Event Setup Guide

Admin UI Overview

When you first log in to your pickAtime account, you will automatically land on the Administrative User Interface, with the Event Reports displayed by default.

Profile & Sidebar Navigation

Left-Hand Navigation Menu

Checklist

To set up your event using the Normal event scheduler, follow these steps:

  1. Create Your Event Create your event and give it a clear, descriptive name (e.g., "Health Screenings" or "Photo Shoot Appointments").
  2. Add a Resource Add a resource — the "holder" of your time slots. A resource can be a specific person, or a generic entity like "Nurse" or "Appointments."
  3. Create Slots for the Event Create your time slots, including dates, times, and appointment durations.
  4. Configure Settings
    • Appointment Settings — Adjust various settings specific to your event.
    • Configure Notifications (optional) — Customize the default email confirmations and reminder notices, if needed.
  5. Try It Out Test your scheduler before opening it to participants.

Event Setup

Event Setup

STEP ONE: Create Event

Steps to Create a New Event

  1. Select Events / Preview from the sidebar.
  2. Click the green Add button.
  3. Enter a name for your event — e.g., Health Screenings, Photo School 2026.
  4. Select the event type: Normal.
  5. Select your event's time zone.
  6. (Optional) Add a Date and Location.

Once saved, your event will appear as a new row in the Events list.

About the Date and Location Fields

These fields are optional and primarily used to distinguish between multiple events when more than one is listed.

Adding Event Details

Use the Event Details box to add event-specific information you'd like to display on the scheduler or include in emails.

Anything entered here becomes available as a macro: $(E_DESCRIPTION)

You can insert this macro into your CUI Messages or Notification Setup templates to automatically pull in this text.

Event Setup

STEP TWO: Add a Resource

Defining Your Resources

Every event requires at least one Resource — the "container" that holds your time slots.

Step 1: Name the Resource

Click directly into the Title Area of a new resource to edit its name.

Step 2: Choose a Descriptive Name

Use a name specific to your event type:

Event Type Example Resource Name
Health Clinics "Flu Shots" (service name)
Counseling/Advising "Sarah Jenkins" (staff member's name)
Facility Rentals "Main Gymnasium" (room or equipment name)

Step 3: Add Additional Resources

If your event involves multiple staff members, rooms, or service types, continue adding resources as needed. Each resource manages its own independent set of appointments.

Event Setup

STEP THREE: Create Slots

To get started, go to Events / Preview, select your event, then click the Appointments tab. From the left-hand calendar, select the date you want to work with. Open the Slots drop-down and choose Create Slots.

Step 1: Choose Which Resources to Create Slots For

In the slot generator, choose to create slots for selected resources or all resources. To select multiple resources, hold Ctrl while clicking names in the right-hand panel.

Step 2: Set Your Time and Duration

Field Description
From Start time of the first slot
To End time of the last slot
Duration Length of each appointment (in minutes)
Travel Break Optional gap between appointments

Example: 10-minute slots with a 5-minute travel break create slots at 8:00–8:10, 8:15–8:25, 8:30–8:40, and so on.

Note: If you need a break that doesn't align with your slot duration (e.g., 20-minute slots but a 40-minute lunch break), create slots in two batches — one before the break, one after.

Step 3: Choose Appointment Type

Type Description Indicator
In-Person Participants receive room/location info P
Virtual Participants receive a meeting link V
In-Person or Virtual Participants choose their preferred format PV

Step 4: Set Slot Visibility

Option What it does
Visible for Customer Available for online booking
Hidden from Customer Hidden from participants; visible in Admin UI only
Shown with "Call" Status Visible to participants, but they're prompted to call the school to book
Make Unavailable Visible in Admin UI but not bookable online (use for lunch breaks, meetings, etc.)

You can optionally add a custom message for unavailable slots.

Step 5: Set Maximum Appointments Per Slot (Optional)

Use this for group sessions, open labs, or any scenario where multiple participants/families can book the same time slot.

Creating Slots for Multiple Days or Resources
Scenario What to do
Same schedule across multiple days Enable Multiple Dates and select all applicable dates before saving
Different schedule per day Create slots for the first day, switch to the next date, and repeat
Different schedules per resource Select a resource (or group), create their slots, save, then repeat for the next resource/group

Tip: If you created identical slots for all resources at once, individual slots won't display until you click a specific resource's name in the right-hand pane

Updating Existing Slots

Use Update Slots to change existing slot characteristics without deleting and recreating them.

To access: Appointments → select date/resource → Slots → Update Slots

You can update:

Important: Update Slots does not change start times, end times, or duration. To change those, you must delete and recreate the slots (see Changing Slot Duration or Times below).

"Keep existing slot type on slots being updated" — useful when resources have already blocked parts of their schedule, since it lets you change appointment type without affecting slot type.

Blocking Slots

Blocking is the preferred way to temporarily remove availability without permanently deleting a slot.

  1. Go to the Appointments page and click the X in the corner of the slot.
  2. The slot turns red and displays "Blocked." You can enter a custom message (e.g., "Lunch Break" or "Staff Meeting").
  3. To unblock, click the X again to restore availability.

Blocked slots appear on reports when Show All Slots is enabled.

Deleting Slots

Use Delete Time Slots to permanently remove slots.

To access: Appointments → select date/resource → Slots → Delete Time Slots

If appointments already exist on those slots, you'll be prompted to choose:

Tip: Consider whether participants need a cancellation notification before confirming any deletion.

Moving Slots

Use Move Slots to transfer an entire day's slots — and any existing appointments — to a new date. Useful for snow closures, rescheduled days, or resource availability changes.

To access: Appointments → select date/resource → Slots → Move Slots

In the dialog, select the destination date, choose whether to move slots for all resources or selected resources, and confirm.

Existing appointments transfer with all participant information intact, and appointment times remain the same.

Important: Calendar notification emails are not sent automatically — advise participants to update any calendar entries they've saved. You can send a custom notification email explaining the change.

Copying Slots

Use Copy Slots to duplicate a day's slot structure to another date or resource — without copying existing appointments.

To access: Appointments → select date/resource → Slots → Copy Slots

Select the destination date and/or resource(s) and confirm. Slot visibility, appointment type, and availability settings are all preserved.

If you also need appointments to transfer, use Move Slots instead.

Changing Slot Duration or Times

Slot start times, end times, and duration cannot be edited in place. To change any of these:

  1. Delete the slots you want to change (or all slots for that day).
  2. Recreate them with the correct settings.

Example: If you have 10-minute slots from 8:00 AM–2:00 PM but want 9:00 AM–1:00 PM instead, delete the 8:00–9:00 AM and 1:00–2:00 PM slots (or delete all and start fresh), then create the new schedule.

Quick Reference: Which Tool to Use?

Situation Use
Temporarily remove availability Block Slots
Permanently remove slots Delete Time Slots
Change appointment type or visibility Update Slots
Reschedule an entire day Move Slots
Duplicate a schedule to another day or resource Copy Slots
Change slot duration or times Delete + Recreate

Slot Color Guide

Color Meaning
🔵 Blue Available
🔴 Red Blocked
⚪ Grey Resource is booked elsewhere (team meeting or personal appointment)
image.png Yellow Time has passed

FAQ on Creating Slots

I created slots on the wrong date

On the Appointments page, select the Slots drop-down and then select the Move Slots option. This will allow you to move all slots (and any appointments) to a new date. You will have the option to send an email to any appointment holder whose appointment was moved. 

My slots are 20 minutes in duration, but I wanted a 30-minute break for lunch

If your break will not have the same duration as your slots or is not a multiple of your slots (e.g., you have time slots of 20 minutes, and you want a 40-minute break), you will need to create your slots in sections. First, create the slots BEFORE your break time, and then create your slots AFTER your break time. 

Why are my time slots yellow? 

Yellow indicates that the time has passed.

I created time slots with the wrong duration, but my customers have already booked appointments.

Time slots can not be changed from one duration to another. If you need a different duration than what you originally created, you will need to delete your time slots with the incorrect duration and create new time slots with the correct duration. When you delete the time slots, the system will ask you what you want to do with the appointments. You can cancel them and send an email to each customer requesting that they rebook their appointment. Or you can put the appointments "on hold" and then cancel and manually rebook each appointment. 

After selecting the Delete Time Slots option, you will see a new dialog box telling you the number of appointments on your soon-to-be-deleted slots:

The default option is set to move the appointments to a holding area on the Appointments List page. If you choose this option, you will have a list of the appointments that you need to either cancel or cancel and rebook.

Event Setup

STEP FOUR: Adjust Settings

Event Settings (UI Setup)

The UI Setup page lets you adjust settings specific to a single event.

To get there:

  1. From the Admin UI, go to Events / Preview and select your event.
  2. Click Go To Event to open Event Management.
  3. Select Settings / UI Setup.

Work through the sections from top to bottom, as outlined below.

Scheduler Availability

Setting What it does
Open scheduler to customers on Date/time the scheduler opens to participants
Close scheduler to customers on Date/time the scheduler closes to participants

Appointment Number Limits

Setting What it does
Maximum Appointments per Event Caps total appointments allowed for the entire event
Maximum Appointments Per Resource per Day Caps appointments per resource, per day — e.g., you can create 15 slots but cap bookings at 10; once the 10th is booked, no more can be made that day
Duration Between Appointments Sets a required gap between a participant's booked appointments

Appointment Cancellations

Customer cannot cancel their appointment closer than X hours/days/weeks. Restricts how close to the appointment time a participant can cancel.

Note: Closing the scheduler does not automatically prevent cancellations — this setting is separate.

Close Appointment Booking

Controls when slots become unavailable for new bookings, ahead of the appointment time. Choose one of three methods:

  1. Close booking at a specific time of day, XX days before the appointment date.
  2. Close booking XX hours/days/weeks/months before the appointment time.
  3. Close booking XX hours before the first appointment of the day.

Scheduler Settings

Scheduling Link

Your event's Scheduling Link is the URL you share with participants (on your website or via email) to access the booking page (CUI). You can customise it with an event-specific suffix — for example: https://pickatime.com/SmartFluShots/Rochester or https://pickatime.com/SmartFluShots/Brighton

Important: Even with a custom event link, participants will see a toggle to switch to any other open events on your account. To restrict participants to a single event with no toggle option, use the Category link instead, which scopes the scheduler to only the event(s) in that category.

Scheduler Display

Display format: Choose from Table, Text, Vertical, List, or Date.

View mode:

Mode Best for
Condensed Compact layout with variable time steps — good for smaller screens or quickly browsing availability
Expanded Fixed time intervals in a traditional layout — easier for comparing exact appointment lengths/gaps

Users can toggle between views anytime using the button in the top-left corner of the scheduler.

Date display mode:

Mode Behavior
Paginator Shows multiple dates on one page
Calendar Shows one day at a time, with a mini calendar to jump to other dates

Additional display options:

Scheduler Display Limits

Setting What it does
Display X weeks of slots / XXX slots on the scheduling page Controls how many days/weeks of slots are shown at once in the CUI
Do not display after XX days/months from today Lets you have appointments available on the back end without showing them on the booking page yet
Display maximum X available appointment(s) per slot, show next only when XX% are booked Controls how many time slots per day are initially shown, releasing more as earlier ones fill up — see example below

Example: If you have 20 slots available in a day but want only the first 10 to show initially, enter 10. The first 10 times (e.g., 9:00–10:30) display first; once one is booked, the next slot in sequence (10:40) becomes visible. (Note: this limit counts time slots, not total appointments — if you allow 2 appointments per slot and set this to 10, the system still shows the first 10 time slots, not 10 total bookings.)

Resource Display

Note: These options are unavailable when using the Table or Date display format.

Setting What it does
Hide resources on the CUI Hides resource names — useful when it doesn't matter which resource a participant books with
Show resources on the CUI Displays resource names
Display resources with buttons / vertically / in a pull-down Controls how resource options are presented
Resource Title Custom label for your resources (e.g., "Nurse")
Display resource description Shows a resource's description, if one has been added
Display rooms Shows assigned room numbers, if applicable

Miscellaneous

Setting What it does
Require parents to select their student's name from a drop-down when booking Requires linking a pre-imported student to the booking (requires students to already be imported)
Allow customers to select a timezone from a list of allowed time zones Lets participants choose their own display timezone

Advanced Settings

Online Meeting Provider

Use 'X' for online meetings: Select your preferred online meeting provider for this event from the drop-down.

Multiple Appointment Booking

Setting What it does
Allow a customer to take multiple slots Lets a participant book more than one appointment in a single session
Allow a customer to make conflicting appointments for themselves Lets a participant book overlapping appointments across different resources at the same time

Appointment Changes

Setting What it does
Allow customers to see and cancel past appointments Lets participants view/cancel appointments that have already passed
Don't allow customers to change appointment time Prevents participants from rescheduling once booked

Notification Setup

The Notifications tab lets you configure: Confirmation Email, Cancellation Email, Reminder Email, Custom Email, Follow-up Email, Resource Notification Email, and Calendar Event Notification.

Confirmation Email

Field What it controls
Subject Email subject line
Header Text shown above the email body
Body Main email text
Send Confirmation and Cancellation Emails Sends a confirmation after booking (typically left unchecked for schools)
Support Email Address that receives replies to confirmation/reminder/cancellation emails. If left blank, replies get an automated response directing them to contact your organisation.

Reminder Emails

Send Reminder Emails: Click Add and enter the number of hours before an appointment that a reminder should go out. You can add multiple reminder times — duplicates are automatically removed.

Field What it controls
Footer Text shown below the email body
Subject for combined email Subject line used when a combined email is sent (e.g., a cancel + immediate reschedule)

Configure CUI (Customer User Interface)

You can customise most of the text and labels participants see when booking appointments.

To edit CUI messages:

  1. From the Admin UI, go to Events / Preview, select your event, and click Go To.
  2. Select Settings / CUI Messages.
  3. On the left, choose a label to edit — the corresponding text appears on the right for editing.

Common customisations:

Event Setup

STEP FIVE: Try it out

  1. 1. Open the Scheduler

    1. From the Admin UI, go to Events / Preview, select your event, and click Go To Event.
    2. Select Settings / UI Setup.
    3. Set "Open scheduler to customers on" and "Close scheduler to customers on" to define the window during which participants can book appointments.

    2. View the Scheduler

    1. Go to Global Setup / Business / Account Level Settings / Account URL, and find your Account URL at the bottom of the page.
    2. Click the URL, or copy it into another browser window to test the scheduler as a participant would experience it.

    You can customize this URL by checking "Set Custom URL" and entering your preferred name. The updated URL will be live in approximately 5–10 minutes.