Understanding Calendar Availability Settings

The FG Funnels Calendar gives you a number of different options for setting up your appointment calendars. This article covers what each of these options does.


In this article:


What Are The Calendar Settings Available to Users for Configuration?


Here are the key calendar settings that you'll likely encounter, along with brief explanations of each:


Availability: These are the hours within which appointments can be scheduled. This ensures that appointments are booked only during the designated hours. Learn more about Calendar Availability here.


Recurring Meeting: This allows you to automatically scheduling this meeting at a recurring interval. Recurring meetings can be set on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Times to repeat indicates how many meetings should be scheduled. If slots are unavailable indicates what happens if a specific repeat spot is already unavailable.


In order to use recurring meetings, ensure that the calendar has only one team member, payment is turned off, and no date-specific hours are added.


Meeting Duration: This is the length of each appointment. It determines how many minutes or hours a meeting will be scheduled for.


Meeting Interval: This is the frequency at which appointments can be scheduled. For instance, if the slot interval is 60 minutes, appointments can be booked every hour on the hour, so 10 a.m., 11 a.m. etc.


Minimum Scheduling Notice: This setting prevents last-minute bookings. For example, if you require at least a day's notice before an appointment, you can set this to 24 hours. This means appointments must be booked at least 24 hours in advance. If you need a full business day, you can set it to 1 day, then appointments will not be able to be booked for the next business day, even if it is more than 24 hours in advance.


Date Range: This setting determines how far into the future someone can schedule an appointment. If you set it to 4 weeks, a client could schedule an appointment up to 4 weeks from the current date.


Maximum Bookings Per Day: This sets the maximum number of appointments allowed in this calendar daily. This setting applies to this booking calendar only.


Maximum Bookings Per Slot (per user): This setting determines the number of people who can book appointments in the same time slot with the same user. This is particularly useful for group sessions or webinars where more than one attendee can participate.


Pre Buffer Time: This is amount of time added before the meeting that needs to be free to ensure time for preparation, travel or avoiding back to back appointments.


Post Buffer Time: This is the amount of time set added after the meeting that needs to be free to ensure time for running over time, travel or avoiding back to back appointments.

Practical Use Cases to Understand Calendar Settings


Let's look at some usage scenarios for each calendar setting:


Slot Duration: Consider you're a coach and you offer different lengths of sessions. You can create different service types for a 60-minute monthly session, a 30-minute as needed follow-up, or a 15-minute check-in, each with its own slot duration.


Slot Interval: Suppose you're a service provider with a varying client flow on different days and you do 15 minute check-in calls. You might set a shorter slot interval, allowing more clients per day as clients can schedule at 11:00, 11:15, 11:30 etc, if you set a 15 minute slot interval. A longer slot interval gives you more time between clients for paperwork and administrative tasks, where clients can only book at 11:00 or 12:00 with an hour long slot interval.


Buffer: If you are a consultant and your meetings often run over, you could add a pre-buffer and/or post-buffer to ensure no client feels rushed and you don't feel stressed about running late for the next meeting.


Appointments per Slot: You might allow multiple bookings per slot for a group teaching or workshop scenario. If you're a yoga teacher with space for 10 students in your studio, you can set appointments per slot to 10 for your group classes.


Appointments Per Day: A service provider might limit appointments to ensure they have time to get work done as well as meetings.


Minimum Scheduling Notice: A consultant might require a 48 hour minimum scheduling notice so that they have time to review the client intake and do research into the client's business.


Date Range: A wedding planner or event venue might set their date range to allow bookings up to two years in advance, while a seasonal service, like a tax professional, might limit their date range to the weeks leading up to the tax filing deadline.


These settings can all be adjusted to best suit your needs and work style.


FAQs


Q: Can I set different buffer times for different types of appointments in my calendar?

A: The Buffer setting applies universally to all appointments in a specific booking calendar. If you need different buffer times, consider creating separate calendars for different types of appointments, each with its own buffer time.


Q: Can I override the Slot Interval for specific days or times in my calendar?

A: The Slot Interval applies consistently across all your available hours and days in a specific booking calendar. If you require a unique interval for a specific day or time, consider creating a separate calendar for that period with its settings.

Q: How does the 'Appointments per Slot' setting interact with the 'Slot Interval' setting in my calendar?

A: The 'Appointments per Slot' setting determines how many appointments can be booked for each slot, while the 'Slot Interval' determines how often these slots occur. If 'Appointments per Slot' is set to '2' and your 'Slot Interval' is every 30 minutes, two appointments can be booked every 30 minutes.


Q: Can the 'Appointments per Day' setting limit appointments across multiple calendars?

A: The 'Appointments per Day' setting is specific to each appointment calendar type. If you wish to limit appointments across multiple calendars, you must manage this manually by tracking the total number of appointments across all your calendars.


Q: What happens if I change the 'Minimum Scheduling Notice' while there are pending appointments in my calendar?

A: Changes to the 'Minimum Scheduling Notice' setting won't affect existing appointments but will apply to new ones. For example, if you change the notice from 24 hours to 48 hours, any appointments already scheduled within the next 48 hours will remain, but new appointments will require at least 48 hours notice.


Q: Can I set the 'Date Range' for different lengths based on the appointment type in my calendar?

A: The 'Date Range' is a universal setting per specific booking calendar. If you need different ranges for different types of appointments, consider creating separate calendars, each with its date range setting.


Q: Can I have overlapping appointments if my 'Appointments per Slot' setting allows multiple bookings?

A: Yes, if your 'Appointments per Slot' is set to more than one, multiple individuals can book the same time slot, effectively creating overlapping appointments.


Q: What happens if I reduce my 'Office Hours' but appointments are already scheduled outside these hours in my calendar?

A: Existing appointments outside the new office hours will remain as scheduled. However, future bookings will only be allowed within the updated office hours.


Q: How does changing the 'Slot Duration' affect existing appointments in my calendar?

A: Changing the 'Slot Duration' will not affect existing appointments; it will only apply to new ones. For example, if you change the duration from 30 to 60 minutes, any existing 30-minute appointments will remain as scheduled.


Q: Can I use the 'Buffer' setting to account for travel time between appointments in my calendar?

A: Absolutely. If you're scheduling in-person appointments in different locations, you can use the 'Buffer' setting to ensure you have enough time to travel from one location to another.