How can I resolve overlapping appointments?
Find where the overlap came from, move one booking and keep every booking in a single place.
Everyday problems
The public booking page only offers open times, so it doesn’t create overlaps by itself. When two appointments clash, the usual cause is a booking agreed outside the tool, an imported file or a schedule change made after the booking existed. Here’s how to fix the clash and keep it from returning.
Find the clash. Open the day or week view for the provider concerned and look for two bookings sharing the same time. Check how each one was created: through the public page, by a member of the team, from an imported .ics file, or agreed by phone and entered later.
Decide which booking moves. Usually it’s the newer one, or the one entered by hand. Phone the client yourself, because 4appointments sends no automatic message about changes, and offer the nearest open time. The sooner you call, the easier it is to find an alternative that suits them.
Move the booking in the calendar. Drag it to an open slot or edit its time. Moving a booking checks the provider’s availability and overlaps, so the tool won’t let you replace one clash with another. If the client used a management link, they can also pick a new time themselves, but you have to send them the link if you created the booking.
Look for the cause and prevent repeats. Did you add a day off or a block over bookings that already existed? Was a calendar subscribed through ICS refreshed late (busy blocks update about every 15 minutes)? The pause between bookings applies to bookings made through the public page but not to those created by staff. Enter every phone or in-person booking in the Bookings section, where availability is checked for you, and subscribe to the ICS link of any other calendar you use so its busy blocks close those times.
What to remember
- ✓The public page offers only open times, so most clashes come from bookings made elsewhere
- ✓Creating or moving a booking in the panel checks availability and overlaps
- ✓Warn the client by phone yourself, as the tool sends no change notices
Common questions
How did overlaps happen when I use an online system?+
Most often a booking was agreed by phone or text and never entered, an .ics file was imported over existing items, or a schedule change was made after the booking already existed.
Is there a way to be alerted when an overlap is created?+
There’s no separate alert. Instead, the booking page hides taken times and creating or moving a booking in the panel checks overlaps, so look at the day and week views regularly if you suspect a clash.
More guides to explore
Say goodbye to overlapping bookings
Offer clients only open times through your booking page and enter every other booking in the panel, where availability and overlaps are checked for you.
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