What this tab controls
Five sub-tabs. On a phone they shorten to Hours, Rules, Rooms, Dates and Comms.
Staff left blank on a schedule means All Staff — the block applies to everyone.
Set it up
1
Add your first working block
On Availability, select Add Schedule. Choose the day, the start and end time, how long one appointment slot is, how many bookings that slot may take, and whether it is in person or online.
2
Assign it to a person, or leave it for everyone
Pick a provider to give them their own hours, or leave it unassigned so it covers All Staff. Repeat until every working day is covered — one row per day, per pattern.
3
Narrow what a provider can be booked for
On Booking Rules, select Add rules and pick the provider. Set the gap either side of an appointment, the minimum notice a client must give, how far ahead they may book, and a daily cap. “Providers without custom rules use the clinic defaults.”
4
Add rooms and equipment you can run out of
On Resources, select Add resource for each treatment room, chair or device. Attach the requirement to a service on the service form so it reserves automatically.
5
Block out the days you are closed
On Special Dates, select Add Special Date for each holiday or short day. Choose whether it applies to the whole practice or one person, and whether you are Available at all that day.
What changes once you save
Slots are computed, not stored. Every time the public booking page or the internal booking sheet asks “what is free?”, the answer is built from your schedules here, minus appointments already booked, minus any blocking calendar feed, then narrowed by that provider’s booking rules. So:- A new schedule puts slots on offer immediately — no publishing step, no cache to clear.
- A special date overrides the regular schedule for that day only. Marking it unavailable removes every slot; setting different hours replaces them. The regular pattern returns the next day.
- Booking rules only narrow, never widen. A minimum notice of 24 hours hides tomorrow morning; a daily cap of six stops the seventh booking. Buffers apply everywhere, but notice, horizon and the daily cap apply to client online booking only — your team can still book manually outside them.
- A resource requirement makes the room the constraint. If both rooms are taken at 10am, 10am is not offered even though the provider is free.
- Existing appointments are never moved. Shortening your hours does not cancel anything already in the diary; it only stops new bookings landing there.
Check it worked
Open Appointments and start a new booking. The times offered should match the block you just added, in the slot length you chose, and should skip anything already booked. Then open your public booking page and confirm a client sees the same times.Common issues
Visitors see no available times on my booking page
Visitors see no available times on my booking page
Work through it in this order. One — is there an active schedule on Availability covering that weekday? An empty list means no slots exist for anyone. Two — is the schedule Active, and does its Venue match the kind of appointment being booked? Three — on Booking Rules, is the minimum notice or horizon hiding the dates being looked at? Four — is a calendar feed set to Blocks booking covering that time? Five — is there a Special Date marked unavailable? If all five are clear, the problem is the page itself, not availability: check Allow Online Booking and that at least one service has been added to the page.
One provider has no times but everyone else does
One provider has no times but everyone else does
Schedules assigned to a named person only produce slots for that person. Either add a schedule for them, or leave a schedule unassigned so it covers All Staff. Also check their row on Booking Rules for a daily cap or a long minimum notice.
Slots are offered at the wrong time of day
Slots are offered at the wrong time of day
Times are interpreted in the practice timezone. That setting lives on the booking page designer’s Settings tab, as Clinic Timezone — “All appointment times will be calculated based on this timezone.”
I deleted a schedule and want it back
I deleted a schedule and want it back
Deleting is permanent — “This will permanently delete this availability schedule. Future appointments may be affected.” Appointments already booked stay in the diary; add the schedule again to restore the slots.
The Communication tab has nothing I can change
The Communication tab has nothing I can change
That sub-tab is a summary of current confirmation and reminder behaviour, not a set of controls. The channels those messages travel on are configured in Communications.