Skip to content

Scheduling

Karthikeyan Marappan edited this page Sep 27, 2026 · 2 revisions

Scheduling (v2.3)

AxM Jamf Sync can run syncs automatically on a schedule, without you needing to click Run Sync or Sync All. Scheduling is configured once in Settings (⌘,) → Schedule and applies to every environment.

This is the in-app scheduler — it only runs while AxM Jamf Sync is open (or reopens itself via Launch at Login). For syncing on a schedule without the app running at all, see Command-Line Mode instead. Use one or the other, not both — see that page for why.


Turning it on

Open Settings (⌘,) → Schedule and toggle Automatically Sync.

The first time you turn it on, if Launch at Login isn't already enabled, you'll be prompted:

Enable Launch at Login? So scheduled syncs keep running even after you quit AxM Jamf Sync, it can open automatically when you log in. You can change this anytime in the General tab.

Choose Enable or Not Now — you can change your mind later in Settings → General.

Scheduling only runs while the app process is alive. If the app is force-quit, scheduled syncs pause and resume automatically the next time the app is open — they do not "catch up" on runs that were missed while it was closed.


Choosing how often

The Schedule tab shows Repeat Every, with five options:

Unit What you set Example
Minute(s) A number, 1–59 Every 15 minutes
Hour(s) A number of hours, plus which minute past the hour Every 6 hours, at minute 0
Day(s) One or more times of day Every day at 9:00 AM
Week(s) Weekdays, plus one or more times of day Mon, Wed, Fri at 9:00 AM
Month(s) A day of the month, plus a time Day 15 of the month at 2:30 PM

No cron knowledge is required for any of these — the app builds a standard cron expression behind the scenes automatically.

Multiple times a day

Day(s) and Week(s) let you pick more than one time by selecting several hours from a grid (00–23) plus one shared minute. For example, selecting 8, 14, 20 with minute 0 schedules three runs a day: 8:00 AM, 2:00 PM, and 8:00 PM.

All hours you select share the same minute value. This is the same way real crontabs express "three times a day" (0 8,14,20 * * *), but it does mean you can't mix, say, 8:00 and 14:30 in the same Day(s)/Week(s) schedule — see Advanced below if you need mismatched minutes.

Live summary

Below the controls, a green-highlighted line always shows your schedule in plain English — e.g. "Every day at 8:00 AM, 2:00 PM, 8:00 PM" or "Mon, Wed, Fri at 9:00 AM". It updates instantly as you adjust anything above.


Advanced: Raw Cron Expression

For anything the friendly controls above don't cover — mismatched minutes across multiple times, unusual day/month combinations — expand Advanced (Raw Cron Expression) and type a standard 5-field cron expression directly:

minute  hour  day-of-month  month  day-of-week

Standard cron syntax is supported: *, */N, ranges (A-B), and comma lists (A,B,C), including combinations. Day-of-week accepts 0–7 (both 0 and 7 mean Sunday).

Typing an invalid expression shows an error message below the field, and the previously-valid schedule stays active until you fix it — your automatic syncs are never silently broken by a typo mid-edit.

The friendly controls above and the Advanced field always describe the same underlying schedule — editing one updates the other.


Where you can see the schedule

Header bar

The main window's header always shows a schedule badge, next to the ⓘ button:

State Appearance
Schedule active Green pill with a live countdown, e.g. "Next Sync: in 3 hr, 20 min"
Schedule off Neutral gray pill reading "Schedule"

Click it anytime to jump straight to Settings → Schedule.

Menu bar

AxM Jamf Sync adds a menu bar icon (your app icon, shown at status-item size) with:

  • Open AxM Jamf Sync — brings the main window forward
  • Sync All Now — enqueues every environment immediately, same as the Sync All button
  • Next Sync / Last Sync — shown when a schedule is active
  • Settings…
  • Quit AxM Jamf Sync

The menu bar icon is present whether or not the Dock icon is showing — see below.

Dock icon vs. menu bar–only

Settings → General → Show in Dock controls whether AxM Jamf Sync appears in the Dock and Cmd-Tab switcher:

  • On (default) — behaves like a normal app
  • Off — runs menu bar–only, with no Dock icon or Cmd-Tab entry. The menu bar icon and all its actions remain available either way.

Quitting while a schedule is active

If you quit the app (Cmd-Q or AxM Jamf Sync → Quit, not just closing the window) while Automatically Sync is on, a confirmation dialog warns you first:

Quit AxM Jamf Sync? A sync schedule is active. Quitting pauses it until the app reopens…

The exact wording depends on whether Launch at Login is enabled — if it is, the dialog notes that scheduling will resume automatically next time you log in.


Notifications

Scheduled runs send three kinds of notification:

  1. Scheduled Sync Starting — fires once, right when a scheduled run begins, listing which environments are queued
  2. Sync complete / Sync failed — the normal per-environment notification (see Sync Tab) fires for each environment in turn, exactly as it would for a manual sync
  3. Scheduled Sync Complete — a summary notification once every environment in that run has finished

macOS may ask for notification permission the first time — allow it to receive these alerts while the app is in the background or menu bar–only.


Multiple environments

A scheduled run syncs every configured environment, one at a time, through the same serial queue used by Sync All — there is no parallel Apple/Jamf API activity between environments, scheduled or manual. See Environments for how the queue behaves.


Tips

  • If you mostly want unattended syncs, turn on both Automatically Sync and Launch at Login together — the app will prompt you for the second one automatically when you enable the first
  • Prefer Day(s) or Week(s) with a few specific hours over a very short Minute(s) interval — Apple's coverage API has a soft rate limit, and frequent full syncs add up
  • If you want AxM Jamf Sync out of your Dock entirely, turn off Show in Dock — the menu bar icon still gives you full access, including Sync All Now and Settings

Clone this wiki locally