Forum Discussion
Using bookings for events at specific times
HI, Bookings might not be the right tool for this task but I want to check.
I plan to run small online webinars for colleagues and I'd like to list the events so they can book an event to suit them. I need to limit the number, so a normal meeting invite doesn't work (unless someone has a useful work around for that?) Some events will repeat, so I'd set a few occasions for some.
Is there an easy way to set the time/s as a service, or do I need to set very limited working hours and block out my diary for all but the times I want to hold the event?
Or is there another simple tool I could use? I know I could create free Eventbrite listings but I don't want them to be openly available or put in as much detail as a listing site would need.
Thank you in advance
ClaireThirlwall This is an old thread, but I found it looking for a solution-- and the solution is to use Teams webinars if you have access to those. It's a dream for this type of thing and if you don't have it, but want to offer something like this, it's probably worth the upgrade. Get started with Microsoft Teams webinars - Microsoft Support You can even duplicate the webinars by right clicking them on your Teams calendar, so once you set the banner and icon and all the details etc, it's easy to copy and make a new one. You get a registration page to sign up that you can send via link. If you have multiple to choose from, you can share several links for people to choose from. Probably not as simple as having one bookings page to share, but miles better to organize.
- Thank you for replying and picking up the issue after so long! I haven't run a webinar for a while so it isn't an issue, but that sounds a useful option. I still think a meeting limit would be useful for in- house events. Maybe in another few years that will be a feature too 😀
Hi Claire, I have a situation here. We want to open a booking page for multi-regions (Pacific, East, and Asia) and do not want the user to select the staff. Now, since all these regions are in different time zones, what would be the best scenario - create a single site for all regions and set work hours or create a bookings page for each site?
This would also be very helpful for us!
Please vote this up: Open Event Booking Functionality · Community (microsoft.com)
- I'm back again! ha ha! Everyone still have troubles with this? I'm ready to through my laptop out the door!
I have sessions scheduled on the calendar, but when you go to the booking page, it doesn't show!
So frustrating that you can't just schedule an event, for a time and it be bookable! It shows in my diary, so it it's successfully assigned it to me - but on the site, it says no slots available!
When I switch the session to bookable when staff is free, it shows other 'Free slots' based on my diary availability but not the session I actually booked - when it has spaces for another 10 people!
It seemed to work last month but clearly it was just a fluke! So annoying - commenting again to see if it gets any traction!
Let me know if you've had any lick ClaireThirlwall 🙂JessicaBenjaminCan you check the following option?
- Click in the left panel on Employees- Edit employee
- Uncheck Events in Office agenda effects availability
This is translated from a dutch Bookings so maybe the names of the options are a little bit different.
you will need to limit the maximum lead time if it's a one-time event ClaireThirlwall
if i am offering a session next week, i will limit the max lead time to 9 days so the (recurring weekly) is not activiated.
- I am new to Bookings, but this is not intuitive. I feel like I've tried every combination of options. I want to schedule time slots of 10min on 1 day for any member of our team. 1 customer per time slot. If anyone figures this out please provide the exact steps - everyone's general comments are not really helpful in getting this to work.
- you will need to limit the maximum lead time if it's a one-time event
if i am offering a session next week, i will limit the max lead time to 9 days so the (recurring weekly) is not activiated.I have read through all of these and still don't see what I would think would be a simplistic feature I can use for the following. Any help is appreciated!
I have a 1 hour event set up using custom times. It has a max of 7 attendees and it recurs every week at the same 5 times (lets just say its Wednesdays at 10, 12, and 2:00 and Thursdays at 2 and 4:00). I am the only "staff" assigned to this service. The recurrence goes out for an entire year, so I obviously don't know my vacation schedule etc. that far in advance.
If I go in to my work calendar and schedule PTO for an entire week 3 months out, I am still able to book a spot in any of the 5 scheduled events that week even though my work calendar says I am out of office.
I clicked the option for it to look at the staff's personal calendar, but it still allows me to book on dates when I am out of office on my work calendar.
Anyone have any insights on this?
@BillGates (hahahaha)
Thanks!
- LauraFothergill This seems like a basic Bookings use case. In a new/blank booking agenda:
* Configure the business working hours in the Business Information config options.
* Add all off the team staff members using the Staff config options, and you probably want to check the box that tells Bookings to check their availability with their personal calendar
* Using the Reservation Page options, set the standard time intervals for the public reservation page to 10 minutes, set the availability setting for the page to 'Available to anyone' and publish your booking calendar.
* Add your 1 service and set the duration to 10min. Add all of the staff to it. Leave all the rest on defaults.
This is assuming you only have one type of appointment (service) and all team members can be booked for this.
Hope this helps.
ClaireThirlwall
I found the solution for this problem, I think. First you must create a new Bookings-calender. When you create a new service, you choose for a maximum number of participants. This maximum of participants is for each meeting. For example, when you set the maximum at 2 and you have three different timeslots and one if the timeslots are two times booked it will nog be displayed anymore as a booking option.
At the settings in the reservation page, you must turn the allow customers to choose a specific person for the reservation off. Choose at the general availability for not available. Now you can add the options for the booking timeslots of your meetings. For each day and timeslot, you must add an availability option.In this solution you only show the specific times and dates for your events as an optuon to book and is it also possible to have a maximum participants for eacht meeting.
This worked brilliantly for me! I needed an event for client appreciation. I was able to cap my participants to 60.
- I think this might be what you are after.
https://atlas.utdallas.edu/TDClient/30/Portal/KB/ArticleDet?ID=371 - Setting Up Group Events in Microsoft Bookings Having the exact same issue as you guys! 😞 I'm using Bookings as an internal Training Calendar and Teams Webinar sessions.
Want to be able to just schedule a date and time for a course and allow people to select the service on the bookings page and book on the course until availability is full.
However the scheduling conflicts and other available time slots appear - We rely on calendars so much in the business, it's not a sensible solution to just block out the time around it so the course looks correct on Bookings, because then people can't get into my or my other trainers diaries for normally meetings etc.
Seems odd that you can't have a service and just schedule it for a one off set time when some of Microsofts literature talks as though it can be used for scheduling internal things such as this but really, it's a acting like a bog standard 'Appointment' booking system 😞
Hopefully a few others find this and boost it up so it can be something they look into! Thanks for sharing your workaround thus far ClaireThirlwall digihandle 🙂
Thanks, J- 100% a need for me and my organisation.
Thank you for describing this need so clearly and for providing a way for others to nudge the Microsoft product team to invest in developing this essential functionality. - JessicaBenjamin - I'm glad it isn't just me. I've used the workaround but like you mention it means my diary looks like I'm not available, which then means other scheduling tools don't work as effectively. It would be great if Microsoft could make this a useable feature, i.e. one off bookable in house events with a limit on numbers.
- hi guys, I am having the exact same problem. I want to set some specific dates to sign up for courses. it seems impossible! I found a workaround to set it for one date but not for several.
My work around for one specific date is:
- Set specific date range to that one day
- set times to "when available"
- block the times I don't want the course to happen in the calendar.
Pretty stupid to do it like this. But there doesn't seem another way...
I thought we could get rid of Doodle... but it seems like Bookings is not made for this! Microsoft pleas add this features!
