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Collect Business Opening Hours & Shifts in Gravity Forms
A short walkthrough: install the add-on, add the Work Hours field, choose the time format and steps, then collect opening hours with extra rows for each shift. Watch on YouTube

Collecting accurate business operating hours, clinic consultation availability, restaurant opening shifts, or contractor schedules in WordPress forms often proves challenging when using generic text inputs or disconnected number pickers. The Gravity Forms Work Hours Field Add-on solves this challenge by providing a dedicated, native schedule field designed specifically for the Gravity Forms ecosystem.

This comprehensive configuration guide walks you through every feature of the Work Hours field, from basic drag-and-drop installation and 12-hour/24-hour time formatting to granular time step intervals, day range visibility controls, and multi-row shift repeaters.

Step 1: Installing and Adding the Field to Your Form

To begin collecting operating schedules, first ensure the plugin is activated on your WordPress site. Once activated, the field integrates directly into the visual form editor without requiring external dependencies or third-party libraries.

1. Navigate to Forms → Forms in your WordPress dashboard and choose an existing form or click Add New.
2. In the form editor sidebar on the right, expand the Advanced Fields panel.
3. Click or drag the Work Hours field into your preferred position within the form canvas.
4. Click on the newly placed field to open the Field Settings panel where you can configure field labels, placeholder descriptions, and administrative rules.

Step 2: Configuring Time Formats & Dropdown Steps

Different industries and regional markets follow distinct time conventions. The Work Hours field provides native toggles to accommodate standard civilian 12-hour clocks or international 24-hour military schedules, along with granular time step intervals.

1. Choosing Your Time Format

Under Field Settings → Time Format, choose between the two standardized display modes:

• 12 Hours (AM / PM): Generates friendly 12-hour selectors with trailing AM and PM designators (e.g. 08:00 AM to 05:00 PM). Ideal for domestic customer-facing forms, salon bookings, and local service providers.
• 24 Hours: Generates military/European 24-hour selectors ranging from 00:00 through 23:45. Ideal for logistics companies, healthcare facilities, and international commerce platforms.

2. Setting Granular Time Steps

The Time Steps setting determines the interval between consecutive selectable options inside the start-time and end-time dropdowns. You can choose from five standard intervals:

• 5 Minutes: Maximum precision for strict appointment scheduling, transit arrivals, or medical consultations.
• 10 Minutes: Flexible granularity suitable for personal training sessions and call back reservations.
• 15 Minutes: Industry standard for legal, financial, and professional service time tracking.
• 30 Minutes: Recommended for general retail operating hours, restaurant shifts, and clinic office hours.
• 60 Minutes: Clean, minimal hourly intervals for broad daily operating windows.

Step 3: Customizing Day Ranges & Visibility Controls

By default, the Work Hours day dropdown includes helpful shortcuts such as All days, Mondays to Fridays, and Saturdays to Sundays, alongside individual days of the week. However, certain workflows require respondents to submit individual daily entries rather than broad weekly batches. The add-on provides two administrative toggles to customize this list.

1. Hiding the “All days” Option

When you enable the Hide “All days” checkbox in the field settings, the “All days” preset is removed from the dropdown list. Respondents must choose either a weekend/weekday range or a specific calendar day.

2. Hiding the “Days Range” Option

For organizations that require strictly day-by-day availability (such as rotating shift rosters or variable clinic schedules), enable the Hide “Days range” checkbox. This removes the grouped presets (Mondays to Fridays and Saturdays to Sundays), leaving only individual days.

Step 4: Handling Split Shifts & Multiple Repeater Rows

Modern businesses often operate on split schedules. For example, a restaurant may be open for lunch service from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM, close for prep, and reopen for dinner service from 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM. Similarly, retail outlets frequently maintain different operating windows for weekdays versus weekends.

The Gravity Forms Work Hours Field includes a native frontend repeater row mechanism to accommodate these multi-shift requirements without requiring separate form fields.

1. Adding Additional Shift Rows

When respondents fill out the form, clicking the + ADD button instantly appends an additional schedule row directly beneath the current entry. Respondents can select different days or duplicate days with secondary time windows.

2. Removing Shift Rows

If a respondent adds a row by mistake or needs to remove a shift window, each secondary row features a clean red delete icon. Clicking the icon immediately removes that specific shift row while maintaining the remaining entries intact.

Step 5: Advanced Developer Customizations & Code Hooks

Developers can programmatically tailor the behavior and visual presentation of the Work Hours field using standard Gravity Forms PHP filter hooks.

Customizing Default Field Options in Child Themes

You can adjust frontend button styling or integrate custom validation checks before form entries are committed to the WordPress database. Add the following hook snippet to your child theme’s functions.php file:

// Custom validation hook to ensure closing time occurs after opening time
add_filter( 'gform_field_validation', function( $result, $value, $form, $field ) {
    if ( $field->type !== 'workhours' || !is_array( $value ) ) {
        return $result;
    }

    // Verify each shift row has selected days and valid time range
    $rows = array_chunk( $value, 3 );
    foreach ( $rows as $row ) {
        if ( empty( $row[0] ) ) {
            $result['is_valid'] = false;
            $result['message']  = __( 'Please select operating days for all schedule rows.', 'gravityforms' );
            break;
        }
    }

    return $result;
}, 10, 4 );

Frequently Asked Questions & Troubleshooting

Find answers to common questions and edge-case configuration scenarios when working with the Work Hours field.

Related Resources & Live Demonstration