Workflow User Guide

Workflow is a planning tool for creative work. Track projects, client outreach, social posts and publishing dates on one calendar. It runs in your web browser and needs no account.

1. Getting started

Open workflow-planner.html in a modern browser such as Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox. The page opens on the current week.

Everything you enter is saved in that browser, on that device. There is no sign-in and no cloud sync. This is useful for privacy, but it also means your data does not follow you to another computer or browser. Read the backup section before you rely on it.

Before you start: open the Backup button once and export a copy. Keep that file somewhere safe, and export again after major changes.

2. Views and navigation

Use the three buttons at the top right to switch views:

Week shows seven day columns for the current week.
List stacks the seven days vertically. Use it on a phone.
Month shows a full calendar. Days from the previous and next month are faded.

Use the ← and → arrows to move one week or one month at a time. Today jumps back to the current period. The header always shows today's date and the range you are viewing.

The bar under the header counts active items, items due in the next seven days, items awaiting assets, drafts, finished items and repeating items. Finished items are not counted as active or due.

The page switches to the new day automatically at midnight, so the "today" highlight stays correct.

Use the ☀ button to switch between dark and light themes. Your choice is remembered.

3. Adding and editing items

There are four ways to add an item:

Click + Add Item at the top of the filter bar.
Click + Add at the bottom of a day column in Week view. The start date is pre-filled.
Click an empty day in Month view.
Press N when no window is open.

Click any item to open it for editing. These fields are available:

Field	What it is for
Title	Required. Shown on the calendar.
Categories	One or more of Personal Projects, Creative / Portfolio, Client Outreach, Social Media, Publishing. The first one sets the item's colour. An item with none is "Uncategorized".
Status	Draft, Scheduled, In Progress or Published / Done.
Platform / Channel	Free text, such as Substack or Instagram.
Client Name, Contact Email	Optional. Used for search, the client filter and exports.
Start Date, Finish Date	When the item happens. Leave both empty to keep it unscheduled. An item appears on every day from start to finish.
Repeat	Does not repeat, Weekly, Every 2 weeks, or Monthly. See Repeating items.
Awaiting Assets	Tick this when you are waiting for images, files or other material.
Notes	Anything else: links, details, reminders.

Press Save to keep your changes. If you close the window with unsaved changes, Workflow asks before discarding them.

Copy All copies the item's details as plain text, for pasting into an email or document. Duplicate creates a copy titled "(copy)" and opens it.

4. Status and urgent items

In Week view, click the status word under an item to move it to the next status: Draft → Scheduled → In Progress → Done → Draft. In Month view, change status from the item window.

An item is urgent when its finish date falls within the next seven days and it is not Done. Urgent items get a yellow outline and a ⚠ "Due soon" label. They are also listed in the yellow banner at the top of the page, with the number of days left.

Items with Awaiting Assets ticked show ⏳ on the calendar, so you can see what is blocked at a glance.

Portrait series Due this week Weekly check-in

5. Filters, search and clients

The row under the header controls what appears on the calendar:

Category buttons show or hide each category. Turn off a category to focus on the others.
Uncategorized shows or hides items that have no category.
Search matches title, client, platform and notes as you type.
All clients narrows the view to one client. The list fills in from the clients you have entered.

Filters apply to the calendar, the banner and the unscheduled strip. They do not change your data. Category buttons are remembered between visits; search text and the client choice are cleared when you reload.

6. Unscheduled items

An item with no dates is kept in the dashed Unscheduled strip above the calendar. Use it for ideas you have not placed yet. Click an item to schedule it in the window, or drag it onto a day.

7. Moving items with drag

In Week or Month view, drag a single (non-repeating) item to another day to move it. It keeps its length: a three-day item stays three days long. Drag it onto the Unscheduled strip to remove its dates.

Repeating items cannot be dragged. Open them and change the dates or repeat settings instead.

On a touch screen, dragging may not work in every browser. Open the item and change the dates there.

8. Repeating items

Set Repeat to Weekly, Every 2 weeks or Monthly. Then choose Repeat Until if the series should end. Repeating items show a ↻ on each occurrence.

Monthly repeats keep the same day of the month. A monthly item on the 31st lands on the last day in shorter months.
The repeat settings apply to the whole series. Open any occurrence to edit the series.
Skip this date removes one occurrence from the series. Use it for a holiday or cancelled session. The rest of the series is unchanged.
Delete removes the whole series, not just one occurrence. Use Skip to remove a single date.

9. Archive, delete and undo

Archive moves an item out of the calendar and keeps it safe. Open Show Archive at the bottom of the page to restore it.
Delete removes an item from the calendar.
Archiving, deleting, skipping a date and dragging an item each show a short Undo message at the bottom of the screen. It stays for about six seconds.
Deleting an item from the archive is permanent and asks you to confirm. Use Clear All to empty the archive. This cannot be undone.

10. Backup, restore and export

Click Backup to open the backup window. There are four options:

Option	What it does	Use it for
Export Backup (JSON)	Saves every item, including the archive, to a file.	Full backups you can restore later.
Restore from JSON Backup	Replaces everything in the planner with the contents of a backup file.	Recovering data or moving to another browser. Current data is replaced, so export first.
Export Calendar (.ics)	Creates a calendar file of scheduled items, with repeats and skipped dates.	Viewing your schedule in Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or Outlook.
Export Spreadsheet (CSV)	Creates a spreadsheet of all items, including archived ones.	Sorting, filtering or sharing a list in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets.

Calendar files are a snapshot. Your calendar app will not update when you change an item here. Export a new .ics file and import it again to refresh. Items with no dates are not included.

A reminder appears at the top of the page if you have never made a backup, or if your last backup is more than 30 days old.

Important: clearing your browser's history or site data, or using a different browser or computer, will erase your planner data. Keep a recent JSON backup.

11. Printing

Click Print to print or save as PDF the view you are currently on, Week, List or Month. Buttons and filters are hidden in the printout. Use the arrows first to choose the week or month you want.

12. Keyboard shortcuts

Key	Action
N	New item (when no window is open)
Esc	Close the open window. Asks first if you have unsaved changes.
Tab	Move between controls. It stays inside an open window.
Enter	Open the focused item or button

13. Troubleshooting

My items have disappeared

Check that you are using the same browser and computer you used before. If you cleared browser data, or your browser's storage was reset, the planner has no copy. Restore from your most recent JSON backup.

I see "Could not save"

Your browser has run out of space for the planner or has blocked storage, often in a private window. Export a backup, free some browser storage, and try again from a normal window.

Fonts look different

The planner loads its fonts from Google Fonts. Without a connection, it uses standard fonts instead. The layout still works.

A file won't restore

Restore only accepts a JSON file exported from Workflow. Calendar (.ics) and spreadsheet (CSV) files cannot be restored.