--- title: "Opening the Schedule" slug: "opening-the-schedule-3" updated: 2025-05-12T01:05:30Z published: 2025-05-12T01:05:30Z canonical: "support.bookingtimes.com/opening-the-schedule-3" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.bookingtimes.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Opening the schedule The schedule, or also referred to as the calendar, is a core component of the BookingTimes platform. Here you can manage you and your staff's availability, bookings and post public and private notices for staff and clients. There are many features available so you can configure your schedule to suit your business. These include: - Setting up available slots for clients to book in directly. - Setting up private slots which appear as ‘booked’ publicly to allow staff to add unavailability without showing this publicly. - Setting [booking restrictions](/v2/docs/booking-restrictions) to restrict clients to book in of a minimum amount of time and minimise unusable gaps. - Easily copying day and week schedules once set up. The schedule will appear differently to you and and your staff, in comparison to what your clients see publicly, please see the below images as an example. #### View of schedule to admin/staff ![Schedule - overview](https://cdn.document360.io/6926c75e-9b20-4216-bf9f-d7ca1df9c74f/Images/Documentation/Schedule%20-%20overview.png) #### View of schedule to public clients ![Schedule - overview public](https://cdn.document360.io/6926c75e-9b20-4216-bf9f-d7ca1df9c74f/Images/Documentation/Schedule%20-%20overview%20public.png) Initially, your schedule is completely closed and cannot be booked by you or your client. **You must open up schedule slots** to allow bookings to be made, and it's recommended to open up your schedule for as far in advance as you can. Not just to allow clients more flexibility in their booking times, but it's also a huge benefit to your SEO rankings. When you open up schedule slots, there are a number of options of how to configure these so you can choose exactly how it's set up for your business, and also determines how it will appear to your clients publicly. Please refer to the [Schedule slot settings](/v2/docs/schedule-slot-settings) article for more details with examples. This article will focus on showing you how you can open up your schedule. ## Opening schedule slots Please see this short video below first to explain how to open up your schedule, with written instructions following below. [Embedded content](https://www.youtube.com/embed/nb1f_W4jjig) ### Steps 1. Navigate to the **Bookings** menu 2. Select the " **+**" icon on the relevant day and time slot ![](https://cdn.document360.io/6926c75e-9b20-4216-bf9f-d7ca1df9c74f/Images/Documentation/image-1707205208007.png) 1. Configure the Schedule slot settings 1. **Length**: recommended to keep at 15 mins slot to maximise flexibility 2. **Visibility**: select ***Publicly Available to book*** 3. (Optional) **Bulk Action:** select a duration to apply these slot settings to (otherwise this will only make a single slot available) 2. Click **Schedule** ![](https://cdn.document360.io/6926c75e-9b20-4216-bf9f-d7ca1df9c74f/Images/Documentation/image-3ZWKO1QU.png) If you don’t use the **Bulk Action** drop down, you would need to repeat this process to open up all your desired scheduled slots, though that could be very time consuming especially if you're doing it in the recommended 15 minute blocks. There are a few features that allow you to open up your schedule more quickly which are covered in the next sections of this article. > [!NOTE] > Tip: Process to quickly schedule a day/week/months ahead for full day availability > > > > If the staff member’s calendar matches the business hours of the business, please follow this process to quickly set up your calendar for months in advance: > > > > - Refer to the [Scheduling a whole day at once](/v2/docs/opening-the-schedule#scheduling-a-whole-day-at-once) section which allows you to schedule a whole day > - Refer to the [Copying your schedule](/v2/docs/copying-your-schedule) article to copy the day you set up previously for the remainder of the week, and then copy that week in advance for up to 4 months. --- ## Reusing schedule slot settings Selecting the same settings every time you want to open a schedule slot can take a long time, so you can choose to reuse the schedule slot settings for every future schedule slot you open. ### Steps 1. Navigate to the **Bookings** menu 2. Select the "+" icon in the relevant time slot 3. Configure the schedule slot settings 4. Check **Reuse these selected settings and skip this screen** 5. Click **Schedule** 6. Click on the " **+**" icon in the next relevant time slot that these same settings will be applied to The next schedule slot will automatically open with the same settings: ![5d6e6848-8d12-4476-89cb-fc36595a76ed.jpg](https://cdn.document360.io/6926c75e-9b20-4216-bf9f-d7ca1df9c74f/Images/Documentation/Schedule%20reuse.png) Schedule slot settings set to be reused > **Bulk Action drop down list** Please note if you’re opening up slots consecutively to each other, you could also use the **Bulk Action** drop down menu which allows you to specify a time frame that you want to apply the schedule slot settings to rather than set up them individually. Refer to the Bulk Action section within the [Schedule slot settings](/v2/docs/schedule-slot-settings) for more details. > > > > ![](https://cdn.document360.io/6926c75e-9b20-4216-bf9f-d7ca1df9c74f/Images/Documentation/image-1SHVT3EC.png) ### Turning off schedule slot setting reuse #### Steps 1. Click the " **+**" icon on an already open schedule slot 2. Uncheck **Reuse these selected settings and skip this screen** 3. Click **Schedule** --- ## Scheduling a whole day at once This allows you to open your schedule for the whole day in one go. The time that the schedule will open up automatically for is determined by the opening hours that you have specified for the location. ### **Steps** 1. Navigate to the **Bookings** menu 2. Click the " **+**" icon next to the relevant staff member name ![f6866bde-b36b-4d08-818a-97f38fc0b036.jpg](https://cdn.document360.io/6926c75e-9b20-4216-bf9f-d7ca1df9c74f/Images/Documentation/f6866bde-b36b-4d08-818a-97f38fc0b036.jpg) Clicking the "+" icon next to the staff member name 1. Under **Actions,** click **Make Day Fully Available** link ![Schedule - make day fully available](https://cdn.document360.io/6926c75e-9b20-4216-bf9f-d7ca1df9c74f/Images/Documentation/image-1707205277871.png) 2. To check your location’s opening hours, navigate to **Setup > Bookings > Locations >** select **location > Detail** tab and scroll down to the opening hours. Make any changes required, and click **Save**. 3. 1. **Note**: The opening hours specified here can be overridden by what you open up in the calendar for special events or appointments. 2. **Note**: This does not take into account any post booking buffer times that are against any services. e.g. if you have a 1 hour lesson with a 30 min post booking buffer, and you have closing time at 5pm, to allow a one hour booking from 4-5pm you will need to open up an extra 2 × 15min slots from 5-5.30pm to cater for this post booking buffer. ![](https://cdn.document360.io/6926c75e-9b20-4216-bf9f-d7ca1df9c74f/Images/Documentation/image-MBENNXF5.png) > [!NOTE] > Tip - bulk copying of schedules > > Once you have a day or week set up that you're happy with, these can be bulk copied into future days/weeks. Please see the [Copying your schedule](/v2/docs/copying-your-schedule) article for more details. --- ## Scheduling outside normal work hours This allows you to open your schedule for any time slots that day (i.e. the full 24 hours is available) outside the normal work hours. e.g. 7am or 6pm appointments. ### **Steps** 1. Navigate to the **Bookings** menu 2. Click the **More** link at the bottom of the time column ![Schedule - show more](https://cdn.document360.io/6926c75e-9b20-4216-bf9f-d7ca1df9c74f/Images/Documentation/Schedule%20-%20show%20more.png) 3. Scheduled slots for the full 24 hours of that day are now available, simply scroll up and down ![Schedule - show more 2](https://cdn.document360.io/6926c75e-9b20-4216-bf9f-d7ca1df9c74f/Images/Documentation/Schedule%20-%20show%20more%202.png) 4. Click the **Less** link at the bottom of the time column, any appointments made in these new hours will appear in the calendar as it will scale appropriately ![Schedule - show less](https://cdn.document360.io/6926c75e-9b20-4216-bf9f-d7ca1df9c74f/Images/Documentation/Schedule%20-%20show%20less.png) --- ## Clearing and blocking out your schedule Please see the [Clearing your schedule](/v2/docs/clearing-your-schedule) article for details about how you can quickly clear and block out your schedule. This is handy as you're setting up your schedule, or when unforeseen circumstances come up and you need to quickly change your availability. ## Related - [Schedule slot settings](/schedule-slot-settings.md) - [Copying your schedule](/copying-your-schedule.md) - [Clearing your schedule](/clearing-your-schedule.md) - [Booking restrictions](/booking-restrictions.md)