# STEP THREE: Create Slots The Create Slots function is used to set up your appointment date(s), times, and duration of the appointments. 1. Select the [**Events / Preview**](https://help.pickatime.com/books/additional-event-features/page/events-preview-page) option on the navigation dashboard. Then select your event from the list and click on the button. 2. Select the **Appointments** tab. 3. You will see a calendar on the left-hand side. Select the date of your event. If you have multiple days, then simply start with the first day of your event. 4. On the right-hand side, you will see a list of your teachers. If all your teachers have the same time slots, then you do not need to select an individual teacher's name. If your teachers will all have different time slots, then select the first teacher name that you would like to create slots for. 5. The **Slots** drop-down menu will give you the following options: Create Slots, Delete Time Slots, Update Slots, Copy Slots, and Move Slots. 6. Click **Create Slots**. This will open up the Slot Generator dialog box. 7. Make sure that you've selected whether you want the slots to be created only on the selected teacher(s) or on all the teachers. 8. Enter the start time of the first slot in the **From** field. 9. Enter the end time of the last slot of the day in the **To** field. 10. Enter the Duration in minutes. 11. If you would like a travel break between each slot, enter the break duration in the **Travel Break** field. 12. Select the Appointment type you would like:**In-Person** This is the default option. If the parent selects this option, the confirmation and reminder email will contain the room number for the meeting. You will see a P in the slot you create. **Virtual** If the parent selects this option, the confirmation and reminder email will contain the Virtual meeting link. You will see a PV in the time slot. **In-Person or Virtual** The parent will have a choice of an In-Person or Virtual meeting. 13. Select the Slot type you would like:**Visible for customer** Select this if you want the slots to be visible on the CUI. **Hidden from customer** Select this if you want the slots to be hidden from the CUI (could be used to reserve slots). **Shown with "Call" status** This will show the slots, but when a parent selects the slot, they will receive a message to "call". **Make unavailable** Select this option if you would like the slots to display in the Administration section of the site, but not be available to your parents. You will be able to enter a message in the slot (e.g., Lunch Break). 14. Enter the maximum number of appointments per slot in the **Maximum allowed appointments per slot** **field**. 15. Select the **OK** button to create as many slots as can be fit between **From** and **To**. If you have multiple days of identical slots, you can check the box "multiple dates" and create the same slots on more than one day. If your slots are different each day, simply create slots on your first day, then select the next day from the calendar on the left-hand side and repeat the process. The **Slot Generator** will generate any number of slots between the **From** and **To** times, depending on the duration of the currently selected day. For example, if you want 10-minute slots each between 8 am and 5 pm, enter 8:00 am in the From field, 5:00 pm in the To field, and 10 for the **Duration**. If you are using the Travel Break feature, a travel break of the entered duration will be created between each time slot. For example, if you enter a **From** time of 8:00 am, a **To** time of 2:00 pm, a **Duration** of 10, and a **Travel Break** of 5, slots will be created from 8:00-8:10, 8:15-8:25, 8:30-8:40, etc. If your appointment times and duration vary by teacher, you can select the teacher or teachers and follow the create slots procedure. Then select the teacher or teachers that require a different time schedule and create slots for them. To select multiple teachers, select the first teacher's name, press the Ctrl key, and select the second teacher's name. Continue this process until you have a group of teachers collected that you would like to create the same time slots for. Note that if you have created the same slots for all your teachers, you will not see the individual slots displayed unless you select one of the teacher names (from the right-hand side). When you create your slots, the Time Increments on the left-hand side of the Appointments page will adjust. Generally, they will match the duration of your slots. However, if you are creating a variety of slot durations, they will be set to the lowest common denominator. For example, if you create some slots with a duration of 10 minutes and some with a duration of 15 minutes, the time increments will be set to 5 minutes. If you would like to override this duration, go to the **Settings / Vendor UI Setup** page and adjust the **Draw Time every** setting. Also, if you create breaks between your slots, you will need to adjust this to be set to the duration of your breaks. The Create Slots function does not "redo" any existing slots. For example, if you create slots from 8 am to 12 pm, and then you realize you only needed slots from 9 am to 12 pm, you can not simply “Create Slots” again with your new parameters. You will either need to delete the slots from 8 am to 9 am or delete all slots and start again. #### **Updating Slots** The Update Slots feature lets you update the characteristics of existing slots. This feature will allow you to increase the number of allowed appointments per time slot, or to make slots unavailable or hidden to your parents. 1. Select the [**Events / Preview**](https://help.pickatime.com/books/additional-event-features/page/events-preview-page)[ ](https://help.pickatime.com/books/additional-event-features/page/events-preview-page)option on the navigation dashboard. Then select your event from the list and click on the button. 2. Select the **Appointments** tab. 3. You will see a calendar on the left-hand side. Select the correct date. 4. Select the teacher's name on the right-hand side. 5. Select **Slots** and then **Update Slots. This** will open up the Slot Updater dialog box. 6. The dialog box will allow you to enter a range of times. You will have several options for making changes to an existing slot. 7. The "Keep existing slot type on slots being updated" checkbox allows you to change the appointment type (i.e., from in-person to virtual) without changing the slot type. It is very helpful if all teachers have already blocked their schedules.

Update Slots will only change the characteristics of existing slots. It does not change the duration, start or end time of existing slots.

#### **Removing Slots - individual scheduling exceptions** 1. Select the **E[vents / Preview](https://help.pickatime.com/books/additional-event-features/page/events-preview-page)** option on the navigation dashboard. Then select your event from the list and click on the button. 2. Select the **Appointments** tab. 3. You will see a calendar on the left-hand side. Select the correct date. 4. Select the teacher's name on the right-hand side. 5. Select the slot that you would like to remove. 6. Select **Slots** and then **Delete Time Slots. This** will open up the following dialog box 7. The dialog box will ask you for details on the deletion. Please read carefully to ensure that you are only deleting slots on the correct date/teacher/time combination. You will be able to delete all slots that occur at that time for all teachers. For example, if you want to schedule a lunch break for all teachers, you could enter the start and end time of the lunch break and delete any slots during that time. You can also create breaks by using the **Update Slots** feature.

**IMPORTANT NOTE:** If you are deleting slots with appointments on them, a second dialog box will come up. This dialog box will provide you with several options for the appointments that are on your soon to be deleted slots. You

You will have the option of not canceling the appointments. As the slots will be deleted, these appointments will be moved to the red Appointments List. From here, you will need to attend to these appointments by either deleting them from the red Appointments List or by recreating the appointment slot. This red Appointments List is a holding area for "problem" appointments.

You will have the option of canceling the appointments and not sending a cancellation email.

You will have the option to cancel the appointment and send a cancellation email. The cancellation email that you have set up in the **Notification Setup** section will display, and you will be able to edit this or send it as is.

#### **Blocking Slots** You can "block" a slot by turning an existing slot red and optionally entering a message for the blocked slot, such as "Lunch Break." In the Administrative User Interface on the Appointments page, you would simply click on the x in the corner of a slot. The slot will then turn red, and the message "Blocked" will appear in the slot. You can leave that message or edit the message. This slot will then not be displayed on the scheduling page to your parents. At any time, you can "unblock" the slot by clicking on the x in the corner and returning the slot to blue with the word Available listed in the slot. #### **Making Changes to your Slot Start Times, End Times, or the Duration** In order to modify your slots after they have been created, you will need to first delete the existing slots. The Create Slots process will not simply override slots that you have previously created. For example, if you have created 10-minute slots from 8 am to 2 pm, and you now decide that you would like your slots to run from 9 am to 1 pm, you can not create this new slot scenario on top of your existing slots. You must either delete the slots from 8 am to 9 am and from 1 pm to 2 pm, or delete ALL slots and then create new slots from 9 am to 1 pm. #### **Move Slots** The Move Slots feature will allow you to move all your slots and appointments (if any) to a new date. The Move Slots button will bring up a dialog box where you can enter a destination date for your slots and appointments to be moved to. You will have the option of sending an explanation email to all parents with an appointment. You also have the option to move the slots only for a selected teacher or teachers.

Important Note: New calendar notification emails will not be sent, so participants should be advised to update any calendar entries they have set.

#### **Copy Slots** The Copy Slots feature will allow you to copy one day of slots to another day. You can also selectively copy slots from one teacher to another teacher. #### **FAQ on 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 some of my slots grey?** Grey time slots indicate that the teacher is booked elsewhere and is not available at that time. Either the teacher is having meetings as part of a team, or the teacher has booked her own appointments in her role as a parent. If you click on the grey time slot, a message will display telling you where the teacher is booked. ##### **Why are my time slots yellow? ** Yellow indicates that the time has passed. ##### **I created time slots with the wrong duration, but my parents 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.