Setting Your Office Hours and Availability

Configuring your availability tells Dental Marketing Tool exactly when your chairs are open, so patients who book online can only choose times that actually work for your schedule. Follow the steps below to set your weekly hours and any provider-specific availability on each calendar.

Where to Find Availability Settings

Start in the main navigation and open the Calendars tab. You will see a list of any calendars already set up for your practice. If you have not created one yet, visit Creating Your First Booking Calendar to get started, then return here.

1. Click the calendar you want to configure.
2. Select Edit (or the gear icon) to open the calendar settings.
3. Navigate to the Availability section within the settings panel.

Setting Your Weekly Office Hours

The availability grid shows every day of the week. For each day your office is open, you will toggle the day on and enter an open time and a close time.

1. Toggle on any day you see patients (for example, Monday through Thursday).
2. Set the Start Time to the first slot you want patients to be able to book. If the front desk needs 15 minutes before patients arrive, set the start time 15 minutes after you actually unlock the door.
3. Set the End Time to the last appointment start time you want to allow. For example, if your last appointment must start by 4:30 PM, enter 4:30 PM even if you are open until 5:00 PM.
4. Leave days you are closed toggled off. Patients will not see those days as options when booking.
5. Click Save when all days look correct.

Adding a Lunch Break or Mid-Day Block

If your office closes for lunch or has a standing mid-day gap, you can add a second availability window to split the day into two open periods.

1. On the day you want to split, click the + Add Hours link next to that day's time row.
2. A second row will appear. Set the start and end time for your afternoon window (for example, 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM).
3. Your morning window covers the morning block and the second row covers the afternoon. No appointments can be booked during the gap between them.

Setting a Minimum Booking Notice

The Minimum Notice setting prevents patients from booking too close to the current time. This gives the front desk time to prepare and avoids same-hour surprises.

1. In the availability settings, find the Minimum Booking Notice field.
2. Enter the number of hours (or days) in advance a patient must book. A common choice for dental practices is 24 hours.
3. Click Save.

With this set, if a patient visits your booking page at 10:00 AM on a Monday with a 24-hour notice requirement, the earliest slot they can choose is 10:00 AM on Tuesday.

Setting How Far Out Patients Can Book

You can also control how far into the future the calendar accepts appointments. This is useful if you do not want patients scheduling three months out before your schedule is confirmed.

1. Look for the Date Range or Booking Window field in the same availability section.
2. Enter the number of days or weeks ahead that patients may see open slots. Many offices use 30 to 60 days.
3. Save the setting. Dates beyond your window will not appear on the booking page.

Per-Provider Availability

If you run a multi-provider calendar, each team member can have their own hours within the calendar. For example, your associate may work Tuesday through Saturday while you work Monday through Thursday. See Setting Staff Availability for Booking for instructions on assigning individual schedules to each provider.

Blocking Specific Dates

Weekly hours handle your regular schedule, but for holidays, staff training days, or any one-off closure, you will want to block specific dates rather than adjust your standard hours. See Blocking Time Off and Holidays to add date-specific closures without changing your weekly template.

Once your availability is saved, you are ready to share the calendar with patients. Review Sharing Your Booking Link and Website Widget to learn how to add a booking button to your website or send a direct link, and consider setting up automated appointment reminders to reduce no-shows once patients start booking.