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Microsoft Teams
Use the Microsoft Shifts app in Microsoft Teams with your keyboard and a screen reader to create a schedule. We have tested it with Narrator in Microsoft Edge and JAWS and NVDA in Chrome, but it might work with other screen readers and web browsers as long as they follow common accessibility standards and techniques. You'll also learn how to add and edit shifts, copy and share schedules, and more.
Notes:
-
New Microsoft 365 features are released gradually to Microsoft 365 subscribers, so your app might not have these features yet. To learn how you can get new features faster, join the Office Insider program.
-
To learn more about screen readers, go to How screen readers work with Microsoft 365.
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With Narrator, switch off scan mode.
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Recent versions of JAWS no longer have the virtual PC cursor mode set as default for Microsoft Teams. For instructions on how to switch the virtual PC cursor mode on, refer to the section "Enable the JAWS virtual cursor" in Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Microsoft Teams.
In this topic
Create a schedule
You must be a team owner to create a schedule.
A schedule belongs to a team in Microsoft Teams, so you can only add members of that team to the schedule. If you don't find the person you want to add, you can make them a team member or owner. For instructions, refer to Use a screen reader to add members to a team in Microsoft Teams.
Changes you make to the team might not be available right away in Shifts, so if you don't find the new team member you want to add to the schedule, wait a bit and try again.
-
In Microsoft Teams, open the Shifts app as instructed in Basic tasks using a screen reader with Microsoft Shifts. The Select a team schedule window opens. Press the Tab key until you hear "Link, Create a new schedule," and then press Enter.
Tip: If you already have a schedule open in Shifts and want to create a new one, press the Tab key until you hear "Shifts header," and then press Enter. Press the Tab key until you hear "New schedule," and then press Enter.
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You hear: "Create a new team schedule." Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Create," followed by the name of the team you want, and then press Enter. The shifts grid view opens.
-
To add a group to organize your schedule, press the Tab key until you hear "Schedule view options," press the Right arrow key until you hear "Add group," and then press Enter. An unnamed group is created.
-
To name the group, press the Tab key until you hear: "Group name, unnamed group." Press the Tab key once more. You hear: "More options." Press Enter. Press the Up arrow key until you hear "Rename group," press Enter, and then type a new group name. Press the Tab key until you hear "Save," and then press Enter. To learn how to rename a group later, refer to Rename a group.
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To add people to the group, press the Tab key until you hear "Add people," and then press Enter. The focus is in the search text field. Start typing the name of a person you want to add to the group. The search results are updated as you type. To browse the results, press the Down arrow key until you hear the name of the person you want to add, and then press Enter. Press the Tab key until you hear "Add," and then press Enter. Press the Tab key until you hear "Close," and then press Enter. To learn how to add people to the group after you've created the group, refer to Add people to the group after creating the schedule.
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The schedule is created. You are now ready to add shifts for team members. For instructions, refer to Add a shift.
Open a schedule
If you need to edit or update an existing schedule, you can quickly open it and then rename a group or add people to it, or add or edit a shift, for example.
-
In Microsoft Teams, open the Shifts app as instructed in Basic tasks using a screen reader with Microsoft Shifts. The Select a team schedule window opens. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "View schedule for," followed by the name of the team you want. Press Enter to select.
Tip: If you already have a schedule open in Shifts and want to open another one, press the Tab key until you hear "Shifts header," and then press Enter. Press the Tab key until you hear the name of the first team in the list, press the Down arrow key until you hear the team you want, and then press Enter.
Rename a group
You can rename a group at any time to give it a more descriptive name and keep your schedule organized.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Group name," followed by the name of the group you want to rename.
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Press the Tab key once. You hear: "More options." Press Enter to select.
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Press the Up arrow key until you hear "Rename group," press Enter, and then type in the new name.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Save," and then press Enter.
Add people to the group after creating the schedule
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Group name," followed by the name of the group where you want to add people.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Add people to group," and then press Enter. A dialog box for adding people opens. The focus is in the search text field.
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Start typing the name of a person you want to add to the group. The search results are updated as you type. To browse the results, press the Down arrow key until you hear the name of the person you want to add, and then press Enter.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Add," and then press Enter.
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If you want to add more people to the group, repeat steps 3 and 4 for each person you want to add.
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When you're done, press the Tab key until you hear "Close," and then press Enter.
Add a shift
When you have created the basic schedule as instructed in Create a schedule, you can start adding shifts to your team members. You can create a shift from scratch, add an existing shift, or copy a shift to another place in the schedule. You can also create an open shift.
Create a shift from scratch
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In the schedule, press the Tab key until you hear "Open context menu for," followed by the name of the team member to whom you want to add a shift.
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When you're on the right row in the schedule, press the Tab key until you hear "Open context menu," and then press Enter. You hear: "Add shift." Press Enter to select.
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To create the shift as an open shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Open shift," and then press Enter. To learn how to create open shifts later, refer to Create an open shift.
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To set the date for the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Select a date for this shift," and then press Enter. Use the arrow keys to navigate to the date you want, and then press Enter.
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To set the start time for the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Shift start time picker," and then press Enter. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate to the time you want, and then press Enter.
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To set the end time for the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Shift end time picker," and then press Enter. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate to the time you want, and then press Enter.
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If you want to show a label instead of shift time, press the Tab key until you hear "Custom label, show instead of time," and then type in the label text.
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If you want to add an unpaid break time, press the Tab key until you hear "Add unpaid break," press Spacebar, type in the break time, and then press Enter.
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If you want to add notes related to the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Notes for this shift or time off," and then type a note.
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If you want to add additional breaks or the breakdown of daily activities to the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Add activity," press Enter, and then do the following:
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Type in the name of the first activity.
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To set the activity start time, press the Tab key until you hear "Start," press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the time you want, and then press Enter.
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To set the activity end time, press the Tab key until you hear "End," press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the time you want, and then press Enter.
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To add another activity, press the Tab key until you hear "Add new," press Enter, and then repeat the steps a - c. Repeat this step for each additional activity you want to add.
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When you're ready, press the Tab key until you hear "Done," and then press Enter.
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When you're done creating the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Command bar, Add shift," press the Right arrow key until you hear "Save," and then press Enter.
Add an existing shift to the schedule
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In the schedule, press the Tab key until you hear "Open context menu for," followed by the name of the team member to whom you want to add a shift.
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When you're on the right row in the schedule, press the Tab key until you hear the date where you want to add a shift.
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When the focus is in the right date cell, press the Tab key until you hear "Open the shift lookup menu," and then press Enter. Press the Down arrow key until you hear "Use shift," followed by the name of the shift you want, and then press Enter to select.
Tip: If the list of existing shifts is long, you can search for the shift you want. Press Shift+Tab until you hear "Search for shifts," and then type your search term. To browse the search results, press the Tab key until you hear the name of the shift you want, and then press Enter.
Copy a shift to another place in the schedule
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In the schedule, use the Tab key, Shift+Tab, or the arrow keys to navigate to the shift you want to copy, and then press Ctrl+C.
Tip: To select several shifts at once, move the focus to the first shift, then press and hold the Shift key and use the arrow keys to select the adjacent shifts.
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Press the Tab key until you hear the location where you want to paste the shift, and then press Ctrl+V.
Create an open shift
When you create a shift as an open shift, you can assign it to someone later as part of your schedule planning or share it with the team so people can request it.
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In the schedule, press the Tab key until you hear the name of the group where you want to add an open shift.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Add people to group," and then press the Tab key once more. The focus is on the Open shifts row of the selected group.
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Press the Tab key until you hear "Open context menu," and then press Enter. You hear: "Add open shift." Press Enter to select. The Add shift window opens.
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To set the number of shift openings available to the team members, press the Tab key until you hear "Select the number of slots," and then press Spacebar. Press the Down arrow key until you hear the number you want, and then press Enter.
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To set the date for the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Select a date for this shift," and then press Enter. Use the arrow keys to navigate to the date you want, and then press Enter.
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To set the start time for the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Shift start time picker," and then press Enter. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate to the time you want, and then press Enter.
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To set the end time for the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Shift end time picker," and then press Enter. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate to the time you want, and then press Enter.
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If you want to show a label instead of shift time, press the Tab key until you hear "Custom label, Show instead of time," and then type in the label text.
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If you want to add an unpaid break time, press the Tab key until you hear "Add unpaid break," press Spacebar, type in the break time, and then press Enter.
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If you want to add notes related to the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Notes for this shift or time off," and then type a note.
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If you want to add additional breaks or the breakdown of daily activities to the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Add activity," press Enter, and then do the following:
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Type in the name of the first activity.
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To set the activity start time, press the Tab key until you hear "Start," press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the time you want, and then press Enter.
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To set the activity end time, press the Tab key until you hear "End," press the Up or Down arrow key until you hear the time you want, and then press Enter.
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To add another activity, press the Tab key until you hear "Add new," press Enter, and then repeat the steps a - c. Repeat this step for each additional activity you want to add.
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When you're ready, press the Tab key until you hear "Done," and then press Enter.
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When you're done creating the shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Command bar, Add shift," press the Right arrow key until you hear "Save," and then press Enter.
Edit a shift
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In the schedule, use the Tab key, Shift+Tab, or the arrow keys to navigate to the shift you want edit.
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When the focus is on the right shift, press the Tab key until you hear "Open context menu," and then press Enter. You hear: "Edit shift." Press Enter to select. The Edit shift window opens.
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To browse the options in the window, use the Tab key or Shift+Tab. To edit the shift, you can type in the updated info to the text fields, for example. To select options and open menus, press Spacebar.
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When you're done editing the shift, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear "Command bar, Save," and then press Enter.
Copy a schedule
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In the schedule, press the Tab key or Shift+Tab until you hear "Shifts header," press the Right arrow key until you hear "Copy schedule," and then press Enter. The Copy schedule dialog box opens.
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You hear: "Start date." To set the start date for the timeframe you want to copy, type in the date.
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To set the end date for the timeframe you want to copy, press the Tab key once, and then type in the date.
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The default method is to copy all items in a schedule. If you want to select what to copy, press the Tab key until you hear: "Include shift notes, activities, time off, and open shifts." Press Spacebar to select. Press the Up or Down arrow key to browse the list, and then press Spacebar to select or unselect items to copy. When you're done, press Esc.
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All schedule groups will be copied by default. If you want to select which groups to copy, press the Tab key until you hear "Copy schedule groups," and then press Spacebar. Press the Up or Down arrow key to browse the list, and then press Spacebar to select or unselect groups to copy. When you're done, press Esc.
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To set the date where you want to paste the copied schedule, press the Tab key until you hear "Choose the date you want to copy your selection to," and then type in the date.
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To select how many times the copied schedule is pasted, press the Tab key until you hear "Copy," and then press Spacebar. Press the Down arrow key until you hear the number you want, and then press Enter.
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When you're ready, press the Tab key until you hear "Copy," and then press Enter.
See also
Video: What is Shifts?
Basic tasks using a screen reader with Microsoft Shifts
Basic tasks using a screen reader with Microsoft Teams
Use a screen reader to explore and navigate Microsoft Teams
Technical support for customers with disabilities
Microsoft wants to provide the best possible experience for all our customers. If you have a disability or questions related to accessibility, please contact the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk for technical assistance. The Disability Answer Desk support team is trained in using many popular assistive technologies and can offer assistance in English, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language. Please go to the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk site to find out the contact details for your region.
If you are a government, commercial, or enterprise user, please contact the enterprise Disability Answer Desk.
