Book an appointment

You can book appointments for clients who call, message or walk in. The form only offers times that are really free, based on each member's working hours, existing appointments, blocked time and your other availability rules.

1. 1

   Step 1 of 6

   Open the booking form

   Use any of these:

   • On the Calendar, click an empty time in Day or Week View. The time is filled in for you.
   • On the Calendar, click Add and choose Appointment.
   • On the Appointments page, click Book Appointment.
   • Press ⌘B (Ctrl+B on Windows) anywhere in your salon.

   You will see:

   The Book Appointment form opens.

2. 2

   Step 2 of 6

   Choose the client

   Click Client and search by name. Then:

   • Pick an existing client, or
   • Choose Walk-In (No Client) to book without a client record, or
   • Choose Create Client (or Create followed by what you typed) and fill in their first and last name plus an email address or phone number. You can also set Transactional Consent and Marketing Consent.

   A new client is saved when you book. If the email address or phone number already belongs to one of your clients, the appointment is linked to that client instead of creating a duplicate.

3. 3

   Step 3 of 6

   Choose location, service and member

   Pick the Location and Service. For Member, pick a team member or Anyone. With Anyone, Softalon picks a member who is free at that time, using the Member Selection Logic from your booking settings. See Choose how Anyone bookings are assigned.

4. 4

   Step 4 of 6

   Pick a date and time

   Choose a Date, then a Time. Only free times are listed. Times are in your salon's timezone.

   Your team isn't limited by the client booking policies, such as minimum notice or how far ahead clients can book. You can also pick a past date, for example to record a visit after the fact.

5. 5

   Step 5 of 6

   Add details

   Fill in any custom fields your salon asks for. Turn on Notes for notes the client can see, or Internal Notes for notes only your team can see. See Add notes and internal notes.

6. 6

   Step 6 of 6

   Book

   Click Book Appointment.

   You will see:

   The message Appointment Booked appears and the appointment shows on the calendar.

What status the appointment gets

• Administrators and above always book appointments as Confirmed.
• Members with the User role book their own appointments as Confirmed. When they book for a colleague, the appointment gets the default status from Settings › Booking, so it may be Awaiting Confirmation until someone approves it.

A draft invoice is created with every appointment, priced for the member, location and service you picked. You finalize it when the appointment is done. See Complete an appointment and take payment.