Microsoft 365: Setting up your Bookings Page

Microsoft 365: Setting up your Bookings Page

Table of Contents

• Key Points
• Detailed Process
• Recorded Example

Key Points

1. Go to office.com, click the app launcher in the top left corner and then choose “Bookings” from the list.

2. Choose "Create new calendar", then choose "Create from scratch".

3. Give your calendar a name. The public view can be changed later, but for now you should choose something simple but professional, as the choice will create an email address for booking invites. For example, "meeting with john smith".

4. Then choose a business type from the drop down list. The logo and business hours can be added later.

5. Click “continue” through step 2 - (staff can be invited later), then at step 3 you will need to choose if you want to "Make this a Teams meeting" or not. This is not changeable later. You may want to consider having a separate calendar for Teams meetings and Phone meetings.

6. At step 4 choose “Anyone” then “create calendar”. 

7. Your calendar is ready to customise. Choose "get started".

8. You will be navigated to the “Calendar” tab. On the left side choose “Booking page”. Copy the link to a new browser tab so you can monitor the public view of your page whilst you are customising the page.

9. On the “Business page access control” choose “Disable direct search engine indexing of booking page”. This will exclude your page from internet search results, but it will still be available to clients that have the link.

10. Default Scheduling Policy. First choose what the minimum meeting time will be and enter that time into the "Time increments" field. Next  choose the minimum and maximum lead time - how much notice or how far in the future someone can book with you. Then choose email notification and availability settings. These can be customised later if needed.

11. On the "Customise Your Page" tab, choose "New" page template.  To "Set a custom colour for your booking page". you will need the colour code your organisation uses. Tick "Display business logo on your booking page".

12. Check the region and time zone settings are correct and make sure you save at the top of the (Booking) page to save the settings.

13. Skip "Customers" and "Staff" on the left side menu and go straight to "Services".

Here you can add as many meeting options as needed. For example, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour etc. We recommend customising 1 service first and then cloning the service. Click the pencil icon to edit the service - in this case "30 minute meeting".

14. Change or update the meeting name and description, buffer time (before and after meeting) is a good idea for preparation and note taking. This will block that extra time from being bookable. Make sure to save changes.

15. Choose the availability options. If the "Default scheduling policy" is on, this will reflect the time increments and lead time from earlier. Otherwise customise to your needs.

16. Assign yourself to the service and save changes.

17. Under "Custom Fields" ensure the email and phone number fields are on and then check that notifications are on.

18. Now you can clone your service and make changes as required using steps 14-17 above.

19. Next, go to "Business information" on the left side menu.

20. Under "Basic details" you can change the business name and add further details.

21. Next add your privacy policy and terms and conditions if applicable. 

22. Business logo - upload your Business's logo here.

23. Check the Business hours page. This should be the hours you expect to be able to take a meeting. Once updated and saved, check your booking website to make sure the availability is reflected and the calendar is showing available times correctly. It will block out your meetings and any other unavailable times from your Outlook calendar.

24. To share your bookings page with others, save the link to share. 

Detailed Process

1. Go to office.com, click the app launcher in the top left corner,

then choose “Bookings” from the list.

2. Choose "Create new calendar", 

then choose "Create from scratch". 

3. Give your calendar a name. The public view can be changed later, but for now you should choose something simple but professional, as the choice will create an email address for booking invites. For example, "meeting with john smith".

4. Then choose a business type from the drop down list. The logo and business hours can be added later.

5. Click “Next” through step 2 - (staff can be invited later), 

then at step 3 you will need to click "Change" to choose if you want to "Make this a Teams meeting" or not. 

This is not changeable later. You may want to consider having a separate calendar for Teams meetings and Phone meetings.

6. At step 4 choose “Anyone” then “create calendar”. 

7. Your calendar is ready to customise. Choose "get started".

8. You will be navigated to the “Calendar” tab. On the left side choose “Booking page”. 

Copy the link to a new browser tab so you can monitor the public view of your page whilst you are customising the page.

9. On the “Business page access control” choose “Disable direct search engine indexing of booking page”. 

This will exclude your page from internet search results, but it will still be available to clients that have the link.

10. Default Scheduling Policy. First choose what the minimum meeting time will be and enter that time into the "Time increments" field. Next  choose the minimum and maximum lead time - how much notice or how far in the future someone can book with you. Then choose email notification and availability settings. These can be customised later if needed.

11. On the "Customise Your Page" tab, choose "New" page template.  To "Set custom colour for your booking page". you will need the colour code your organisation uses.. Tick "Display business logo on your booking page" and upload your organisation's logo.

12. Check the region and time zone settings are correct and make sure you save at the top of the (Booking) page to save the settings.

13. Skip "Customers" and "Staff" on the left side menu and go straight to "Services".

Here you can add as many meeting options as needed. For example, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour etc. We recommend customising 1 service first and then cloning the service. Click the pencil icon to edit the service - in this case "30 minute meeting".

14. Under "Basic details" change or update the meeting name and description, buffer time (before and after meeting) is a good idea for preparation and note taking. This will block that extra time from being bookable. Make sure to save changes.

15. Choose the availability options. If the "Default scheduling policy" is on, this will reflect the time increments and lead time from earlier. Otherwise customise to your needs.

16. Assign yourself to the service and save changes.

17. Under "Custom Fields" ensure the email and phone number fields are on and then check that notifications are on. Save changes.

18. Now you can clone your service and make changes as required using steps 14-17 above.

19. Next, go to "Business information" on the left side menu.

20. Under "Basic details" you can change the business name and add further details.

21. Next add your privacy policy and terms and conditions if applicable. 

22. Business logo - upload your Business's logo here.

23. Check the Business hours page. This should be the hours you expect to be able to take a meeting. Once updated and saved, check your booking website to make sure the availability is reflected and the calendar is showing available times correctly. It will block out your meetings and any other unavailable times from your Outlook calendar.

24. To share your bookings page with others, save the link to share. 

Recorded Example

Part 1.

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Part 2.

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Part 3.

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Part 4.

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