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Appointments

With the booking module clients book family, baby or headshot sessions directly in your shop. You decide what can be booked and when. Pick a service. Pick a time. Done.

Updated October 9, 20263 min read

At a glance

  • Clients book with the Book appointment element in your shop.
  • By default bookings are requests. You confirm or decline.
  • Free times come from availability, time off and appointments already booked.
1

Ready in five steps

Set up the module in this order. The shop then shows real free times right away.

  1. 1Create services What clients can book, with duration and price.
  2. 2Set availability Weekdays and hours when you can be booked.
  3. 3Enter time off Holidays and blocked days.
  4. 4Check the rules Confirmation, slot interval and minimum notice under Settings. The defaults usually fit.
  5. Add it to the shop In the Shop Designer, drag the Book appointment element onto a page.

Enabling the module

Settings › Appointments shows whether the booking module is active for your account. If it says Not available, support can help.
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2

The appointment overview

Under Appointments you see every appointment from yesterday onward. A badge in the navigation counts open requests.

  1. 1Tabs: Appointments, Services, Availability, Time off.
  2. 2Filters: All, Pending, Confirmed, Completed, Cancelled, Expired.
  3. 3Appointment: date, time, service, client and their message.
  4. 4Settings: opens the booking rules.
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3

Handle requests

Every appointment has a status. The buttons on the appointment move it on. When declining or cancelling you can give a reason, which goes to the client.

StatusWhat you can do
PendingConfirm or Decline. The time is reserved until then.
ConfirmedComplete, No-show or Cancel.
Completed, No-showFor your records. The client gets no email for these.
CancelledCalled off by the client or by you. The time is free again.
ExpiredA request you did not confirm in time. The time is free again.

Requests expire

A pending request expires after the set period, 24 hours by default. Confirm promptly, otherwise Pixalo frees the time again.
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4

Services

A service is something clients book: for example a family session of 60 minutes. Create one with New service.

  1. 1Name and description: how the client sees the service.
  2. 2Duration: 5 to 960 minutes. Pixalo only offers times the whole duration fits into.
  3. 3Price and price display: optional. The price display replaces the price, for example “from €219”.
  4. 4Location: studio, on location or online.
  5. 5Active: only active services can be booked in the shop.

Services with appointments

If a service already has appointments, deleting deactivates it instead of removing it. That keeps the appointments complete.
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5

Availability

Here you set the times that can be booked every week. A day can have several time windows, for example morning and afternoon.

  1. 1Weekday: without times it says Closed.
  2. 2Add time: another time window for that day.
  3. 3Template: sets Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm in one click.

Saving replaces everything

Saving applies the whole week at once. Appointments already booked remain, even if they now fall outside.
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6

Time off

Enter holidays or blocked days with start, end and reason. During that time the shop offers no appointments.

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7

Booking rules

You find the rules under Settings › Appointments. You do not need to change anything, the defaults fit most studios.

  1. 1Confirmation: automatic or manual. Manual is the default.
  2. 2Slot interval: how often start times are offered, for example every 30 minutes.
  3. 3Minimum notice: how far ahead a booking must be made.
  4. 4Cancellation possible until: until when clients can cancel themselves.
Advanced settingEffect
Bookable up toHow many days ahead clients can book. Default 60.
Max. appointments per dayDaily limit. Empty means unlimited.
Buffer before and after appointmentFree minutes between two appointments for setup and a break.
Request expires afterHours until an unconfirmed request expires.
Notification emailsUp to five addresses for new requests. Empty means your account email.
Widget texts and consentHeading, subtitle and consent text of the booking element in the shop.
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8

How your client books

In the shop the Book appointment element leads to the appointment in three steps.

  1. 1Pick a service With duration, price, location and description.
  2. 2Pick a day and time The calendar shows only days with free times. Times are in the studio’s time zone.
  3. Send contact details Name, email, optionally phone and a message, plus the consent.

These emails go out afterwards:

OccasionEmail
New requestClient: request received, with a link to manage it. You: new request.
ConfirmedClient: appointment confirmed, with a link to manage it.
Declined or cancelled by youClient: cancellation with your reason.
Cancelled by the clientYou: notice of the cancellation.

The client manages it themselves

With the link in the email the client sees their appointment and can cancel it until the cancellation deadline. Rescheduling is not possible. Instead they cancel and book again.
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Frequently asked questions

Can I connect appointments to my calendar?

Not at the moment. Enter private appointments as time off so nobody books that time.

Can clients pay when booking?

No. The price is for information. Billing happens as usual after the session.

Can I enter an appointment myself?

Not in the dashboard at the moment. Block the time with time off or book through the shop on your client’s behalf.

May photographers on my team handle appointments?

Yes, with the appointments permission. Only the owner changes the booking rules under Settings.

Continue to online sign-up

Let parents register children online

With online sign-up, parents register their child themselves before picture day, including photo consent.