Booking Link Creation Stage 2: Setting up your Availability

Overview

In this second stage of the Booking Link Creation process, you will be determining the type of event your booking link will have, whether it will be a one-on-one appointment or a group meeting. 

This stage is where you specify the appointment duration and buffer times, choose when the appointment should begin, and configure booking, rescheduling, and cancellation requirements.

• Step 1: Setting up the type of event for your Booking Link
• Step 2: Setting up your appointment duration and buffer times
• Step 3: Specifying the period at which meetings should start
• Step 4: Configuring Availability Time Frames
• Advanced Options
• Additional Availability Options

Step 1: Setting up the type of event for your Booking Link

There are two types of events to choose from when creating your booking link:

Option 1: One on One

Choose this option if the appointment should only have one host and one attendee. 

Under What type of event is this?, select One On One.

Option 2: Group

Choose this option if you want the appointment to be available to more than one attendee.

Under What type of event is this?, select Group.
Choose the maximum number of people who can book the appointment. You can also manually input the number in the Enter Custom box.
Check the box for Show until capacity is full, and do not check other calendars if you don't want to make other appointment slots available until the current appointment slot has reached the maximum number of attendees. Check the box for Do not show how many appointments are left if you don't want potential attendees to know how many slots are left.

Step 2: Setting up your appointment duration and buffer times

Under How long should the appointment be?, specify the appointment duration.
Buffer time allows you to set aside a certain amount of time to prepare for or wrap up after an appointment. We'll add this space before and/or after your appointments as you set it. This feature enables you to always be prepared for your meetings.

Step 3: Specifying the period at which meetings should start

Under When should meeting start?, select your preferred option from the dropdown list.
DISCRETIONARY: Check the box for Show slot times every... then select your preferred interval from the dropdown list.  It’s important to note that this option requires selecting the start time option to the same interval value.  This option is only available for booking links with a single attendee and cannot be selected if your booking link event type is for a group appointment.
DISCRETIONARY: Check the box for Meeting must be booked specified time in advance and select your preferred values from the dropdown lists if you’d like to pick how close to an appointment people should be able to book. You can choose to specify the number of hours or days in advance that the person needs to schedule.
DISCRETIONARY: Check the box for Allow reschedule/cancel if you’d like to allow an attendee to have the option to cancel or reschedule after they’ve booked an appointment with you. If you enable this, a cancel/reschedule link will be placed in the initial confirmation email to the attendee. Enabling Allow reschedule/cancel will give you access to an additional setting. If you want to specify certain conditions for an attendee to cancel or reschedule an appointment, check the box for Prevent cancel/reschedule if within and enter your preferred values in the given box and dropdown list. Note: Enabling this option also allows team members to cancel and reschedule appointments internally by going through the cancel/reschedule links manually and on behalf of the customer.

Step 4:  Configuring Availability Time Frames

AppointmentCore allows you to fully customize your appointment booking to fit your schedule. For example, you can choose an available date range, set up a repeat or recurring availability schedule, or exclude specific dates and times. These additional customizations ensure you won’t have double bookings on your calendar.

It is important to note that you will only be able to configure availability in the Booking Link setup process if either the first or second option under Additional Availablity Options is selected.

Set General Availability Time Frames

Next to Availability Time Frames, click Edit Time Frames to change the default configuration. Set your general days and hours of availability, which will be repeated every week.

DISCRETIONARY STEPS:

If your availability varies from week to week, or if you host classes/events on specific dates or date ranges, you can customize availability by adding or limiting availability rules. For example, you can add or limit your availability by date or date range, or on particular individual dates, set up a recurring availability schedule, or a combination of both. 

Add Availability By Date or Date Range

Here’s how you can add availability by date or date range:

Next to Availability Time Frames, click Add Availability. Select By Date or Date Range in the dropdown.  Specify the start and end date and times for the availability rule by clicking the Calendar icon.  Click Done to create the rule. You can repeat these steps to create additional availability rules as necessary.

Add Availability By Repeat Rules

Add Availability: Daily Repeat Rules

Next to Availability Time Frames, click Add Availability. Select By Repeat Rules in the dropdown. Under Repeats, click the dropdown arrow and select Daily from the list. Under Repeat every (days), click the dropdown arrow, and select your preferred number of days for the recurrence interval. Click the calendar icon under Starts on and select the date you would like the rule to take effect. Under Ends, specify when the recurring rule should end. Under Duration, specify how long the recurring rule will be in effect. All Day - The rule will remain in effect for the entire day. From/To - The rule will be in effect only during the hours you specify. Click Done to create the rule.  You can repeat these steps to create additional availability rules as necessary.

Add Availability: Weekly Repeat Rules

Next to Availability Time Frames, click Add Availability. Select By Repeat Rules in the dropdown. Under Repeats, click the dropdown arrow and select Weekly from the list. Under Repeat every (weeks), click the dropdown arrow, and select your preferred number of weeks for the recurrence interval. Under Repeats on, click the dropdown arrow and tick the boxes on the days of the week when you would like to rule to take effect. Click the calendar icon under Starts on and select the date you would like the rule to take effect.  Under Ends, specify when the recurring rule should end. Under Duration, specify how long the recurring rule will be in effect. All Day - The rule will remain in effect for the entire day. From/To - The rule will be in effect only during the hours you specify. Click Done to create the rule.  You can repeat these steps to create additional availability rules as necessary.

Add Availability: Monthly Repeat Rules

Next to Availability Time Frames, click Add Availability. Select By Repeat Rules in the dropdown. Under Repeats, click the dropdown arrow and select Monthly from the list. Under Repeat every (months), click the dropdown arrow, and select your preferred number of months for the recurrence interval. Under Repeats by, select your preferred option by clicking the corresponding radio button and modifying the dates or days as needed. Click the calendar icon under Starts on and select the date you would like the rule to take effect.  Under Ends, specify when the recurring rule should end. Under Duration, specify how long the recurring rule will be in effect. All Day - The rule will remain in effect for the entire day. From/To - The rule will be in effect only during the hours you specify. Click Done to create the rule.  You can repeat these steps to create additional availability rules as necessary.

Add Availablity: Yearly Repeat Rules

Next to Availability Time Frames, click Add Availability. Select By Repeat Rules in the dropdown. Under Repeats, click the dropdown arrow and select Yearly from the list. Under Repeat every (years), click the dropdown arrow and select your preferred number of years for the recurrence interval. Click the calendar icon under Starts on and select the date you would like the rule to take effect.  Under Ends, specify when the recurring rule should end. Under Duration, specify how long the recurring rule will be in effect. All Day - The rule will remain in effect for the entire day. From/To - The rule will be in effect only during the hours you specify. Click Done to create the rule.  You can repeat these steps to create additional availability rules as necessary.

Limit/Exclude Availability By Date or Date Range

As necessary, you can create availability rules to limit or exclude certain days or times from your general availability schedule.

Another way is to simply mark those events as busy on your calendar so that AppointmentCore knows that you’re unavailable at that time.

Here’s how you can limit or exclude availability by date or date range:

Next to Availability Time Frames, click Limit/Exclude Availability. Select By Date or Date Range in the dropdown.  Specify the start and end date and times for the availability rule by clicking the Calendar icon.  Click Done to create the rule. You can repeat these steps to create additional availability limitation/exclusion rules as necessary.

Limit/Exclude Availability By Repeat Rules

Limit/Exclude Availability: Daily Repeat Rules

Next to Availability Time Frames, click Limit/Exclude Availability. Select By Repeat Rules in the dropdown.  Under Repeats, click the dropdown arrow and select Daily from the list. Under Repeat every (days), click the dropdown arrow, and select your preferred number of days for the recurrence interval. Click the calendar icon under Starts on and select the date you would like the rule to take effect. Under Ends, specify when the recurring rule should end. Under Duration, specify how long the recurring rule will be in effect. All Day - The rule will remain in effect for the entire day. From/To - The rule will be in effect only during the hours you specify. Click Done to create the rule.  You can repeat these steps to create additional availability limitation/exclusion rules as necessary.

Limit/Exclude Availability: Weekly Repeat Rules

Next to Availability Time Frames, click Limit/Exclude Availability. Select By Repeat Rules in the dropdown.  Under Repeats, click the dropdown arrow and select Weekly from the list. Under Repeat every (weeks), click the dropdown arrow, and select your preferred number of weeks for the recurrence interval. Under Repeats on, click the dropdown arrow and tick the boxes on the days of the week when you would like to rule to take effect. Click the calendar icon under Starts on and select the date you would like the rule to take effect.  Under Ends, specify when the recurring rule should end. Under Duration, specify how long the recurring rule will be in effect. All Day - The rule will remain in effect for the entire day. From/To - The rule will be in effect only during the hours you specify. Click Done to create the rule.  You can repeat these steps to create additional availability limitation/exclusion rules as necessary.

Limit/Exclude Availability: Monthly Repeat Rules

Next to Availability Time Frames, click Limit/Exclude Availability. Select By Repeat Rules in the dropdown.  Under Repeats, click the dropdown arrow and select Monthly from the list. Under Repeat every (months), click the dropdown arrow, and select your preferred number of months for the recurrence interval. Under Repeats by, select your preferred option by clicking the corresponding radio button and modifying the dates or days as needed. Click the calendar icon under Starts on and select the date you would like the rule to take effect.  Under Ends, specify when the recurring rule should end. Under Duration, specify how long the recurring rule will be in effect. All Day - The rule will remain in effect for the entire day. From/To - The rule will be in effect only during the hours you specify. Click Done to create the rule.  You can repeat these steps to create additional availability limitation/exclusion rules as necessary.

 

Limit/Exclude Availability: Yearly Repeat Rules

Next to Availability Time Frames, click Limit/Exclude Availability. Select By Repeat Rules in the dropdown.  Under Repeats, click the dropdown arrow and select Yearly from the list. Under Repeat every (years), click the dropdown arrow and select your preferred number of years for the recurrence interval. Click the calendar icon under Starts on and select the date you would like the rule to take effect.  Under Ends, specify when the recurring rule should end. Under Duration, specify how long the recurring rule will be in effect. All Day - The rule will remain in effect for the entire day. From/To - The rule will be in effect only during the hours you specify. Click Done to create the rule.  You can repeat these steps to create additional availability limitation/exclusion rules as necessary.

Next steps:

• Configure Advanced and Additional Availability Options.

• Proceed to the third stage of the Booking Link Creation process and publish your Scheduling Page.