Printing and Exporting

The timetable (in its graphical form) and the reports (in tabular form) can be printed, exported to PDF or image files, published to a website, or automatically delivered by email or to smartphones.

If you want to print or export the timetable, first make sure you are in the Timetable module (the tab in the bottom-left corner of the workspace). If you want to print or export a report, switch to the Reports module.

To open the Print/Export window, select File → Print/Export from the main menu. This will open up the print/export window. The first option in this window is Export to, which determines the output format.

Printing and Exporting to PDF

• To print, select a printer from the Export to list.
• To export to a PDF file, select Export to → Document (PDF).

Now let's look at a few examples of printing and exporting to PDF, and see which settings are used to generate each result.

One timetable on each page

In this scenario, we want each timetable to be generated on a separate page:

To export timetables so that each timetable appears on a separate page, use these two settings:

• To print all class timetables, click the check box near Groups.

  To print all teacher timetables, click the check box near Teachers.

• For each timetable to appear separately, make sure Resources → Separate table for each resource is selected.

Additional optional settings:

• To generate a color printout, select Options → Export in color: Yes.
• To make the text significantly larger than it appears on screen, select Options → Text → Adjust all font sizes by: +5.
• To add the wavy decoration at the top and bottom of the page, select Options → Page → Decoration: Decoration 4.
• To use horizontal page orientation, select Options → Page → Orientation: Landscape.

Several timetables on each page

In this example, each page is divided into several smaller sections, each containing a timetable:

To print several tables on each page like above, select:

• Options ⟶ Tables ⟶ Lay out multiple tables on each page, and under that:
  • Tables per page horizontally: 2
  • Tables per page vertically: 3

Unified timetable on one page

In this example, we want a unified class timetable to be printed on a single page in one table:

To achieve this layout, use these settings:

• For all classes to appear in a single unified timetable, deselect Resources ⟶ Separate table for each resource.
• For a layout in which the groups are arranged along the horizontal axis and the days and periods along the vertical axis, select Axes ⟶ Horizontal: Groups; Vertical: Days+Periods.

Here is another example of a unified timetable, this time showing all teachers on a single page. In this example, the third layout was used: Axes ⟶ Horizontal: Days+Periods, Vertical: Teachers:

Note: There are 4 different possible layouts of the axes when printing a unified timetable of resources (groups, teachers, rooms or students). The options are:

• Axes ⟶
  • Horizontal: Days+Resources, Vertical: Periods
  • Horizontal: Periods, Vertical: Days+Resources
  • Horizontal: Days+Periods, Vertical: Resources
  • Horizontal: Resources, Vertical: Days+Periods

Unified timetable on several pages

A large timetable can be configured to span multiple pages. Here is an example of a teachers' timetable that spans two pages horizontally:

To span a timetable across two pages horizontally, select:

• Options ⟶ Tables ⟶ Span each table over multiple pages, and under that:
  • Pages per table horizontally: 2
  • Pages per table vertically: 1

Unified daily timetable

Each day of a unified timetable can be printed on a separate page, like this:

To print each day in a separate table, select:

• Time ⟶ Separate table for each day (select Day instead of the default Week)

Exporting to Images

• To export timetables to images, select Export to ⟶ Images at the top of the print/export window.

When exporting to images, the same options and layouts are available as when exporting to PDF. In addition, you can either specify the dimensions of the exported image or let the program determine them automatically, using the minimum size required to display the contents of all timetable cells. Because images are often viewed on smartphones, the automatic minimum image size ensures that the text appears as large and readable as possible on a small screen.

Here is an example of a teacher timetable exported using the automatic image size option:

And here is the same timetable exported at a fixed size of 500 × 500 pixels:

The setting that controls the image size is located under Options ⟶ Image and provides the following two options:

• Adjust image size to contents
• Fixed size, which allows you to specify the Width and Height in pixels

Exporting to a Presentation

A presentation is an automatically playing slideshow of timetables. It is typically used to display timetables on a large screen located at the entrance or in a hallway of a school. The presentation can display timetables for groups, teachers, rooms, or a large unified timetable containing all resources. You can configure how long each slide is displayed.

A presentation can be exported to a local folder, a network folder, or a website. The presentation is generated in HTML format and displayed in a standard web browser running in full-screen mode. The website can be configured to refresh automatically at regular intervals, so if the presentation is re-uploaded, the displayed content will update automatically without any human intervention.

• To create a presentation, select Export to ⟶ Presentation at the top of the print/export window.

Here is an example of a daily class timetable exported for display on a large screen:

To control the slideshow speed and refresh interval, use the following settings under Options ⟶ Page:

• Auto scroll every few seconds – Sets the amount of time each slide is displayed before automatically advancing to the next one. If this option is not enabled, a drop-down list will appear at the top of the page, allowing users to select slides manually.
• Auto refresh every few minutes – Sets how often the entire presentation is reloaded. If updated content is published to the same folder or website, the presentation will automatically refresh and display the latest version.

Exporting to a Website

Exporting timetables to a website allows students and teachers to view their up-to-date schedules online from both computers and smartphones. The website uses a responsive design, displaying a weekly timetable on computer screens and a daily timetable on smartphones, with the option to select the day to view.

• To export timetables to a website, select Export to ⟶ Website at the top of the Print/Export window.

Here is an example of how a weekly class timetable appears in a desktop web browser:

And here is an example of the same timetable displayed in a smartphone web browser:

Note: When exporting personal timetables for teachers or students, the program can anonymize the address of each user's page, preventing other users from guessing or accessing it. To enable address anonymization, select Options ⟶ Anonymize ⟶ Anonymize page addresses.

Sending by Email

Personal teacher, student, and group timetables can be automatically sent by email. Emails can be sent from timetable@timetableupdates.com or from another address configured by the school using any SMTP email server.

Each email contains custom message text and may include a timetable image and/or PDF attachment.

Email addresses are taken from the Email property of teachers and students. They can be entered manually or imported from a CSV file.

• To send timetables by email, select Export to ⟶ Email at the top of the Print/Export window.

The contents of the email message can be edited by clicking the Email icon on the left side of the Print/Export window:

Sending via Telegram

Just as timetables can be sent by email, they can also be sent via the Telegram smartphone app. Telegram is free to use and allows messages to be sent directly to individuals using their phone numbers, or to Telegram channels, which may be either public or private.

• To send timetables via Telegram, select Export to ⟶ Smartphone (Telegram) at the top of the Print/Export window.

Sending messages via Telegram requires the school administration to set up a Telegram bot. Creating a bot is simple and can be done by following these steps:

1. On a smartphone, open the link "t.me/BotFather"
2. Click Start at the bottom of the chat
3. Type "/newbot" and follow the instructions
4. At the end of the setup process, Telegram will display your bot token. Copy and paste this token into the Bot Token field in the Print/Export window.

Before a bot can send messages to a Telegram user, the user must register with the bot once. To register, the user needs to search for the bot by name in Telegram, open the chat, and click Start at the bottom of the screen. After registration, the bot will be able to send messages to that user on Telegram using the phone number associated with the user's Telegram account.

Here is an example of a timetable sent as a Telegram message:

The next chapter: Importing Data.