How a Shooting Day Gets Its Date and Number
When a shooting day is created, its calendar date and its “Day N” number are not the same concept. The date answers which day on the calendar the record represents, while the number is the production-day label attached to that shooting day; they come from different defaults and appear in different shapes in handoff files, so they should be checked separately.
A shooting-day date is a calendar day, while its number is an editable production-day label; “Day N” should not be read as a direct count of how many days have actually been shot.
A new day starts with four defaults
When a shooting day is created, its number defaults to the largest existing number in the current group plus 1; its date uses today when the list is empty, otherwise it uses the day after the largest date already in that list. When creation starts from “All,” the group defaults to the first group in the preset list, while creation from a specific group view carries that group name; camera and other information is left for the later form.
The easiest confusion is the source of the default date. The project also has a production-start date, but that value does not participate in calculating the next shooting-day date, so the default is not “production start plus one day”; if the existing schedule is offset from the production-start date, the next default still follows the largest date in the current list.
The date represents a calendar day only
Before it is stored, a shooting-day date is normalized to the start of that local calendar day, so the value represents the day rather than a specific time within it. The shooting-day date should not be used to express the exact call time, wrap time, or another time of day.
The number is a separate axis. The interface wheel offers values from 1 through 365 and the list is ordered by that number; deleting one shooting day does not renumber the remaining days, and two shooting days in the same group are not blocked merely because they carry the same number. The number is therefore a visible label to verify, not evidence of a continuous count of production days.
The same number is written differently in three handoff formats
The number goes directly into PDF, ALE, and CSV, but its visible form differs across the three. The PDF header shows a localized “Day N” expression; ALE writes the English form Day N, using - when the day number is absent; CSV carries only the bare number. Export filenames and subfolder names also include that number, and a single-day PDF filename can show a prefix shaped like Report_Day3_….
For a cross-language check, do not try to match the Chinese page text for “Day 3” character-for-character with ALE’s Day 3. Match the underlying number instead, then use the shooting day’s calendar date to confirm that both refer to the same day; different textual presentations do not by themselves mean the number changed.
Before handoff, the receiver should verify both the shooting day’s calendar date and its number, and confirm that the corresponding values in PDF, ALE, and CSV refer to the same day.
Do not extend the number rule to group names
The shooting-day number and calendar-date rules answer only what label the day carries and which calendar day it represents. The behavior that rewrites existing shooting days when a group name is renamed is a separate rule, and this article does not turn it into a general claim that changing any label rewrites references. For the number itself, the relevant observable facts are that it is editable, controls list order, is not renumbered after deletion, and is carried into handoff output.
For the meaning of scene, shot, and take numbers outside this shooting-day label, Scene, Shot, and Take Numbers Explained separates those identities. Before handoff, Why the Same Takes Do Not Line Up Row-for-Row Across Handoff Files can be used to check differences in row count and ordering without mistaking those row differences for changes to the shooting-day number.
FAQ
Where does the default date come from when a shooting day is created?
If the list is empty, the default is today; otherwise it is the day after the largest shooting-day date already in the current list, and the project production-start date does not participate in that calculation.
Does the “Day N” number always stay continuous?
The default starts from the current group’s largest number plus 1, but the number can later be edited; deletion does not renumber the remaining days, and duplicate numbers can exist in one group.
Can the shooting-day date represent an exact call time?
No; it is stored as a local calendar day and represents which day it is, not a specific time for call or wrap.
Is “Day N” written the same way in PDF, ALE, and CSV?
No; PDF uses localized text, ALE writes Day N, and CSV carries the bare number, so the receiver should compare the number together with the calendar date.
Axiom One LLC — SlateX. Figures current as of 24 September 2026.