Guide & FAQ: Scheduling polls with datly
datly is a free, ad-free scheduling poll – here you'll find everything from the first poll to the final date.
How datly works
datly finds the one date that works for your whole group – without back-and-forth messages. The principle in three steps:
- 1. Create: you set up a poll in under a minute – no account needed.
- 2. Share: everyone gets the participation link and marks when they can attend.
- 3. Decide: datly highlights the best dates instantly; you confirm one, and everyone is notified with a calendar entry.
datly is free, ad-free, tracking-free and GDPR-compliant – hosted in Germany, available in German and English.
Create a poll
Click Create poll in the navigation — no account required. First choose the poll type:
Date poll
You set the options: pick days on the two-month calendar and leave each day as all-day or add one or more time slots (from–to). Participants then vote Yes / Maybe / No on every option. Perfect when the choice of dates should stay in your hands.
Free day picker
You only enter a title — participants pick their own available days on the calendar and can even propose new days or time slots that others react to. Perfect for open questions like "When are you around in August?"
Recurring slot finder
Finds a regular slot — for the weekly team meeting, sports night or club evening. In the week view you tap the weekdays, optionally give each day its own times (with quick picks like morning/afternoon/evening) and choose the rhythm: weekly, every two weeks or monthly. A live preview shows the next concrete dates. Participants vote Yes/Maybe/No per slot, and the confirmed slot exports as a repeating calendar entry (.ics series).
Period finder
Finds a shared period — ideal for group holidays or trips. Pick periods directly in the calendar: tap the first and last day, or tap a calendar week (KW) to select the whole week; adjacent periods merge automatically. Participants add their own available periods the same way, and datly shows the overlap: an availability timeline plus "common periods" cards — green means everyone can make it.
Details
- Title (required) and an optional description with extra info for participants.
- Optional deadline — after it, no more votes are accepted and the poll resolves automatically (see below).
- Optional notification email to be informed about every new vote.
Your two links
- The participation link is public — share it with your group via chat, email or any channel.
- The admin link is secret and manages the poll — keep it safe and never share it with participants.
- Created as a guest? You can claim the poll later: log in on the admin page and it is linked to your account permanently.
Voting
Open the participation link and enter your name. Guests also enter an email address — it is your identity anchor: it delivers your personal edit link, restores your selection when you return, and receives notifications you opted into. It is never shown to other participants. Logged-in users don't enter an email.
Date poll: Yes / Maybe / No
Tap the boxes in your row to cycle through Yes → Maybe → No for each option. The grid shows everyone else's answers and a yes-count bar per option, so you see the group's favourites live.
Quick Vote
The best-matching dates appear as cards at the top. Tap a card and the form is instantly pre-filled with "Yes" for that date — submit with a single click.
Free day picker: calendar
Click days in the calendar to mark yourself available. The colours tell you the group status at a glance: green = everyone can, yellow = some can, blue = your own selection. Below the calendar you can propose additional days or time slots — the other participants are notified and can react.
Recurring slot finder
Works like a date poll: each slot is a card like "Every Monday · weekly · 18:00–20:00" and you answer Yes / Maybe / No. The best recurring slots appear as cards at the top for one-tap voting.
Period finder
Mark your available periods directly in the calendar: tap the first and last day (a hint guides you), tap a KW number to select the whole week, tap inside a period to remove it. Your periods appear as chips under the calendar, the "common periods" cards let you adopt a suggested period with one tap — and the availability timeline shows live who can when.
Changing your vote & good to know
- Use the personal edit link from your email, or — if logged in — just reopen the poll with your account.
- Names must be unique per poll — if a name is already taken, datly warns you while typing.
- Past dates are hidden automatically; you can't vote for yesterday.
- Many options? The grid pages through columns with arrow buttons instead of endless scrolling.
Results & final date
- Best dates: the top options where the most (or all) participants said yes — shown as cards above the grid, sorted by yes-votes, next date first.
- Overview grid: who can attend when, at a glance — with a yes-count bar per option.
- Free day picker: the calendar aggregates all answers with the green/yellow colour code.
- Period finder: an availability timeline replaces the grid — one bar per participant, plus a green "Together" strip per day (green = everyone, yellow shades = some). "Common periods" cards rank the best overlaps.
- Calendar and timeline: every poll also has a collapsible read-only calendar overview with calendar week (KW) numbers and a "Today" button.
Set the final date
The admin confirms the winning date directly on a best-date card or via the dropdown. In the period finder it says "Set period", in the recurring finder "Set recurring slot" — same one-tap flow. Then, automatically:
- Everyone with an email address is notified instantly.
- The poll closes and shows a green "Date confirmed" banner.
- A calendar file (.ics) becomes available — compatible with Outlook, Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, iOS and Android. A period exports as a multi-day entry, a recurring slot as a repeating series.
Changed your mind? The admin can revoke the final date — the poll reopens for voting. When a poll expires: with a single option it is confirmed automatically; with several, the admin gets an email to choose.
Admin features
Open your secret admin link (or the poll in your dashboard) to manage everything:
Poll management
- Close / reopen the poll at any time; closed polls accept no votes.
- Edit poll: change title, description, deadline and notification email.
- CSV export of all votes, and delete the poll completely.
- Send a reminder email to a list of addresses you enter.
Edit date options
- The pencil button changes an option's date, switches between all-day and time slot, or adjusts the times — existing votes stay attached.
- The ✕ button deletes an option including its votes (with confirmation).
- Add new options below the list — participants with notifications enabled are informed automatically.
Edit votes & participants
- In edit mode you can correct any vote (tap cycles Yes → Maybe → No) and remove participants.
- The edit links of guest participants are listed for you to pass on if someone lost theirs.
A closed poll must be reopened before editing — this keeps results consistent.
Notifications
datly sends emails only when they help — never for advertising:
- Your edit link after voting as a guest.
- New votes — to the poll creator, if a notification email is set.
- New date proposals (free day picker) — to participants who opted in.
- Final date confirmed — to everyone with an email address, in their language.
- Deadline reminder 24 hours before the poll expires; after expiry the admin gets a mail to pick the final date.
Guests control notifications via the checkbox when voting. Every email is bilingual-aware and sent from datly.eu only.
Account & profile
You never need an account to create polls or vote. A free account simply adds convenience:
- All polls in one dashboard — "Created" and "Participated" tabs, permanent access, no links to remember.
- Vote without re-entering your email; your votes are linked to the account automatically.
- Claim guest polls: log in on the admin page of a poll you created as a guest and keep it forever.
Profile settings
- Display name and preferred language (German/English — also used for emails).
- Change email: the new address only becomes active after you confirm it via a link (valid 24 h).
- Change password, or reset it via "Forgot password" on the login page.
Privacy & your data
- Hosted in Germany, GDPR-compliant, no tracking cookies, no ads, no data sharing with third parties.
- Fonts and scripts are self-hosted — visiting datly loads nothing from external networks.
- Your email is only used as described under Notifications and is never shown to other participants.
- Data export (GDPR Art. 15/20): logged-in users download a JSON export in the profile; guests request an export link with their email on the data export page.
- Deletion requests and questions: contact support. Details in the privacy policy.
FAQ
Click "Create poll" in the navigation – no account needed. Choose one of four types: date poll (fixed date/time options), free day picker (participants choose their own days), recurring slot finder (a regular weekly/monthly slot) or period finder (a shared multi-day period, e.g. for holidays). Enter a title, optionally a description, then share the participation link.
Yes. datly is completely free, ad-free, uses no tracking and needs no registration. You can create polls and vote without an account.
No. Anyone with the link can vote. Guests enter an email address – it is the identity anchor used to deliver a personal edit link and notifications. Logged-in users do not enter an email.
On the poll page the best-matching dates are shown as cards at the top. Tap a card to instantly pre-fill the voting form with "Yes" for that option – then submit with one click.
Yes. After voting you get a personal edit link by email. Logged-in users simply reopen the poll with their account. Your email address is the anchor that restores your selection.
In the admin view, tap the desired date under "Best dates" or "Set final date" and confirm. Everyone with an email is notified instantly, the poll closes, and a calendar file (.ics) becomes available.
Date poll: you define fixed options (all-day or with time slots) and participants vote Yes/Maybe/No. Free day picker: each participant selects their own available days on a calendar and can propose new days or times. Recurring slot finder: finds a regular slot such as "every Monday 18:00" – with weekly, biweekly or monthly rhythm. Period finder: everyone marks available periods in the calendar and datly shows the overlaps, e.g. for a group holiday.
In the week view you activate weekdays, optionally give each day its own times and choose the rhythm (weekly, every two weeks, monthly). A preview shows the next concrete dates. Participants vote Yes/Maybe/No per slot. The confirmed slot downloads as a repeating calendar series (.ics) that calendar apps place on every occurrence automatically.
Everyone marks their available periods directly in the calendar: tap the first and last day, or tap a calendar week number to select the whole week. An availability timeline shows all participants side by side, and "common periods" cards rank the best overlaps – green means everyone can make it. The admin then sets the final period with one tap.
Yes. In the admin view under "Edit options" every option has a pencil button to change its date or time – existing votes stay attached. You can also delete options or add new ones; participants are notified about new options.
With exactly one date option it is set automatically as the final date. With several options, the admin gets an email to pick the winner. 24 hours before the deadline participants receive a reminder.
If you created the poll with an account, you will always find it in your dashboard. As a guest the admin link is the only key – check the browser history or the creation confirmation. For safety, create polls while logged in or claim them later with your account.
Names and votes are visible to everyone with the link so the group can find the best date together. Email addresses are never shown to other participants.
There is no fixed limit. The results grid pages through many options, and long participant lists are collapsed – polls stay usable even with large groups.
Yes. datly runs from Germany on German servers, uses no cookies for tracking and no ads, and shares no data with third parties. All fonts and scripts are self-hosted.
Yes. datly covers the same core use case – finding a date with a group – but is completely free, ad-free and GDPR-compliant with servers in Germany, and works without any account. See the detailed comparison on the Doodle alternative page.
datly is a private, non-commercial project by David Hirsekorn, an indie developer from Germany – one of several ad-free web projects by the same person. There is no business model behind it: no ads, no selling of data, no premium tier. The operator covers the server costs himself.
Logged-in users export all their data as JSON in the profile (GDPR Art. 15/20). Guests request an export link via the data export page using their email. For deletion, contact support@datly.eu.