The front desk

For a salon, spa or clinic, Calendar → Today is the front desk. On a computer, or a tablet turned sideways, it has a column for each team member; on a phone or an upright tablet, the same day is a list you scroll. Consultants and other kinds of business open on Upcoming instead, a list of meetings by day: add one with the button at the top ("Add a meeting" for a consultant), move it with "Reschedule" and cancel it from "More"; there's no dragging there. With the waitlist on, Upcoming also lists who's waiting for a time, on any day ahead. The labels quoted here are a salon's; your screens use your calendar's own words. Your team sets out what each login can do.

Today and the week

The line under the date counts the day: "10 booked", requests waiting, who's on leave, and for admins what was taken, which opens the takings. Above the calendar, a panel lists what needs you: requests to approve, with "Review", and clients who haven't confirmed after their reminder. With the waitlist on, the line also counts who's "waiting" for the day and any offers to send on WhatsApp, and "Waiting for a time" shows the three you can act on first, with the free times that suit them, one tap from WhatsApp or email, and "See all" for the rest; on a phone it comes after the day's list. Colours follow the legend, from "Confirmed" to "Completed", with hatched processing time in salons.

Use the arrows or the date field to change day, and "Day" and "Week" to switch. The week shows Monday to Sunday for the whole team or one person, on a wide screen. The list folds finished visits into "Earlier today" and shows who is "Free now".

Book a caller

1. Press "Book", or tap an empty time on the calendar to start with that person and time.
2. Type a few digits of their number or part of their name. Any three digits from anywhere in the number find them; Enter picks the highlighted one. Someone new? Choose "New client" and add a name, plus a mobile number and an email if they give them.
3. Pick the services. A regular's services from last time are already ticked, marked "Last time".
4. Under "With", keep "First free" or pick a person. "When" fills in the next free time: nudge it with "−15" and "+15", or choose "Another day or time".
5. Under "How they booked", choose "Phone", "WhatsApp", "Instagram", "In person" or "Other". "+ Add a note" adds a note for your team.
6. Press the button. It says what it will do, like "Book Ananya for 1:00 PM".

It's booked straight away. A client with an email gets the confirmation, and with their mobile number the message on screen offers "Send Ananya a WhatsApp confirmation". Desk bookings can go past your online rules; when a time isn't open online, "Can clients book this online?" in the sheet says why.

Repeating bookings

For a regular who comes at the same time, such as a weekly lesson or a haircut every four weeks, book the whole series at once from the same sheet.

1. Fill in the client, the services, the person and the first time as for any booking.
2. Under "Repeat", choose "Every week", "Every 2 weeks" or "Every 4 weeks", then how it ends: "After" a number of visits or "On" a last date. A series runs a year at most: up to 52 visits every week, 27 every 2 weeks and 14 every 4 weeks.
3. The sheet lists every date before anything is booked. A free date shows who takes it. A taken one says what's in the way and offers the nearest free times, one for each person, the same day first; tap one to take it, or "Leave out" to skip a date.
4. Press the button. It says how many it books, like "Book Ananya for 6 appointments", or "Book 5 of 6 appointments for Ananya" when a date is taken and nobody picked another time for it.

Dates follow the clock on the wall, so a 4:30 PM lesson stays at 4:30 PM when the clocks change. Each visit is an ordinary appointment with its own reminders, status and payment. The client gets one email listing every date, with a calendar file that adds them all, and the message on screen offers "See the 6 appointments" and a WhatsApp message with the dates. Repeating bookings are made at the desk (or through the API); clients don't book a series online.

Open any visit of a series and it says "Repeats every week · 3 of 6", with "See all" for every visit. "Reschedule" and "Cancel appointment" then ask "Just this one" or "This and the 3 after it". Moving them together moves each later one the same way, so Tuesday 4:30 PM to Wednesday 5:00 PM takes every later Tuesday to the next day at 5:00 PM; before anything moves, the sheet lists each new time, and one that's taken stays where it is unless you take another time for it. Cancelling them together needs one reason for all. Either way the client gets one email about all of them; after a cancellation, it also says which visits still stand. On their own page the client sees every visit of the series and can reschedule or cancel each one separately, until your cut-off.

Walk-ins and blocked time

Salons and clinics get "Walk-in" for someone at the counter today. The sheet asks for the client first, by name or phone number, and it's optional: skip it if they're in a hurry, and the visit is saved as "Walk-in", a record every nameless walk-in shares, so it keeps no history of its own. Then tick the service. None is ticked for you, but for a client who's been before, their last visit's services come ticked, marked "Last time". The sheet lists who's free for it, now or after a short wait, the first free picked. Learn their name later? Open the visit and use "Add their name": it goes into that client's history, or a new one's. If the number you type there is another client's, the sheet asks first whose visit it is: file it under them, or keep the name without the number. Press "Start with Marcus now" and the appointment begins as "Arrived".

"Block time" closes time to online booking for one person, or for everyone to close the business: pick the day, the start and how long, from "15 min" to "Rest of the day", and why: "Break", "Blocked" or "Time off". Appointments already in that time stay booked, and the desk can still book over blocked time after a warning. Time off that runs for days belongs on the person's page.

Moving and booking over someone

On a computer or a sideways tablet, drag a booked appointment to a new time or to another person's column, or to another day on the week. Drag its bottom edge to change how long it runs. On a touch screen, hold it for a moment first, so scrolling never moves anything. Moves snap to your start times, a client with an email gets the new time by email, and the message after a move offers "Undo" (and "Tell Ananya on WhatsApp" when you have their number). On a phone, or from the keyboard, open the appointment and press "Reschedule".

When the new time isn't free, the desk says why ("Marcus isn't free then", and what is in the way) and offers "Move anyway" or the nearest free times. The booking sheet works the same way: pick someone who is busy and the button reads "Book anyway at 3:00 PM". The two appointments then sit side by side on the calendar. Online, clients can never book over anyone.

Statuses, notes and alerts

Tap an appointment to open it. "Arrived" works any time; "Completed" and "No-show" appear once the start time has passed. Each change offers "Undo" in the message that follows, and a no-show counts on the client's record. "Arrived" and "No-show" don't message the client; "Completed" can bring the review request that Reminders and messages describes. "Cancel appointment" asks why, with quick reasons or your own words, and frees the time; the client's cancellation email quotes your reason.

"Confirmed" means the client tapped the confirm link in a reminder email; "Not confirmed" means the 24-hour reminder went out and they haven't. For a client who confirms by phone, press "Mark confirmed".

Three kinds of note travel with an appointment: what the client wrote when booking, the team note that only your team sees, and the client's alert note, such as an allergy, pinned to every appointment they have; Your clients covers alert notes.

Open your calendar →