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How to Edit/Update an Individual Preventive Maintenance (PM) Trigger

Need to make some changes to your Preventive Maintenance trigger? This article explains how to get things updated.

Updated this week

Available On: Starter, Professional and Business Plus


🚀 Need to update your Preventive Maintenance (PM) triggers in UpKeep?
Whether you're looking to change the schedule, pause or resume a trigger, add or remove assets, or modify the checklist applied to generated Work Orders, this article walks you through it all.

PM triggers are automated schedules that generate Work Orders for recurring maintenance tasks—helping you stay proactive, organized, and efficient. Learn how to make updates and keep your PM program running smoothly.


How to Edit Preventive Maintenance Trigger Details

Setting Up PM Triggers

To create a new PM Trigger:

  1. Go to the Preventive Maintenance tab in your UpKeep account.

  2. Choose 'Create a new PM Trigger.'

  3. Configure the trigger by setting a start date, frequency, and recurrence preferences. It's advised to uncheck 'Create First Work Order Now' if Work Orders starting immediately aren’t necessary.

Need to make changes to the Work Order Details on your Trigger? This would allow you to change title, description, checklists and more.

  1. Navigate to the Preventive Maintenance section

  2. Select the Specific Trigger that you want to make updates to

  3. Select Edit Details

  4. Make any changes as desired

  5. Select Save Changes


How to Pause and Resume a Preventive Maintenance Trigger

If you have seasonal Work Orders or items you're not focussing on at this time you can put a pause to the triggers to resume at a later date.

Pausing the Trigger

  1. Navigate to the Preventive Maintenance section

  2. Select the Specific Trigger that you want to make updates to

  3. Select the Option Menu

  4. Select Pause

Resuming your Trigger

  1. Navigate to the Preventive Maintenance section

  2. Select the Specific Trigger that you want to make updates to

  3. Select the Option Menu

  4. Select Resume


How to Edit Preventive Maintenance Schedules

Changing Schedules to 'After Completion'

To change a PM schedule to use the 'After Completion' logic:

  • Navigate to the Preventive Maintenance tab.

  • Select the PM you want to update.

  • Click on the options dots next to the PM Trigger and choose 'Edit.'

  • In the schedule section, select 'After Completion.' This ensures the next Work Order is scheduled only after the previous one is completed.

Handling 'Next Occurrence Based on Completion'

If you need to apply the 'Next Occurrence Based on Completion' setting to an existing schedule, it's recommended to recreate the PM schedule. Modifying the setting on an active schedule can lead to errors, especially if there are open Work Orders.

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