Availability is a booking policy built around a calendar. Set the window a prospect may use, the preparation time you need, the furthest date you will accept, and the conditions that make a slot deliverable. A calendar can look open to you while hidden tentative meeting times appear unavailable to people looking for a meeting.1 Check the rules and calendar states behind the page, then test it from the prospect's side.
Define what can be booked
Set the appointment details first, then decide who can reach it. That keeps access, duration and availability in one setup pass.
Select the appointment duration and availability when you create the schedule.2 Use the setup to customize how you meet with others.3 Give the schedule a clear name. The Name field is required in Microsoft Bookings.4
Choose access deliberately. Making the booking page available to anyone allows anyone with the link to book time.5 You can modify that access option later.6 Check the account plan before designing the flow, since some appointment schedule features require an eligible Google Workspace or Google One subscription.7
Set the bookable days and hours
Set the public page to show the days you intend to accept bookings and the periods when you can deliver the meeting.
An automatically generated booking page can be based on weekday availability and omit times when the user is busy.8 Review the weekday pattern so the page shows the working rhythm you want prospects to see.
Use a pause state when capacity changes. Marking a service as not bookable prevents customers from booking it.9 You can use that state to suspend online booking temporarily.10 Manual booking from the calendar can still remain available.11
Offer a range of meeting times so prospects can work around competing commitments.12 Keep open only the days and hours you can support without later withdrawing slots.
Set duration, buffers, and start times
Duration, spacing and start time increments shape the slots a prospect can select.
Treat buffers as an availability rule and test their effect before publishing. Availability settings can use calendar connections, event duration and buffers to control when people can book.13 Start time increments determine how frequently available slots appear.14 A 30-minute increment displays times such as 9:00, 9:30 and 10:00.15
Choose the increment based on the times you want prospects to see. Inspect a day with meetings on either side of an open period to confirm that the duration and buffer produce the choices you expect.
Set lead time and booking horizon
Lead time controls how soon a prospect can book. The booking horizon controls how far ahead the page lets them plan, so set both against the work required around the meeting.
Minimum Lead Time specifies how many hours of advance preparation you require before an appointment.16 Ask, "How far in advance should users be able to book appointment with you?"17 The default Maximum Lead Time is 365 days.18 Decide whether that horizon fits the way you plan your calendar instead of carrying the default forward.
For high intent forms, require bookable slots within 24 to 48 hours.19 When recipients need time to find room in their calendars, offering a date at least a week out gives them that space.20 Use both options when the booking audience has different planning needs.
Check the calendar and time zone
Before publishing, test the page as someone who has no knowledge of your calendar. Check what that person can see and select, not only whether the settings look correct in the editor.
Verify that the current time zone reflects your geographic location.21 Test a busy period, a tentative period and the edge of each bookable day. Confirm that the displayed choices match the availability rule you intended.
Check the earliest and latest dates the page offers. Try the page from a different location if prospects may book across regions, and compare the displayed time with the time you expect to attend.
Publish and maintain the booking page
Publishing turns the rules into a prospect experience. Finish the page details before sending the link into an outbound motion.
Configure the welcome page, booking availability, booking form and post-submit confirmation actions.22 Set the booking confirmation email and any additional reminder emails as associated automations.23
After each material change to hours, duration, buffers or lead times, run the prospect-side test again. If the page shows a slot you cannot deliver, close that slot before sending more traffic to it.
What not to do
These failures come from treating availability as a fixed list of hours. Use the checks below before sending the link.
- Do not leave a service bookable when the people delivering it cannot support the slot. The setting that limits booking to times when staff are free helps avoid double-booking and schedule conflicts.24
- Do not turn a recurring calendar block into a permanent closure. Salespeople often need to keep calendars open for SDR meetings and automated demo bookings.25