Schedules control when customers can book you. A schedule holds your working hours, the size of each bookable slot, how far ahead people can book, and any days you're closed — then you attach it to the products, staff, and locations it applies to. This guide walks through building one from scratch so your booking form only ever offers times you're actually open.
Create a schedule under Schedules → Create Schedule, choose how it repeats (Continuous availability, Weekly recurring, or Non-repeating), set your From time/To time per day, block any Days off, then assign it to your products, staff, and locations. Bookable availability is the intersection of every schedule that touches a booking.
Before you start
You'll need admin access to your Opencals dashboard. Schedules are independent — you don't need products or staff set up first — but you'll usually want at least one bookable service to attach the schedule to. If you haven't created one yet, see Set up your services.
Step 1 — Create a schedule and set the basics
Open Schedules to see everything you've already built — each row shows its Type (Recurring, Non-recurring, or Continuous) and how many staff, locations, and products it controls.
Click Create Schedule to start a new one. The General info card holds the settings that shape how slots are generated.
General info
Each field does something specific:
- Name — an internal label so you can tell schedules apart (e.g. "Business Hours", "Anna — Mornings").
- Timezone — the timezone your times and dates are entered in. Defaults to your store timezone; change it for staff or services in another timezone.
- Start time increments — the gap between the start of one bookable slot and the next: Every 10 minutes, Every 15 minutes, Every 20 minutes, Every 30 minutes, or Every 60 minutes. At Every 30 minutes customers see 9:00, 9:30, 10:00, and so on.
- Advance booking — how many days into the future customers can book. Enter
-1for no limit. - Gap between appointments — padding left unallocated after each booking for cleanup or travel, e.g.
1 hour 30 minutes. Leave it at0 minfor back-to-back slots.
Step 2 — Choose an availability type
Scroll to the Availability card and pick how the schedule repeats:
Availability
This option allows you to keep your service open for booking at any time and date, providing maximum flexibility for your customers.
Set a schedule that repeats every week, allowing you to define specific times and days for your activities or appointments.
Create a one-time schedule without any repetition. Perfect for unique events, appointments, or tasks that don't follow a regular weekly pattern.
Continuous availability
Open for booking at any time and date — maximum flexibility. Best for always-on online services with no fixed hours.
Weekly recurring
A schedule that repeats every week. Set specific times for each day. This is the right choice for regular working hours.
Non-repeating
A one-time schedule with no repetition. Ideal for a specific event or a block of dates that doesn't follow a weekly pattern.
For standard working hours, choose Weekly recurring — that's what the next step covers.
Step 3 — Set your weekly working hours
With Weekly recurring selected, set a From time and To time for each day of the week. Days run Monday (day 1) through Sunday (day 7). Leave a day with no time range and it's treated as closed.
Availability
Weekly recurring hours — day 1 is Monday, day 7 is Sunday.
- Set one row per day for a single block of hours, e.g. Mon–Fri 09:00 to 17:00.
- Need a lunch break? Use the row menu (the ⋯ control) to Add new slot on the same day, giving you two ranges like 09:00–12:00 and 13:00–17:00.
- The same menu has Copy from to duplicate another day's hours instead of re-entering them.
- Weekends left empty simply produce no bookable slots on Saturday and Sunday.
Combine schedules instead of one giant one
You don't have to cram everything into one schedule. Give each staff member their own recurring schedule, then assign them all to the same service. Opencals shows a slot only when the service and at least one qualified staff member are both free — the availability is the intersection of the schedules involved.
Step 4 — Block days off
Public holidays, vacations, and one-off closures go in the Days off card. Add a date range and customers can't book during it, even if it falls inside your weekly hours.
Days off
Specify days off to indicate periods when your services or staff members are unavailable.
Click Add slot, pick a start and end date, set the From and To times, and save. Days off override your recurring hours, so a Christmas closure or a staff holiday removes those slots from the booking form without touching your normal weekly pattern.
Step 5 — Assign the schedule and save
A schedule does nothing until it's attached to something. On the right of the form, assign it to the Locations, Products, and Staff members it should control, then click Save.
- Locations — limits the schedule to specific locations.
- Products — the services this schedule makes bookable.
- Staff members — the people whose availability this schedule defines.
Availability for any booking is computed from the combination of every assigned schedule that applies — the service's schedule, the chosen staff member's schedule, and the location's schedule all have to agree before a slot is offered.
Every product and staff member needs a schedule
A product or staff member with no schedule can't be booked. If you just want something always available, create a schedule with Continuous availability and assign it — that's the one-click "always open" option.
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Keep going
Set up your services
Create the bookable products that a schedule makes available.
Onboard staff members
Add the team whose individual schedules define who's free to take each booking.
Manage locations
Set up locations so you can scope availability to a specific place.
Flexible scheduling
See how Opencals turns your hours and rules into a live availability calendar.
Recurring sessions
Offer repeating classes and appointments on a weekly cadence.
Opencals pricing
Pay-as-you-go at $0.99 per booking or custom monthly from $15 — no per-seat tax.
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