Setting up Busy Slots

The Busy Slots module allows you to block specific times in your staff’s calendar without creating an appointment. This is useful when you want to make certain periods unavailable for booking (e.g. lunch breaks, personal meetings, or equipment maintenance) while keeping your calendar organized.

Once a busy slot is added, customers will not be able to book during that time on the front-end calendar, and it will also be blocked on the back-end panel.

How to Access the Busy Slots Page

1. Open Booknetic → Appointments → Busy Slots.

2. You’ll see a list of all existing busy slots with details such as date, time, staff, and notes.

How to Add a New Busy Slot

To create a blocked time for a staff member:

1. Click the “Add New Busy Slot” button at the top of the page.

2. In the popup window, fill in the required fields:

   • Staff: Select the staff member for whom you want to block time.

   • Date: Choose the date of the blocked time.

   • Time: Select the starting time.

   • Duration: Choose how long the time slot should last.

   • Note: (Optional) Add a short description for this blocked period (e.g., “Lunch break” or “Meeting”).

3. Click Save.

After saving, the busy slot will appear in the staff’s calendar as a gray event with the time and note displayed.

How to Edit or Delete a Busy Slot

• To edit, click the pencil (edit) icon next to a slot. You can change the time, staff, or note, then click Save.

• To delete, click the trash icon and confirm the action. You can also select multiple busy slots and delete them in bulk.

Filters and Search

You can easily find specific busy slots using the filters at the top of the page:

• Filter by Date or Staff

• Search by note, staff name, or date/time

You can also sort the list by Date & Time or Created At.

How Busy Slots Appear in the Calendar

Busy slots are shown directly in the staff calendar with a gray background.

When you hover over the slot, you’ll see:

• The start and end time

• The note (first 30 characters)

• The staff name and photo

🕓 Busy slots are treated the same way as booked appointments, and customers will not see or be able to book during those times.

Automatically Creating Busy Slots with Workflows

You can also create busy slots automatically using Workflows.

This is useful when you want to block time automatically after or before an appointment.

Example Scenario

Let’s imagine a hair salon where each appointment consists of multiple stages — some of which don’t require the staff to be actively working the entire time.

For example:

• 09:00 – 09:30: Washing the customer’s hair

• 09:30 – 10:00: Hair is drying (the stylist is free during this time)

• 10:00 – 10:30: Styling and finishing the hair

In this case, the stylist only needs to be with the client during 09:00–09:30 and 10:00–10:30.

During the 09:30–10:00 drying period, the stylist could accept another client to make better use of their time.

However, there’s a problem — if another booking system automatically fills every available slot back-to-back, the stylist’s 10:00–10:30 time could accidentally be booked by someone else, leaving no time to return to the first client.

This is where the Busy Slots workflow becomes very useful.

Here’s how it works:

1. The stylist sets up a workflow rule that triggers each time an appointment is created.

2. The rule automatically creates a busy slot 30 minutes after the appointment ends, lasting for 30 minutes.

3. When a customer books a 09:00–09:30 service, the workflow automatically blocks 10:00–10:30 as “busy” in the calendar.

As a result:

• The stylist can freely take another client between 09:30–10:00 (while the first customer’s hair is drying).

• The 10:00–10:30 slot stays reserved, ensuring the stylist can finish the first customer’s appointment on time.

This setup helps salons — and similar businesses — optimize their scheduling without the risk of overlapping critical service stages.

How to Set It Up:

1. Go to Booknetic → Workflow → Add New Workflow.

2. Choose a Trigger (e.g., Appointment Created).

3. Add an Action → select Create Busy Slot.

4. Configure the action:

   • Staff: Choose “Same staff on the appointment” or select a specific staff member.

   • Start Date & Time: Choose whether the busy slot starts from the appointment’s start time or end time, and add an offset in minutes (e.g., +30).

   • Duration: Select “Service duration” or “Custom duration,” then enter the length in minutes.

   • Note: Write a short note that will appear in the busy slot.

5. Click Save Workflow.

Now, every time that workflow is triggered, a busy slot will be created automatically for the specified time and staff member.