How to Create an Appointment Type

Learn how to create appointment types that define the services customers can book. Appointment types specify duration, pricing, forms, and availability schedules. Creating appointment types allows customers to book appointments with you through your site or customer app.

Before You Begin

• You must be logged in to your account at https://app.joinzipper.com
• You need permission to manage schedules (typically organization owners and admins have this permission)
• You must have at least one availability schedule set up for a provider
• Optionally, you can have a form created with first name, last name, and email fields (if you want to require forms)

Steps

Step 1: Navigate to Appointment Types

1. Log in to your account at https://app.joinzipper.com/auth/login
2. From the dashboard, click Calendar in the left sidebar
3. Click Manage in the calendar actions (or go directly to https://app.joinzipper.com/dashboard/calendar/manage)
4. Click the Appointment types tab
5. You'll see the Appointment Types page

Note: If you don't have any availability schedules set up yet, you'll see a message saying "Set up availability schedules" first. You'll need to create an availability schedule before you can create appointment types.

Step 2: Open the Create Appointment Type Form

1. On the Appointment Types page, look for the Create appointment type button in the top right of the "Appointment Types" card
2. Click the button (it's orange with a plus icon)
3. A modal window will open titled "Create appointment type"

What happens next: The modal will open and you'll see a form to enter appointment type information.

Step 3: Fill Out Appointment Type Details

1. Name: Enter a clear name for your appointment type (required)

   • This is what customers will see when booking
   • Example: "Free trial class", "60-minute kickboxing technique session"
   • If you leave this empty and try to save, you'll see an error message

2. Availability schedule: Select which provider's schedule to use (required)

   • Choose from your available schedules
   • This determines which provider's availability is used for booking
   • If you don't see any schedules, you need to create an availability schedule first
   • If you leave this empty and try to save, you'll see an error message

3. Form/waiver: Select a form if you want to require customers to fill one out (optional)

   • Choose from your existing forms
   • Forms should have first name, last name, and email fields
   • You can leave this as "-- None --" if you don't want to require a form

4. Groups: Optionally add appointment type groups (optional)

   • Groups help connect appointment types across providers
   • Click the plus icon to add groups
   • Groups are used in scheduling blocks and workflows

5. Calendar Item Color: Choose a color for this appointment type

   • Click the color picker to choose a color
   • This color appears on your calendar to help identify appointment types

What happens next: As you fill out the form, you'll see validation errors if required fields are missing.

Step 4: Configure Schedule Timing

1. Appointment duration: Select how long appointments last

   • Choose from preset durations (15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc.)
   • This determines how much time is blocked on your calendar

2. Add buffer time before appointments: Optionally add preparation time (optional)

   • Select a duration for buffer time before appointments
   • This gives you time to prepare between appointments

3. Add buffer time after appointments: Optionally add wrap-up time (optional)

   • Select a duration for buffer time after appointments
   • This gives you time to wrap up between appointments

4. Booking cutoff: Set when appointments close to new bookings (optional)

   • Enter the number of minutes before the appointment time
   • Appointments will close to new bookings this many minutes before the appointment time
   • Example: If set to 60, customers can't book appointments less than 60 minutes away

5. Cancellation refund cutoff: Set when automatic refunds stop (optional)

   • Enter the number of hours before the appointment
   • Cancellations before this time will automatically refund (if payment was made)
   • Example: If set to 24, cancellations more than 24 hours before get automatic refunds

Step 5: Configure Pricing

1. In the Pricing section, choose payment options:

   • Free: No payment required (toggle on)
   • Paid: Set a price for credit card payment (toggle off "Free", then enter price)
   • Punch Card: Allow customers to use credits (if you have punch card products)
   • Subscription: Grant access to subscription holders (if you have subscription products)

2. If you selected Paid, enter the Price:

   • Enter the price amount (minimum $1.00)
   • This is the amount customers will pay when booking

Note: You can enable multiple payment options. For example, you can allow both free appointments and paid appointments, or allow both credit card payments and punch card usage.

Step 6: (Optional) Configure Additional Settings

1. Member signup requirements: Optionally restrict booking to members with specific tags

   • Add tag requirements if you want to limit who can book
   • Leave empty to allow anyone to book

2. Post-booking instructions/details: Add instructions for customers (optional)

   • Include details like how to prepare, what to bring, etc.
   • This information is shown to customers after they book

3. Show in customer app and website: Toggle to show or hide in customer-facing interfaces

   • On: Customers can see and book this appointment type
   • Off: Only you can book this appointment type (hidden from customers)

4. Send the customer a reminder email the day before: Toggle to enable reminder emails

   • On: Customers receive reminder emails
   • Off: No reminder emails are sent

Step 7: (Optional) Assign Locations

1. In the Locations section, you can assign this appointment type to specific locations
2. Click Add location to assign locations
3. Select which locations this appointment type is available at
4. You can assign multiple locations

Note: If you don't assign locations, the appointment type will be available at all locations (or no specific location if you don't use locations).

Step 8: Save Your Appointment Type

1. Review all the information you've entered
2. Scroll to the bottom of the form
3. Click Save (blue button with save icon)
   • The button will be disabled if there are validation errors
   • If there are errors, you'll see red error messages below the fields
4. You'll see the page reload and your new appointment type will appear in the list

What happens next: Your appointment type will be created and available for booking. If you enabled "Show in customer app and website", customers will be able to see and book this appointment type.

Tips

• You must create an availability schedule before creating appointment types
• Appointment types are tied to specific providers through their availability schedules
• You can clone existing appointment types to create similar ones quickly
• Use groups to organize related appointment types across providers
• Set buffer times to give yourself preparation and wrap-up time between appointments

Troubleshooting

Problem: I don't see the "Create appointment type" button Solution: Make sure you have at least one availability schedule set up. You'll see a message "Set up availability schedules" if you need to create schedules first. Go to the Availability schedules tab and create a schedule first.

Problem: I get an error saying a field is required Solution: Check that you've filled in the Name field and selected an Availability schedule. These are required fields and cannot be left empty.

Problem: The Save button is disabled Solution: Check that all required fields are filled in correctly. The button will only be enabled when all required information is valid. Look for red error messages below fields to see what needs to be fixed.

Problem: I don't see any availability schedules to select Solution: You need to create an availability schedule first. Go to the Availability schedules tab, select a provider, and create a schedule. Once you have at least one schedule, you can create appointment types.

Problem: I can't change the availability schedule after creating the appointment type Solution: Schedules cannot be changed to different providers for existing appointment types. However, you can clone the appointment type and assign it to a different provider's schedule.