Set up the practice and its calendar
Check what patients see from your practice and set up working hours and appointment types so bookings match reality.
After this lesson you can check the practice details patients see and set up the calendar so bookings match working hours. It takes about 20 minutes. You need the Owner or Admin role.
Why it matters
Patients meet your practice through its emails, letters and bookings. The sender name, the reply address and the time zone in those messages come from settings, not from the person who sends. The practice country decides which patient fields and catalogs you get. Booking suggestions depend on working hours, so wrong hours lead to wrong bookings.
How it works
The Linden practice opens on Monday. The owner checks what patients will see, then sets the calendar for Dr. Visser, who works Tuesday to Thursday.
Practice identity
Open Organization → Settings, then General. Organization is under Manage in the sidebar.
- My organization holds the name, logo, phone and Contact email. Patients see the contact email in emails and letters, and their replies go there. Without it, a reply reaches a no-reply address. Use an address someone reads.
- Practice locations holds addresses and rooms. The main address sets the practice country. The country decides identifier fields, catalogs and some rules. Changing the interface language does not change it, and changing the country later needs help from support.
- Patient communication holds the Sender name, website, legal line, appointment note and a Name the clinician choice. Use a neutral sender name if the practice name reveals a specialty. The Time zone here is the one every date and time in patient emails is written in.
Your plan limits how many locations you can add. Starter includes one.
Calendar
Open Calendar and choose Calendar settings. Everyone sees the personal group, Calendar view and Availability. Owners and admins also see the practice group, Scheduling and Appointment types.
In Availability, each clinician creates a profile with weekly hours and a time zone, adds date overrides for leave, and chooses Set as active. Suggested times and warnings use the active profile.
In Scheduling, the Time grid sets where suggested times land. Default working hours apply to clinicians who have not set their own. If you turn them off, a clinician with no profile has no bookable time. Four optional controls change how booking works: Hour blocks, Who performs each type, Locations and Rooms. Turn them on only when your practice needs them.
In Appointment types, each type has a Name, a Default length and a colour. Staff pick a type when they book.
Try it
This is a review. Change a value only if it is wrong. Under Settings, only the owner can change values outside Practice locations.
- Open Organization → Settings → My organization. Read the Contact email. Ask yourself who reads replies sent there.
- Open Practice locations. Find the address marked as main. Check that its country is the one your practice works in.
- Open Patient communication. Read the Sender name and Time zone.
- Open Calendar → Calendar settings → Availability. If you see patients yourself, check that an active profile has the right days, hours and time zone. If there is none, choose New profile, give it a name, add your weekly ranges, save it and choose Set as active.
- Open Appointment types and read the list.
- Open Sam Testpatient and choose New → Appointment. Under With, choose a clinician, yourself if you are in the list. Set a time outside your hours, for example 03:00. Read the warning in the editor. Choose Book, read the Scheduling warning, and choose Go back. Close the editor without booking.
Check yourself
- Where does the practice country come from, and can you change it in the app?
Answer
It comes from the main address under Practice locations. Changing it later needs a supported migration through support, so check it before you add patients.
- A clinician has no availability profile. Which hours does booking use?
Answer
The practice's default working hours under Scheduling, while they are on. If you turn them off, that clinician has no bookable time until they set their own.
- A patient's appointment email shows a time one hour off from the workspace calendar. Where do you look?
Answer
At the Time zone under Patient communication. Patient emails use that zone. The workspace calendar uses the time zone of the browser.
Next
Continue with Publish a form for your team. For the full steps, see Practice settings and Calendar settings.