How to Manage Appointments, Availability, and Booking Settings

After setting up online booking on your 10Web website, you can manage appointments, services, staff schedules, customers, payments, and booking preferences from your booking administration panel.

You can also ask 10Web AI to make changes for you using natural-language prompts.

This guide explains how to manage your booking system, configure advanced features, and access the Appointments plugin settings in WordPress.

If you haven't created your booking system yet, start with How to Add Online Booking and Appointments to Your Website with AI. 

1. Access your booking administration panel

The pages the AI generated are the storefront; the booking logic itself - locations, services, team, bookings, clients and settings - lives in WordPress admin, in the Appointments plugin.

1. From your editor screen, find the W icon next to Save/Publish button
2. Click the WordPress icon to open the site's WordPress admin.
3. In the left menu, click Appointments. It expands into Overview, Bookings, Clients, Locations, Services, Team, Shifts & time off, Messages and Settings.

2. Check Overview

The Overview page provides a summary of your appointment activity, setup status, and connected services. It also gives you quick access to common management actions.

To access it, open your WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to Appointments → Overview.

Appointment statistics

The top section displays live information about your business:

• Bookings today: Total appointments scheduled for today, including completed, cancelled, and no-show counts.
• Working today: Number of team members scheduled to work today.
• Free time today: Remaining bookable time across available staff.
• New clients: Number of customers added in the last 7 days.
• Services: Number of active services with prices configured.
• Unpaid items: Payment tracking status, where supported.

What still needs doing

This section highlights setup steps or issues that may prevent customers from booking appointments.

For example, if no staff shifts have been configured, you'll see a warning with an Open shifts link to set up working hours.

Connections

View the status of services used by the Appointments Plugin:

• Accounts and roles: User authentication, staff accounts, and permissions.
• Payments: Deposits, saved cards, and payment processing.
• Text, WhatsApp and push: Additional notification channels.
• Calendar sync: Google and Outlook calendar integrations.

Each connection shows its current status, such as Connected, Not installed, or Not available, along with additional information or an access link where applicable.

Quick actions

Use the shortcuts to perform common tasks:

• Add New Booking: Create an appointment manually.
• Add New Location: Set up another business location.
• Add New Service: Create a bookable service.
• Add New Team Member: Add a staff member.
• Rebuild availability: Refresh cached appointment availability after changes to schedules or booking settings.

3. Set up Locations

Locations define where your business operates, its opening hours, contact information, and location-specific booking settings.

To add a new location:

1. Open your WordPress admin dashboard.
2. Navigate to Appointments → Locations.
3. Click Add New.
4. Configure the location using the options below.

Basic information

• Name: Enter the location name displayed to customers when your business has multiple locations.
• Address: Enter the street address.
• Address line 2: Add optional details, such as a suite, floor, or unit number.
• City: Enter the city.
• Region or state: Enter the state, province, or region.
• Postcode: Enter the postal or ZIP code.
• Country code: Enter the two-letter country code, such as US or GB.
• Phone: Enter the location's contact number.
• Email: Enter the email address displayed in booking messages for this location.

Opening hours

Set the days and hours when your location is open.

• Open: Check the days when the business operates. Uncheck a day to mark it as closed.
• From / To: Set the opening and closing times for each day.
• Break from / Break to: Specify any breaks during which the location is unavailable.

Note: Opening hours define when the location is open. Individual staff availability is configured separately under Appointments → Shifts & time off.

Closed days

Add holidays, private events, maintenance periods, or other dates when appointments should not be available.

1. Click + Add closed day.
2. Select the From date and optional To date.
3. Enter a Reason for the closure.

No appointments can be booked during these periods. Business-wide closures are managed separately under Appointments → Settings.

Mobile area

Define where your business can provide services at the customer's location.

Choose one of the following:

• Does not travel: The business does not provide mobile services.
• Travels to these postcode prefixes: Restrict mobile appointments to specified postcode areas.
• Travels within a radius of the map pin: Allow mobile appointments within a defined distance of the location's coordinates.

Customer addresses outside the configured service area cannot be booked online.

Tax, receipts and messages

• Default tax rate (%): Set the location's default tax rate. Individual services can override it. Leave empty for no tax.
• Receipt number prefix: Enter a prefix used for receipts issued at this location.
• Nudge sending window: Set the hours when rebooking reminders and birthday messages can be sent. The default shown is 9:00 AM–8:00 PM in the location's time zone. Booking-related messages are not restricted by this window.

Time zone

Select the location's time zone from the dropdown in the right sidebar.

Booking times are displayed in the selected time zone, including when daylight saving time changes.

Map pin

Enter the location's Latitude and Longitude.

These coordinates are used for radius-based mobile service areas. They can be entered manually without connecting a maps service.

Save the location

1. Review the location details, opening hours, and other settings.
2. Confirm the location's status is Active.
3. Click Create Location in the upper-right corner to save it.

4. Price and publish your services

The AI creates services from your prompt with a duration already set, and a price too if you gave one in the clarifying question. The list shows each service's name, category, price, length, how many team members can take it, and a Live switch; use the Active, Needs a price, Archived and All filters to find what still needs attention. 

The Services page displays all your services with the following:

Basic information

• Name: Enter the service name displayed to customers in the booking menu.
• Category: Select the category the service belongs to.
• Description: Add information about the service.

Price and time

• Price: Choose how the service is priced:
  • One price: Set a fixed price.
  • A range: Enter a price range. The final price is determined when the work is agreed upon.
  • Free — a consultation: Offer the service at no charge.
• Amount: Enter the service price. If you leave it empty, the service is marked as Set a price and cannot be booked online until a price is added.
• How long it takes (minutes): Set the duration used to calculate appointment availability.
• Extra time (minutes): Add additional time for preparation or cleanup, and select how that time is handled.

Where it happens

Choose how the service is delivered:

• At the business: The customer visits your business location.
• Virtual: The service takes place online, and a meeting link is sent with the confirmation.
• Mobile: Your business travels to the customer's location.

Note: Virtual and Mobile options must first be enabled under Appointments → Settings → Switches. For appointments at your business, you must also configure a location with opening hours before customers can book.

Who does it

Assign the staff members who can provide the service.

• Does it: Select the team members who offer this service.
• Own price: Set a different service price for an individual staff member.
• Own top price (range): Set a staff-specific upper price when using a price range.
• Own length (min): Override the default service duration for an individual staff member.
• When the client says "anyone": Choose how staff are assigned when customers don't select a particular team member.

Leave staff-specific fields empty to use the service's default price and duration.

Add-ons

Click + Add add-on to create optional extras customers can select during booking.

For each add-on, configure:

• Name: The add-on displayed to customers.
• Price: The additional charge.
• Extra minutes: Additional time required.
• Description: Information about the add-on.

For example, a customer booking a haircut could add a scalp massage or another treatment.

When it can be booked

Control when the service is available for appointments.

• Bookable from / until: Set a date range for seasonal or limited-time services. Leave both fields empty to keep the service available without date restrictions.
• Only on certain days or times: Click + Add day limit to restrict the service to specific weekdays or time ranges.

These restrictions are applied in addition to staff working hours and other availability rules.

Cost, tax and follow-up

• Cost to the business: Enter your internal cost for providing the service. This is used for reporting and is not shown to customers.
• Tax rate (%): Set a service-specific tax rate. Leave it empty to use the location's default tax rate.
• Rebook after (weeks): Specify when customers should receive a reminder to book the service again. Enter 0 to disable rebooking reminders.
• Aftercare note: Add instructions sent to customers with the thank-you message after their appointment.

Photos

Use Choose photos to select images from the WordPress Media Library. These images appear alongside the service during the booking process.

Service status and availability

In the right sidebar, configure how the service is offered:

• Status: Set the service status, such as Live.
• Bookable online: Customers can book the service directly on your website.
• Bookable in-house only: The service appears in the menu, but only staff can book it.
• Sellable at the till, not bookable: The service or product can be sold at the business but does not appear in the booking flow.

Once you've configured the service, click Create Service to save it.

5. Add team members

You can add team members, assign the services they provide, configure individual pricing and appointment durations, and manage their booking availability.

To add a team member:

1. Navigate to Appointments → Team.
2. Click Add New.
3. Configure the team member using the options below.

Basic information

• Name: Enter the team member's name as customers will see it.
• Job title: Specify their role, such as Senior Stylist or Massage Therapist.
• Email: Enter their email address, required for login access and staff messages.
• Phone: Add their contact number.
• Short bio: Write a brief introduction displayed alongside their photo, if enabled.

Locations

• Main location: Select the team member's primary working location. Their initial shifts are created based on this location's opening hours, and it becomes the default location for new shifts.

A team member can work at different locations, but only one location on any given day.

Services they do

Select the services the team member can provide by checking Does it next to each service.

You can also configure individual overrides:

• Own price: Set a different price for this team member.
• Own top price (range): Override the maximum price for services with a price range.
• Own length (min): Set a different service duration.

Leave these fields empty to use each service's default price and duration.

Staff messages

Choose which email notifications the team member should receive:

• A new booking for them: When someone books an appointment with them.
• A cancellation: When their appointment is cancelled.
• A client who did not turn up: When a customer is marked as a no-show.
• The day's schedule each morning: A summary of their daily appointments.

Booking visibility and login

In the right sidebar, configure:

• Can be booked: Allow customers to book appointments with this team member. Uncheck it for non-bookable staff.
• Show photo and bio to clients: Display their photograph and biography in the booking interface.
• Create a login now: Create an account through User Management and email the team member a password setup link. An email address is required. Your team member will receive an email with instructions to access their account, where they can view and manage their past and upcoming appointments.

Photo and colour

• Choose photo: Select a profile photo from the WordPress Media Library.
• Calendar colour: Choose a colour to identify this team member's appointments in the calendar.

Save the team member

Click Create Team Member to save the profile.

The system creates the team member's initial shifts based on their main location's opening hours for the next 12 months. To review or adjust their working schedule, go to Appointments → Shifts & time off.

6. Manage shifts and time off

The Shifts & time off section lets you manage staff working schedules, time off, blocked periods, and appointments that need reassignment.

To access it:

1. In the left sidebar, navigate to Appointments → Shifts & time off.

This section contains four tabs:

Shifts

Use the Shifts tab to view and manage staff working schedules. These schedules determine when team members are available for appointments.

1. Open the Shifts tab.
2. Select a team member from the Choose a person dropdown.
3. Select a date to view their schedule for that week.
4. Click Show to display their shifts.

The schedule displays the day, location, shift hours, and breaks.

Time off

Use the Time off tab to manage holidays, sick days, training, and other periods when staff members are unavailable.

To add time off:

1. Open the Time off tab and click Add Time Off.
2. Under Person, select the team member.
3. Under Reason, choose the reason for the absence, such as Holiday.
4. Enable Whole days for full-day absences, or uncheck it to specify the start and end times under Or part of a day.
5. Under Dates, select the start and end dates. Leave the end date empty for a single day.
6. Optionally, enter additional details in Note.
7. Click Add Time Off.

The selected team member becomes unavailable for appointments during the specified period.

You can also review time-off records using the Upcoming, Waiting for a decision, and All filters. The Waiting for a decision view helps manage staff-submitted requests that require approval.

Block types

Block types are predefined periods of unavailability, such as lunch breaks, administrative work, or team meetings. They make it easier to add frequently used blocks to staff calendars.

To create a block type:

1. Open the Block types tab.
2. Click Add New Block Type.
3. Enter a Name, such as Lunch or Team Meeting.
4. Set the Default length (minutes).
5. Choose a Colour to identify the block on the calendar.
6. Click Add Block Type.

Once created, staff can select the block type when blocking time on their calendars instead of entering its duration manually.

Hand-over list

The Hand-over list displays appointments that require attention because their assigned staff member or location is no longer available.

For example, appointments may appear here when a team member leaves, an existing shift is removed, or a location is discontinued.

The list includes three views:

• Open: Appointments that still need action.
• Reassigned: Appointments assigned to another team member.
• Cancelled: Appointments that have been cancelled.

For each affected booking, you can review its details, original staff assignment, and reason for appearing on the list.

7. Manage booking messages and notifications

The Messages section lets you customize automated notifications sent to clients and staff about appointments, payments, reminders, cancellations, and other booking activities.

To access it:

1. Navigate to Appointments → Messages.

The section contains three tabs:

• Wording: Enable or disable individual notifications and customize their subjects and message content. Notifications include booking confirmations, deposit requests, appointment reminders, rescheduling, cancellations, follow-ups, and staff updates. You can use placeholders such as {client_first_name}, {business}, and {date} to automatically insert booking details.
• Email: Configure the sender name, reply-to address, email appearance, booking management link, and email delivery method. You can also set sending hours for promotional or follow-up messages and send a test email to verify your configuration.
• Log: View the history of outgoing messages, including when they were sent, recipients, subjects, and delivery statuses. Filter messages by Waiting, Sent, Failed, or Skipped, and export the log when needed.

8. Manage clients

The Clients section lets you view and manage customer information, booking history, notes, and additional details. Client records are automatically created when someone books an appointment, but you can also add customers manually.

To access it:

1. Open your website's WordPress Admin.
2. Navigate to Appointments → Clients.

The section contains three tabs:

• Clients: View customer records, contact information, visit counts, and last appointment dates. Filter customers by All, With account, Contacts, or Walk-ins, and export client information when needed.
• Duplicates: Review potential duplicate client records.
• Extra fields: Manage additional information you want to collect and store in client records.

Add a new client

To create a client manually:

1. Open the Clients tab and click Add New Client.
2. Enter the client's First name and Last name.
3. Optionally, provide their Email, Phone, Language, and Birthday.
4. Under Marketing, select whether the client has agreed to receive optional messages, such as birthday greetings and rebooking reminders.
5. Add Tags to organize clients, if needed. Separate multiple tags with commas.
6. Complete any configured Extra fields.
7. Click Create Client.

Once the client is created, you can open their record to add notes, review booking history, and manage their information.

The client record also displays visit statistics, including total visits, upcoming appointments, no-shows, and the last visit date.

9. Managing and creating appointments

The Bookings section lets you view, filter, and manage all appointments, whether customers book online or staff create bookings manually.

To access it navigate to Appointments → Bookings.

Viewing and managing bookings

You can manage appointments using the following options:

• Bookings: View appointments in a list, including the date and time, client, services, assigned team member, status, booking source, and total price.
• Day sheet: Switch to a daily overview of appointments.
• Booking filters: Quickly view Upcoming, Today, Done, Cancelled, No-shows, or All bookings.
• Filter: Narrow down the bookings displayed.
• Export: Export booking records.

Click an existing booking to update its details, including the assigned team member, price, or appointment time, add a note, or cancel it with a reason.

Adding a new booking manually

You can create appointments for customers who contact your business by phone or walk in without booking online.

To add a booking:

1. Go to Appointments → Bookings.
2. Click Add New Booking.
3. Configure the appointment using the options below.

When and where

• Date and time: Select the appointment date and start time. Times use the location's configured time zone.
• Person: Choose the team member who will provide the service, or select Anyone who is free to use an available team member.
• Services: Select one or more services from the list. Each service displays its duration and price.

Client information

• Existing client: Select a customer from the list of recent clients, or choose New or walk-in to enter new details.
• First name / Last name: Enter the customer's name. Walk-in appointments can be created with only a first name or without a name.
• Email / Phone: Add the customer's contact information. A matching email address can associate the booking with an existing client record or linked account.
• Note for this booking: Add any special requests or internal notes related to the appointment.

Repeat bookings

• Repeats: Choose whether the appointment is a one-time booking or should repeat according to an available recurring schedule. Does not repeat is selected by default.

Save the booking

Click Create Booking to save the appointment.

The system checks availability when you save. Staff-created bookings can include in-house-only services, and the minimum advance notice required for online bookings does not apply.

10: Configure business-wide settings

Go to Appointments → Settings for the tabs that control the business as a whole.

General

The General tab lets you configure your business information, display preferences, terminology, and business-wide closures.

You can manage the following:

• Business information: Set your business name, currency, and language used in messages and receipts.
• Prices include tax: Specify whether the prices displayed to customers already include tax.
• Team photos and bios: Choose whether staff photographs and biographies are displayed to customers.
• Terminology: Customize the singular and plural names used for clients, services, team members, and bookings to match your business. For example, use patients instead of clients, or treatments instead of services. These names are used in the admin interface and on your website.
• Closed days for the whole business: Add holidays or other dates when all locations are closed. Select the start and end dates, enter a reason, and click Add Closed Day. For closures affecting only one location, use that location's settings instead.

Click Save Changes to apply your general settings.

Switches

The Switches tab lets you enable or disable optional appointment-booking features based on your business needs.

Available switches include deposits and fees, virtual and mobile bookings, additional locations.

Booking Rules

The Booking Rules tab lets you control appointment availability, booking limits, cancellations, and staff scheduling preferences.

You can configure the following settings:

Availability

• Step between offered times: Set the interval between available appointment times.
• Notice needed before a booking: Specify how far in advance customers must book.
• How far ahead bookings are allowed: Set the maximum advance booking period.
• Fill gaps: Prioritize appointment times near existing bookings to reduce unused gaps.
• Hide full days: Hide dates with no availability instead of displaying them as unavailable.
• When the client says "anyone": Choose how an available team member is assigned.
• Move "anyone" bookings: Allow flexible staff assignments to accommodate customers requesting specific team members.
• Stop moving bookings: Set how close to an appointment automatic reassignment is allowed.
• A picked time is held for: Specify how long a selected time remains reserved while the customer completes the booking.

Bookings

• Two services at once for one client: Allow customers to receive multiple services simultaneously when staff and resources are available.
• Deliberate double-booking: Allow overlapping appointments.
• People in a group booking: Set the number of participants allowed in group appointments.

Changing and cancelling

• Online changes and cancellations: Set how many hours before an appointment customers can reschedule or cancel.
• Cancellation policy: Customize the cancellation terms displayed to customers during booking.
• Cancellation and no-show reasons: Manage the reasons used when appointments are cancelled or marked as no-shows.

Team

• Staff time-off requests: Control how team members request time off and whether approval is required.
• Build shifts ahead: Set how many months of working shifts are generated in advance.
• Allow shift edits ahead: Define how far into the future staff schedules can be edited.
• Time-off reasons: Customize available reasons, such as Holiday, Sick, or Training.

After updating your preferences, click Save Changes.

Deposits

The Deposits tab lets you configure deposit amounts, refund rules, and which appointments require an upfront payment.

You can configure the following settings:

How much

• Deposit: Choose whether to charge a percentage of the booking total or a fixed amount.
• Percentage or amount: Set the deposit customers must pay.

Refunds and the unpaid window

• Refundable: Enable automatic refunds when customers cancel within the allowed period. Business-initiated cancellations are always refunded.
• Refundable until: Set how many hours before an appointment customers can cancel and receive a refund.
• Unpaid deposit window: Specify how long an appointment remains reserved while awaiting deposit payment. Unpaid bookings are automatically cancelled when this period expires, and customers are reminded beforehand.

Who is asked

• Only these services: Select which services require deposits. If none are selected, the rule applies to all services.
• Only bookings of at least: Require deposits only for bookings that meet a minimum total amount.
• Only new clients: Require deposits from customers without previous bookings.
• Only clients who have not turned up before: Require deposits from customers with a no-show history.
• Front-desk bookings are exempt: Exclude appointments created manually by staff from deposit requirements.

After configuring your rules, click Save Changes.

Connections

The Connections tab lets you view the status of integrations used by the Appointments plugin and understand which services are available.

This section includes:

• Accounts and roles: Shows the connection to User Management, which handles staff accounts, sign-ins, roles, and permissions.
• Payments: Displays the status of payment integration for deposits and card payments.
• Text, WhatsApp, and push: Shows the availability of additional notification channels. Email is currently the only supported messaging channel.
• Calendar sync: Shows the availability of Google and Outlook calendar synchronization, not available for now. 
• Team roles: Lists registered roles, such as Manager, Front desk, and Practitioner. Roles and permissions are managed through User Management.
• REST namespace: Displays the plugin's REST API endpoint, which can be copied for integrations.

Advanced Settings

The Advanced tab lets you configure API rate limits, data retention, and settings import/export, as well as reset plugin settings.

You can manage the following:

Rate limits

• Public reads: Limit the number of public API requests per minute and hour.
• Bookings: Set the maximum number of booking requests per minute.
• Holds: Limit how frequently appointment slots can be temporarily held.
• Client-area calls: Limit requests made through the customer account area.
• Client address header: Specify the header used to identify visitors' IP addresses when your website operates behind a proxy.

Data retention

• Activity log: Set how many months activity records are kept.
• Message log: Set how many months message records are retained.
• Files and photos: Configure their retention period once file functionality is available.

Bookings and sales records are retained indefinitely, while temporary holds are deleted when released.

Move settings between sites

• Export settings as JSON: Download your plugin configuration to reuse on another website. Locations, services, team members, and other operational data are not included.
• Import settings: Upload a previously exported JSON settings file to apply its configuration.

Danger zone

• Reset all settings to defaults: Restore plugin settings to their original values without deleting locations, services, team members, shifts, or bookings.

Important: Advanced settings can affect API access, data retention, and plugin behavior. Change them only when necessary.

Click Save Changes to apply your updates.

Once your location, services, team and any forms are set up the way you want, your booking flow is ready for clients. If you're ready to share the site under your own domain, see How to Claim Free Domain from 10Web and Point It.

If a step in this guide doesn't match what you see, or the booking flow doesn't work as expected, contact the 10Web Customer Care team via live chat. Include a screenshot of the Appointments → Overview checklist and we'll help you from there.