Help Center › Run your day

Take a booking

For owners and admins

Clients pick a time from the ones you actually have open; you confirm. The request arrives as a message with the day, the time and the quote, you create the appointment on the calendar, and you send the confirmation with one button. Payment, if you want one, is a link sent from the same screen.

Turn on booking for a service

Open the service under Listings and set a Price above 0.
Turn on Bookable Service and set the Appointment Length (minutes). That length is the size of every slot offered, so a 90-minute service offers 9:00, 10:30, 12:00 and so on.
Set your open hours once under Admin › Company › Appointment Booking: which days you are open, from when to when, how much notice you need, and how far ahead people may book.

These booking hours are separate from the office hours on your contact page. The contact page ones are free text for people to read; these decide what can be sold.

What the client does

On a bookable service page, the client picks a day and sees the times that are still open. Times are removed automatically when they fall inside your minimum notice, when the day is closed, and when something is already on that service's calendar. They pick a time, see the price with tax, fill in their name, email and an optional note, and press Request Appointment. They are told plainly that nothing has been charged yet.

A service that is not marked bookable still shows the ordinary contact form instead.

The client receives no email at this point. You do: a "NEW:" email to the addresses under Admin › Email › Notification Emails, plus every admin and owner user. The request carries the requested day, the time and the quote the client saw. See Answer messages.

Create the appointment

Open the Calendar tab and choose the service in Select a Listing. Without a listing selected you cannot add an event.
Click the day, or the round + button. The Create New Event form opens.
Fill in Title, choose the Event Type (Consultation / Estimate, Maintenance / Follow-up, or Appointment / Service Call) and the start and end times.
Choose the Meeting Format: In-Person, or Zoom / Video with a link you paste. That link is for your reference; it does not go into the confirmation email, so put it in the message body or send it separately. See Video meetings.
Under Contact Information, enter the client's name and, above all, their Email. Nothing can be sent without it.
If you want to be paid, enter the Payment Amount under Payment Information and leave Payment Status on Pending. See Get paid with Stripe.
Press Create Event, then Send Email. Or press Save & Send Email to do both.

The client receives a confirmation. If the appointment is paid, or has no amount, it reads as confirmed. If a payment is pending, it carries the payment link and your Pending Payment Note.

A request is not a booking, and the calendar does not warn you. The widget hides times that are already taken when the client looks, but two people can request the same slot minutes apart, and PaidCal does not warn you when two appointments overlap. Look at the day before you save.

Changes and cancellations

To reschedule, open the event, change the times and press Update Event, then Send Email so the client gets the new times. Nothing goes out on its own.
To cancel, press Delete Event. This is permanent and sends no email, so tell the client yourself first.
There are no automatic reminders. Put reminder calls or texts in your own routine.

Views, filters and export

The calendar has a month view and a list view, a colour legend you can edit, and filters for event type, payment and format. The download icon exports the selected listing's events as a spreadsheet file.

Wording your client sees

The confirmation email uses stay wording in a few places, such as "Check-in" and "Check-out" for the start and end times. It is on the list to change. If it matters for your business, tell us and we will prioritise it.

Still stuck? Email us.