Appointments on web forms

Grooming, repairs, fittings, consultations: when the request is "come in at a time", let people pick the time themselves. The form shows only open times, and the ticket gets the appointment.

Turn it on

1. Open the stack's editor and go to Getting in. The web form must be on.
2. Switch on Appointments.
3. Set how long Each appointment lasts, how often times start (Start times every), and any Break after each.
4. Set Earliest (for example, 2 hours from now) and Up to (how many days ahead people can book).
5. Set your Hours for each day. Untick a day to close it, or click + Hours for a split day, like 9–12 and 1–5.
6. Add Closed days for holidays.
7. Choose Who takes the appointments:
   • Anyone on the team: up to a number of appointments at the same time (2 grooming tables = 2).
   • Particular people: pick them. Each person takes one appointment at a time and becomes the ticket's owner. Then choose Who gets each appointment: take turns, the first free person in the order you picked them, or let the customer pick (they can also choose "Anyone available").
8. Publish the stack.

Times use your company's time zone from Settings → Company.

What customers see

Below the form's fields, they pick a day, then a time. A time disappears once it's full. If two people grab the last spot at once, the second sees "That time was just taken" and picks another.

Their confirmation email says when the appointment is, who it's with, and has an "Add it to Google Calendar" link.

On the ticket

The ticket shows Appointment: with the day, time and person. The ticket's start and due date are the appointment day, so it shows on the stack's calendar and in the person's Today. Staff can Move it to another open time or Cancel appointment, which frees the time. Either way, the customer gets an email with the new time or saying it was cancelled.

All appointments in one place

Appointments in the left menu lists the bookings from every stack that takes them, for today or the week, and lets staff move or cancel them there too. See The Appointments page.

Changing or cancelling (customers)

Customers open their request (the button in their email) and use Move or Cancel appointment. You choose how late they can do that with Customers can change or cancel. After that, the page asks them to contact you.

Reminders and emails

• Add a due-date reminder "1 day before" to the customer, for an appointment reminder.
• Use {{appointment.when}} and {{appointment.with}} in any email (merge fields).

Connect your calendar (Particular people)

When appointments go to particular people, each of them can connect their own Google or Microsoft calendar. It's worth it for three reasons:

• Busy times block bookings. A dentist appointment or a day off on your calendar means customers can't book you then, so you're never double-booked by your own life. Without a calendar, the form only knows the stack's hours and the bookings already in TicketStacker.
• Bookings land on your calendar. Each booking adds one event, named after the stack, the customer and the ticket (like "Grooming: Jane Smith (GR-12)"), with a link to the ticket. Moving the appointment moves the event; cancelling it deletes the event.
• Customers aren't invited from your calendar. TicketStacker emails the customer the confirmation itself, so your calendar address stays private and it works the same for Google and Microsoft.

TicketStacker only reads when you're busy (start and end times), never what your meetings are called or who's in them.

Connect one

1. Go to Settings → My profile and find Calendars. (It shows once one of your companies takes appointments.)
2. Click Connect Google calendar or Connect Microsoft calendar and say yes on the permission screen. This only asks for calendar permission; it doesn't change how you sign in.
3. Under Check for conflicts, tick each calendar whose busy times should block bookings. Your main calendar starts ticked. Tick a shared "Vacation" calendar too if your days off live there.

You can connect as many accounts as you like, such as a work Google account and a personal Outlook. You're busy whenever any ticked calendar on any account is busy. If you belong to more than one company, you can make a calendar count for only one of them.

Where bookings go

For each company that takes appointments, Bookings for your company go to… picks the calendar its bookings are added to. Until you choose, TicketStacker picks the account that matches the company (the address you were invited with, or the company's email domain), and you can press Keep this to confirm it or choose Don't add them to a calendar.

If a calendar needs reconnecting

If you remove TicketStacker's access in your Google or Microsoft account, or a password change ends it, the account shows Needs reconnecting and you get an email. Until you click Reconnect, your open times fall back to the stack's hours and your TicketStacker bookings. Admins see a warning next to your name in the stack's Appointments settings.

Use Disconnect to remove an account. Events already added stay on your calendar.

Microsoft 365 at work

Some companies only let their IT admin approve apps. If the Connect screen says so, ask your admin to approve TicketStacker, then connect again.