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Creating and correcting appointments by hand

How to enter an appointment from the dashboard, give it a time outside the normal schedule, decide who attends it and correct where it happens. The list, the statuses and the general rules are in Appointments.

Path: Commerce & Services > Appointments > Add appointment. In a real-estate account that sidebar section is named Real Estate.

The Create Appointment form​

Five steps, in this order:

StepWhat it asks
What service are you booking?The service. It shows its duration and how many team members it has
Who is it for?An existing customer, or Add a new customer
Choose the momentAvailable Slots or Custom Time (below). Times are your business's
Who will take care of it?A Team member, or Unassigned
Give the appointment a nameThe title, required, up to 255 characters

Below the title, More options opens what is not required: the Description, the Customer language, the starting Appointment status and that service's Checkout Questions.

Beside it, Your appointment at a glance sums up your choices before you press Create Appointment. The start time must be in the future.

A customer who has not messaged you yet​

Add a new customer creates one without leaving the form: Full name (required, up to 64 characters), Email, Phone and Address. Email and phone are optional, but with neither there is nowhere to send reminders.

Customer language and the WhatsApp reminder​

Both are under More options.

  • Customer language (English or Spanish) is the language the reminders are written in. It starts on your business language; change it when this person speaks another one.
  • Among the Checkout Questions is the WhatsApp reminder question, when that service has it switched on. Typing the customer's WhatsApp number there — in full, with + and country code — counts as their permission: they get the reminder on WhatsApp even if they never messaged you. A customer who replied STOP still gets none.

Details are in Appointment reminders.

Available Slots or Custom Time​

Available Slots lets you pick a slot from the service's schedule for a date, with every one of its rules.

Custom Time lets you set the start and the end yourself; the duration comes from those two times. It is for the out-of-the-ordinary appointment, and it does not waive everything:

With Custom Time
Not appliedThe service's schedule (day and hours), the minimum notice, the maximum notice and the appointments-per-hour cap
Still appliedOverlap with another appointment of the same service, the team member not having another appointment at that time, the weekly maximum, and a time blocked in your Google Calendar

The end must be after the start, and a service that is not accepting appointments does not accept them this way either.

Who attends the appointment​

Who will take care of it? lists only the team members assigned to that service.

  • With a person chosen, only they get the calendar invite, and that time is taken for them on every service: they cannot be given another appointment at the same hour.
  • Unassigned, the whole service team is invited.

The invite goes out when the appointment is Confirmed. To change the person later, open the appointment and press Change under Team member: the previous holder's invite is cancelled and the new one is invited; with Whole service team, everyone on the service is invited. The Team member column of the list shows who has it.

Besides email, each team member can get their appointments on WhatsApp: in Settings > User Management, in their details, switch on Get my appointments on WhatsApp and enter their number with country code. It tells them when an appointment of theirs is booked, changed or cancelled, with the time in their own timezone.

Correcting where the appointment happens​

Each appointment stores its place at the moment of booking, taken from the service: In person with an address, or Online with the meeting link. If the service is in person and has no address, your business's is shown, marked Business address. That is why an appointment that is really a video call can show your street address.

Editing the service only changes future bookings. To correct one that already exists:

  1. Open the appointment and find the Where block.
  2. Press Edit (or Add location).
  3. Pick the Type — In person or Online — and enter the Address or the Meeting link, up to 512 characters.
  4. Save.

An empty address uses the business address; an empty link leaves the appointment as Link pending. An in-person appointment does not accept a meeting link as its address.

The change affects that appointment only:

  • assigned staff get an updated calendar invite;
  • the event in your Google Calendar is updated, if you have it connected;
  • the customer's upcoming reminders show the new place;
  • the customer gets no email about the change. If the appointment is soon, tell them yourself.

Which notices go out when you add one by hand​

  • Neither you nor the customer gets a confirmation email. Those only go out when a customer books it themselves.
  • Reminders are still armed, as for any booking, when there is an email address or a WhatsApp permission.
  • The team gets its invite once the appointment is Confirmed.
  • It is written to your Google Calendar, if you have it connected.