When setting up Online Scheduling we like to break the build into two parts: Creating your Service and then Creating your Availability Schedule.

Here we will dive into creating your Availability Schedule and link out to individual help articles for each section.

WHAT IS AN AVAILABILITY SCHEDULE

Your Availability Schedule creates the parameters around the dates and times your contacts can book a Service with you. It will include dates, times, booking limitations, calendar checks, and team members.

When your Availability is saved, you will then see a URL that you can share, embed, or link to so that people can start booking you.

THE ANATOMY OF AN AVAILABILITY SCHEDULE

Overview

There are many different elements for your Availability Schedule; however, like Services, this can be as easy or as customized as you see fit.

To get started, navigate to Online Scheduling in your Account Settings and click on Availability.

If you do not have a Schedule, click 'Add Schedule'. You will need to create one service before being able to see the Availability Tab.

Required Settings

To keep it simple, let's go over the required settings to create an Availability Schedule. Then we will dive into how to customize each section.

1) Name & Services

🔗 Learn More About Names and Services Here.

Your Availability Schedule can contain one or multiple Online Scheduling Services. In the first section, Name & Services, you will be able to give your schedule a name and select the Service(s) you want associated with it.

Note: The Schedule Name is NOT client-facing. It is only for your organization.

2) Team Members

You will need at least one team member selected. IF you do not have any other users on your 17hats account, you will not need to worry about this step. However, if you have multiple team members, you will need to select all who will be available for booking.

3) Availability Rules

Once you have added your services and selected your team members (if needed), you can save and move on to your Availability Rules.

These are rules will define when you are available for booking. You can create one or multiple rules.

Each Rule is made up for several factors:

Frequency	Repetition of the rule can happen monthly or weekly.
Selected Days	If you choose to repeat the rule, you can select the days, Monday - Saturday, for the repetition.
Start Date	Date the rule starts.
End Date	Date the rule ends
Start Time	Time the rule starts.
End Time	Time the rule ends.

Once you have at least one availability rule, you will be able to save your schedule.

4) Link to Availability Schedule

Once you have saved, you can find your Online Scheduling Link easily under your Availability tab in the Online Scheduling Section of your Account Settings. You can easily copy and view the link.

If you edit the schedule, you will find the embed information at the top of the schedule as well.

BASIC VS ADVANCED ONLINE SCHEDULING

17hats offers two types on Online Scheduling.

Basic Online Scheduling is found in your Essentials and Standard Packages.

Advanced Online Scheduling is in our Premier Package and available to our Standard Members as an upgrade module.

Premier and Founding members have the ability to add Team Members / Multiple Users to the account which then enable the Team Member section.

FUNCTIONALITY	BASIC OS	ADVANCED OS
Confirmation and 2 Reminder Emails	✅	✅
Questions Prior to Booking	✅	✅
Location Templates	✅	✅
Booking Limitations	✅	✅
To Be Approved Settings	❌	✅
Payment Upon Booking	❌	✅
Zoom Integration	❌	✅
Workflow Trigger	❌	✅
Group Functionality	❌	✅

CUSTOMIZING YOUR AVAILABILITY SCHEDULE

↠ Header Image

🔗 Learn More About Global Header Images

Customize Online Scheduling by adding a header image. You can either use the Global Header Image in your Account Settings or add a unique image.

↠ Team Members

🔗 Learn More About Team Members

Selecting team members is only available if you have multi-users in your brand.

Here, you can determine which team member(s) are available to book with this schedule. If you want to group the entire team as a whole with each service, then you can choose the option "Group Team When Booking Service" once more than one team member is selected.

↠ Calendar Checks

🔗 Learn More About Calendar Checks Here

Calendar Checks ensure you are not double-booking yourself, so this is a step you do not want to miss.

Cross-checking calendars will allow the technology to look across all your calendars (17hats and Google) and remove availability from your schedule where you are already booked.

Example: If you have a one-week vacation on your personal calendar, that vacation time will automatically be removed, ensuring no one books over your vacation.

The Override the Following Availability Schedule setting allows you to create an hierarchy for your Availability Schedules.

↠ Booking Limitations

🔗 Learn More About Calendar Checks Here

17hats Online Scheduling Booking Limitations allow you to set timeframes around how far in the future and how soon someone can book you, as well as limiting the number of bookings each day and week.

↠ Calendar Availability Rules

🔗 Learn More About Availability Rules

This is the final step of creating your schedule. Your Rules will define when a person can book with you. While you need at least one rule, you can add as many as you need.

Because Online Scheduling will revolve around these rules, you will not be able to save until one is created.

↠ Save and Done!

That's it! Click "Save" at the bottom of the page to save this schedule and get your Scheduling URL to share and get booked!

_______________________________________________________

Need more help? Contact our Support Team via Chat, or Email us at Support@17hats.com