Creating a Bookings Event
Bookings will allow you create a calendar with specific sign-up times such as open houses, parent/teacher conferences, and other events. Please follow these directions to create your Bookings calendar:
1. Log into your Office 365 account by going to www.office.com.
2. Log in using your username@sau19.org and your normal computer password.
3. Click on the menu icon (array of 9 dots) in the upper left-hand corner.
4. On this menu, click on 'Bookings' if it is visible. If it is not listed there, click on 'All apps' and then scroll until you see it, or search for it in the search bar, then click on it.
5. Once in the Bookings App, you will see any Calendars you have added. Click on the 'Create new calendar' button on the right-hand side.
6. Select 'Create from scratch'. If you want to clone an existing Bookings event, simply choose that event from the list.
7. Title your event, add a logo if desired, change the business type to 'Education', and set your business hours. Then click on 'Next'.
8. Skip the 'Invite staff' page by clicking on 'Next'.
8. Skip the 'Set up a service' page by clicking on 'Next'. We will set this up later.
8. On the 'Choose who can book appointments' page, select 'Anyone' and then click on 'Create calendar'.
9. You will receive confirmation that your booking calendar has been created and this calendar will now be visible on your min Bookings page. Click 'Get started'.
10. Click on 'Booking page' on the left side bar.
11. Under the 'Default scheduling policy', select the time frame for the conferences, the lead time prior to the conference (when it disables the ability for change to be made to scheduled bookings), the maximum lead time (how many days prior to the event bookings times can be created), and deselect the email notification boxes.
12. Change the 'General availability' to be 'Not bookable'. Set the date or date range for the event, and set the available time frame (we will customize this later).
12. Click on 'Save' at the top of that page.
13. Click on 'Services' on the left-hand side.
14. Click on 'Add new service' above the search bar.
15. Turn OFF the 'Default scheduling policy' by clicking on the toggle. Then click on 'Basic details' on the left-hand side, title your event, set the duration of each meeting, and click on 'Save changes'.
16. Click on 'Availability options' on the left-hand side.
17. Scroll down to the availability section and use the '+' button to add the times that are bookable.
18. Click on 'Assign staff' on the left side bar and select your name as the assigned staff. Be sure that 'Allow customers to choose a particular staff for booking' is turned off.
19. Click on 'Custom fields' on the left-hand side. Select 'Customer email' and make it required. Select 'Phone number'. Under 'Custom fields,' click on 'Add a custom field' and add a text box where information can be shared with you prior to the scheduled booking.
20. Click on 'Save changes within that screen.
21. Click on 'Notifications' on the left-hand side. Turn OFF the notifications by deselecting the boxes.
22. Scroll down until you see the email reminder section and select 'Add an email reminder', enter the date to send the reminder, and type message. Then click on 'Save Changes' within that screen.
23. Set up an email follow-up if desired, then hit the 'Save changes' button.
24. Now click on 'Staff' on the left-hand side and click on the 'Edit Staff' icon next to your name.
25. Deselect 'Events on Office calendar affect availability' if you don't want items on your Outlook calendar to affect the booking times. If you do want it to impact this, then select it. Also deselect 'Use business hours'. Then press 'Save changes'.
26. Your Bookings Calendar is ready to use. To share the link to your Calendar, click on 'Bookings page' on the left-hand side and click on the copy link icon and paste it in a location for others to access it.
If you need to edit a service, simply click on the 'Services' tab and click on the edit icon, then edit and save your changes.
If for some reason you see an Office Hours service, simply click on the trash icon to delete it.
Click this link to see how to view your scheduled bookings: https://support.sau19.org/help/en-us/43-bookings/75-how-to-check-scheduled-booking-times.