Buffer time in Bookings is not being included in scheduling.

Question

From my understanding, the below excerpt describes how Buffer Timing should work in MS Bookings:

In Microsoft Bookings, buffer time is designed to be included in the appointment’s calendar event. This means the buffer is added to the meeting duration on your calendar. For example, if you have a 30-minute appointment with a 15-minute buffer before and after, Bookings will block a full 60-minute slot on the calendar (15 + 30 + 15 minutes). This is the expected design: the system ensures no other bookings overlap that buffer period.

I have a Bookings calendar with a service that appointment length is set to 30 minutes. When I add a 10 minute buffer (before the appointment) to the service, I would expect to see something like the below on the bookings page:

3:10, 3:50, 4:30, etc

Instead, I see:

3:10, 3:40, 4:10, etc

I do have a bunch of staff assigned to this service, but I'm seeing this behavior when I select just one staff member.
Is there some setting I'm missing that is causing this behavior, or is this a glitch in Bookings?

Thank you for your time,

Paul

Answer 1

It seems like you are experiencing an issue with the buffer time not being reflected correctly in the scheduling of appointments in Microsoft Bookings. According to the information available, buffer time is indeed supposed to be included in the appointment’s duration, which means that if you have a 30-minute appointment with a 10-minute buffer before it, the total time blocked on the calendar should be 40 minutes (10 minutes buffer + 30 minutes appointment).

However, if you are seeing times that do not reflect this (like 3:10, 3:40, 4:10 instead of 3:10, 3:50, 4:30), it could be due to a few factors:

1. Service-Level Settings: Ensure that the buffer time is correctly set at the service level for the specific appointment type you are using. If it is not set properly, it may default to the business-level policy.
2. Staff Availability: Check if the selected staff member has any other appointments or constraints that might affect their availability. This could lead to the appearance of shorter gaps in the schedule.
3. System Glitch: If everything seems to be set correctly, it might be a glitch in the system. In such cases, it may be beneficial to reach out to Microsoft support for assistance.

Make sure to double-check these settings to resolve the issue with buffer time not being included in the scheduling as expected.

Answer 2

Hope this helps someone struggling with the same thing.

1. Go to Edit the service
2. Go to availability options
3. Under scheduling policy - You need to change the 'Time Increments' from default to customise and change to the time to accommodate the whole time slot: appointment time + Buffer time
4. Example - 30 min appointment time + 10 buffer time = Time increments of 40 mins

Answer 3

Hi,

Thank you for sharing your question. I understand how confusing it can be when the scheduling intervals on the booking page don’t reflect the total time you expect after adding a buffer, especially when you’re trying to avoid back‑to‑back appointments.

It makes sense to feel concerned, because Bookings is designed to include buffer time inside the actual event duration on the calendar, and you would reasonably expect the available time slots to shift accordingly.

Based on my knowledge, buffer time is added directly to the event and expands the busy window on the staff calendar, preventing overlapping bookings. For example, a 30‑minute appointment with a 15‑minute buffer before and after should block a full 60‑minute slot, and this is the expected design in Bookings.

However, if you are seeing intervals such as 3:10, 3:40, 4:10 instead of 3:10, 3:50, 4:30, Bookings may still be offering availability based on the appointment length rather than the combined buffer + appointment duration. Similar user reports indicate this can happen due to service‑level settings not updating properly or Bookings not recalculating availability even though buffer time is technically applied to the event itself. The Microsoft Q&A thread describing this exact issue suggests verifying service‑level buffer settings and staff availability, and also notes that unexpected slot patterns can indicate a system glitch.

May I ask whether your service has both before and after buffers enabled, or only a before buffer? In some cases, Bookings’ slot‑generation logic behaves differently depending on the combination of buffer settings applied.

Feel free to share that detail, and I’ll be happy to help you confirm whether this is a configuration issue or a current Bookings bug and guide you on next steps if Microsoft support needs to review the calendar behavior.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Best Regards,

Noel