How far ahead patients can book
Three settings decide which dates a patient sees when they book online. Set them once for the whole clinic, and let individual doctors differ where they need to.
The three settings
| Setting | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Days ahead | How far into the future bookings are accepted, counting today | 21 = today plus the next 20 days |
| Notice (hours) | How soon is too soon | 24 = nothing bookable less than a day away |
| Bookings open from | An optional date before which nobody can book | 1 September |
Notice and Bookings-open-from both push the start forward — whichever lands later wins. Days ahead controls the end, always measured from today, so a long notice period eats into the window rather than extending it.
Setting it for the whole clinic
Settings → Booking Widget → Booking Window. What you set here applies to every doctor who hasn't set their own.
Leave a box empty to use the built-in default: 21 days ahead, no notice.
Letting one doctor differ
A doctor's own window lives on their schedule — Schedule → Booking window (or My Schedule for the doctor themselves).
Each box is independent. Leave one empty and that doctor follows the clinic; the greyed-out number in the box shows what they'd get. So a surgeon can demand 72 hours notice while still using the clinic's 21-day window.
Which clock?
Days and times here are your clinic's, not the patient's and not the server's — see Clinic timezone. "21 days ahead" counts your days, and "bookings open on the 1st" means midnight where you are.
Times that have already passed
Slots earlier today are never offered, whatever the notice is set to. A patient booking at 4pm won't be shown a 9am slot.
Common questions
We set it but the website still shows the old dates. Save, then reload the page your booking widget sits on.
A patient says there are no dates at all. Check the combination. A short Days ahead with a far-off Bookings open from can leave nothing in between — a 7-day window that opens in three weeks has no bookable days. Enquiries still come through for your team to schedule manually.
Does this affect appointments we book ourselves? No. This governs patient self-booking through the widget. Staff booking from the Appointments page are not limited by it.
Can a doctor be blocked for a stretch of dates instead? Yes — that's a day-off range, not a booking window. See My Schedule.