It’s never been easier for others to schedule appointments with you, during your optimal
availability, in Google Calendar.
Hey friends!
I’m Tasia Custode and I make a metric ton of Google content like this, but for today
I want to focus on a new Google Calendar booking schedule feature.
With this new appointment schedule feature in Google Calendar, you can now create a booking
page that you can share with others so they can book time with you that works for both
parties.
So here’s how to create a booking schedule in Google Calendar.
This is so cool.
From your Google Calendar, click on a block of time to pull up your event creation popup.
Here, you’ll notice a new Appointment schedule feature up underneath the ‘add title’
option.
Click on that option to create an appointment schedule.
Here, underneath the time and date you’ve selected, you’ll have a little info icon
that tells you that you can create a booking page to share with others so they can book
a time with you.
By the way, if you click on ‘see how it works’, this will walk you through this
new feature, where you can actually test out this feature before you make a real booking
page.
This can help you get used to it before going live with a real booking page.
But, back to creating a bookable appointment schedule.
So, back in our appointment schedule pop-up, I’m going to title this something like ‘Schedule
a Time with Me’, but you can name this whatever works for you.
So, right now I just have this set for Monday between 10 to 11 am, maybe I’ll reset that
for 10 to 12.
Then, I’ll click on ‘Set up the schedule’.
On the left-hand side, now we’ve got my bookable appointment schedule.
So let’s adjust some of the settings here.
So, the first thing, up near the top, is the appointment duration.
We can change that to anything from 15-minute appointments to something completely custom.
So, I’ll set this to 30 minutes.
Then, we’ve got a general availability section.
This is super helpful because here is where we can set repeating availability.
Currently, you can adjust this to not repeat, so if you want to set a one-off booking page
that never re-occurs you can.
Or, you can set it to repeat weekly.
Then, underneath that, we can change our availability for each day of the week as well.
So, maybe I want to change my availability on Thursday.
I’ll click on the plus symbol to the right of that date and automatically Google Calendar
will block out my 9-5 day with 30-minute time slots.
Again, if I want to adjust this time, I can do so, by changing the start or end time.
So maybe I’m free on Thursday afternoon only.
Now, if I want to copy this, it’s really easy to do so.
Say, you want to always have this availability for each of your appointment days.
Meaning, I’ve got Monday marked as available, but maybe I want it this same time block as
Thursday.
So, I’ll click on copy to all option to the right of the plus symbol.
Now, this appointment block has been copied to Monday.
Notice, it’s only copying to days that you have already designated availability.
So, you can adjust your week and schedule availability however you see fit here.
And of course, underneath this is your time zone.
So, I’m in Scottdale, so it’s pulling my time zone automatically for me.
Yours will be based on wherever your location is.
So, if someone on Eastern time is viewing my schedule, that time difference is accounted
for.
OK, underneath that is the scheduling window.
This is a really cool feature.
So, the default is set so that people can schedule within your availability blocks anywhere
from 60 days in advance to up to 4 hours before.
If you want to change that, you just click the dropdown arrow.
Here, you can actually set start and end dates that limit the date range of appointments.
So, if you don’t want to be available right now, you can set the start date for when this
scheduling window starts and ends.
So, instead of it running forever, you can set an end date.
But let’s cancel out of that for now.
Here are the maximum and minimum times that people can book out appointments.
So, if you want people to book out indefinitely into the future with you, you would uncheck
this maximum days option here.
Or, you can set a different number of maximum days.
Underneath that is where you can set a minimum number of hours before the appointment that
it can be booked.
Again, you can uncheck this if you don’t mind someone booking last minute with you.
But, I’d obviously recommend against that.
I’m going to change this to 48 hours, so someone has to book me at least 2 days in
advance so I have time to prep for the appointment.
Obviously, depending on what work it is you do, or if you’re setting this for co-workers,
leaving it with a few hours notice is probably fine.
So now that I’ve got a weekly schedule set, I can adjust the availability for a specific
date.
So, instead of all day on Friday, maybe I’m bouncing early so I’m only available in
the morning.
You can just keep clicking on ‘change a date’s availability’ to customize that
specific date.
So now we get to another great feature to help you really dial in the appointment settings.
Here we have a dropdown for booked appointment settings.
The default here will give you no buffer time and no maximum bookings per day.
So, this could get really overwhelming if you have a lot of people wanting to book you
back to back.
So, let’s click on the dropdown menu.
Here, maybe I want a buffer between each appointment so I can debrief quick before the next meeting.
Just click on that buffer time option and set the time to what works for you.
I’ll do 10 minutes.
Then, underneath that, we can set maximum bookings per day.
So this is what you’ll toggle on if you don’t want to go all day from 9 to 5.
You can cap it however you’d like.
Next, it’s going to show you what calendars are being checked for your availability.
So, the account you’re signed into is obviously the primary calendar.
If you want to add more, you need to upgrade to a Google One premium plan to link multiple
calendars.
Last, you can adjust the color of this appointment schedule.
Now before we move on, there’s something really important I want to mention.
As you go through this availability schedule, remember, you don’t have to do any of this
general availability at all.
You can set the tasks so they don’t repeat and just leave the one-off times you select
to be your availability.
What I’m trying to say is that if you don’t have recurring weekly times that can always
be the same every week, just individually add your time blocks when you can, just like
you’d do to add an event on the calendar.
So, you don’t need to create any schedule.
You can just do this randomly, one date at a time.
Hopefully, that makes sense.
OK back in our lefthand panel here, let’s click on ‘next’.
This is where we can customize booking details even further.
So, up at the top is the option to see how your identity is displayed on the booking
page.
Let’s click that dropdown and you’ll see it’s exactly as your image and name is in
your Google account.
So, this is a test account I’m using for this, so you’ll have your profile picture
here if you’ve set that and the name you’ve set.
So, if you want to change it, you’ll click through to manage your Google account name
and photo.
Underneath that is the location and conferencing option.
So, this is where you can customize how you’d like to meet with people.
Let’s click on that dropdown arrow.
Here, you can select Google Meet, in-person, phone call, or none/to be specified later.
I’ll select Google Meet for this example.
Next, you can add a description.
So, this will appear on your booking page and in confirmation emails.
So, you could write nothing or you could write about your business or any type of important
note that people should know when booking with you.
So, I’ll just write there is a 5 minute grace period and if the person does not attend
the call within the first 5 minutes, the meeting will be canceled.
Whatever, you get the idea here.
Write whatever you want.
Now this next feature is where you can customize what’s found in the booking form.
So, in the dropdown in the booking form section, there are three default fields of first name,
last name, and email address.
So, click on ‘add an item’ to add extra information you’d like to collect.
In this popup, you can add a phone number or a custom item.
So, let’s click on custom.
And maybe I want more context of the meeting.
So, I’ll add a Meeting Purpose field.
Then, I’m going to toggle the option to make it a required field.
Then, I’ll click on ‘add item’.
So, now that custom item has been added and I can edit it from here too or delete it.
So you can keep adding what you see fit for these fields.
Last, we’ve got the booking confirmations and reminders section.
This is set so that you and the person who made the appointment will get confirmation
emails with the calendar invite.
So, once you have everything set as you like, click on save in the bottom right.
So that’s how to setup a booking schedule in Google Calendar, but now let’s see what
your booking page actually looks like.
When you’ve got blocks of time set for bookings, they’ll appear on your calendar with a little
calendar icon on the left.
To edit or view your booking page, just click on the title of your booking schedule.
In this popup, you can click on ‘open booking page’ to see your booking page.
So, this is what you see initially.
If you want to see what others see, click on that option near the top right.
A new tab is going to open where you can see I’ve got the 30-minute appointment blocks,
we’ve got the meeting type that I’ve set, plus my description up at the top.
Then, we’ve got my schedule of availability below, including that time zone.
So, now let’s share this schedule with others and see what it looks like to book through
an appointment page.
Once again, you’ll click on your time block.
And this time, you’ll select the share option.
Here, you can copy a link to share with others.
So, anyone with this link will see your booking page.
Or, you can grab a website embed, which is really cool.
So you can set it as a button with a popup or as an inline booking page.
So, I’m going to copy this link and then access it from another browser to book an
appointment.
So, here we are on the booking page using the link I have shared.
I’ll select a time slot here.
Now, in this popup, we can see all the contact info details we had set.
So, here are all the required fields.
And of course, I’ve got to add the purpose of the meeting.
Then, I can just click on Book.
So, once a meeting is booked, a confirmation popup appears.
Here, the person can cancel the appointment if necessary.
But, as promised, a confirmation email has been sent to the person booking the meeting,
plus to you who set up the schedule.
And, of course, the booking schedule automatically updates so now, that time slot is no longer
available on the booking schedule.
And, back in your Google Calendar, you can now see that appointment block.
And you might be thinking okay but what happens if I have my appointment block set and then
something comes up and I have to add something to my calendar?
Well, in your calendar, you’ll just click to add whatever event you need to.
And, automatically, your availability schedule changes.
So now, I’m no longer available between this time and that’s reflected for me on
my booking schedule.
It couldn’t be any easier.
This may sound familiar to some of you and that’s because if you have a paid Google
Workspace account, you’re already able to make appointment slots for others to see your
availability and book with you.
But, this new booking page feature is free for all basic Google account users.
Though, there is one caveat.
You’re only able to set up one type of appointment slot.
Here’s what I mean.
So, we just setup this ‘schedule a time with me’ slot.
If I click on my calendar and click on ‘appointment schedule’ my only options are to edit this
current appointment schedule or delete this current appointment schedule.
If you want to create a new type of appointment, you’ll have to upgrade to Google One Premium.
So, just keep that in mind.
This free option is really great if you only need like a general availability appointment
schedule.
If you want to customize and add additional booking pages, you’ll have to upgrade.
Make sense?
And by the way, if you want to delete the entire schedule or a portion of it, you can
click on an appointment block, hit the delete option in the popup, then from here select
whether you want to delete this week only, all weeks, or all availability in its entirety.
So, if you’re going away, you could delete the week, or start from scratch and delete
it all.
Do you see why this is one of my favorite Google Calendar updates for 2023?
Now I want to hear from you.
What do you think of this new Google calendar booking schedule feature?
Will you use it?
As always, thank you so much for watching, if you liked this video, I want to know so
give it a like, a share, or leave that comment below.
You can click right about here to subscribe to my channel and right here and here for
even more content just like this.
So much Google Goodness.
Thanks for watching and see ya next time.