Busy time blocks out periods in your calendar so clients can't book appointments when you're unavailable. Use it for admin work, breaks, meetings, or anything else that takes you away from seeing clients. Each busy time type can be set to count towards your utilisation or be excluded from it, so your reporting stays accurate.
In this guide, we'll show you how to manage busy time types, add busy time to your calendar, add it for multiple practitioners at once, and edit or remove busy time.
How-to
Manage busy time types
There is a comprehensive list of 9 default busy times types available to choose from, and you can add a new busy time type or edit an existing type if needed.
To do this:
Go to Settings, then Busy time types.
To edit an existing busy time type, click the the three dots (•••) in the Actions column, then click Edit.
To create a new type, click +New type at the top of the page.
Enter the name of the type, set utilisation calculations to be included or excluded, select the colour, the default duration, and default note and when ready click Save.
You can edit and archive busy time types from this page at any time by clicking the the three dots (•••) in the Actions column.
Add busy time to your calendar
You can ensure appointments can only be booked when you're available by setting up your monthly calendar availability. However, you can also mark yourself as unavailable by creating busy time in your calendar.
To add busy time to your calendar:
Go to your calendar, select the time you wish to make unavailable and click Busy time.
Set the details of the busy time, including the location and the type of busy time.
Confirm the date and time, and if needed, you can select a room/resource and for the busy time to be repeated, the same as you would when creating an appointment or support activity.
When ready, click Add busy time.
Add busy time for multiple practitioners
Users who have an overview of multiple practitioners' calendars can add busy time for multiple practitioners at once. For example, to schedule a weekly practice-wide meeting.
To add busy time for multiple practitioners:
On the calendar, select the time you wish to make unavailable and click Busy time.
Add the practitioners you wish to include; you can also select all practitioners or a preset group of practitioners.
Set the details of the busy time, including the location and the type of busy time.
Confirm the date and time, and if needed, you can select a room/resource and for the busy time to be repeated, the same as you would when creating an appointment or support activity.Configure a colour for your busy time if you like it to be easily identifiable on your calendar.
When ready, click Add busy time.
Edit busy time
If you only want to change the date or time of the scheduled busy time, you can simply drag and drop the session to the desired time in the calendar. Drag and drop is not available on mobile devices.
To edit busy time:
Click the scheduled busy time in the calendar.
From here you can edit the note attached to the scheduled busy time. If it is a repeat session, you can select to apply it to only this busy time, this and all following busy times or all busy times.
To edit all other details click Edit in the sidebar.
From there, you can edit every aspect of the session. For practitioner admins and practice managers, this includes adding or removing practitioners or practitioner groups.
For repeat sessions you can edit the repetition rules and select the apply the changes to this occurrence, this and all following occurrences or all occurrences.
When finished, click Save changes.
Remove busy time
To remove the scheduled busy time, select the scheduled busy time in the calendar, then click Archive in the sidebar.
Things to Note
Purple border around busy times in the calendar
You may notice a purple border around your busy times. This is to help identify busy times and make them easier to see if they have been configured with a light colour on your calendar.
For example, in the image below, the Admin and Lunch busy times have been configured as white and would be difficult to distinguish on the calendar. As such, the purple border has been added.
Please note that you cannot turn this purple border off.