> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.deandesk.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Scheduling & bookings
> Let students, parents, and visitors book appointments with your staff — office hours, counselling, tutoring, and more.
**School-level feature** — managed within your school portal at `yourschool.deandesk.com`.
DeanDesk includes a full appointment booking system. Staff members publish availability schedules (office hours, counselling sessions, tutoring blocks), and students, parents, or even visitors without an account book time slots through a public booking page. Admins oversee everything — every staff member's calendar, every booking, and shared school calendars — from a single Scheduling dashboard.
## How scheduling works
1. **Staff set availability** — Teachers and admins create availability schedules that define when they can be booked, for how long, and under what rules.
2. **Clients book sessions** — Anyone visits your school's `/book` page, picks a provider, chooses a time slot, and submits a booking request. Guests without an account can book too.
3. **Providers confirm** — New bookings start as **Pending Confirmation**. The provider (or an admin) confirms, cancels, completes, or marks them as no-shows.
4. **Emails keep everyone informed** — Confirmation, cancellation, and reminder emails are sent automatically at each stage.
***
## The Scheduling dashboard
Go to **Admin Dashboard → Scheduling** (in the **Operations** section). The page header shows quick stats — bookings this week, pending confirmations, and active calendars — and five tabs:
| Tab | What it does |
| --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Weekly Schedule** | A week-at-a-glance grid of all bookings across your staff |
| **Manage Bookings** | Review and act on any staff member's bookings and availability |
| **Calendar Types** | Create and manage shared school calendars |
| **Events** | The same Events manager found in Calendar Management |
| **Academic Calendar** | The same Academic Years and Terms manager found in Calendar Management |
The **Events** and **Academic Calendar** tabs embed the Calendar Management tools so you can reach them without leaving the Scheduling dashboard. They are documented on the [Academic calendar](/setup/calendar) page.
### Weekly Schedule
The Weekly Schedule tab shows every booking for the current week in a day-by-day grid, alongside availability blocks and calendar events. Use the arrows next to the week range to move between weeks.
Two filters narrow the view:
* **Filter by Staff** — show a single provider's schedule, or all staff members.
* **Filter by Calendar** — overlay events from one or more of your shared calendars.
### Manage Bookings
This tab lets an admin work with any staff member's bookings.
Use the **Select Staff Member** dropdown. The list includes all teachers and admins.
Switch between the **Bookings** and **Availabilities** views.
The Bookings view has four tabs: **Upcoming**, **Pending Confirmation**, **Confirmed**, and **Past**. Open a booking's action menu to **View Details**, **Confirm Booking**, **Cancel Booking**, **Mark as Completed**, or **Mark as No-Show**.
The **Availabilities** view lists the selected staff member's availability schedules and lets you create or edit them on their behalf — the same editor described in [Provider availability](#provider-availability) below.
### Calendar Types
Shared calendars group related events and can be published to your community or exported to external calendar apps. Click **Create Calendar** to add one:
* **Calendar Name** — for example, `Academic Calendar` or `Counselling Sessions`.
* **Calendar Type** — Public Calendar, Counselling, Class Calendar, Office Hours, Administrative, or Custom.
* **Color** and **Description**.
Under **Visibility & Settings**:
| Toggle | Effect |
| -------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Public Calendar** | Visible to everyone |
| **Institution-wide** | Shared across the institution |
| **Master Public Calendar** | Marks this as the school's primary public calendar — only one calendar can be the master |
| **Allow iCal Export** | Enables an iCal feed for this calendar |
For calendars with export enabled, use **Copy Export URL** to get a subscription link for Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook, or **Download iCal** for a one-time file. The **Export Institution Calendar** header button exports events across calendars for a date range you choose.
***
## Provider availability
Staff members control their own bookable hours from **Profile → My Availability** (`/profile/availability`). This page appears in the profile sidebar under **Bookings** for teachers and admins. Staff also get a **Manage Bookings** entry there (`/profile/bookings`) to confirm and manage their own sessions.
Click **Create Availability**. Give it a **Title**, pick a **Type** (Counselling, Office Hours, Tutoring, General, or Custom), and optionally set a color and description. You can limit the schedule to a date range with **Effective From** and **Effective Until**.
Add one or more weekly schedule entries — each with a **Day**, **Start**, and **End** time. Toggle **Online** to attach a **Meeting Link** (for example, a Zoom URL), or leave it off and enter a physical **Location** instead.
* **Session Duration** — the length of each bookable slot, in minutes.
* **Buffer Before** / **Buffer After** — padding between sessions.
* **Session Price** — leave empty or `0` for free sessions; see [Paid sessions](#paid-sessions).
* **Max Bookings/Day** — cap daily bookings, or leave blank for unlimited.
* **Min Advance Booking** — clients must book at least this many minutes ahead.
* **Max Advance Booking** — how far into the future clients can book (1 week to 90 days).
Under **Calendar Integration**, enable **Check Google Calendar** and/or **Check Internal Calendar** to automatically block slots that conflict with existing events.
Under **Visibility & Status**, turn on **Public** so anyone can book this availability, and keep **Active** on. Inactive availabilities stop accepting new bookings without deleting history.
Each availability card has a **Copy Link** button that copies a direct booking URL for that provider — handy for email signatures or your school website.
***
## The public booking page
Anyone can book a session at `yourschool.deandesk.com/book`. A provider-specific link (from the **Copy Link** button) skips straight to that provider. The page walks the client through four steps: **Select Provider**, **Choose Time**, **Your Details**, and **Confirm**.
1. **Select Provider** — lists every staff member with a public, active availability.
2. **Choose Time** — shows open slots based on the provider's weekly hours, buffers, restrictions, and calendar conflicts.
3. **Your Details** — logged-in users are recognized automatically. Guests enter **Email**, **First Name**, **Last Name**, an optional **Phone**, and optional notes for the session.
4. **Confirm** — a summary of the provider, date, time, and location. Clicking **Confirm Booking** submits the request.
After submitting, the client sees **Booking Request Submitted** — the booking is pending until the provider confirms it, and the client is notified by email once it is.
### Guest booking
Visitors without an account can book:
* **New visitors** get an account created for them automatically. They receive an email with their login details so they can manage the booking later.
* **Visitors whose email matches an existing account** are asked to verify ownership: a one-time confirmation code is emailed to them (valid for 15 minutes) and must be entered to complete the booking.
* **Paid sessions** require guests to add a card during booking; logged-in users use their saved payment method.
## Members: My Bookings
Logged-in users see their sessions at **My Bookings** (`/my-bookings`), with **Upcoming**, **Past**, and **Cancelled** tabs. They can cancel an upcoming booking and provide a cancellation reason. An **Upcoming Bookings** widget on the Dashboard also surfaces their next sessions.
***
## Booking lifecycle
Every booking moves through these statuses:
| Status | Meaning |
| ------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Pending** | Requested by the client, awaiting provider confirmation |
| **Confirmed** | Accepted by the provider or an admin |
| **Completed** | The session took place; the provider can attach session notes |
| **No-Show** | The client did not attend (available once the session time has passed) |
| **Cancelled** | Cancelled by either party, with an optional reason |
Providers and admins act on bookings from the Scheduling dashboard's **Manage Bookings** tab or the staff **Manage Bookings** profile page: **Confirm Booking**, **Cancel Booking**, **Mark as Completed**, and **Mark as No-Show**.
### Paid sessions
If an availability has a **Session Price**, the client is not charged when booking. Instead, the fee is charged to the client's saved default payment method when the session is marked complete — the completion dialog offers **Complete & Charge**. Stripe must be connected for paid sessions; see [Payments setup](/setup/payments).
***
## Booking emails
DeanDesk sends automatic emails throughout the booking lifecycle:
| Email | Sent to | When |
| ------------------------- | ------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Booking Request Submitted | Client | On submitting a booking request |
| New Booking Request | Provider | When a client books with them |
| Booking Confirmed | Client | When the provider confirms |
| Booking Cancelled | The other party | When either side cancels |
| Session Reminder | Client and provider | Before an upcoming session |
| Session Completed | Client | When the session is marked complete, including any session notes |
| Booking Verification Code | Client | When a guest booking must be verified with a one-time code |
| Guest Account Created | Client | When a guest booking creates a new account |
All of these are part of the customizable system email library — you can edit their wording, subject lines, and styling at **Admin Dashboard → System Email Library**. See [System emails](/communication/system-emails).
## Next steps
Set up academic years, terms, and school-wide events.
Connect Stripe to charge for paid sessions.