Dashboard
The Dashboard is your home base in Orbit. It gives you a real-time snapshot of your academic progress - credits completed, courses in progress, and planned terms all in one view.
A walkthrough of the Dashboard layout, showing how the stat cards, progress ring, semester timeline, and action items reflect your current plan in real time.
How to use it
- 1Navigate to Dashboard from the sidebar to see your current standing at a glance.
- 2Check the stat trio (completed / in-progress / planned credits) to understand where you are toward graduation.
- 3Use the Action Items card for the highest-priority tasks Orbit recommends based on your plan.
- 4The progress ring updates automatically whenever you add courses to a MAIN schedule.
Have a question about Dashboard?
Submit it and we may add it to this section.
Schedules
The Schedules library keeps every semester's schedule - past, present, and future - in one place. You can save multiple drafts per term and promote the best one to MAIN, which drives your Degree Audit and Four-Year Plan.
A demo of the Schedules library: switching between View, Edit, and Generate tabs; previewing a saved schedule; and promoting a draft to MAIN.
How to use it
- 1Use the term selector at the top to filter schedules by semester.
- 2Click a schedule card to preview it in the right panel without opening the editor.
- 3Double-click a card to jump straight into the full Schedule Editor.
- 4Tap the star icon or use Preview Actions to set a draft as your MAIN schedule for the term.
- 5Hit "+ New Schedule" to start a blank draft for any term.
Have a question about Schedules?
Submit it and we may add it to this section.
Schedule Builder
The Schedule Builder is the full course editor. Search for any UMD course, pick a section, and watch it land on the weekly calendar. Time conflicts are highlighted in real time so you can fix them before they become a problem.
A step-by-step demo of building a schedule from scratch: searching for courses, adding sections, resolving a time conflict, and saving the schedule.
How to use it
- 1Type a course code (e.g. CMSC330) or instructor name in the search panel to find sections.
- 2Click a section row in the search results to add it to the calendar.
- 3Overlapping blocks appear in red - click one to see which courses conflict.
- 4Use the "What's Needed" panel to see which required courses you haven't scheduled yet.
- 5Hit Export / Print to generate a print-ready PDF of the finished schedule.
- 6Orbit auto-saves as you work - use the Save button any time to force a sync.
Have a question about Schedule Builder?
Submit it and we may add it to this section.
Schedule Generator
The Schedule Generator builds conflict-free weekly options from required and optional courses, then ranks them using your credit, time, modality, and walking preferences.
A walkthrough of selecting a term, prioritizing courses, setting constraints, generating options, and saving the best result as a draft or MAIN schedule.
How to use it
- 1Open Generate from the Scheduling section or the Generate tab in My Schedules.
- 2Pick the target term before adding courses so section data matches the semester.
- 3Add required courses that must fit, plus optional courses Orbit should try to include.
- 4Set credit range, modality, open-seat, time, day, and ranking preferences.
- 5Generate schedules, sort the results, then save one option or set it as MAIN.
Have a question about Schedule Generator?
Submit it and we may add it to this section.
Degree Audit
The Degree Audit cross-references every course in your MAIN schedules against your declared program requirements. It tells you exactly which requirements are satisfied, in progress, planned, or still needed.
A walkthrough of the Degree Audit: reading the summary bar and credit progress bar, expanding requirement groups, checking course statuses, and exporting the audit as a PDF.
How to use it
- 1The summary bar at the top shows total credits earned vs. required, plus your GPA.
- 2The colored progress bar breaks your path to graduation into four zones: completed, in-progress, planned, and still needed.
- 3Use the right sidebar to switch between your major and any declared minors.
- 4Expand a requirement group to see individual courses and their statuses (complete, in-progress, planned, needed).
- 5Click "Edit Programs" to add or remove declared majors and minors - the audit refreshes instantly.
- 6Use Export PDF or Share with Advisor before an advising meeting.
Have a question about Degree Audit?
Submit it and we may add it to this section.
Four-Year Plan
The Four-Year Plan arranges every MAIN schedule and your prior credit history into a single term-by-term timeline, so you can see your entire academic path from start to graduation in one view.
A tour of the Four-Year Plan timeline, showing how to read credit and workload summaries per term, understand contribution badges, and identify gaps early.
How to use it
- 1Each column in the timeline represents one semester - past terms show completed courses, future terms show planned ones.
- 2The credit count and course count beneath each term help you spot overloaded or light semesters before registration.
- 3Contribution badges on course chips indicate which requirement group that course satisfies.
- 4Prior-to-UMD imported history appears in the last column. Other prior credits (AP, transfer, etc.) appear in the term they were awarded and count toward your progress.
Have a question about Four-Year Plan?
Submit it and we may add it to this section.
Gen Eds
Gen Eds tracks UMD General Education categories from your MAIN schedules, prior credits, and transcript imports so you can see covered and open areas quickly.
A walkthrough of the Gen Ed summary, category filters, requirement table, fulfilled-by course chips, and detail modal with suggested options.
How to use it
- 1Open Gen Eds from the Academics section of the sidebar.
- 2Use the summary row to see how many requirements are met, active, planned, or open.
- 3Filter by category or search by code, name, or course to focus the table.
- 4Review the Fulfilled By column to see which courses count toward each requirement.
- 5Open details on a row to see course coverage and suggested options.
Have a question about Gen Eds?
Submit it and we may add it to this section.
Suggestions
Suggestions recommends courses based on your declared programs, transcript, existing plan, Gen Ed needs, prerequisites, and personalization preferences.
A walkthrough of course recommendation filters, fit scores, personalization preferences, and the feedback/reporting tab.
How to use it
- 1Declare programs in Settings so Orbit has requirements to rank against.
- 2Use personalization preferences to set interests, workload tolerance, and preferred formats.
- 3Filter recommendations by requirement type or plan gaps.
- 4Read each card's rationale and score before opening details or adding it to Schedule Builder.
- 5Use Report / Request to send bugs, feature requests, or feedback to the Orbit team.
Have a question about Suggestions?
Submit it and we may add it to this section.
Notifications
The Notification Center collects recent Orbit alerts, keeps unread counts in sync with the sidebar, and links back to notification preferences.
A walkthrough of refreshing notifications, reading unread alerts, marking items read, and opening notification preferences.
How to use it
- 1Open Notifications from the Academics section when the sidebar badge shows unread items.
- 2Use Refresh to fetch the latest alerts.
- 3Mark individual notifications read or clear the whole unread count with Mark all read.
- 4Open Settings from the summary row to adjust notification preferences.
Have a question about Notifications?
Submit it and we may add it to this section.
Settings
Settings is where you manage your profile, academic programs, scheduling defaults, notifications, and privacy preferences. You can also replay any page guide or open the Help Center from here.
A quick tour of the Settings sections: updating your profile information, declaring majors and minors, setting your expected graduation term, and adjusting notification preferences.
How to use it
- 1Update your name, email, and UID in the Account section to keep planning pages personalized.
- 2Declare or remove majors and minors under Academic Information - changes cascade to the Degree Audit instantly.
- 3Set your expected graduation term so Orbit can calculate remaining time to graduation.
- 4Use Scheduling Preferences to change your default term and schedule view.
- 5Replay any page's guided tour from the Onboarding Guides card under Scheduling.
Have a question about Settings?
Submit it and we may add it to this section.
Help Center
The Help Center collects Orbit's written guides and can launch each feature's live guided tour on the correct page.
A walkthrough of searching help content, jumping between guides, and starting live tours from the Help Center.
How to use it
- 1Search by page name, feature, or workflow.
- 2Use the left navigation to jump between feature guides.
- 3Choose Take tour on a feature to open the live page and start its guided walkthrough.
- 4Use Replay current page tour when you are already on a page with a guide.
Have a question about Help Center?
Submit it and we may add it to this section.