The ward's year

In Rhythms, tap New rhythm.

1. Type its name, such as "Ward Christmas party". Or tap one under Or start from: Ward social, Service project or Interviews. Each fills in a name, how often and its usual jobs. Tap it again to clear it.
2. Under How often, choose Yearly, Monthly or One time. More… shows Twice a year, Quarterly, Every other month, Every other year and When it comes up.
3. The box below says when it happens, such as "Sometime in September". Change it there: tap a month, or the week and day for a monthly one. More timing adds the rest (see below).
4. Under The rest, each line shows its answer. Tap Change to open it, and Done to close it.
5. Press Create it.

When, for each choice:

Yearly or One time

Tap its month. More timing adds Early, Mid, Late or Any time, and Usually on (On a for one time), the day of the week it falls on. That's a rough window, not a date. You pick the day later.

Twice a year

Tap the two months. A new tap replaces the older of the two. More timing adds the same choices as a yearly one.

Quarterly

Tap any month, and the other three months of its quarter come with it: tap April for January, April, July and October. More timing adds the same choices as a yearly one. Closing one out pencils the next of its months.

Monthly

Pick the week and the day ("second Tuesday"), and 1stHour fills in each date. One that takes a Sunday is always on a Sunday, so there's no day to pick. Or, under More timing, choose Any day that month, and pick the day each time.

For fifth Sundays, choose Fifth and Sunday. 1stHour skips the months without one. Each gets its own bulletin announcement two Sundays before, unless you choose Never under In the bulletin.

Every other month

Choose Jan, Mar, May… or Feb, Apr, Jun…, then the day the same way as Monthly. The months in between are skipped.

Every other year

Choose which years, such as 2026, 2028… or 2027, 2029…, then its month the same way as Yearly. The years in between are skipped, and the rhythm's page says which year is next.

When it comes up

No schedule. You set a date when it's needed.

The rest:

Owned by

The bishopric, an organization such as the Primary, or the Stake. This is whose event it is. If someone else owns it, they find their own lead, and your part is the date and any jobs your ward was given. You can still name who leads it, such as the stake's contact, under Who owns it on its page, from People or as someone outside the ward. With nobody named, 1stHour never asks for a lead.

Helping

Tap the organizations that help, such as Young Men and Young Women for a Primary youth night. The bishopric's own rhythm can have helpers too, and when an organization owns it, Bishopric is one of the choices. A job handed to a helper shows on its Assignments. Not shown for an owner typed under Other…. See organizations keep their own.

Takes a Sunday

No, Sacrament meeting, Second hour or Stake conference. For Sacrament meeting, pick the kind of Sunday: Ward conference, Christmas program, Primary program, Youth Sunday, Farewell or homecoming, or Its own program. Second hour leaves the sacrament program alone. It also fills in the time, an hour after your ward's meeting starts. Change it on Set the date. Stake conference takes the whole Sunday. See stake conference.

In the bulletin

Two Sundays before, When I say, or Never. For stake conference the first choice is Four Sundays before.

Notes

A few lines to be aware of, such as who has the key or what to book early. They show near the top of the rhythm's page and stay from year to year; a cycle's lesson goes in its takeaway when you close it out. To change them later, type right in Notes on the rhythm's page; they save when you tap away. The bishopric and the organization that owns the rhythm see its notes. A helping organization doesn't. Nothing is sent.

Got something wrong? Edit on the rhythm's page shows every answer on its own line: Name, How often, Roughly when, Owned by, Takes a Sunday, In the bulletin and Notes. Tap Change, pick the new answer, and it saves as you go. Tap Done when you're finished.

Starting out, you can add a whole year's worth together. Tap the arrow beside New rhythm to find both ways. Each one gets a name, how often and roughly when. Its date and lead come later, on its own page, and so do the jobs of anything you import.

Pick from common ones

1. Tap the arrow beside New rhythm, then Pick from common ones.
2. Tick the ones your ward keeps: ward conference, fifth Sundays, the Primary program, the Christmas party and others. Each shows how often, its usual month and the jobs it starts with. One already in Rhythms can't be ticked.
3. Press Add … to Rhythms.

Import a list

1. Tap the arrow beside New rhythm, then Import a list.

2. Paste the list under Paste a list and press Read the list, or tap Or choose a file and pick a spreadsheet saved as CSV or TSV, or a text file. Download an example list gives a list with one row for each kind of How often, to copy or replace. The first line names the columns:

   Name,How often,Roughly when,Owned by,Notes
   Ward Christmas party,Yearly,early December,Bishopric,Book the cultural hall by October
   Temple night,Monthly,second Tuesday,,
   Stake conference,Twice a year,April and October,Stake,
   

3. Under What each column is, check each guess: Name, How often, Roughly when, Owned by, Notes, or Skip. Only the name is needed.

4. Read the preview and untick any row you want to leave out. A name already in Rhythms, twice in the list, or with a How often it can't read is left out for you, and the preview says why.

5. Press Add … to Rhythms.

How often can say yearly, monthly, every other month, every other year, twice a year, quarterly ("4 times a year" too), as needed or one time, or "every 2 months" (or 3, 6, 12 or 24). Every other year starts on this year's set; change the years on Edit if it should be the other. Anything it can't keep, such as weekly, "3 times a year" or "every 3 years", can't be read, and the preview says so. Left blank, a row with four months three apart is quarterly, two months twice a year, one month yearly, and one without waits until it comes up.

Roughly when can be a month ("late February"), two months for twice a year ("April and October"), four months for quarterly ("January, April, July and October"), a season ("summer"), a date, or a day each month ("second Tuesday", "5th Sunday"). "Fifth Sundays" in How often is monthly on each fifth Sunday. A stretch such as "June-July" counts as its first month. Words it can't place, such as "Easter", keep the row out, and the preview says why.

Owned by can be the bishopric, an organization or the Stake. Anything else is kept as written. Left blank, it's the bishopric's.

Notes become each rhythm's notes, as written (up to 1,000 characters; a longer one keeps the row out). A blank one adds none.

What to expect: if you added just one, its own page opens, ready to set up. Several land on The year, open at the year they fall in (one whose month has passed this year is next year's). One with no month yet sits under Unscheduled on this year's page until you give it one on Edit. Nothing is sent. Once one has a date, it goes in the bulletin two Sundays before, the same as one you add by hand. A monthly one on a set day gets its first date straight away. To change that, use Edit on its page.

Coming up lists what's ahead, within 90 days, 6 months or All ahead. Anything with no date and no rough window is under Unscheduled. The year shows all twelve months at a glance. A rhythm set to Fifth shows in each month that has one. The ones after the next say Comes round after this one until the one before is closed out.

Needs attention, at the top, lists what will cause trouble if nobody acts:

• No date ("… has no date"), when its usual time is within about six months.
• No lead ("… needs a lead"), when it's within two months. Only rhythms the bishopric owns are flagged; an organization finds its own.
• A job nobody owns ("… has no owner"), when it's within two months.
• An overdue job ("… is overdue"), at any time.
• No close-out, more than a week after the event: "Ward campout was on Jun 12" (or "ended Jun 14" for one over several days), with "Close it out to plan next year's". Nothing moves to next year by itself; closing it out pencils in the next one. If it's the only thing waiting, the Rhythms card on Today says so too and opens the close-out.

Each item has a button that opens the screen that fixes it. The same items show up in the bishopric meeting under Decide today.

1. Open the rhythm and tap Set the date (or tap the date to change it).
2. Look at When it usually lands: the dates from the last few years.
3. Tap one of the suggested days, or Another day… to choose your own. The suggestions are only suggestions: nothing is set until you tap a day. The day saves as soon as you pick it. An event with no suggested days shows the date box straight away.
4. Add a Time and a Place if you like. Tap Place to pick one of your ward's saved places, or type any other.
5. For an event that runs several days, such as a youth camp, set its Last day (optional). The day you picked is its first. Clear it to make it one day again. A rhythm that takes a Sunday is always that one day, so it has no last day.

With a last day, the rhythm's page and its card on Rhythms show the whole run, such as "Jun 12–14". Moving the first day moves the last day with it. Its bulletin announcement names both days and runs through the last one, and a close-out is asked for a week after the last day.

Clear the date takes it off again, last day and all. Everything saves as you set it, so tap Done when you're finished.

To announce it, turn on Announce it in the bulletin here, or In the bulletin on the rhythm's page. It works whatever you chose when you made the rhythm. The announcement runs ward-wide from two Sundays before through the day (four for stake conference), and Edit opens it if you want to change the words.

Plan the Sunday (rhythms that take the Sunday)

Also plan the Sunday is an optional next step. Plan the Sunday turns that Sunday's program into ward conference, the Christmas program, stake conference, or whichever kind you picked.

• If the Sunday already has speakers, 1stHour says so and offers Open the Sunday. Clear the speakers there first.
• If the Sunday is already published, 1stHour offers Unpublish and plan it.

• Just the date unlinks the Sunday from the rhythm and keeps the date. The Sunday's program stays as it is now; change it on the Sunday if you need to.
• If you move the date, clear it, or shelve the rhythm, a Sunday it planned goes back to normal. That happens only if nobody has edited, published or booked speakers on it since.

Owned by is whose event it is (the bishopric or an organization). Who leads it is the one person in charge this year. You set both under Who owns it on the rhythm's page.

• Who leads it: tap Who owns it, then Choose who leads. Whoever led it before comes first. You can also pick by calling, search the ward, or add a new name to People right there.
• Who does what: + Add an assignment for each job ("Reserve the building", "Food sign-up"). Last year's jobs are offered as one-tap suggestions.

These jobs are ordinary assignments. A job's owner sees it on their Today screen only if they're in the bishopric or are the ward clerk. When an organization owns the rhythm, its jobs go to that organization: its leaders see them on their Assignments. Anyone else won't see a job in 1stHour, so tell them yourself.

An organization's leader adding a job to their own rhythm can also fill in Who is doing it and Due. Both are optional. Pick the person from the ward list and the job shows under their own assignments when they sign in; a typed name is just a name. Either way it can be changed later on Assignments, under Who is responsible, and so can the day under Due.

Remove a job to drop it for good, so it won't come back next year.

After the event, press Close it out:

• How did it go? Went well, Rough, or Skipped.
• What should next year know? "Book the group site in January." This shows at the top of the rhythm next year as Last year's takeaway. A monthly rhythm says next month and Last month's takeaway instead, and a quarterly one next quarter. One that comes round on another cycle asks what the next one should know.
• Pencil in next year (on by default) sets up next year's rhythm in its usual window with no day picked yet. The jobs come back with nobody on them and no date, and last year's lead is suggested.
  • A Same day each month rhythm gets its next date straight away. Every other month, that date is two months on.
  • An Every other year rhythm is penciled in two years on, in its usual month.
  • A When it comes up rhythm goes back on the shelf instead, until you need it.
  • A One time rhythm has no next year, so there's no Pencil in next year. Closing it out ends it. The question reads Anything worth remembering?, and your note shows on its page as Takeaway.

Each year's date, lead, jobs and takeaway stay in the rhythm's History.

Both put a rhythm away, and Revive brings either one back. The difference:

Shelve

For a year the ward skips it. Do it any time from the rhythm's page. It clears the date and its bulletin announcement, and keeps the jobs and the history. It waits under Shelved.

Ending

Happens at close-out, when you turn Pencil in next year off, or always for a One time rhythm. This year is closed, and nothing is set up for next year: the jobs don't carry over. It waits in the Shelved view under Ended, in case you want it again, and The year still shows the day it was held.

To remove one for good, such as a rhythm imported by mistake, tap Delete this rhythm at the bottom of its page.

Three ways to handle a year the ward didn't hold it, depending on when you find out:

It's over, and it didn't happen

Press Close it out and choose Skipped under How did it go?. Leave Pencil in next year on and next year is set up as usual. The skip is kept in its History.

It's coming up, and the ward won't hold it this year

Shelve it from the rhythm's page. Its date and bulletin announcement come off, and it waits under Shelved until you tap Revive. Nothing is set up for next year until you do.

Nobody closes it out

It stays on its old date. A week after the event, Needs attention starts asking to close it out ("Ward campout was on Jun 12"), here and on Today, and the bishopric meeting still lists it. It doesn't roll over to the next year by itself. Close it out, even late: next year is penciled in from the event's own date, not from the day you close it.

Closing out marks any job still open as dropped, so tick off what was done first.

Settings›Your ward›Organization tools

An organization's leaders can keep their own rhythms, such as Primary's activity days or the Young Women's camp. It's off until the bishopric turns it on, one organization at a time.

1. Open Settings, then Organization tools under Your ward.
2. On the Rhythms card, tap Add an organization and choose the one that should keep its own. The choice saves, and the organization shows on the card.
3. To turn it off again, tap the organization's name on the card.

The open card shows only the organizations that have it. Closed, it names them and how many.

Their leaders, the org editors who hold it (and the ward mission leader for Ward Mission), get a Rhythms tab. The Programs card below it is separate: it gives them their own programs (see planning your organization's program). Turning Rhythms off hides the tab again. Nothing they made is deleted, and turning it back on brings it all back. Only the bishopric switches these; the bishopric and the clerk always see every rhythm.

On their Rhythms tab, an organization's leaders can:

• add a rhythm for their own organization, and choose who helps;
• set its date, time and place, edit it, shelve it and close it out;
• delete it, unless the bishopric planned its Sunday or one of its assignments is another organization's or the bishopric's;
• add its jobs, for their own organization or one that helps, and mark their own jobs done;
• turn on Announce it in the bulletin. It goes under their organization's section. To have it shown to the whole ward too, turn on Ask to share with the whole ward on the rhythm's page, and the bishopric decides. It stays on for next year. An organization with no section of its own posts it for the whole ward.

They can't:

• see or change the bishopric's rhythms, another organization's, or one owned by a name typed under Other…;
• make a rhythm take the sacrament meeting, or plan, move or unplan its Sunday. The bishopric does that;
• pick who leads it from the ward list. They name their own lead when they're ready.

Helping with. When an organization helps with another organization's rhythm or the bishopric's, its leaders see the event under Helping with on their Rhythms tab: its name, date and place, and only the jobs handed to them. They can't change the event. Each of their jobs has its box, as on Assignments: tick it when it's done, or tick it again to reopen it. Whoever owns the event sees it done. A job handed to them also shows on their Assignments, even when the bishopric has their own rhythms turned off. There, a job of a rhythm they own or help with names the rhythm, on its row in the list and on its page, where it also opens it.

When the bishopric helps with an organization's rhythm, that organization can hand a job to Bishopric, and it shows on the bishopric's Assignments. The bishopric already sees every rhythm, so helping changes nothing else.

Rhythms›the event›Program

Some events have a printed program every time, such as Primary's Great to Be Eight. The event's page plans this year's program for you, on its own day, time and place.

1. Open the event, and set its date first. Until it has one, the Program card only says Set a date before making a program.
2. Under Program, choose what it Starts from: one of your program templates, or The plain program. You only choose this once; it stays for next year.
3. Tap Plan this year’s program.

The program is made with the event's name, day, time and place. It isn't published, and the ward gets no link until you choose. Tap Open the program to fill it in, publish it and print it, as you would any program.

Once it's planned, the card shows Next year starts from and the template's name. Tap Change to choose another. This year's program stays as it is.

Next year. Once you've closed out a year that had a program, Start from last year’s program appears. It's off. Turn it on before you tap Plan this year’s program to begin from last year's parts and wording instead of the template. Nobody who spoke or prayed is copied, and the new one starts unpublished.

These labels follow how often the rhythm comes round: a monthly one says this month, next month and last month instead.

When plans change. Moving the event to another day moves this year's program with it, even once it's filled in or published. A new time or place moves with it too. Its link stays the same, so a ward that already has it sees the new day. The Program card shows the day it's planned for.

To take this year's program off the event, tap Take it off this event on the card. The screen says what will happen before you confirm. A program nobody has filled in is deleted. One that someone has changed or published is kept: it stays on Programs as its own program and stops following the event's day. The event stays either way, and you can plan a new program for it. Clearing the event's date or shelving it does the same. Closing out keeps the program, as last year's.

Handing the event to someone else. When you change who owns the event, its program goes with it, filled in or published, with the same link. It becomes the new owner's program, or the bishopric's when the bishopric (or a name typed under Other…) owns the event. Choose what it Starts from again: the old choice was the last owner's template.

If the new owner's Programs are off, a program nobody has changed is removed. One that someone has changed, published or named a speaker in stops the change, and the screen says why: turn on that organization's Programs first, or tap Take it off this event.

Who can do this:

• the bishopric and the clerk, on any event. An event the bishopric owns has a program of the bishopric's own, started from the bishopric's program templates. No organization's leaders see it. An organization's event plans a program only while that organization's Programs are on: until then its card says so, and a program it already has can still be opened or let go;
• an organization's leaders, on their own events, while the bishopric has both their Rhythms and Programs turned on. An organization helping with an event never plans its program.

An event that takes the sacrament meeting has no Program card: that Sunday is its program.