Everything you need to run your booking workflow

Setting up event bookings

1. 1
   Set your availability

   Open Availability, confirm your timezone and add at least one block of weekly hours. Select Save availability.

2. 2
   Connect your calendar

   Open Calendar, connect Google Calendar or Microsoft Calendar, choose calendars that block times, and select a destination calendar.

3. 3
   Configure an event type

   Open Event types. Add a customer-facing title, description, location, duration, booking rules, and any guest questions.

4. 4
   Publish the event

   Change its status to Active and select Save event type. Draft and paused events cannot accept new bookings.

5. 5
   Test and share

   Open the booking page, choose a time as a customer would, then copy its link or add it to your website.

Choose the guidance you need

Owners and administrators can choose Event bookings, Services Bookings, or both. Your license determines availability. Choosing a workflow changes guidance only: existing events, services, and bookings remain intact.

• Event setup checks a published event, its availability, and its public booking page.
• Service setup checks business details, assigned staff and their hours, service durations and prices, publication, and the booking link. Online payments are required only when the service collects payment online.
• Guest questions, calendar connections, branding, and previewing or sharing are optional improvements.
• When both workflows are selected, each has separate progress. A ready service does not require a separate event.

Overview keeps both booking workflows visible with their readiness and selected-workflow badges. Use Decide later to postpone choosing, View setup details or Hide setup details to expand or collapse guidance below the cards, and Change booking setup to switch at any time. Ready workflows offer a manage action; unfinished workflows offer Start setup. Readiness is checked again when configuration changes; a broken setup shows a needs-attention badge.

At least one usable published service completes initial service setup. Other drafts do not block it. An unlisted service uses its direct link. A fully booked week does not mean setup is incomplete.

Create or select an event

1. Open Event types.
2. Select New event type, or choose an existing event from Current event.
3. Work through the six editor sections.
4. Select Save event type. Unsaved changes are marked in the editor header.

Share and customize the booking link

The Basic details section provides actions to open the public page, copy its URL, and add it to a website. Standard and Advanced workspaces can customize both parts of the URL:

• Business handle applies to every event in the workspace.
• Event link applies only to the selected event type.
• Both accept 3–63 lowercase letters, numbers, or hyphens.
• Previously shared links continue to redirect after a handle or event link changes.

Add a booking page to your website

1. Select Add to Website.
2. Preview the embedded booking experience.
3. Copy the generated iframe HTML and paste it into an HTML/embed block on your site.

1. Create a draft and add the basic details

1. Open Services from the workspace navigation and select New service. To edit an existing service, select it under Your services; on smaller screens, use Switch service.
2. In Basic details, enter a customer-facing Title and Public description. Optionally choose a Category, or select Custom category… and enter your own.
3. Add a Location if needed. To add a service image, select Change image and upload a PNG, JPEG, or WebP up to 2 MB, or choose Use image URL instead.
4. Use Save draft to keep your progress without accepting bookings. Continue with the sections below before publishing.

2. Prepare staff profiles and assign staff

1. Open the Staff section. Set Staff term to the word customers should see, such as “therapist” or “coach”.
2. Under Eligible staff, select Edit profile beside a person. Enter their Public name, and optionally a Public biography and photo.
3. Select Approve name. If customers will choose a person, enable Customers can select this staff member. Select Save profile, wait for the saved confirmation, then close the profile editor.
4. Choose How customers choose staff using the options below, then tick the eligible staff who may deliver this service.
5. Open Team and select Manage availability for each assigned person to save their weekly hours. Staff can also manage their own availability and calendar connections. Return to Services and select Recheck setup.

Customer chooses or Any available

Customers pick a named person or let ClimbCal assign someone available. Assigned staff need approved names and visible profiles.

Customer chooses staff

Customers must select a person. Assigned staff need approved names and visible profiles.

Automatic assignment

Customers choose a time and ClimbCal assigns eligible staff. Approved names are still required; customer-selectable profiles are optional.

3. Set durations and prices

1. Open Pricing and choose the service Currency.
2. For each option, enter a Duration and choose Minutes or Hours. Add a Public label if it helps customers distinguish options.
3. Enter the full Price in normal currency amounts: for an A$70 appointment, enter 70.00.
4. Select Add duration for more options, such as 45 minutes at A$70 and 60 minutes at A$100. Keep at least one duration and avoid duplicate durations.

4. Choose visibility and payment

1. Open Visibility & payment. Enable Show in service catalogue to include the service on your business booking page after publication. Leave it off to share only its direct booking link.
2. Choose Payment mode: No online payment, Deposit, or Full payment.
3. For Deposit, enter a Default deposit. Optionally enter a Deposit override for individual durations in Pricing. Each deposit must be greater than zero and no higher than that duration's full price.
4. For deposits or full payment, connect Stripe in Payments and complete its account requirements. Return to Services and select Recheck setup.

5. Configure customer settings

1. Expand Customer settings and enter a Cancellation policy if needed.
2. Choose whether Phone number collection is off, optional, or required. If collecting a phone number, choose the Default phone country.
3. Enable Send 24-hour email reminder if you want automatic appointment reminders.
4. Select Add question under Customer intake questions. Enter each question, choose its type and required setting, and add options for dropdown questions.

6. Review availability and booking rules

1. Expand Availability overrides. Leave Weekly hours empty to use each staff member's regular schedule. To restrict when this service is offered, select Add hours and enter the day, start, and end time.
2. For a one-off change, choose a Date and Type: Blocked day, Extra hours, or Replace hours. Enter start and end times for extra or replacement hours, then select Add override.
3. Expand Booking rules to set the Start interval, Minimum notice, Booking window, optional Daily booking limit, and Buffer before and Buffer after.
4. Select Save draft to save the service, including its hours, overrides, and questions.

7. Preview, publish, and test

1. Select Preview to review the customer-facing details, duration options, and amounts. Preview includes unsaved edits and does not publish them.
2. Review the setup card at the top of the editor. If it says Needs attention, select each issue to fix it. Common blockers are missing staff, unapproved names, missing profile visibility or weekly availability, invalid prices or deposits, and Stripe setup.
3. Select Recheck setup after saving staff availability or payment changes. When the card says Ready to publish, select Publish and wait for Service published.
4. Select Open saved booking page. Check the description, durations, prices, staff choices, available times, questions, and payment requirements as a customer would.
5. Select Copy booking link to share the individual service. Use the business booking page link under Your services to share the catalogue of listed, published services.

8. Add Services to your website

1. For the catalogue, select Add to Website under Your services. For one published service, select More actions → Add this service to website.
2. Preview the embed and copy the Embed HTML.
3. Paste the code into an HTML or embed block on your website. Preview your website and adjust the iframe height if needed before publishing it.

The catalogue embed shows service cards without the business booking page header. Choosing a service opens its booking page in a new tab.

Manage services after setup

• Use search and the status filter under Your services to find a service. Edit it and select Save service to apply changes.
• In More actions, use Pause service or Archive service to stop new bookings. Existing appointments remain booked.
• Use Duplicate as draft to start another service from an existing one. Review its details, prices, staff, and availability before publishing.
• Use Delete draft only for a draft you no longer need; deletion is permanent.
• If Advanced access ends, published services pause. After access returns, review staff, schedules, prices, and Stripe, then select Republish for each ready service.

Configure weekly hours

1. Open Availability.
2. Choose the timezone in which your schedule is defined.
3. Choose how dates and times appear across your workspace and booking pages.
4. Enter a start and end time for every period you normally accept bookings.
5. To accept weekend bookings, enable Sat or Sun and enter its start and end time. Both are disabled by default.
6. Select Save availability.

Multiple periods on the same day let you leave gaps such as a lunch break. The example under Display preferences previews your chosen date and time formats.

Create a date override

Blocked day

Removes all availability for that date—for example, a holiday.

Extra hours

Adds a bookable period outside the regular schedule.

Replace hours

Ignores the normal hours for that date and uses only the replacement period.

Choose the date and override type, enter times when applicable, and select Save override. Existing overrides appear below the form and can be deleted.

Navigate the booking calendar

• Switch between Day, Week, and Month.
• Use the arrows to move through time, or select Today to return to the current period.
• The workspace timezone is shown beside the calendar controls.
• Owners and admins can show or hide each team member's bookings using the coloured checkboxes above the calendar.
• Select a booking to open its details.

Owners and admins can review all workspace bookings in the list and choose a team member from the filter. The calendar colours identify the assigned team member.

Booking detail

Details include the customer, scheduled time, answers, lifecycle history, payments, notification delivery, reminder schedule status, and destination-calendar write status when available.

Connect and configure an account

1. Open Calendar and select Connect for Google Calendar or Microsoft Calendar.
2. Complete the provider’s consent flow and return to ClimbCal.
3. Select every Conflict calendar whose busy events should remove bookable times.
4. Choose one Destination calendar for confirmed bookings.
5. Select Save calendars.

A calendar may be used for conflict checking, as the booking destination, or both. Additional connections and multiple conflict calendars depend on your plan.

Connection and health states

Healthy

The account is connected and synchronization is operating normally.

Degraded

A recent sync or provider operation failed. Review the message and refresh or reconnect if it persists.

Repair required

The authorization can no longer be used. Select Repair or reconnect the account.

Failed calendar write

A booking could not be added to the destination calendar. Resolve the connection issue, then retry from Calendar health or Booking detail.

Set up payments

1. Open Payments and select Connect Stripe.
2. Complete Stripe’s onboarding requirements.
3. Return to Payments and confirm that account status, charges, and payouts are ready.
4. Open an event type, go to Payment, and choose full payment or fixed deposit.
5. Enter an amount and supported currency, then save the event.

Customers who choose a time for a paid event complete Stripe Checkout before the booking is confirmed. Payment activity and account diagnostics appear on the Payments screen.

Refund a customer

1. Open Bookings and select the booking.
2. Find the refundable payment in Booking detail.
3. Select the refund action and confirm it.

Invite a teammate

1. Open Team.
2. Enter the person’s email and choose Admin or Member.
3. Select Send invitation. ClimbCal emails your teammate a link to join the workspace.
4. The recipient opens the email link, signs in or creates an account with the invited email address, and selects Accept invitation.

Pending invitations expire after 14 days and reserve a paid seat. Cancel an unused invitation to release that seat.

Use Resend in the pending list to email an invitation again, or Copy link to share it yourself. If delivery fails, use Retry email after the short waiting period. Resending keeps the same invitation, expiry date, and reserved seat.

Member status and seats

• Every active owner, admin, or member consumes one purchased seat.
• Disabling a member stops their active participation and routing without removing their record.
• Removing a member releases their seat but does not automatically reduce the purchased seat quantity or bill.
• Owners cannot be disabled or removed. You also cannot disable or remove your own current membership.

Choose a routing method

One-to-one

Bookings are assigned to a single host.

Round-robin

ClimbCal rotates eligible bookings through the enabled members while respecting each person’s availability and conflicts.

Before enabling round-robin, make sure every selected member is active, has an available paid seat, and has configured availability. Select the members who should receive bookings, order them if required, and save the routing settings.

Manage a member's availability

Owners and admins can select Manage availability beside an active team member to edit weekly hours, set a date override, or block a range of dates for leave or illness. Review the affected appointments before saving. Existing appointments stay booked and must be reassigned or rescheduled separately when needed. Members can continue to edit their own availability and connect their own calendars.

Upload a company logo

• Use a PNG, JPEG, or WebP image up to 2 MB.
• Choose a clear, compact logo that remains legible on the booking page.
• Select Save Changes to publish it across event types.
• Select Remove logo to return to the default ClimbCal mark.

Choose company colours

The primary colour is used for buttons, selected times, links, and focus highlights. The page-background colour surrounds the booking experience. Enter a hex colour or use the picker; the live preview shows the result before saving.

ClimbCal checks the primary colour against white text for readable contrast. Adjust the colour if the form reports that it does not meet the required contrast.

Eligible plans can also hide “Powered by ClimbCal.” Select Reset to defaults to restore the original colours and attribution.

Brand email notifications

Booking confirmed, booking rescheduled, and booking cancelled emails automatically use the company logo, primary colour, page-background colour, and ClimbCal attribution setting saved above. Advanced 24-hour reminder emails use the same branding. Visual branding is shared across every email type, while the message copy is customised separately for each type.

Enable the Advanced 24-hour reminder

1. Open Event types, select the event, and open Booking rules.
2. Turn on Send a 24-hour email reminder, then save the event.
3. Open Branding → Email notifications and choose 24-hour reminder to preview or customise the message.

What is configurable: the reminder can be enabled or disabled separately for each event type. Owners and admins can customise its subject, introductory message, sign-off, reply-to address, shared sender name, and branding.

What is fixed in this release: ClimbCal sends one reminder exactly 24 hours before the appointment. The delivery offset cannot be changed, and multiple reminders such as 48 hours plus 2 hours are not supported.

ClimbCal creates one reminder schedule per confirmed appointment. Appointments confirmed or moved inside the 24-hour window do not receive a late reminder. Rescheduling replaces the old schedule when the new time remains eligible, cancellation stops it, and a plan downgrade prevents delivery. The operations summary below the email editor shows pending, processing, sent, failed, and currently due reminders.

Configure a custom sender name

The sender name is the business name customers see beside the email in their inbox. It applies workspace-wide to confirmations, reschedules, cancellations, test emails, and resends.

1. Open Branding and find Email notifications.
2. Enter the business name in Sender name, such as Northside Studio. Use no more than 100 characters and do not include an email address or angle brackets.
3. Select Save sender name to save only the shared sender, or select Save email settings to save it together with the currently selected email type.
4. Confirm the status says the sender name was saved. The From line in the preview shows the saved display name and fixed sending address.
5. Select Send test to send the saved settings to your ClimbCal account email. ClimbCal asks you to save first if the sender name has unsaved changes.

The sending address shown beneath the field is managed by ClimbCal and cannot be changed per workspace. Changing the sender name does not change where replies go; use Replies go to for that address.

Select Use default sender, or save a blank sender name, to restore the configured ClimbCal default.

Customise email copy

Choose an Email type, then configure the fields for that message:

Subject

The email subject customers see. It is required, must stay on one line, and can contain up to 160 characters.

Introductory message

The opening message shown above the booking details. It can contain up to 1,200 characters.

Sign-off

The closing message at the bottom of the email. It can contain up to 500 characters.

Replies go to

An optional reply-to email address. It directs customer replies to your business without changing the address ClimbCal sends from.

Booking details, payment information, policy copy, and secure action links remain controlled by ClimbCal so they stay accurate.

Use booking details in your copy

Insert any of the variables shown below in the subject, introduction, or sign-off. ClimbCal replaces each variable with the booking’s value when it sends the email.

Preview, test, or reset an email

• The live preview updates as you edit. Select Save email settings when the preview is ready; this also saves a changed sender name.
• Select Send test to deliver the saved version to the email address on your ClimbCal account. Unsaved sender-name changes must be saved first.
• Select Reset this email to restore the ClimbCal default without changing previously delivered messages.

1. Open Settings and select Add library question.
2. Enter the question and choose short text, long text, dropdown, or confirmation.
3. Add dropdown options when required and use the preview to check the customer experience.
4. Reorder questions and select Save library.
5. To use one, open an event’s Guest questions section, select it under Add from question library, and choose Add to event.

Adding a library question copies it into the event. You can then adjust the event-specific version without changing the reusable source.

The live plan cards are the source of truth for current pricing, currencies, intervals, and limits. Prices are per purchased user seat. Choose the seat quantity before checkout; pending invitations and active members both consume or reserve seats.

Change or cancel a subscription

• Workspace owners can start a new subscription from a plan card.
• Use Manage billing to update an existing paid subscription in the secure billing portal.
• Upgrades take effect immediately. A scheduled downgrade or cancellation remains visible with its effective date.
• Removing a teammate does not automatically reduce the quantity purchased from Stripe.

1. 1
   Select a time

   The customer chooses a duration, date, timezone, and available start time.

2. 2
   Complete details

   ClimbCal temporarily holds the time while the customer enters contact information, answers required questions, and acknowledges applicable policies.

3. 3
   Pay if required

   For a paid event, Stripe Checkout collects the configured full amount or fixed deposit.

4. 4
   Receive confirmation

   ClimbCal confirms the booking, writes it to the destination calendar, and sends lifecycle notifications when delivery is configured.

Customer cancellation and rescheduling

Confirmation messages contain secure, booking-specific links. A customer can cancel with a reason or choose a new available time. A reschedule rechecks availability before committing the new time.

Controls you cannot use may be disabled or omitted. If you need additional access, contact the workspace owner.

Close a Free workspace

1. Open Plan & billing.
2. Select Cancel subscription, then confirm Close account.
3. The workspace and public booking pages are disabled immediately.

ClimbCal retains a closed Free workspace for 30 days. Sign in during that period and choose Reactivate workspace to restore access to its settings, event types, and bookings. After the retention period, its data is permanently deleted.

Cancel a paid workspace subscription

Cancellation continues in the secure billing portal. The paid plan normally remains available until the end of the current billing period, and ClimbCal shows the effective date in Plan & billing.