Bookings Availability Settings

Use the Availability tab of a bookable product to control booking capacity, how far in advance customers can book, buffer time, selectable start days, and product-specific availability rules.

If several bookable products share the same schedule, configure Store Availability first, then add product-level rules only where the product needs to differ.

Open the availability settings

↑ Back to top

Before changing availability, check the product’s booking duration and unit on the General tab. These determine the length of each block and the unit used for buffers.

1. Go to Products > All Products.
2. Select the bookable product you want to edit.
3. Confirm that Product data is set to Bookable product, then select Availability.

Booking capacity and advance window

↑ Back to top

Max bookings per block

↑ Back to top

Max bookings per block limits how many bookings customers can make for the same block. For example, when a product uses one-day blocks and this value is 2, up to two bookings can be made for each day.

If Count persons as bookings is enabled on the Persons tab, each person uses one place in this capacity. When a product uses resources, their quantities and the Share max bookings per block? option also affect capacity. See Resources in Bookings for details.

Minimum and maximum block bookable

↑ Back to top

These settings define the earliest and latest time a customer can book:

• Minimum block bookable sets how much notice you require before a booking can begin.
• Maximum block bookable sets how far into the future customers can book.

For example, set the minimum to 3 Day(s) and the maximum to 2 Week(s) to require three days’ notice and accept bookings up to two weeks ahead. Both fields offer months, weeks, days, and hours. Other availability rules and existing bookings still determine which slots within that window are available.

Buffer and availability behavior

↑ Back to top

Buffer period

↑ Back to top

Require a buffer period of adds time between bookable slots. It also changes the offered start times before any bookings exist. The buffer uses the same unit as the booking duration. For example, a product with 60-minute blocks uses a buffer measured in minutes.

With fixed one-hour blocks, daily availability from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, a one-hour buffer, and Adjacent Buffering? cleared, the offered starts are 10:00 AM, noon, 2:00 PM, and 4:00 PM. The last appointment ends at 5:00 PM.

Enable Adjacent Buffering? to apply the buffer before and after each booking. A one-hour buffer then leaves two hours between appointments; the same example offers 10:00 AM, 1:00 PM, and 4:00 PM starts.

To allow a 30-minute buffer around one-hour appointments, set the booking duration to 60 Minute(s) on the General tab and enter 30 for the buffer.

Default availability

↑ Back to top

• available by default makes every block bookable unless a rule makes it unavailable.
• not-available by default makes every block unavailable unless a rule makes it bookable.

Check rules against

↑ Back to top

• All blocks being booked checks every block in the requested duration.
• The starting block only checks only the first block in the requested duration.

For a five-day booking made of one-day blocks, All blocks being booked checks all five days. The starting block only checks the first day.

Selectable start days

↑ Back to top

For hour- or minute-based products, First block starts at… sets the earliest daily start time from which blocks are calculated. Availability rules must also permit that time.

Enable Restrict selectable days? to choose which days can be selected as a booking’s start date. Select each weekday on which bookings may start. This setting does not make the other days unavailable; it only prevents customers from choosing them as the start date. For example, allow Saturday starts for a two-day booking that continues into Sunday. To close a weekday entirely, use an availability rule instead and check All blocks being booked.

Custom availability rules

↑ Back to top

Use the table at the bottom of the Availability tab to add product-specific rules:

1. Select Add Range.
2. Choose a Range type.
3. Enter the range in the fields that appear.
4. Set Bookable to Yes or No.
5. Set the rule’s Priority.
6. Select Update to save the product.

For daily hours with a Tuesday break, set All dates are… to not-available by default. Add Every day (Set time) from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Bookable: Yes, priority 10. Add Every Tuesday (Set time) from noon to 2:00 PM, Bookable: No, priority 9. The lower-numbered Tuesday rule overrides the daily hours during that break.

Range types

↑ Back to top

Range type	When the rule applies
Specific Dates (All day)	An inclusive date range.
Specific Months (All day)	A range of months, repeated each year.
Specific Weeks (All day)	A range of week numbers; the editor offers weeks 1–53.
Specific Days (All day)	A range of weekdays, such as Monday through Friday.
Specific Dates (Set time)	One continuous period from the start date and time through the end date and time.
Every day (Set time)	The same time range every day.
Every day within specific dates (Set time)	The same time range repeated daily between two dates.
Every Monday (Set time), etc.	A weekly time range on the selected weekday.

Time ranges define when a booking can take place, rather than just its start time. For example, one-hour appointments must start by 4:00 PM to finish within a range that ends at 5:00 PM.

Use the handle on the left of a rule to reorder it. Use the X on the right to remove it.

Rule priority

↑ Back to top

A lower priority number overrides a higher priority number. For example, priority 9 overrides priority 10, even when those rules are set at different levels.

When multiple rules at the same level have the same priority, their order matters: a rule higher in the list takes precedence over one lower in the list. Reorder rules with the handle on the left.

When priority numbers match: Store Availability rules take precedence over product rules, and product rules take precedence over resource rules. A lower priority number overrides a higher number regardless of the rule’s level.

See Understanding How Priority Affects Availability Rules for detailed examples.

Check your availability

↑ Back to top

Select Update, then open the product’s storefront page. Choose a date within your booking window and confirm the offered starts. With the one-hour appointment and buffer example above, an ordinary day offers 10:00 AM, noon, 2:00 PM, and 4:00 PM. A Tuesday with the noon–2:00 PM closure offers 10:00 AM, 2:00 PM, and 4:00 PM.

If a date or time is missing, check the minimum and maximum booking window, buffer, permitted start days, and overlapping availability rules. Also check existing bookings and resource capacity. When an exception is ignored, compare its priority number and, for rules at the same level and priority, its position in the table.

Troubleshooting availability

↑ Back to top

If a product does not show the dates or times you expect, work through Troubleshooting availability rules.