Last month, Google introduced appointment slots in Google Calendar. We plan to add this feature as an alternative way for clients to request appointments. We currently offer to schedule appointments via email but, as you can imagine, if the initial offered / requested time is not acceptable, it can result in a lot of back-and-forth emails. Appointment slots in Google Calendar appears to be a promising feature that will make online appointment request more efficient. All appointments are requests only until we confirm them with you either via email, phone call, or Google Calendar confirmation. More details will be posted later when we start implementing this feature.
We are posting this brief tutorial prior to introducing our Google Calendar appointment request option to help prepare our clients who may not be familiar with Google Calendar. You need a Google account to access our appointment slots in Google Calendar.
If you do not have a Google account, you can easily create one:
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| Click on image to enlarge |
Once you have an account, we need to set up Notifications for your Calendar. From your Gmail page, you can access your Calendar from the menu bar:
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A list of your calendars is located on the left side of the screen. If you are new to Calendar, you probably will only have the one calendar that is defaulted to your email address. You can change the name of the calendar in the settings but, for the purpose of this tutorial, we will skip all that and just do the Notifications. Access Notifications either through the Settings option or right-click on the arrow.
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| Setting up Notifications (click on image to enlarge). |
Then select the Notifications tab to continue with your settings.
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| Notifications (click on image to enlarge) |
In Notifications, you can select reminder options. If you are new to Calendar and/or do not already have a reminder preference, we recommend at least email notifications for all new or changed invitations ("appointment requests").
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| Email Notifications (click on image to enlarge) |
Save your changes.
Once you have that set up, you will receive email notifications regarding invitations or appointment requests later.
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| Email Notifications (click on image to enlarge) |
That's it. You are all set to take advantage of our online appointment request feature later.
We hope we included the details needed to help those not familiar with Google Calendar prepare for the Appointment Slots feature. Let us know if you need further assistance. We will post additional information once we start the online appointment request option.