Bookings
Using the Calendar
Last updated 19 May 2026
Using the Calendar
The calendar is your daily schedule view, it shows all bookings, staff availability, and open time slots so you can manage appointments at a glance.
TL;DR
- The calendar shows all staff schedules, switch between Day, 3-Day, Week, and Agenda views
- Drag-to-reschedule works on web and iPad but not on phones
- Most common mistake: calendar appearing empty because a staff filter is active
- Reset the staff filter to "All" / "All Team" and status filter to "All statuses" if bookings are missing
Overview
The OpenChair calendar lets you:
- See all staff schedules side-by-side in a day view with colour-coded booking blocks
- Switch between Day, 3-Day, Week, and Agenda views
- Navigate dates and jump to today with one click or tap
- Filter by staff, resource, or booking status
- Click or tap an empty slot to create a new booking
- Drag a booking to a new time to reschedule (web and tablet)
- View booking details, change statuses, and take payment from the calendar
View Modes
The calendar offers four view modes. On web, switch views using the dropdown in the top-right toolbar. On mobile, tap the view selector pill in the top-left corner.
| View | What It Shows | Keyboard Shortcut (Web) | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day | Single day with one column per staff member | 1 | Web and mobile |
| 3-Day | Three consecutive days side-by-side | 2 | Web and iPad only |
| Week | Seven days across the screen | 3 | Web only |
| Agenda | Chronological list of bookings grouped by time | 4 | Web and mobile |
On mobile phones, only Day and Agenda views are available. On iPad, Day, 3-Day, and Agenda are available.
Layout Density
Within the Day view, you can choose between two layout densities:
| Density | Effect |
|---|---|
| Comfortable (default) | Taller time slots, booking blocks show full details including service names |
| Compact | Shorter time slots, fits more hours on screen, booking blocks show abbreviated details |
On web, change the density from the view dropdown menu. On iPad, use the density toggle icons in the toolbar (the rows icon switches between Compact and Comfortable).
The density preference is saved per venue and persists across devices.
Navigating Dates
On Web
- Click the left arrow or right arrow buttons to move forward or back (by 1 day, 3 days, or 7 days depending on the view)
- Click the date display in the centre to open a calendar picker and jump to any date
- Click "Today" to return to the current date (keyboard shortcut: T)
On Mobile
- Tap the left arrow or right arrow to step through days
- Tap the date label (e.g., "Mon 24 Mar") to open a calendar picker
- When viewing a date other than today, a "Today" button appears, tap it to jump back
The date label appears in your venue's local colour when viewing today's date.
Staff Columns (Day View)
In the Day view, each staff member has their own column. The column header shows the staff member's initials and first name, with a colour-coded circle matching their calendar colour.
- Working hours appear as the normal background
- Non-working hours (before or after the staff member's roster) appear shaded
- On iPad, tap a staff column header to filter the calendar to that staff member only
Filtering
Staff Filter
On web (multi-day views): Use the "All Team" dropdown in the toolbar to filter by a specific staff member.
On mobile: A row of filter pills appears below the toolbar. Tap "All" to show everyone, or tap a staff member's name to show only their bookings. Tap the same name again to return to all staff.
Status Filter (Agenda View)
In the Agenda view, a status filter is available:
- On web: Click the Status dropdown above the agenda list
- On mobile: Tap the status filter pill (defaults to "All statuses")
Available statuses: Pending, Confirmed, Arrived, Completed, Cancelled, No show, Blocked
Resource Filter
If your venue uses resources (e.g., chairs, rooms), a resource filter appears. On mobile, tap the "All resources" pill to filter by a specific resource.
Booking Blocks
Each booking appears as a coloured block on the calendar. The block shows the customer name, service name, and time. In comfortable density, longer bookings also show a service itinerary.
Status Colours
Booking blocks are colour-coded by status with a coloured left border:
| Status | Left Border Colour | Appearance |
|---|---|---|
| Pending | Amber | Dashed border, muted background |
| Confirmed | Staff's calendar colour | Solid, staff-coloured background |
| Arrived | Blue/purple | Staff-coloured background with blue left accent |
| Completed | Green | Staff-coloured background with green left accent, slightly faded |
| Cancelled | Red | Red-tinted background, reduced opacity |
| No show | Red (darker) | Red background, more prominent than cancelled |
Payment Indicators
Small icons appear on booking blocks to show payment status:
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Green checkmark with "Done" | Paid in full |
| Red dollar sign with "Unpaid" | Completed but unpaid balance remains |
| Green dot | Deposit captured |
| Warning triangle | Deposit expired |
| Star with "AI" | Booking created by the AI Concierge |
Current Time Indicator
When viewing today's date, a red line stretches across the calendar at the current time. On web, it displays the current time (e.g., "2:45 PM") as a red pill on the left edge.
On mobile, if the current time line is scrolled off-screen, a floating "Now" badge appears in the corner. Tap it to scroll to the current time.
Creating a Booking from the Calendar
- On web: Click any empty time slot to open the booking dialog, pre-filled with that date, time, and staff member
- On mobile (tablet): Long-press an empty time slot to see options: "New booking" or "Block out time"
- On mobile (phone): Use the floating action button to start a new booking
Press N on your keyboard (web) to open the booking form at any time.
Viewing Booking Details
- On web: Click a booking block to open the booking detail panel on the right side of the screen
- On mobile (phone): Tap a booking block to navigate to the full booking detail screen
- On mobile (iPad): Tap a booking block to open the inspector panel alongside the calendar
The detail view shows the customer name and contact details, services booked, assigned staff member, payment status, notes, and action buttons.
Quick Actions (Mobile)
On phones, long-press a booking block to open a quick action sheet with:
- "Mark as arrived" (for pending or confirmed bookings)
- "Mark as complete" (for confirmed or arrived bookings)
- "View details": opens the full booking detail screen
Drag-to-Reschedule
On web and iPad, you can drag a booking block to a new time slot to reschedule it.
- Click and hold (web) or long-press (iPad) a booking block
- Drag it up or down to a new time, the block snaps to 15-minute intervals
- Release to confirm the new time
If the new time conflicts with the staff member's roster (e.g., they are off-duty or outside working hours), a confirmation dialog appears asking whether to override. Hard conflicts with other bookings are blocked.
Drag-to-reschedule is not available on phones, in kiosk mode, or for cancelled/completed bookings.
Blocking Out Time
To block out time for breaks, training, or personal tasks:
On web:
- Click "Block out time" in the calendar toolbar
- Select the staff member, start time, and end time
- Optionally add a label (e.g., "Lunch", "Training")
- Click to confirm
On mobile (tablet):
- Long-press an empty time slot and select "Block out time"
Blocked time appears on the calendar as a grey block with the reason you selected.
For full details on creating, viewing, and removing time blocks, see Blocking Out Time.
Waitlist Sidebar (Web and iPad)
On web and iPad, click the "Waitlist" button in the toolbar to open a sidebar showing clients waiting for appointments. The button shows a badge with the number of waitlist entries.
The sidebar displays clients grouped by status ("Ready to contact", "Offered", "Matched") and lets you send offers or book directly from matched gaps.
External calendar events
If you've connected a Google or Microsoft Outlook calendar via Calendar Sync, personal events on the connected calendar render as muted blocks on the schedule. By default they appear as Busy with no title; toggle Show event titles on the connection card to reveal the real titles. Events you mark as Free (Google) or Available (Outlook) sync but don't block bookable slots.
When an external event overlaps with a booking on the same staff member, the conflict surfaces in three places: the dashboard Schedule conflicts widget (with one-tap reschedule), a push notification to the affected staff, and a small conflict indicator overlay on the booking block on mobile.
Processing-gap fill
If a booking has processing time (e.g. colour processing, hair dye, foils), the calendar surfaces the gap with a count of waitlist matches that fit it. Tap to send an offer or fill the gap directly — same underlying engine as the Concierge gap-fill. Available across every view (Day, 3-Day, Week, Agenda) as of v0.75.
Calendar closures
Mark multi-day closures (public holidays, leave, venue-wide downtime) from the calendar toolbar → Closures.
Scope
- Venue-wide — whole venue closed (public holidays, renovation, owner away)
- Per-staff — single staff member out (annual leave, sick leave, training)
Date range
start_dateandend_date(inclusive)- All-day toggle, OR specific
start_time/end_timefor partial-day closures
Reason
- Public holiday
- Annual leave
- Sick leave
- Training
- Event
- Maintenance
- Other (free-text)
Plus an optional note (200 char cap) for context.
Public holiday presets
Built-in regional presets for AU, NZ, GB — bulk-import all the public holidays for the year in one tap from Import public holidays. Auto-renewing for yearly recurrence (e.g. Christmas Day) via cron.
Effect on bookings
- The closure blocks all new bookable slots for the date range
- The storefront shows the closure ribbon at the top of each affected day
- Existing bookings stay put — closures don't auto-cancel
- Surfaces conflicts with reassign candidates (other qualified, free staff) via the conflict resolver dialog
If you need bookings inside the window cancelled, do it explicitly via the booking detail (no auto-mass-cancel).
Recurrence
- One-off — single date range (most leave entries)
- Yearly — repeats annually (public holidays). Auto-renewed by the closures cron preset renewal.
Use yearly recurrence for fixed-date holidays. Use one-off for moveable dates like Easter, or for one-time closures.
Roster conflict override
When creating or moving a booking to a staff member who isn't scheduled to work, the calendar surfaces a roster conflict warning. Owners and managers can override with Force save to book outside the roster (useful for last-minute coverage); stylists are blocked.
Walk-in pill
On the storefront, customers can self-check in via the walk-in flow. When walk-ins are enabled, the calendar's Queue + Diary view (keyboard shortcut 5) shows the live waiting queue alongside the day diary on web.
Keyboard Shortcuts (Web)
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| T | Jump to today |
| 1 | Switch to Day view |
| 2 | Switch to 3-Day view |
| 3 | Switch to Week view |
| 4 | Switch to Agenda view |
| 5 | Switch to Queue + Diary view (walk-ins) |
| N | Open the new booking form |
Web vs Mobile
| Feature | Web | Mobile (Phone) | Mobile (iPad) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day view | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 3-Day view | Yes | No | Yes |
| Week view | Yes | No | No |
| Agenda view | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Staff filter | Dropdown (multi-day views) | Filter pills | Filter pills + column header tap |
| Status filter | Agenda only | Agenda only | Agenda only |
| Drag-to-reschedule | Yes (click and drag) | No | Yes (long-press and drag) |
| Block out time | Toolbar button | Long-press empty slot | Long-press empty slot |
| Booking detail | Side panel | Full-screen navigation | Inspector panel |
| Quick actions | Click booking | Long-press booking | Tap booking (inspector) |
| Waitlist sidebar | Yes | No | Yes |
| Density toggle | View dropdown menu | Not available | Toolbar icons |
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| No staff columns showing on the calendar | Your venue needs at least one team member. Go to Team in the sidebar and add a staff member, or ensure at least one staff member is active and rostered for the day you are viewing. |
| Calendar shows no bookings but I know there are some | Check the filters, you may have a specific staff member or status selected. Reset the staff filter to "All" / "All Team" and the status filter to "All statuses". |
| Cannot drag a booking to a new time | Drag-to-reschedule is only available on web and iPad, and only for active bookings (not cancelled, completed, or no-show). On phone, open the booking detail and tap "Reschedule" instead. |
| Calendar is slow or not loading | Pull down to refresh (mobile) or reload the page (web). If the issue persists, check your internet connection. Large teams with many bookings may load more slowly on the Agenda view. |
| Time slots appear outside business hours | The calendar grid runs from 6 AM to 10 PM by default. Your operating hours and staff rosters determine which slots are shaded as non-working. Bookings can still be created outside these hours. |
| Current time line is not showing | The red current time indicator only appears when viewing today's date. Navigate to today by pressing T (web) or tapping "Today" (mobile). |
FAQ
How do I use the OpenChair calendar?
The calendar shows all staff schedules side-by-side in the Day view. Click or tap any booking block to view details and manage the appointment. Click an empty time slot to create a new booking. Use the toolbar to switch views (Day, 3-Day, Week, Agenda) and navigate dates.
How do I filter the calendar by staff member?
On web, use the "All Team" dropdown in the toolbar. On mobile, tap a staff member's name pill in the filter bar below the toolbar. Tap the same name again or tap "All" to return to showing all staff.
Can I drag a booking to reschedule it?
Yes, on web and iPad. Click and hold (web) or long-press (iPad) a booking block and drag it to a new time slot, the block snaps to 15-minute intervals. Drag-to-reschedule is not available on phones. If you drop it in the wrong spot, click Undo within 8 seconds.
What do the colours on booking blocks mean?
Pending bookings have an amber dashed border. Confirmed bookings show the staff member's calendar colour. Arrived has a blue/purple accent, Completed has a green accent, and Cancelled and No show use red backgrounds.