Not every organisation rosters continuously. If your volunteering is built around an event, a festival, a season or a fixed intake, the period that matters may be weeks away - and roster views that open on today show volunteers an empty week.
Set View Dates lets you choose the date volunteer roster views open from, so everyone lands on the period you're actually rostering.
Setting the date
Navigate to Admin Console > Operations > Visibility and turn on Set Roster Start Date. Choose the date you want roster views to open from, then click Save.
Turn the setting off at any time to go back to opening from today.
What it changes
The date is where the range begins in the volunteer-facing roster views - My Elements and My Rosters.
The length of the range is unchanged. Whatever window each view normally shows, it shows the same window starting from your date instead of from today. Volunteers can still move the range themselves once they're in the view.
Nothing else is affected - rosters, availability and notifications all behave exactly as they did.
Keeping the date current
The date is fixed until you change it. Once your event or season has passed, roster views keep opening on that past window, which is rarely what you want. Volaby warns you in the Admin Console when the date you've saved is in the past.
Tip: if you run the same event each year, or work to recurring terms, add a reminder to move the date on once the current one wraps up.
When to use
A festival or multi-day event where rostering opens weeks or months before the first shift
A one-off event with a long lead time, where volunteers sign up early and shouldn't land on an empty calendar
A program that runs to school terms, where volunteers should see the start of term rather than the holidays
An intake where a cohort of new volunteers all start on the same date
If your rosters run continuously, leave the setting off - opening from today is the right behaviour.
Related guides
Activities - Event Mode - how volunteers join and get rostered for event activities
Session Limits - capping and requiring session selections
Roster Views - the different ways rosters can be displayed
Your Home Page - what volunteers see on My Elements