How to Create and Edit Calendars

Managing appointments efficiently is crucial for success, whether in your personal or professional life. With the advanced calendar features of Referins, you have a range of tools to set up, customize, and manage your schedules. This comprehensive guide walks you through the process of creating and editing calendars to ensure you're maximizing your time and resources.

Types of Calendars in Referins

• Personal Calendar: Allows users to set up a personal 1:1 booking calendar, simplifying the process by eliminating the need for a complex multi-user configuration.
• Simple (Unassigned/Event Calendar): Perfect for general events that don't require specific assignees.
• Round Robin (Group Calendar): Distributes appointments evenly among team members for balanced workload and availability.
• Class Booking: Designed for single-session classes, workshops, or seminars.
• Collective Booking: Suitable for events that require the presence of multiple team members.
• Service Calendar: The Service Calendar is designed for managing appointments for service-based businesses. It allows users to create service-specific time slots, set availability, and streamline booking processes for various services offered.

Important note for Personal Booking Calendar: 

• By default, the calendar creator is automatically assigned as the team member, but this setting can be adjusted if needed.
• The Personal Calendar includes all the same features as the Round Robin Calendar but is limited to a single team member, whereas Round Robin allows multiple team members to be assigned.

Creating a Calendar

Follow these steps to create a new calendar:

Navigate to the Calendar Setup:

• Go to Settings > Calendars or Calendars > Gear Icon (Calendar Settings).

Start Creating a Calendar:

• Click on Create Calendar.
• Choose the calendar type that suits your needs.

 

Note: After clicking the Advanced Settings button, you’ll get access to all editing options, Which are explained below.

Fill in Meeting/Service Details:

• Provide essential information such as logo, calendar name, description, custom URL, and meeting title.
• Select a calendar group, event color, and other relevant details.

Additional Features:

• The Custom Value Selector in the calendar makes it easier for you to personalize fields without manually typing them out. Instead of entering details like the Calendar Name, Meeting Invite Title, Custom Meeting Location, Additional Notes, or Thank You Messages manually, you can quickly insert predefined values.

• Personalize the calendar URL for any calendar using a custom URL. This feature enables a more branded and user-friendly scheduling experience for your clients. Note: The chosen URL must be available for use.

Configure Availability:

• Determine the availability type:
  Weekly Working Hours: Set your regular, weekly working hours. This is useful for setting up your default schedule that repeats week after week.

Date Specific Hours: Adjust your schedule for specific dates. Override your regular weekly hours.

• Booking Widget to Open First Available Date: Bookers can see and select the earliest available slot immediately, eliminating the need for manual searching. This benefits businesses looking to accept early bookings for future events, such as special holidays or seasonal offers. 
• To use this feature, configure Date-Specific Hours without setting Weekly Working Hours. Ensure no recurring weekly hours are configured for this feature to function correctly.

• Set up the duration, intervals, buffer time, maximum bookings per slot, and per day.
• Define office hours, recurring appointments, and scheduling notices.
• Toggle on and off for Recurring/Repeating Meetings - Select how often, how many times, and what to do if slots are unavailable.

• Save and continue to the next tab.

Important: Users can view calendar appointments in their time zone, simplifying scheduling across different regions. Appointments display in the user's time zone both in the calendar view and appointment list, reducing the need for manual time conversions. 

• Set your time zone under profile settings. Appointments will automatically reflect it. Make sure to adjust availability settings according to your chosen time zone.

Forms & Payment Settings:

• Customize your booking widget by selecting a default or custom form.
• Enable pre-populated fields for improved user experience.
• Invite additional participants to your appointments with the Add Guests feature. Ensure that guests receive appropriate notifications about the event.
• Redirect clients to a default page or a custom page.
• Integrate with Stripe for payment if necessary.
• Additionally, add a consent checkbox to calendar appointments, ensuring compliance with rules and regulations while aiding in ATP registration approval. The benefit is that it helps gather consent-related information during appointment booking, such as the date, time, and IP address. 

Notifications & Additional Options:

Users can fully customize their email and in-app notifications related to appointments. This allows users more control over notification content and recipients, with six types of notifications available, including Appointment Booked, Cancellation, and Follow-Up.

• In-App Notifications: Notifications can be sent through the web app and mobile app, offering flexibility for businesses to choose between sending to the assigned user or any specific users.

• Notifications can be set up for each calendar on an individual level.
• For Event Calendars, the account admin is the default recipient for in-app notifications, while for other calendar types, the assigned user is the default recipient.
• Email Notifications: Enable Email Notifications by toggling them on, and customize the content for different recipients.

• You can select an existing email template or create a new one with a custom subject line and message body. Set the timing for Reminder and Follow-Up emails, and send a test email if necessary.

• Click Save to confirm your changes.

Widget Customization & Appearance:

• Choose between Neo or Classic styles for the booking widget.

• Allow clients to select staff members for appointments.

Save and Activate:

• Click Save to finalize your calendar settings.

Troubleshooting Tool for calendars

This tool provides users with detailed insights into unavailable time slots, helping to quickly identify and resolve issues that may be affecting calendar bookings. By showing the reasons behind unavailable slots, the tool enhances scheduling efficiency for businesses and administrators, making it easier to manage calendars without guesswork.

To use, simply go to Calendar Settings, select your calendar, and choose the "Troubleshoot Calendar" option from the three-dot menu to view available and unavailable slots along with explanations.

FAQs

1. What is the difference between a Personal Calendar and a Round Robin Calendar?
A Personal Calendar is assigned to a single team member, while a Round Robin Calendar distributes appointments evenly among multiple team members.

2. How can I personalize my calendar URL?
You can customize the calendar URL under Calendar Settings, ensuring a branded and user-friendly scheduling experience. The URL must be available before saving.

3. Can I set up different availability for specific dates?
Yes, you can use Date-Specific Hours to override your weekly working hours for specific dates and special events.

4. How does the Booking Widget prioritize available slots?
If enabled, the Booking Widget automatically displays the earliest available date, making it easier for clients to book the next open time slot.

5. How do notifications work for calendar appointments?
Users can customize email and in-app notifications for appointment confirmations, cancellations, and follow-ups. Notifications can be sent to assigned users, admins, or specific recipients.

6. Can I integrate payments with my calendar bookings?
Yes, you can integrate Stripe for payment collection, allowing clients to pay directly when booking an appointment.

7. What does the Calendar Troubleshooting Tool do?
The Troubleshooting Tool helps identify unavailable time slots and provides explanations, making it easier to resolve scheduling conflicts.