Working with multi-date event sequences

A note about intended functionality...

You cannot modify the pattern of dates that an event sequence follows - in this scenario, you would need to create a new sequence for the new pattern of dates, perhaps by duplicating from an existing event and setting the revised sequence Frequency and Repeat until date.

However, you can modify the event Name, Times, Location, Site, Category, Status, Description, Visibility settings, Sign Up settings and Capacity and apply the changes to all future dates from today onward in the sequence - explained in this article.

You can modify the Date of individual events within a sequence without affecting the other dates in the sequence or the sequence pattern. You can also delete dates from a sequence and leave the rest of the sequence unaffected.

Where Sign up to the sequence is enabled, tickets, questions, sign-up confirmations and event capacity are added once and match for the sequence. Deleting tickets, questions and sign-up confirmations deletes them from the sequence, but you cannot delete tickets that already have sign-ups. Sign-ups are added to the sequence, so deleting an event date will preserve the sign-ups against the sequence until the last remaining date in the sequence is deleted.

Where Sign up to the sequence is not enabled, tickets, questions, sign-up confirmations and event capacity are added uniquely to each sequence event date, with the option to also add them to all events in the sequence. Deleting tickets, questions and sign-up confirmations only deletes them from the event date being viewed. Sign-ups are added to the relevant event date within the sequence, so deleting a sequence date will delete the sign-ups associated with that event date. You cannot delete tickets that already have sign-ups.

Where Sign up to the sequence is subsequently disabled, the tickets, questions, sign-up confirmations and event capacity are added individually to each event date in the sequence so that they become unique to each sequence event date.

Where Sign up to the sequence is subsequently enabled, the tickets and questions are all merged and added against the sequence. The sign-up confirmation and event capacity of the event being viewed are applied against the sequence.

Changing details for an event sequence

To update the Name, Start Time, End Time, Location, Site, Category, Description, Visibility, Sign Up settings and Sign Up Capacity for an event sequence, select Edit and make changes as appropriate. Before saving the changes, which up to this point would only update the information for this one event date within the sequence, notice the Update sequence option. To apply the changes to all future events in the sequence, check the box and save the changes - the changes are applied to all future events from today.

Adding dates to a sequence

You can easily add further dates to an existing event sequence. From a sequence event View, navigate into the Sequence tab and click Add to sequence:

The Add to sequence pop-up opens pre-populated with all the existing event information. Update the event Start and End date to reflect the new date being added to the sequence. You can also add sequence dates to a sequence using the Repeat and Until fields to generate a list of other sequence dates to be added when the pop-up is saved. The Add date option can be used to build a list of ad hoc sequence dates to be added. Review all the other event details and click Save to add the specified date/s to the existing sequence.

Top Tip! Don't forget the linked bookings...

If the existing event sequence has linked bookings, the newly added sequence date will need a linked booking added to match. Follow the instructions in the related support article Linking bookings and events.

Adding dates to a standalone event

You can just as easily add one or more dates to a standalone event, turning it into an event sequence. The process is identical to adding dates to an event sequence, however, a standalone event doesn't yet have a Sequence tab. Instead, choose to Add to sequence from a standalone event "View" page:

Then follow the same process outlined in the previous section - remembering to change the event Start date and End date for the new event you are adding to the sequence. Note also the option to add a sequence using the Repeat and Until fields to generate a list of sequence dates, and the Add date option to build an ad hoc date list of sequence dates.

The impact of event sequence changes on linked bookings

When editing event sequences, it's worth considering the consequences for any linked bookings. Linked bookings are shown on the Details tab of an event "View" (and shown vice versa if you are in the Bookings module viewing a booking's linked event). You can easily click to navigate between linked bookings and events.

Note also that if you update an event date or timings, the linked booking date/times will be updated but you will need to adjust the timings for the booked resources.

When viewing the Events section of the Calendar module, events with linked bookings are distinguished with a B, so you can easily identify those events that still need a linked booking to be added.

Cancelling an event sequence

An event's Visibility settings always apply, regardless of event status. In this way, you can optionally leave a cancelled event visible so that people can see the event's updated status when clicking through from your event calendar. While an event has a Cancelled status you will not be able to send event invites, use event check-in, share the event on social media or access the event page to sign up.

For events with a Pending or Confirmed status, you can easily Edit and update the visibility settings and status to Cancelled, or for Confirmed events, click More and select Cancel.

On the Cancel pop-up, review the event's existing Visibility settings and update where appropriate. For sequence events optionally tick to Update sequence, which will update all future sequence dates from today onwards. Click Save to process the changes.

The event status is updated to Cancelled:

Note: Cancelling an event does not affect existing sign-ups - you can manually process refunds for paid sign-ups based on your organisation's internal refund policy and Terms & Conditions. You can also communicate with existing sign-ups to let them know the event is cancelled.

A Cancelled event can be reinstated by editing the event and updating the event Status and Visibility fields. Cancelled events are easily distinguished throughout ChurchSuite in strikethrough font. Since we can't strikethrough an event name in iCal feeds, the event name is prefixed with [X] e.g. '[X] The Marriage Course'.