Pencel

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Run work on a schedule ​

Use this when you want Pencel to do something regularly without being asked, like checking your inbox every 30 minutes or writing a report every Monday. There are three ways to set it up. Start with the first one that fits.

Pencel needs to be running

Scheduled work happens only while Pencel is open and your computer is awake. If your laptop is closed, the work picks up after you open Pencel again.

1. Let a room check in the background ​

The simplest option. The room looks for anything new on a regular interval and tells you only when something needs you.

  1. Open the room and click its name at the top to open its settings.
  2. Go to the Schedule tab.
  3. Under Background checks, turn on Work in the background. In an inbox room this checks new mail, posts what it finds in the chat and finishes reply drafts it started. In other rooms it prepares documents toward the room's goal.
  4. Next to Check, choose how often: Every 15 minutes, Every 30 minutes, Every hour, Every 4 hours or Daily (then pick a time).
  5. Press Check now if you want a check right away.

The line under the setting shows when the room last checked and when it will check next. A check waits if the room is already working or waiting on an answer from you.

Email Chief of Staff turns its background checks on for you once Gmail is connected, every 30 minutes by default.

Pause a whole room ​

At the top of the Schedule tab, click Pause room and confirm with Pause. All of the room's scheduled work holds until you click Resume. Your on and off choices are kept exactly as they were, and anything already running finishes normally. While a room is paused, a note in the room says its schedules are holding, with a Resume button.

2. Turn a room's routines on or off ​

A room's routines are the standing jobs it does on its own. You'll find them under Schedule ▸ Routines. They include:

  • The room's responsibilities, set up when the room was created (for example "check for new bids each weekday morning"). Each row shows which teammate owns it, how often it runs, and when it last ran.
  • Routines from a ready-made Room, like the RFP daily scan or the Daily Morning Brief.
  • Routines you added with + Add routine ↗, or with Build in the room's message box.

For each routine you can:

  • Use its switch to turn it on or off.
  • Press Run now to run it immediately.
  • Press Re-accept plan if a responsibility shows as blocked.

You can't change how often a responsibility runs after the room is created. You can only turn it on or off. If you need a different rhythm, add a routine with + Add routine ↗ and describe the schedule you want.

If a routine you built yourself has no working switch, click its name. It opens in Studio, where you can change or pause its schedule (see section 3).

Daily runs for RFP Operations and Morning Stock Watch ​

These two ready-made rooms don't run every day until you say so.

  • RFP Operations: in the room, answer the Daily scan card with Run daily, or click Search every morning just above the message box.
  • Morning Stock Watch: press Run daily when Pencel asks, right after you install it or in the room. It needs your tickers first. Until you've saved them, it tells you "Add your tickers first."

You can turn either one off later in Schedule ▸ Routines.

3. Schedule a workflow in Studio ​

Use this for full control over the day and time, or for a workflow that doesn't belong to a room.

  1. Go to Studio ▸ Workflows and open the workflow.
  2. Click the Schedule tab. Current schedule shows what's set now and whether it's Active or Paused.
  3. Under Edit schedule, choose Manual (only when you run it), Daily, Weekly or Monthly.
    • Daily: set the Time of day.
    • Weekly: pick the day of the week.
    • Monthly: pick the day of the month.
    • Weekly and monthly runs start at 9 AM on the day you pick.
  4. Under Output destination, choose where results go: Workspace (saved to Documents, in a folder you can name), Email, Slack, or Pulse, which posts the result to Home. (Pulse is the old name for part of Home.)
  5. Under Approval policy, choose Unattended for work that runs while you're away. Anything that would send or change something is held back unless you've already approved it.
  6. Click Save schedule.

To stop a schedule for a while without editing it, go to Studio ▸ Jobs, open the workflow and click Pause schedule. Click Resume schedule to start it again.

If a daily, weekly or monthly workflow was due while Pencel was closed, it runs once when you open Pencel again. It doesn't run once for every day it missed.

Good to know ​

  • Quiet when nothing is new. Rooms don't post "nothing to report" messages. A background check that finds nothing new uses no credits, and in Jobs a run that found nothing new shows as No updates.
  • It still asks first. Scheduled work doesn't send an email, post a message or change a record without your approval, unless you gave a standing approval with Always Allow. See Approvals and permissions.
  • It uses credits. Choose sensible intervals, and give busy rooms a monthly budget. See Control what you spend.
  • A room without a schedule. If you turn off every routine in a room that's meant to run regularly, the room shows a note with Open Rhythm, which takes you back to the Schedule tab.