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Creating and Editing Appointments (One-Time, Recurring, and Online)

Angel Horowitz avatar
Written by Angel Horowitz
Updated over 3 weeks ago

Feature update as of May 2025:


You can now set up recurring appointments in Sawyer!

Any appointment type can be configured to be either of the following:

  • Recurring only (default)

  • Single only

  • Recurring and single

When both single and recurring are set up, customers can choose how they would like to book.

Click this link to view the "Recurring Appointments" section within this article.

This feature is included in the Grow and Scale pricing plans. It is not included in the Launch plan. If you would like to upgrade your subscription plan or learn more about the different pricing tiers we offer, please visit Sawyer subscription plans and features here.

If you are a provider who went live prior to March 1, 2022, you will continue to have access to your current features as one of our legacy providers.


Full Video Overview

This video walks through the process of creating appointments and the registration options available for Providers.


Create / Edit Appointments

This section covers how to create, edit, and manage both in-person and online appointments:

Click the arrow to view the process of creating and editing appointments

Create a New Appointment

This section covers how to create a new appointment from scratch. This is the foundation for setting up all appointment types.

  1. Navigate to Schedules

  2. Select Appointments

  3. Click into New Appointment Type in the upper right corner

Navigate to the section titled "Set Up Appointment Details" to continue to the next step.


Set Up an Online Appointment

This section highlights how to set up an online appointment.

Creating an online appointment is similar to an in-person appointment — you'll follow the same process as outlined in the above section, and add in a few small details while completing the Appointment Details section.

  1. Navigate to Schedules

  2. Select Appointments

  3. Navigate to New Appointment Type in the right-hand corner

Navigate to the section titled "Set Up Appointment Details" to continue to the next step.


Edit an Existing Appointment

This section covers how to modify an existing appointment if any details need to be changed.

  1. Navigate to Schedules

  2. Select Appointments

  3. Navigate to an Existing Appointment

  4. To the right of the Activity Name, click into the Three Dot Menu.

  5. Select Edit Activity

Navigate to the section titled "Set Up Appointment Details" to continue to the next step.


Appointment Details

In this section, you’ll define the key details of your appointment—including the activity, instructor, location, duration, and visibility settings. Whether your session is in-person or online, this step sets the foundation for how your appointment is scheduled and displayed.

Click the arrow to view the process of setting the appointment details

Set Up Appointment Details

In this section you'll choose specific details for your appointment, inclusive of activity, link, access instructions, instructor and location.

  1. Use the Activity Dropdown to select an online activity from your listings

  2. For Online Appointments Only:

    1. Add a Class Link — this should be the streaming URL for your appointment. Please make sure to add this link at least one hour before your appointment begins.

  3. Add Access Instructions

  4. Select an Instructor

  5. Select your online Location


Set Appointment Duration

This section will cover adding a duration and optional padding to your appointments.

Make sure to add the length of your appointment in minutes. Add optional padding to account for time between appointments.

  1. Add Appointment Duration in minutes

  2. Add Optional Padding to give instructors extra time after each class.

    • Please note, when calculating availability, the appointment duration plus the padding must be within the available hours.

Set Appointment Limitations

In this section you'll choose who can see and book your appointments—either publicly through your widget or privately via a shared link.

  1. Determine who has access to your appointments

  2. Select Public if you want to display appointments on your widget

  3. Select Private if you do not want to display appointments on your widget

    • If you select Private, customers can access bookings through a shared link or their customer portal.

  4. Press Save & Continue


Appointment Availability

In this section, you’ll define when appointments can be booked by setting your regular weekly hours and establishing a start and end date for availability. These settings help control booking windows and allow for breaks or schedule adjustments as needed.

Click the arrow to view the steps for adding appointment availability

Once you complete the steps above, you'll need to set your availability for appointments in the Regular Hours section.

Remember that your customers can book any time within an availability window, so you'll want to make sure to update this according to your instructor's schedule.

Set Regular Hours

  1. Navigate to a Day of the Week

  2. Press Edit Times

  3. Under Time Slot, type in availability and make sure to include AM or PM

  4. Add Time Interval

    • Time Intervals cannot overlap

    • Time Intervals allow for gaps between them — like lunch breaks!

    • Time Intervals can be deleted after having been created, this will not impact previously created orders

Set Schedule Limits

This section refers to the last date that a given Appointment can be scheduled into the future. This can be updated to extend a schedule at any time. You must include an end date in order for appointments to be available for bookings.

  1. Navigate to Set Schedule Limits

  2. Select a State Date from the Calendar Drop Down

  3. Select an End Date from the Calendar Drop Down



Booking Settings

Feature update as of May 2025:


You can now set up recurring appointments in Sawyer!

Any appointment type can be configured to be either of the following:

Click this link to view the "Recurring Appointments" section within this article.

In this section, you’ll enable recurring appointments and choose how clients can book them.

Click the arrow to view the steps for setting up recurring appointments

Setting up a Single Appointment

Toggle on the Single Appointment (as seen below) to create a standalone appointment, then set the "Required minimum bookings".

If you're ready to proceed with the next step for setting up a single appointment, please click the link to jump down to "Setting Schedule Overrides".


Setting up Recurring Appointments

This is a newly released feature that can be set up once you've added your "Appointment Details", Available Hours & Schedule Limits, which are all listed above.

In this section, you’ll learn how to set up a recurring appointment. You can require bookings for all weeks, allow flexible start dates, or let clients select a custom date range with a minimum number of sessions. These options give you control over how structured or flexible your recurring appointments are.

Video Overview

This video walks through the process of creating recurring appointments, and the various booking options available for customers.

Scheduling appointments is similar to scheduling camps and semester activities. As always, you'll need to start by building your activity in Listings before you can create your appointment listing!

Click the arrow to view the steps for setting up recurring appointments

Booking Settings

Toggle on the Recurring Weekly Appointment (as seen below) to create a recurring appointment.

Booking Options

There are three options of how the client can book:

Option 1 - Full Schedule: Clients are required to book the earliest available week through the end of the schedule

Clients will choose which day of week they want to book and will be enrolled for each week of the date range through the end.

Scenario: As a provider, I run private lessons in 6 week blocks and clients must enroll in all 6 weeks, they just need to choose their day and time. Specifically, we have a spring session that starts March 3 and ends April 11, participants must attend all 6 weeks to get the full curriculum.

Option 2 - Flexible Start: Clients can choose their start date, but then are booked through the end of the schedule

Clients will choose a start date from a calendar and are booked through the end week. The start date can be at any point in the date range. (There is no limit on how far in the future the client can book, as long as it's in the date range).

Scenario: As a provider, I have a very regular schedule and I want clients to be booked until the end of the schedule so they don’t have to think about re-enrolling. It’s likely that I allow them to cancel whenever they would like.

Option 3 - Custom Range w/ Minimums: Clients can choose their start and end date, but are required to book a minimum number of weeks

Please Note:

With this setting, it's important to making sure your schedules are up to date. If the minimum number of bookings is greater than the number of weeks left in the schedule, clients will not be able to book the recurring appointment, since no end date will meet the minimum requirement and no selectable option will display.

  • Clients choose both start and end dates from a calendar but have to enroll for a specific amount of weeks/bookings.

  • You must enter the minimum number of bookings, which must be 2 or greater, since it is a recurring booking.

Scenario: As a provider, I’m pretty flexible and I want clients to book X number of sessions with me to get the full experience, but I don’t care as much about when they start or if they book more weeks than the minimum


Set Schedule Overrides

Overrides allow you to 'close' or 'extend' availability for any reason (holiday, office closure, etc) but do not allow you to specify the reason.

You can use overrides to accommodate instructor availability, holidays, closures, and more. Overrides can also be added to dates that have no regular hours!

Click the arrow to learn how to set up appointment overrides

Override an Existing Timeframe

  1. Click into a timeframe on the Overrides Calendar

  2. Remove or Edit an Existing Time Interval

  3. Add new availability using the Add Time Interval button

  4. Save

Override an Unavailable Timeframe

  1. Click into a date on the Overrides Calendar

  2. Edit availability using the Add Time Interval button

  3. Click Save & Continue


Pricing

This section covers how pricing works for appointments. Clients are charged per booking, with the total calculated at checkout.

If the appointment is configured to be recurring and/or single, a price must be set accordingly.

Click the arrow to learn how to set up pricing

  1. Add the "Price per session" rate, or toggle on the "Free Appointment" option.

    1. If the appointment is recurring and single, it cannot be free for a single or recurring booking.

    2. If the appointment is single only, it can be free (this is the only scenario where an appointment can be free).

  2. Click "Save & Continue".

Please Note:

  • The price is per booking.

    • Example: if I want people to book 6 sessions for $600, I will enter the price of $100 per booking.

  • Clients will be charged the full amount based on their number of bookings at checkout.



Appointment Settings

This section allows you to fine-tune your appointment setup by adding a cancellation policy, setting time slot intervals, and defining how far in advance clients can book. These settings help you manage scheduling expectations and reduce last-minute surprises.

Click the arrow to learn how to set your appointment settings

Add Appointment Settings

  1. Navigate to Schedules > Appointments

  2. Click into Appointment Settings in the upper right corner

Add a Cancellation Policy

Select the amount of time required to make a cancellation. This will display text on your widget and on the Sawyer Marketplace denoting your cancellation policy for appointments.

Please Note: Parents can still request to cancel after the cancellation policy window has closed.

  1. Use radio buttons to select Hour Intervals

  2. Add Custom Hours if you need more or less notice

  3. Save Settings when completed

Add Starting Intervals

This section controls the starting time for appointment time slots in standard intervals (like 11:15, 11:30, or 12:00). Options include 15, 30, 60 minute intervals.

  1. Use radio buttons to select Starting Intervals

  2. Save Settings when completed

Add Client Scheduling Rules

This section allows you to decide when parents can book an appointment. Think of it as adding breathing room to make sure parents don't book last-minute appointments.

  1. Use the text box to edit when a client can schedule an appointment up until

  2. For example, if you wanted to cut off registration a day before an appointment starts, you will add 24 hours in this field

  3. Save Settings when completed


How to Manage Appointment Rosters

Now that you've learned how to successfully set up your appointments, feel free to move on to the next step, learning how to manage your appointments.

Want to learn how to manage your appointments inclusive of viewing upcoming appointments / rosters, and how to book for your customers? Click the button below:

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