Route Optimisation and Ordering
How worksheet ordering works, including manual reordering, the automatic sort modes, and optimising the order from the Route popup.
Worksheet order matters twice: it affects how the team reads the worksheet on screen, and it affects whether the day makes practical sense on the road. Work Planner gives you both manual and automatic ways to shape that order.
Order By Options
- Manual: Opens the reorder popup so you can drag worksheet items into the exact sequence you want.
- Round Order: Uses the stored order from the linked round when you want the worksheet to follow the route sequence already maintained there.
- Round Name: Groups or sorts by round names instead of using the numeric route order.
- Due: Useful when date priority matters more than geography.
- Address 1 and Postcode: These are simple location-based ordering choices for teams that want a rough geographical sort without using route optimisation.
Manual Reorder Popup
- Drag items up or down: This is the hands-on way to shape the route when local knowledge matters more than any automatic rule.
- Save Order: Stores the dragged order as the worksheet order.
- When manual is best: Use it when the team already knows the smartest visit sequence or when access restrictions and local timing beat a postcode sort.
Route Optimisation
The Route button on the worksheet opens the Route popup: the stops still to do on a map, with the time the route reaches each one. Its Optimise Order button works out a shorter order that still gets to jobs with a set time on time, and shows it before anything changes. You can also drag the stops into your own order there, before or after optimising, and see the drive time change as you go. Lock a stop and it keeps its number while the rest are optimised around it. Apply saves it as the worksheet's manual order. It only changes this worksheet: your rounds keep their own order.
Route optimisation is included on the Pro and Team plans, and on Essential with the Route Optimisation bolt-on.
Related articles
- Worksheet Route Popup: The map, arrival times, Optimise Order, moving stops yourself and locking them in place in detail.
- Navigating to Worksheet Jobs: Getting directions to each stop once the order is set.
- Move Items Popup: Often the next thing to revisit after the worksheet has been reshaped.
- Worksheet Detail Screen: Shows where the ordering controls and the Route button live.
- Print, Email, and SMS Actions: Worth checking once the worksheet order is settled and ready to send out.
- Add to Worksheet Flow: Useful if the worksheet order needs changing because new jobs or quotes are still being added from Planner.