This guide covers answers to commonly asked questions about Availability. To learn more about setting up your Availability, see Managing your Availability. Below, we’ll answer:  

• Why don’t my available times in the Client Portal match my Availability? 
• How do I set up my Availability if I offer packages?
• How do I set up my Availability so that new clients can book an initial consultation?
• I offer appointments across multiple office locations. How can I make sure my clients choose the correct location?
• How can I limit the number of appointment requests I receive each day?
• I’m part of a group practice, but only some of our clinicians are available for online appointment requests. Why?
• I have an Other appointment scheduled. Will this affect my available times for online appointment requests?
• Why aren't my available times showing up for clients trying to schedule through the Appointment-request widget?

Why don’t my available times in the Client Portal match my Availability? 

If your available times aren’t displaying as expected in the Client Portal, there might be:

• Conflicting appointments that are blocking your Availability 
• Service durations that don’t fit in your Availability blocks
• Adjustments that need to be made in your Availability settings 

For steps on investigating and resolving each of these potential situations, see Troubleshooting your Availability. 

How do I set up my Availability if I offer packages?

If your practice offers packages with a specific number of appointments, you can make these available for online appointment requests. Once you accept the appointment request from the client, you have the flexibility to update the services or price of each session included in the package. 

To list a package as part of your online appointment request options, first you’ll want to create a service code for packages. To do this:

• Navigate to Settings > Billing & Services > Services
• Click Add New Service
• For Service, you can enter Package or your own custom service code
  • Note: This code won’t appear to clients on the online appointment request page
• Click Add new code

• For Description, enter the title you’d like clients to see

• Set the Rate and adjust the Default Duration
  • If you charge a deposit or have variable pricing for packages, you can set the Rate to $0 
• Check the boxes for Available for online appointment requests and Allow for New Clients
• Click Save

Once you've created the new service code for packages, you can add it to your existing Availability blocks, or create a new one. To do this:

• Navigate to your Calendar 
• Click Availability
• Click anywhere on the calendar to create a new Availability block or select an existing Availability block to edit
• Click Add service

• Select the custom service code you created
• Click Done

Once you’ve accepted a package that a client has requested, you can edit the appointment directly from the calendar to update the service code, as well as make it a recurring appointment. To do this:

• Navigate to your Calendar 
• Click the appointment that was requested
• Check the box for Repeat if the appointment will be recurring, and select the desired frequency
• Update the service code from the dropdown menu

• Click Done

Note: To learn more about billing packages, see How do I bill for a package?

How do I set up my Availability so that new clients can book an initial consultation?

Initial consultations allow you to get to know prospective clients and set expectations, and give prospective clients the chance to request an introductory consultation instead of a full appointment. To set up this initial consultation:

• Navigate to Settings > Billing & Services > Services
• Click Add New Service
• Under Service, select 00000 - Initial Consultation - No Charge
  • You can customize the service code and description as needed
• Set the Rate and adjust the Default Duration
  • Most clinicians set the Rate to $0 and the Default Duration to 15 minutes
• Check the boxes for Available for online appointment requests and Allow for New Clients

• Click Save

You can find more information on how to do this in our guide on Creating a new custom service code.

Once you've created this service, you’ll want to add it to your existing Availability blocks or create new Availability blocks specifically for initial consultations. To do this:

• Navigate to your Calendar
• Click Availability
• Select an existing Availability block to edit, or click anywhere on the calendar to create a new Availability block
• Adjust the Availability title, Day(s) & hours, and Location(s) as needed
• Click Add service and select the new initial consultation service

• Click Save

For detailed steps on creating a phone screening service, see How to set up a phone screening service for prospective clients.

I offer appointments across multiple office locations. How can I make sure my clients choose the correct location?

If your practice offers appointments across multiple locations (for example, Telehealth, in-home, in-office, and/or mobile sessions), you’ll want to add each location at Settings > My Practice > Locations. Then, you’ll want to add each location to existing Availability blocks, or create new ones. 

To create additional locations:

• Navigate to Settings > My Practice > Locations 
• Click Add a location

• Enter an Office Name 
  • Note: Clients will see this when requesting appointments via the Client Portal.
• Enter the location details
  • Note: If you provide in-home or mobile appointments, you can enter In-home/mobile appointments for the Street. While this field is required to save a location, you can choose to Hide Address from prospective clients.

• Click Save

Once you've created each location, you can set up your Availability for each location. To do this:

• Navigate to your Calendar
• Click Availability
• Click anywhere on the calendar to create a new Availability block or select an existing Availability block to edit
• Select the Location(s) this Availability is for from the dropdown menu

• Click Save

After clients select a service in the Client Portal, they’ll have the option to choose an office location:

If a client requests an appointment for the incorrect location, you can update this from your Calendar. To do this:

• Accept the appointment request
• Click the appointment
• Update the location from the dropdown menu
• Click Done

How can I limit the number of appointment requests I receive each day?

You can set a maximum number of appointments that clients can request each day. To do this: 

• Navigate to your Calendar 
• Click Availability
• If you’re in a group practice, use the Clinician dropdown menu to select the clinician you’d like to set an appointment limit for

• Click + Appt limit for the day in question
  • You can only set appointment limits from the Day or Week calendar view

Note: When setting an appointment limit for a day of the week, such as Monday, keep in mind that this limit will apply to all Mondays.

• Select the maximum number of appointments you’d like to allow that day of the week
  • You can choose between 1 and 20

• Repeat for each day of the week you’d like to set a limit for

Note: The appointment limit defaults to No appt limit. If you don’t set a maximum appointment limit, clients will be able to request appointments regardless of how many appointments you already have scheduled for that day. You can accept or decline these requests as needed. 

Pending appointment requests are included in the appointment limit. For example, if your appointment limit per day is 6 and you have 5 confirmed appointments and 1 pending appointment, clients won’t see any available time slots for that day when requesting appointments online. 

On your end, you can schedule as many appointments as you’d like per day, regardless of the set limit. When creating a new appointment, you’ll see a notification if that appointment exceeds the limit for that day. To continue, click Done.

Note: If you’re scheduling a recurring appointment, you’ll only see this notification for the first appointment in the series. This notification will appear for all team members who can schedule on behalf of a clinician. See Team member roles and access levels to learn more. 

I’m part of a group practice, but only some of our clinicians are available for online appointment requests. Why?

Each clinician will need to establish their own Availability blocks for online appointment requests. You can follow the instructions in Setting Availability to create Availability blocks for the clinician(s) in question. 

I have an Other appointment scheduled. Will this affect my available times for online appointment requests?

If you schedule a non-client Other appointment on your calendar, that time will no longer appear as available for online appointment requests. 

If a client reports that they're not seeing any available times on a certain day, be sure to review your calendar for any conflicting appointments or all day Other events. 

Why aren't my available times showing up for clients trying to schedule through the Appointment-request widget?

To allow prospective clients to request appointments through the Appointment-request widget on your external website, you’ll need to have Availability blocks set up for services that you’ve set as bookable by new clients. To make a service available for new clients:

• Navigate to Settings > Billing and Services > Services 
• Click the service code you’d like to make available to new clients
• Check the box next to Allow for New Clients

• Click Save
• Navigate to your Calendar 
• Click Availability
• Select the Availability block you'd like to add this service to
• Click Add service

• Select the service you'd like to add
• Click Save

Note: The Appointment-request widget is intended for new clients. Only services that are available to new clients will appear in the widget. Existing clients should log into their Client Portal to request appointments. For detailed guides you can share with your existing clients, see Getting started with the Client Portal and Viewing and requesting appointments in the Client Portal.