> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.clinikehr.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Manage the appointment book

> Book, filter and colour the appointment calendar, set availability, and charge saved cards automatically.

export const StillStuck = ({topic}) => <div className="ck-callout ck-callout--note" role="note">
    <p className="ck-callout__body">
      <strong>Still stuck{topic ? ` with ${topic}` : ''}?</strong>{' '}
      Check <a href="/platform/help/troubleshooting">Troubleshooting</a> first —
      it covers the failures we see most often. If that does not resolve it,{' '}
      <a href="/platform/help/contact-support">contact support</a> and include
      your workspace name and the time the problem happened, so we can find the
      matching entry in your audit log.
    </p>
  </div>;

export const TaskHeader = ({before, time, after}) => <div className="ck-task">
    {before ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Before you start</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{before}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {time ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Takes about</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{time}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {after ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">When you're done</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{after}</p>
      </div> : null}
  </div>;

export const Path = ({steps = []}) => <span className="ck-path">
    {steps.map((s, i) => <span key={i} className="ck-path__step">
        {i > 0 ? <span className="ck-path__sep" aria-hidden="true">
            ›
          </span> : null}
        {s}
      </span>)}
  </span>;

export const Availability = ({editions = ['all'], plans, roles, note}) => {
  const list = editions.includes('all') ? ['clinic', 'pharmacy', 'lims'] : editions;
  return <div className="ck-avail" role="note" aria-label="Feature availability">
      <span className="ck-avail__label">Available in</span>

      {list.map(e => <span key={e} className={`ck-pill ck-pill--${e}`}>
          {EDITION_LABELS[e] || e}
        </span>)}

      {plans ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Plan</span> : null}
      {plans ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--plan">{plans}</span> : null}

      {roles ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Who</span> : null}
      {roles ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--role">{roles}</span> : null}

      {note ? <span className="ck-avail__note">{note}</span> : null}
    </div>;
};

<Availability editions={['clinic']} plans="Solo and Team" roles="Any staff member with access to Appointment" />

The **Appointment** workspace is where the day is booked and read. It holds the calendar, the services clients can book, the availability behind every free slot, and the settings that decide how bookings arrive.

<Path steps={['Sidebar', 'Appointment']} />

<TaskHeader before="At least one service and one bookable provider" time="A minute to book; 10 minutes to set availability up properly" after="A calendar that reflects your real day, and slots clients can actually take" />

## Find your way around

The workspace has its own rail with four entries:

| Entry            | Opens                                         |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------- |
| **Overview**     | The calendar                                  |
| **Services**     | The **Appointment Services** tab in Settings  |
| **Booking Page** | The **Booking Page Designer** tab in Settings |
| **Settings**     | The **Booking Settings** tab in Settings      |

Everything except the calendar lives in your clinic settings, so changing a service or a working pattern is the same edit wherever you start from.

## Book an appointment

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the calendar">
    **Overview** opens on the calendar. Switch between **Day**, **Week**, **Month** and **Group** at the top, and use **Refresh** if a colleague has just booked something.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select a slot, or select Create">
    Selecting an empty slot opens the booking sheet with that time already filled in. **Create** opens the same sheet with no time imposed, which is what you want when the client is standing in front of you.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose the client, service and provider">
    Search the client list, pick the service, then pick the provider — or leave it on **Any available provider** and let the slot decide. **Multiple Patients** turns the booking into a group appointment.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the time and place">
    Choose the start time and duration, then the venue. Enter a room or address for an in-person visit; a telehealth visit generates its own joining link.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save the booking">
    The appointment appears on the calendar immediately. Confirmation and reminder emails are sent from your notification settings — you do not send them by hand.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Booking one for the first time, field by field, is walked through in [Schedule your first appointment](/practice/get-started/first-appointment).

## Read the calendar quickly

* **Calendar Filters** narrows the view by **Appointment Status**, **Services**, **Providers**, **Resources**, **Staff Members** and **Event Types**.
* **Color by Status** and **Color by Service** switch what the block colours mean. Pick one and keep it — a room full of people reading two colour schemes is the failure this setting causes.
* **Current Schedule** shows the working pattern behind the grid, so you can see why a slot is closed without leaving the calendar.
* **Search patients, services...** finds a booking without scrolling to its day.

## Set availability

Availability is not on the calendar — it is in **Settings → Booking Settings**, and four things there decide every free slot:

| Setting                       | Decides                                               |
| ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| **Schedules**                 | The regular working pattern, per provider             |
| **Special dates**             | One-off closures, holidays and extra sessions         |
| **Resources**                 | Rooms and equipment a booking has to reserve          |
| Per-provider booking policies | Notice, buffers and what each provider accepts online |

A slot only appears to a client when the schedule is open, no special date closes it, and any resource the service needs is free.

## Reminders and channels

Which reminders go out is set under **Notifications**; the channels they travel on — SMS, voice, fax and email — are set under **Settings → Communications**. Both must be right: a reminder with no channel configured is never sent. See [Notification settings](/platform/settings/notifications).

## Charge the card automatically with Auto Pay

**Auto Pay** charges a client's saved card when their appointment is **Confirmed** or **Completed** — you choose which — so a routine visit never needs a manual invoice. Turn it on in **Settings → Auto Pay**.

<Warning>
  **Auto Pay** takes real money without anyone pressing a button. It needs the Essential plan or above and a connected Stripe account, only charges people who already have a card on file, and carries a **1.9%** platform fee on every charge. Only the clinic owner can change these settings. Turn on **Email a receipt to the patient** so nobody is charged silently.
</Warning>

Card details are held by Stripe and never reach ClinikEHR. Connect the account first under **Settings → Online Payments**; until you do, the **Auto Pay** card shows **Connect Stripe to use Auto Pay** and stays inert. See [Billing](/clinic/revenue/billing).

## Check it worked

* The new appointment is on the calendar at the right time, in the right provider's column.
* Opening it shows the client, the service and the venue you entered.
* With **Auto Pay** on, a confirmed appointment for someone with a saved card produces a paid invoice rather than an outstanding one.

## If something goes wrong

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="No free slots show for a provider">
    The provider has no schedule, a special date is closing the day, or a resource the service requires is already booked. Check all three in **Settings → Booking Settings** — the calendar only ever reflects them.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The rail only lists four entries">
    That is the whole workspace. **Overview**, **Services**, **Booking Page** and **Settings** are what Appointment does today.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Auto Pay is on but nothing is being charged">
    Three things stop it: the plan is below Essential, Stripe is not connected, or the client has no saved card. The screen says so itself — "Only patients with a saved card are charged." Everyone else is invoiced as normal.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Reminders are not arriving">
    Check the category is enabled under **Notifications**, then check the channel exists under **Settings → Communications**. A reminder with no channel is not queued and not retried.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The person I want to book is not in the search">
    They have no client record yet. Use the **Create client** link inside the booking sheet, or add them from **Clients** first — see [Manage your client list](/practice/daily/clients).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<StillStuck />