Six cards decide how the calendar behaves. They are separate on purpose — each one is a different question — but they interact, and the desk feels all of them.
Timezone and lunch
Practice settings holds the practice timezone and the daily lunch break: The scheduler shows times in this zone; lunch is a recurring freeze that blocks booking for the chosen providers.
Lunch can apply to All providers or Specific providers. It shows on the schedule as 🍽 LUNCH.
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Visit types and lengths
These are two separate cards and the split confuses people at first.
Appointment types is what the visit is — the list staff pick from when booking.
Appointment lengths is how long, in minutes, shared by every type: In the scheduler you pick an appointment type, then choose one of these lengths. Shared by every type — for example a 75-minute procedure or a 15-minute recheck.
So you do not set "new patient = 30 minutes". You offer the types, you offer the lengths, and the person booking picks one of each.
Schedule colors then tints the day: off, one colour for everyone, by provider, by appointment status, or — once you opt in — by appointment type.
Booking rules
Booking rules is where the practice's temperament lives: A buffer keeps turnaround time between one provider's visits; the double-booking policy either labels overlaps (warn — today's behavior) or refuses them; and minimum notice stops bookings that start too soon.
- Buffer between visits (minutes)
- Double-booking a provider — Allow, label DOUBLE BOOKED (current behavior) or Block — refuse overlapping bookings
- Minimum booking notice (minutes)
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Closures
Holidays & closures: Whole days the practice (or one site) is closed — holidays, all-staff meetings, weather. The scheduler shows these days as CLOSED and blocks new bookings.
Each closure has a Date, an optional Through, an Applies to (practice-wide or one site), and a Reason (shows on the schedule) — so put something a patient could be told, like Independence Day, not closed.
Appointments already booked on a closed day remain visible so they can be rescheduled.
Provider hours
The Scheduling card holds Provider hours: Each provider's daily working hours. The booking calendar offers slots only within these hours and a provider's day column ends at their end time.
This is the most common cause of "why are there no slots" — the day is open, the practice is open, and that provider simply has no hours.
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There is also a weekend toggle here, and a second one in Booking rules with different wording. They drive the same per-workstation preference; setting either is fine.
What usually goes wrong
Expecting types to carry a length. They don't. Lengths are a separate shared list.
Setting a buffer that swallows the day. A 15-minute buffer on 15-minute visits halves capacity. Change it and look at tomorrow's grid before you leave.
Closing a day and assuming patients were told. Nothing cancels or notifies. Somebody has to work the list.
Blaming the calendar for provider hours. Check the hours first — it is nearly always that.