Appointments & Calendar¶
NotifyBulk includes a built-in appointment calendar. You define your services, hours and rules; appointments land on a calendar in your panel; customers get automatic reminders by SMS or WhatsApp — and your AI Assistant can book, reschedule and cancel appointments right in the chat.
You'll find it in the sidebar under Calendar, with two pages:
- Appointments — settings, services and your upcoming appointments.
- Calendar — the Day / Week / Month view.
Enable the calendar¶
Go to Calendar → Appointments and switch on "Enable the calendar". While it's off, nothing can be booked and the assistant won't offer slots.
Booking hours¶
Set when appointments can start, day by day, on a weekly schedule. Days without hours are closed. Times use your store's timezone.
Booking rules¶
| Setting | What it controls | Options |
|---|---|---|
| Appointment slots every | How often slots start | 15, 20, 30, 45 or 60 min |
| Minimum notice | How close to now a booking is allowed | None, 30 min, 1 h, 2 h, 24 h |
| Book up to | How far ahead customers can book | 7, 14, 30 or 60 days ahead |
| Simultaneous appointments | How many appointments can share the same slot (e.g. two chairs, two staff) | 1 or more |
Simultaneous appointments vs. specialists
Simultaneous appointments applies to the shared agenda mode. If you run a team where each person keeps their own calendar, switch to By specialist mode instead — there, capacity is automatically one customer at a time per professional. See Scheduling mode below.
Services¶
Define what customers can book — the assistant offers these by name:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Service | The name customers see (e.g. Consultation, Haircut) |
| Duration | How long it takes — determines which slots fit |
| Price | Optional |
| Currency | Per service |
Add as many as you need with Add service and save with Save services.
Scheduling mode: shared agenda or by specialist¶
If more than one person takes appointments, choose how your calendar is organized. On Calendar → Appointments, pick a scheduling mode:
| Mode | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Shared agenda (default) | One agenda for the whole business. Several appointments can share a slot — as many as your Simultaneous appointments setting allows — without tracking who attends each one. | A single resource, or interchangeable staff (two chairs, two desks). |
| By specialist | Each professional keeps their own hours and services, and takes one customer at a time. Customers can book with a specific person or with whoever is free. | Clinics, salons, studios — anywhere customers pick (or are assigned) a professional. |
Switching modes is safe: your existing appointments are kept. Shared agenda is exactly how the calendar has always worked, so nothing changes unless you turn on specialists.
Adding specialists¶
In By specialist mode a Specialists panel appears. Click Add specialist and fill in:
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Name | The professional's name (e.g. Dr. Ana Méndez). |
| Role | Optional label shown under the name (e.g. Dentist). |
| Color | Picks the color used for this person on the calendar — columns and event borders. |
| Services this specialist offers | Tick which of your services this person provides. The assistant only offers a specialist for the services they actually do. |
| Hours | Leave Use business hours on to inherit the booking hours, or turn it off to give this person their own weekly schedule. |
Save each one with Save specialist. Remove takes a specialist off the booking options — their future appointments are kept.
One customer at a time
In specialist mode there's no Simultaneous appointments setting — each professional is booked one customer per slot. Several customers can still be in the shop at once, each with a different specialist.
Reminders¶
NotifyBulk sends one automatic reminder per appointment:
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| When | Off, 2 h, 4 h, 24 h (default) or 48 h before |
| Send reminder via | SMS, or WhatsApp (template) |
| WhatsApp template | The approved template to use — variables are filled automatically: {{1}} customer name, {{2}} service with its price, {{3}} day & time |
- Don't have a template yet? Click "Create the reminder template for me" and submit it for approval from the WhatsApp templates page.
- If the WhatsApp message fails, the reminder falls back to SMS automatically.
- Reminders sent by SMS consume regular SMS credits (one per segment).
SMS reminders need an SMS number
If your store has no SMS number, SMS reminders (and the SMS fallback) can't be sent. Set up your SMS channel first.
Attendance confirmation¶
Cut no-shows by asking customers to confirm they will attend (sent as a WhatsApp template, with SMS fallback). A short "YES" reply confirms automatically — and you can also mark attendance by hand from the calendar.
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Off | No confirmation is requested. |
| Optional | We ask, but the appointment is kept either way. |
| Required | Appointments not confirmed in time are cancelled automatically — the slot is freed and the customer is notified. |
Two timing controls:
- Ask for confirmation — how long before the appointment the request goes out (4 to 72 h before).
- Auto-cancel if unconfirmed (Required mode only) — the cut-off before the appointment (1 to 12 h before).
While a confirmation is pending, the appointment shows as "Waiting for customer" on the calendar.
The calendar view¶
Calendar → Calendar shows everything booked — by your assistant or by you:
- Day / Week / Month views, with a Today shortcut and your store's timezone shown at the top.
- New appointment — book manually for a customer. With specialists on, you also pick which professional (or Any available).
- Booking settings — jumps back to the Appointments page.
- Appointments awaiting attendance confirmation are highlighted as "Waiting for customer".
When you use specialists, the calendar adapts:
- The Day view splits into one column per professional (plus an Unassigned column for older appointments with no specialist), so you can read each person's day at a glance.
- Week and Month events are color-coded by specialist.
- An All specialists filter at the top lets you focus on a single professional's appointments.
The Appointments page also lists your upcoming appointments (when, service, customer and the channel they booked from).
Booking from the chat¶
With the calendar enabled, your AI Assistant offers real availability and books, reschedules or cancels appointments for your customers — on WhatsApp, SMS, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram and Web Chat. You'll also get a notification in the app whenever an appointment is created or changed.