Setting Staff Availability for Booking

Once a team member has been added to your account, you can connect them to one or more booking calendars so patients can schedule time with that specific person. This article walks you through setting availability hours and linking a staff member to a calendar.

Why Staff Availability Matters

When patients book online, the platform needs to know two things: which calendar to use and whose schedule to respect. If a hygienist only works Tuesday through Thursday, or a treatment coordinator takes calls in the morning only, setting that availability directly on their profile keeps your booking link accurate and prevents double-booking or off-hours requests from slipping through.

Before You Start

Make sure the team member already has a user account in the platform. If you have not added them yet, see Adding a Team Member first. You will also need at least one calendar already created. If you need to set one up, visit Creating Your First Booking Calendar.

Connecting a Staff Member to a Calendar

1. Open the My Staff section from the main menu.
2. Find the team member you want to configure and click their name or the edit icon next to their row.
3. Scroll to the Calendar Assignment section on their profile page.
4. Use the Assign Calendar dropdown to select the calendar this staff member should be connected to. You can assign them to more than one calendar if needed.
5. Click Save to confirm the assignment.

Setting Individual Availability Hours

After the calendar assignment is saved, you can define when that staff member is actually bookable. This is separate from your general office hours and lets each person have their own schedule.

1. From the staff member's profile, find the Availability section.
2. Toggle on each day of the week they work.
3. For each active day, set their Start Time and End Time using the time pickers.
4. If they take a break in the middle of the day (for example, a lunch hour that should not be bookable), click Add Break and set the start and end of that window.
5. Click Save Availability when you are done.

Handling Time Off and Schedule Changes

For one-time blocks like a vacation day, a training afternoon, or a personal appointment, do not change the staff member's regular availability schedule. Instead, use the calendar's time-blocking feature so the exception is captured without permanently altering their hours. You can find that workflow in Blocking Time Off and Holidays.

If a staff member's regular schedule changes permanently (for example, they move from five days to four), come back to their profile and update the availability days and hours accordingly.

Confirming Everything Looks Right

After saving, it is worth doing a quick check from the patient's perspective. Open your booking link in a new browser tab and walk through selecting the staff member (if your calendar shows that option) and picking a date and time. The available slots should reflect the hours you just configured. If something looks off, double-check that the calendar assignment is saved and that the calendar's own availability settings are not more restrictive than intended.

With availability set, patients booking online will only see time slots when that team member is actually available. For a full picture of how your staff accounts work together, start with the My Staff Overview, or head to Calendars Overview to review how your booking calendars are structured.