Plan a draft schedule

Use Draft to test how the virtual matches from one format plan could fit across the tournament’s courts and days. The result is a provisional court-and-time layout, not the schedule used to run the tournament.

Before you start

Create the tournament dates, courts, and any required Day Settings on Overview.
Build at least one format plan with planned phases and draws on Format. See Plan the tournament format.
Check which plan is primary if you use the Draft sidebar counter. The counter follows the primary plan, not necessarily the plan currently open on Draft.

Understand virtual matches and Draft assignments

A virtual match represents one expected match in a format plan before its entries and sides are known. Draft builds these cards from the selected plan’s phases and planned draws:

A Groups phase produces cards for each planned group, tour, and match position.
A Knockout phase produces cards for each planned bracket, knockout stage, and match position.

Draft stores only the provisional date, start time, and court assigned to each virtual match. It does not create actual draws or matches, assign entries, or copy the assignments into the working schedule.

The planning screens serve different purposes. Format defines the planned structure and estimates capacity. Draft tests that structure against a court-and-time grid. Draws later holds entries and generates actual matches. Planner assigns those generated matches to the real working schedule.

Because virtual matches have no entries, Draft cannot check player availability, shared-player conflicts, rest time, phase dependencies, or whether the sides of a later match are known.

Select the format plan

Open Tournament → Draft. Draft initially selects the primary format plan. If no plan is primary, it selects the oldest plan. If the tournament has no plans, the screen creates and opens an empty Plan 1.

The plan tabs and actions refer to the same saved plans used on Format, but each screen chooses its initial tab independently. Every plan has its own Draft assignments.

Switching plans shows that plan’s virtual matches and assignments.
Duplicate copies the complete plan, including its Draft assignments, into a new non-primary plan and opens the copy. Later changes to either plan are independent.
Delete removes the selected plan and its Draft assignments immediately. If it was the only plan, the screen replaces it with a new empty Plan 1.

Use Plan the tournament format for the complete procedure for creating, renaming, duplicating, making primary, and deleting plans.

Read the Unscheduled list

Unscheduled (draft) contains virtual matches that have no Draft assignment on any tournament day. Each card shows:

the event category and event name;
the phase name;
Group N or Bracket N when the phase contains more than one planned draw;
Tour N for a Groups phase, or Final, Semi final, Quarter final, or Round of N for a Knockout phase;
Match N, which identifies the match position within that tour or knockout stage.

Use Event and Stage to narrow this list. These filters do not hide or change cards already placed in the grid. A virtual match assigned on another date also stays out of Unscheduled (draft); select its assigned date to see it in the grid.

When the current filters leave no cards, the list says All draft matches are scheduled. With All events and All stages selected, this means that every virtual match has been placed, or that the selected plan contains no virtual matches. A narrower filter can show the same message while other unscheduled cards remain hidden.

Choose a date and read the time grid

Select Date to work on one tournament day. Draft initially opens the tournament’s first date, and the list contains every date through the tournament’s last date.

The grid uses time rows and one column for each configured court. Draft shows the effective Start and Slot duration above the grid.

Start comes from the selected date’s saved Day Settings. Without saved settings for that date, it is 09:00.
Slot first uses the selected plan’s match-duration override. Without an override, it uses the selected date’s Day Settings, then the app-wide Default match duration.
End comes from the selected plan for that date. If no End value has been saved in the plan, Draft uses 24:00.

The last point differs from Format: an unsaved End appears there as 21:00, while Draft builds the grid through 24:00. Change End to the intended value on Format and allow automatic saving to finish before relying on the Draft layout.

Draft creates only complete slots. Any remaining time shorter than one Slot is omitted.

If no courts are configured, the screen says No courts defined for this tournament. Add courts in tournament settings first.
If no complete slot fits between Start and End, the screen says No time slots — set start time / duration / end time in Format. Check the selected date’s Day Settings as well as the plan’s duration override and End.

Place and move one virtual match

Use a free cell for each provisional assignment.

Drag one card from Unscheduled (draft) to a free court-and-time cell.
To change its assignment, drag the placed card to another free cell.
To remove its assignment, drag the placed card back into the Unscheduled (draft) panel.

An occupied cell does not accept another card. Choose a free cell instead.

Changes appear immediately and save automatically after a short delay. Pause before leaving Draft so the pending save can finish. The Draft sidebar counter can update only after that save finishes.

Select and place several virtual matches

Use multiple selection when you want to place a group of cards starting from one free cell.

Select one card normally.
Hold Ctrl on Windows or Command on macOS while selecting cards to add or remove individual cards.
Hold Shift and select another card to add the range from the last card you clicked through that card.
Drag one of the selected cards to the first free cell.

Draft places the selected cards in their current visible list order. It starts at the target cell, moves across courts from left to right, then continues on the next time row. Occupied cells are skipped, and the search does not return to cells before the target.

If the remaining grid has too few free cells, Draft places the cards that fit and leaves the rest unscheduled. It reports not enough free slots with the number that could not be placed.

The Event and Stage filters determine the visible list used for Shift ranges, group order, and the dragged group. Selections hidden by a later filter can remain in the selected count, but they are not included when you drag the visible group. For predictable results, set the filters first and review the selected count before dragging.

Review Draft after changing the plan

Changing a format plan can add, preserve, or remove virtual matches.

Renaming a phase or changing the order of phases preserves the existing virtual matches and their assignments.
Increasing a planned group or bracket count adds virtual matches while preserving assignments for existing positions. Reducing the count makes assignments for the excess positions obsolete.
Changing a planned size can add or remove tours, knockout stages, and match positions. Assignments for positions that still exist can remain; assignments for positions that disappear become obsolete.
Removing a phase, changing its type between Groups and Knockout, setting its count to 0, or setting its size below 2 makes the affected virtual matches and assignments obsolete.
Removing a planned draw row can remove assignments and can also change which later planned positions retain an existing assignment.

Draft checks the saved assignments when the plan is opened or selected. If assignments no longer correspond to virtual matches, it removes them, saves the cleaned plan, and reports N draft assignment(s) were dropped because the plan changed. Review the remaining cards in the grid after any structural change, even when no warning appears.

Know the limits of Draft

Draft is a preliminary estimate of court and time use. It does not:

create actual draws or matches;
assign entries or establish match sides;
transfer virtual assignments into the real schedule automatically;
check player conflicts, availability, rest requirements, phase dependencies, or whether later sides are ready;
replace Planner, which schedules generated matches.

Fix common problems

There are no virtual matches

The selected plan may have no phase that produces matches, all its virtual matches may already be placed, or the current filters may hide every unscheduled card. Select All events and All stages, then check the date grids. If no cards are placed and Format shows no planned matches, add or correct the planned phases, counts, and sizes there.

There are no courts

Add tournament courts on Overview, then return to Draft.

There are no time slots

Check the selected date’s Start and duration in Day Settings, the plan’s duration override, and its End on Format. At least one complete Slot must fit in the available window.

A card will not enter a cell

The target cell is occupied. Move the existing card first or choose another free cell.

Only part of a selected group was placed

Draft reached the end of the available grid. The cards that fit remain assigned; the reported remainder stays in Unscheduled (draft). Choose an earlier free cell, free more cells, or use another date.

Assignments were dropped after a plan change

The edited plan no longer produces some previously assigned virtual matches. Review the plan structure, then place the remaining unscheduled cards again.

Wait for automatic saving to finish. The counter follows the primary plan, so changes made to a non-primary plan are not represented there.

Before you continue

Check every tournament date, confirm that the intended plan is selected, and compare the placed workload with the plan’s expected match total. Treat the result as a capacity sketch only; create the actual draws and matches before using Planner for the working schedule.