MS Bookings start time problem.

Question

I run a student workshop at a University and am trying to use MS Bookings to allow students and staff to book resources. The problem I'm having is with the interaction with my Office calendar. In Bookings I want sessions to start at defined times, e.g. 0800, 0900, 1000, etc., but Bookings appears to be prioritising the duration rather than start time, so instead of loosing the 0900 session if there is a 0900-0925 conflict, it is shifting the start times and honouring duration, e.g., 0800, 0925, 1025, etc. This is not acceptable. Is there a way I can stop this happening without breaking the connection to my calendar?

Alternatively, as some of these services in this calendar are defined teaching slots, where I have to make sure I am available, can I turn off 'Events on Office calendar affect availability' for the teaching services, but when students are booking personal slots, have my calendar stopping them double-booking me. If there isn't a way of doing this, if I create another Bookings calendar with the same 'staff' can this setting be different between them. Will two Bookings calendars with the same staff prevent double booking?

Answer 1

Hi Ajibola,

Sorry, you haven't understood the problem. I have set Bookings as you advise, so with one hour duration, appointments should start at 0800, 0900, 1000, 1100, etc. However, if my Office calendar has a conflict, e.g., 0900-0925 hrs, then Bookings SHIFTS the start times, that is - 0800, 0925, 1025, 1125, etc., which I don't want. I want to set the start times 0800, 0900, 1000, 1100, etc. and if there is a conflict, 0900-0925, then the affected slot is removed, not moved - 0800, 0900, 1000, 1100, etc.

I can't be the only person who wants this.

Kind regards,

Ted.

Answer 2

Greetings! I am Ajibola, eager to assist you with confidence and assertiveness. I guarantee to provide you with exceptional support.

Adjust the time increments and the minimum lead time settings in your MS Bookings page. These settings control how often and how soon customers can book your services. To adjust these settings, you can do the following steps:

• Go to Microsoft 365 and select Bookings.

• In the navigation pane, choose the Booking page.

• Under the Scheduling policy section, adjust the Time increments setting. You can set customized time increments (e.g., 60 minutes) that match your defined start times (e.g., 0800, 0900, 1000, etc.).

• Also under the Scheduling policy section, adjust the Minimum lead time setting. You can set the minimum time (e.g., 24 hours) before a customer can book an appointment. This will prevent customers from booking last-minute appointments that may conflict with your Office calendar events.

• Click Save and Publish to

For further reference, you can also find similar issues and solutions in the link provided:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/bookings-can-we-block-a-time-from-being-booked-as/2521cc37-684e-4f7e-82e4-727c1d933e85

If you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please feel free to ask. I'm here to help!

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Kind regards.

Ajibola.