Scheduler Overview

The Appointment Scheduler allows your clients to easily book appointments with you online. This guide walks you through configuring your default scheduler settings such as setting working hours, managing cancellations, and establishing reminder policies to perfectly match your practice's workflow. You can also create customized public or private appointment types and embed the scheduler directly onto any website.

Scheduler Features

• Create multiple appointment types to reflect the different services you offer your clients.
• Set custom working hours to control the specific days and times clients are able to book appointments with you.
• Configure schedule exceptions and blocks to easily close your calendar for holidays, vacations, or personal time off.
• Accept up-front payment for appointments by linking your Stripe Account.
• Sync with your Google Calendar so that Nutri-Q appointments automatically appear on your Google Calendar.

 

Scheduler Set Up

This section walks you through how to set default scheduler settings that will apply to all appointment types you create going forward. We recommend reviewing these settings before creating your first appointment type.

From your Practitioner dashboard, click "Appointments" in the left sidebar. Then, click the "Scheduler Settings" button:

Click "Edit" next to any setting to update or modify:

Use the "Learn More" button to easily view a quick summary of each setting and how it affects your calendar and appointments: 

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Scheduler Settings in Detail

Scheduler ID

Your Scheduler ID is a unique identifier for your scheduler. You’ll see it at the end of your scheduler URL. Visit your scheduler settings page to view your unique ID.

 

Scheduler Status

This setting lets you turn your scheduler on or off. Use this if you need to stop all appointment scheduling for an extended period of time. For shorter breaks such as vacations or days off, we recommend blocking time on your calendar instead. Click "Save" to save any changes.

 

Time Zone

Nutri-Q will automatically set your time zone based on the date and time settings on your device. If the time zone is incorrect or you’d like your calendar to be in a different time zone, you can change it here by clicking "Change Time Zone."  Click "Save" to save your changes.

The scheduler automatically handles time zone conversions, so clients will always see your availability in their own local time zone when booking an appointment. For example, if your scheduler is set to Mountain Time, a client in California will automatically see your availability displayed in Pacific Time.

 

Contact Email

If you would like scheduler emails sent to a different email address than your main Nutri-Q login email, enter that email address here by clicking "Update Contact Email." Click "Save" to save your changes.

 

Contact Email Display

If enabled, clients will see a contact link at the bottom of your scheduler where they can reach out with any questions before booking an appointment. Change settings here by clicking "Update." Click "Save" to save your changes.

 

Client Reminders

Choose when clients should receive appointment reminder emails. You can send no reminders, a 24-hour reminder, a 48-hour reminder, or both 24-hour and 48-hour reminders. Change settings here by clicking "Update." Click "Save" to save your changes.

 

Practitioner Reminders

Choose when you'd like to receive reminder emails for upcoming appointments. You can receive no reminders, a 24-hour reminder, a 48-hour reminder, or both 24-hour and 48-hour reminders. Change settings here by clicking "Update." Click "Save" to save your changes.

 

Same Day Appointments

This setting controls how far in advance clients can book appointments. Change settings here by clicking "Update." Click "Save" to save your changes.

• OPTIONS:
  • Allow same day appointments (clients can book any available appointment on the current day)
  • Don’t let clients book same day appointments (clients will only see availability starting the following day)
  • Don’t let clients book same or following day appointments (clients will only see availability starting two days out)
  • Don’t let clients book appointments within a week (clients will only see availability beginning seven days from that day)

 

Allow Cancellations

Choose how much notice clients must provide when canceling an appointment. Change settings here by clicking "Update." Click "Save" to save your changes.

• OPTIONS:
  • Appointments can be canceled any time prior to the appointment start.
  • Appointments can't be canceled within 24 hours of the appointment start.
  • Appointments can’t be canceled within 48 hours of the appointment start.

 

Cancellation Policy Text

Use this field to add any extra cancellation policy details you would like clients to see when booking an appointment. If you selected a 24-hour or 48-hour cancellation policy above, that information will already be displayed automatically. Change settings here by clicking "Update." Click "Save" to save your changes.

 

Rescheduling Policy

Choose whether clients are allowed to reschedule appointments and how much notice is required. Change settings here by clicking "Update." Click "Save" to save your changes.

• OPTIONS:
  • Clients can reschedule appointments anytime prior to the appointment start.
  • Appointments can't be rescheduled within 24 hours of the appointment start.
  • Appointments can't be rescheduled within 48 hours of the appointment start.
  • Do not allow clients to reschedule appointments.

 

Client Phone Number

Use this setting to choose whether the “Client Phone Number” field is required or optional during booking. Change settings here by clicking "Update." Click "Save" to save your changes.

 

Reason for Appointment

Use this setting to choose whether the “Reason for Appointment” field is required or optional during booking. Change settings here by clicking "Update." Click "Save" to save your changes.

 

Working Hours

Set the days and times clients can book appointments with you. For example, you could add availability on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

How to Set/Update Working Hours

1. Click "Add Time" beneath any day of the week.
   
2. Set your Start Time and End Time then click "Add."
   
3. You can add as many time blocks per day as you need, such as separate morning and afternoon sessions with a break in between. NOTE: Ensure time blocks do not overlap, as overlapping times will prevent the scheduler from working correctly.
   
4. If you need to delete a time block, click the red X next to the time entry.
5. Click "Save" to save your changes.

Appointment Types

This is where you’ll create the Appointment Types your clients can select from. For example, you might offer three different kinds of appointments:

• One for an initial call over phone or Zoom.
• One for 60-minute sessions, in person.
• One for 90-minute sessions, in person.

When creating your appointment types, you can modify the appointment length, location (in person or remote), whether or not you will accept payment up front, and more. Every practitioner is different so figure out what works best for you.

Creating New Appointment Types

1. In the Appointment Types window, click Add New Appointment Type.
   
2. Configure your Appointment Type in the dialog that opens.
   

Requiring Payment for Appointments

Note that we have already linked our Stripe Account so the Require payment to book setting is available. If you have not yet linked Stripe, you will see the following placeholder until you do. Read the Stripe Integration Guide for information about linking your account.

After you save your Appointment Type you will see a summary view. If you have two or more appointment types you can update the order they'll be displayed to the client by using the Move Up/Down buttons beneath the summary.

Private Appointment Types

When Make Private is checked in the Edit/Add Appointment Type window, that appointment type will not appear in your public-facing scheduler URL.

Private appointment types are not visible in the following places:

• Public scheduler URL
• Embedded public-facing scheduler on your own website
• When a client books appointments with you from the scheduler button on their client dashboard.

How to book a private appointment

Your clients can only book a private appointment if you send them a direct link to that appointment type.  Use the following steps to do this:

1. Go to the Appointments page on your practitioner dashboard. 
2. In the right-sidebar find the Appointment Types section.
3. Copy the Appointment Link of the appointment you want to send.
   
4. Send your client the link using by email or any other messaging platform, and invite them to book the appointment. 

 

Max Scheduling Date

Choose how far in advance clients can book appointments. For example, if you select 3 months, clients will only be able to schedule appointments within the next 3 months. Change settings here by clicking "Update." Click "Save" to save your changes.

• OPTIONS:
  • 1 month
  • 2 months
  • 3 months
  • 4 months
  • 5 months
  • 6 months
  • 9 months
  • 12 months
  • 16 months
  • 20 months
  • 24 months

 

Schedule Exceptions (Blocked Dates)

Use schedule exceptions to block off times when you are unavailable for appointments, such as vacations, holidays, meetings, or personal appointments. Clients will not be able to book appointments during blocked times.

Make sure your blocked dates and times do not overlap with each other or with existing availability blocks. Overlapping time blocks can prevent the scheduler from working properly.

You can create full-day blocks or block only part of a day by unchecking Full Day Block and entering specific times:

 

 

Scheduler URL

This is the unique, direct link to your scheduler. Clients can use this URL to book appointments with you. Visit your scheduler settings page to copy your URL.

 

Scheduler Link

This code creates a button you can add to your website that links clients directly to your scheduler. Visit your scheduler settings page to copy your unique scheduling code.

 

Scheduler Embed

This code lets you embed your full scheduler directly into your website so clients can book appointments without leaving your site. Visit your scheduler settings page to copy your unique scheduling code.

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When you're finished editing your settings, click the "Close Settings" button at the very bottom of the screen:

Your Appointment page will update, showing your Working Hours and any available Appointment Types in the right sidebar: