Advanced Online Booking Per Service Category

In this article, we will guide you through the steps of configuring how far in advance clients are able to book online for each service category.

Things to know:

• In the Online Booking Setting by Service Category modal, you can specify the earliest date clients can book appointments online and how far in advance they can schedule appointments.
• The setting "How far in advance can clients book?" allows you to specify the maximum timeframe clients have to book online for each service category. 
• Timeframes configured on the Online Booking Settings by Service Category modal will take precedence over the timeframe configured in the 'How far in advance can clients book?' setting.
• Once a service category is deleted, it will no longer appear in the Online Booking Settings by Service Category modal.

To configure online booking settings by service category:

1. Navigate to Business Setup > Settings 
2. Under the Online Booking section, locate the "How far in advance can clients book?" setting
3. Click the "set advanced settings by service category" hyperlink
4. Configure your online booking preference per service category:
   • Service Category - The service categories configured on the services menu
   • Clients can book from - This setting allows you to specify the earliest date from which clients can book appointments online. You can configure this in terms of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years.
   • Clients can book up to - This setting allows you to specify how far in advance clients can book appointments for the service category from the current date. You can configure this in terms of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years.
5. At the bottom of the "Online Booking Settings by Service Category" modal, click "Save"
6. After closing the "Online Booking Settings by Service Category" modal, click "Save" at the bottom of the settings page.

Let's look at an example below:

The setting for the Haircut Service Category is set to 3 days prior and 6 month in advance

Current date: May 8, 2024

The booking widget will filter the time choices, ensuring that clients are unable to schedule appointments unless it's at least three days prior to the desired appointment date. Consequently, they will only be able to book appointments starting from May 11, 2024 with all preceding days appearing grayed out.                   

Clients won't have the option to schedule bookings beyond August 7,2024 due to the booking widget's limitation on time choices, which extends up to three months. Consequently, all dates beyond August 7, 2024 will be grayed out and unavailable for selection.  

For more information contact us at support@mytime.com.