The scheduler is a powerful tool to set up appointments with your clients! There is a lot to cover, and this article and video gives an overview of just about everything!
If you like breaking things down into smaller steps, start with Intro to Scheduling in Dubsado, then check out Creating a Scheduler Template and Advanced Scheduler Settings.
Time Coded Breakdown of the Scheduler Video
0:14 - What is the scheduler?
1:36 - Building your scheduler
3:40 - Setting up available times
5:00 - Blocking off days you aren't available with synced calendar
7:51 - Advanced settings of the scheduler
10:40 - Confirmation email on the scheduler
11:08 - Adding a cancel and reschedule button in your confirmation email
11:58 - Adding a form to the scheduler
12:38 - Adding an invoice to the scheduler
12:53 - Setting up notifications
13:59 - Monthly view option
14:42 - Timezones and the scheduler
15:34 - The 4 ways send a scheduler
15:37 - Embedding on your site
17:26 - URL or direct link
17:36 - Manually through a project
20:18 - Automatically through a workflow
19:50 - Where does a booked appointment go?
21:49 - Can my clients cancel or reschedule through the client portal?
22:19 - My client filled out the direct link to the scheduler. I had a form on it. Where can I find the completed form?
23:22 - How can I customize my canned email templates for my scheduler?
23:58 - I'm trying to send an appointment scheduler template, but the link does not show up in the email.
24:40 - Can Dubsado's appointment scheduler sync to my calendar?
25:28 - My live link for the scheduler is not showing all available dates.
What Is the Scheduler?
The scheduler gives your clients the ability to book appointments with you. Instead of going back and forth via email trying to decide on a time for a meeting, a paid coaching session, or a venue tour, you can just send out a scheduler and your client can book at their convenience.
You can customize almost everything about these appointments, from the times you are available to how long each appointment can be, from the location of the appointment to how much time you want between each appointment. You can even charge for your appointments. Let's get to it!
How to Set Up the Scheduler
Using the scheduler begins with creating a scheduler template. You can create multiple scheduler templates for different types of appointments! Head to Templates >> Scheduler and click Add Template.
Next it will pop up with your basic appointment options:
Appointment name - Is the template name you would like your appointment to be called. Your clients will see this.
Appointment duration - Choose how long your appointment is going to be.
When can this appointment be scheduled?
-- Rolling day window specifies a number of days, from the day the scheduler is being viewed, that an appointment can be booked. This is the most common setting and prevents clients from booking too far out.
-- Fixed Date Range allows you to set a range of dates when appointments will be available. This is great if your scheduler is only going to be used in a certain period of time.
-- Indefinitely allows your clients to book as far out as they would like.What times are you available? - Set the time slots you want to be available to take appointments. To adjust times further out than the next two weeks, click the arrows on the calendar. Keep in mind the scheduler also looks at your connected external calendar. If you have synced calendar events marked as Busy, the scheduler will be blocked out at the time, unavailable for someone to book.
To edit availability, click on a day, adjust the time slots, and apply the changes to that specific date or that day of the week (for example, all Thursdays):
Show me as - This option blocks out for other appointments to book at that time or not. Most likely, you are going to want to set this as BUSY. Especially if you have other schedulers in Dubsado, you don't want there to be any overlap.
Location - This is the link, address, or location that the meeting will take place.
Email - This is the email that comes with the sending of the scheduler IF you are sending them a link directly. It will not matter if this scheduler is embedded. This email will not be used.
Advanced Scheduler Settings
Prevention - This allows you to stop clients from booking within a certain amount of time so that you don't get surprise last-minute appointments.
Buffer Time - This is the time you want as a buffer before the appointment and after the appointment. Great for allowing padding if meetings run over or travel time between scheduled appointments.
Increments - This is how the appointments are viewed by your client. This has nothing to do with the appointment duration, just which start times are displayed.
Appointment Details - You can set a maximum appointments that you would like to have a day. Say you set a 5 appointment max, once you hit 5 scheduled appointments for that given day, no other clients will be able to book that date.
Allowing the maximum total of bookings with this scheduler should only be set if this template will have a max number of meetings as a whole. For example, if you are holding a promo for 10 free calls. You can set this max bookings on this template for 10.Welcoming Message - This is the banner message your clients will see when they open the scheduler. This message will not be seen when the scheduler is embedded.
Additional Form - Not required, but if you wanted to add a form into the scheduler booking process, you can. Questionnaires, Proposals (sans contract), and Lead Capture forms can be added into the booking system flow.
Redirect URL - Not required, but you can redirect clients to a custom page outside of Dubsado after they book by pasting a link in here.
Invoice - If you require payment, check the box. This creates an invoice that must be paid in FULL in order to secure the appointment. If no payment is required to secure the booking, leave unchecked.
Notification - Checking the box will allow for email reminders to send to your clients XX amount of minutes or hours before the scheduled appointment time. Select from a canned email you have already created. Be sure to include scheduler smart fields in there! You can add as many reminders on it as you'd like. A standard is usually 24 hours before and another a few hours before. (In the future text messaging will be an added feature).
Monthly View (off or on) - By default the monthly view is turned off, so it will be set to a weekly view. You can toggle a monthly view on here.
