"Appointment Start" Booking Settings Explained

The PracticeQ Appointment Start setting allows practitioners to offer availability in the booking widget without being constrained by service duration times.

1. Click Bookings → Booking Settings.
2. Select the Settings tab.
3. Click Bookings → Booking Settings → Settings Tab.
4. Open the Appointments Start dropdown menu. Your options are:
   
   1. Based on session duration: This takes your day start time and the duration of the appointment and breaks it down based on each service duration time.
      
      1. Example: If your office hours start at 8 am and you have a 60-minute appointment duration for the service, clients can only book at 8 am, 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, 12 pm, etc.  
      2. Note: This follows the service duration you listed in the service itself. If other services have a different duration time, then the system will follow that. Also, be aware that blocks in the calendar will change availability for that hour slot.
   2. Maximize Bookings: This setting takes all factors into account and tries to squeeze in the most appointments possible. Factors taken into account include:
      
      1. Previous appointments
      2. Time blocks on the calendar 
      3. Intervals Between Appointments
      4. Advanced service setting Block Practitioners for x minutes.
      5. Example:A service with a 60-minute duration and a 15-minute interval will show open slots on the widget for 8 am, 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, 12 pm, and so on. The interval selected on the service will not show the 15-minute interval option until the service is booked. For this reason, we highly suggest that if you need to add time to the service for a particular practitioner, go to Bookings →Booking Settings and click to Edit the service. Select the Advanced tab and use the option Block practitioner time for XX minutes.
      6. Notes: 
         
         1. When using Maximize Bookings, the interval between appointment settings will not take effect until the appointment is booked.
         2. If needed, you can add time to a service for a particular practitioner. Click Bookings → Booking Settings and click to Edit the service. Select the Advanced tab and use the option Block practitioner time for XX minutes.
   3. Appointments start every x minutes: This option takes the start time and allows you to start at x intervals regardless of the session duration for the service.
      
      1. Example: If you select the setting Appointment start every Hour, and your office hours start at 8:30 am, then the system will show your open slots on the booking widget as 8:30 am, 9:30 am, and 10:30 am, even if your session duration for the appointment is 30 minutes. 
      2. Notes: 
         
         1. This setting takes time blocks into account on the calendar. For example, If you have created a time block from 12 pm to 12:15 pm, the Appointment start every Hour setting will reset the hour starting at 12:15 pm. It will then continue to list the next open slots at 1:15 pm, 2:15 pm, and so on.
         2. The Intervals will apply once an appointment is booked.
   4. Custom start times: Please see our helpful article Custom Appointment Start Times - IntakeQ & PracticeQ Guides. 

Each practitioner on your team has the ability to use this feature. See the following article for setting practitioner-specific booking settings: Booking Settings for Practitioners on a Team.