Calendar Setup 101

Managing time and appointments efficiently can greatly influence your success, be it personal or professional. With 's advanced calendar features, you are empowered with versatile tools to set up, customize, and handle your schedules. This guide covers every facet of calendar management, ensuring you won't miss a beat.

Calendar Varieties in :

Simple (Unassigned/Event Calendar): Ideal for general events that don't require specific assignees.
Round Robin (Group Calendar): Distributes appointments evenly among team members, ensuring a balanced workload and availability.
Class Booking: Tailored for single-session classes, workshops, or seminars.
Collective Booking: Events where the presence of multiple team members is mandatory.

The Blueprint of Setting Up Your Calendar:

Getting Started:

Navigate to Calendars in the Settings menu.
Click on Create Calendar.
Specify your desired calendar type.

Designing Your Calendar:

Logo: Enhance brand visibility by uploading an appropriate logo.
Name: Provide a suitable name.
Description: Give a concise overview.
URL: Customize your calendar link for easy sharing.
Appointment Title: Set a meaningful title. Utilize {{contact.name}} for personalized touches.
Event Color: Designate a color for quick identification.

Configuring Availability:

Choose between Custom or Standard settings.
Duration & Interval: Set the time frame for meetings and the frequency of their occurrence.
Buffer Time: Allow a cool-down period between appointments.
Max Bookings: Define daily appointment limits.
Scheduling Protocols: Dictate prior notice and lead time requirements.
Office Hours: Define your general availability or specify it for unique dates.
Recurring Appointments: Choose the rhythm of repeated sessions.

Availability Type Selection

Standard Availability: Ideal for routine appointments with fixed hours.
Custom Availability: Perfect for unique timeframes, such as webinars or one-off events.

Delving into Availability Settings

Meeting Duration: Designate the length of your appointments (e.g., 30 minutes, 1 hour).
Meeting Interval: Specify how often appointments can be scheduled.
Buffer Time: Input a downtime period between bookings. For instance, with a 15-minute buffer after a 30-minute appointment booked from 10:00am-10:30am, the subsequent appointment can be scheduled at 10:45am.
Max Bookings Per Slot: Define the upper limit of appointments for each time slot. In cases where the set threshold is exceeded, the system either moves on to the next user in the round-robin or marks the slot as unavailable.
Max Bookings Per Day: Set a ceiling for the total number of appointments on this calendar daily.

Scheduling Notice & Date Range Configuration

Minimum Scheduling Notice: Choose the lead time required before an appointment.
Date Range: Define how far ahead appointments can be scheduled.

Handling Recurring Appointments

Toggle to enable or disable regular meetings. Define the frequency, count, and measures to undertake when slots are unavailable.

Office Hours Configuration

For Standard Availability:

Select Days: Blue signifies selected days with checkmarks, while Gray indicates unselected ones.
Adding Extra Hours: Click on "+ Hours" to append more hours on specific days.
Applying Hours: Use "Apply All" to replicate the hours across all selected days.
Recurring appointments can also be fine-tuned in this section.

For Custom Availability:

Determine distinct dates and times apt for special events or one-time sessions.

Click "Save & Continue" once you've tailored your settings.

Important Tip:

When your personal timezone differs from the company's, particularly for event calendars, ensure your availability mirrors your timezone rather than the company's. For instance, if you're active from 8am-5pm PST and the company operates in EST, adjust your availability to 11pm-8pm EST for accurate reflections.

Forms, Payments, and Guest Inclusions:

Use a default or curated form for the booking widget.

Pre-Populate Fields: Enable the system to recall previous attendees with the Pre-populate fields(sticky contacts) toggle to remember your contact information.

Consent Checkbox: Toggle this option to allow obtaining consent from contacts when they provide their phone number during the appointment booking process.

Add Guests: Allow main participants to bring in additional guests, streamlining group schedules.

Name and mailing address: Include the data of the guest to be able to attend.

Note: In many cases, attendees are required to fill in the information before the appointment so that service providers can use that information for the appointment. An example can be a Medical Appointment: This could be allergies, any genetic ailments, past medical issues, etc.

Count Option for Adding Guests: This is particularly useful in cases where the primary attendee may not have the email addresses of the guests, but still wants them added to the appointment.
Pixel ID Tracking: Seamlessly incorporate scheduling into your analytic journey.
Auto-confirm New Meetings: Activate this feature to instantly confirm new appointments on available calendar slots, ensuring users receive immediate booking confirmations.
Billing Integration: If charging, integrate with reliable payment gateways like Stripe and turn on the accept payments feature, fill out the price and description.

Stripe Payment Gateway: Seamlessly bill for appointments by integrating with Stripe. Key configurations include setting the amount, deciding the currency, selecting between Test/Live environments, and customizing charge descriptions.

Custom Notifications & Management

Notification Types:

Determine your desired acknowledgment, be it a simple appointment confirmation or an update.
Decide who gets notified: the contact, an assigned user (especially for round-robin calendars), or specific emails.

Google Calendar Integration

Permit Google Calendar to send appointment invitations or update emails to attendees.
Assign contacts to their respective calendar team members upon appointment booking.

Connection to Other Calendars

Link your calendar to an existing one or navigate to set this up as per your needs.
- Please Note: The menu shown in this screenshot is only for simple calendars

Widget Customization & Appearance

Style Selection: Opt between the contemporary Neo or the classic design for your widget.

Booking Features:

Allow staff selection during bookings, letting contacts choose which user or staff member they'd like to schedule with.
Facilitate flexibility with options for clients to both reschedule or cancel.
Include additional notes that provide links to reschedule, cancel, and any other relevant information.

Management & Oversight

Viewing & Editing Your Calendar:

Access all saved calendars in your account settings.
Utilize the '...' option to: duplicate, retrieve the embed code, share scheduling or permanent links, edit calendar settings, activate/deactivate, or even delete from your account. You can also move calendars to specific groups if needed.

Appointment Management:

Head over to Calendars > Appointments to sift through appointments based on the Calendar, Status, and Date.
Make the most of manual appointment booking when required.

Spotlight on the "Add Guest" Functionality

One of 's distinguishing features, the "Add Guest" function, ensures users can effortlessly invite additional participants.

Activation:

When setting up or modifying your calendar, navigate to the 'Forms & Payment' section.
Spot and activate the 'Add Guests' feature.

Configurations:

Define the maximum number of guests a user can bring in.
Ensure guests, similar to primary participants, receive adequate notifications about the event.

Conclusion:

With the right tools and insights, calendar management can be more than just a routine task; it can be transformative. Let 's features guide you through effortless scheduling, ensuring you remain at the forefront of every appointment, class, or meeting. Upgrade your calendar management experience with these comprehensive steps, and watch productivity soar!