Troubleshooting Missing or Incorrect Appointment Time Slots
Overview
If time slots for appointments are not appearing, showing as unavailable, or displaying at unexpected times on your public calendar, it's typically due to one or more configuration settings. This article outlines the common causes and how to check and resolve them.
Verify Your Calendar Configuration
Start by ensuring the foundational settings for your calendar are correct.
Check You're Editing the Right Calendar
Navigate to your Calendars list and select the specific calendar you are troubleshooting. Confirm you are working on the intended calendar by checking its name and type.
Review Working Hours and Availability Overrides
Open the calendar's Availability settings. Verify that your standard weekly working hours are set correctly. Also, check for any date-specific overrides that might be blocking availability on particular days.
Confirm Assigned Team Members
For a calendar to show available slots, it must have at least one team member assigned to it. Check the service or assignment settings to ensure a user is selected. A calendar with no assigned staff will not generate bookable times.
Check Slot Timing and Buffer Settings
The way time slots are generated is controlled by several timing parameters.
In the Availability settings, review:
- Service Duration: The length of the appointment.
- Service Interval: How often a new slot starts (e.g., every 15 minutes).
- Buffer Time: Time added after an appointment before the next one can start.
An incorrect combination of these settings—like a duration longer than the interval—can prevent slots from appearing or create unexpected gaps.
Understand Capacity for Multiple Appointments Per Slot
For calendars like Events or Classes that allow multiple clients to book the same time slot, visibility depends on capacity limits.
How Slot Capacity Works
Each confirmed appointment reduces the available capacity for its time slot by one. If an appointment's duration overlaps multiple consecutive slots, it reduces the capacity of each of those overlapping slots by one. A time slot will only become fully blocked and disappear from the booking page when the total number of bookings reaches the maximum capacity set for that slot. Overlapping appointments no longer cause all affected slots to be blocked prematurely.
If a slot is missing, check if the maximum number of appointments for that time has already been booked.
Identify External Conflicts
Synced Calendar Events
If you have connected an external calendar like Google or Outlook, events marked as 'Busy' on that calendar will block corresponding time slots in your CRM calendar. Check your external calendar for events that may be conflicting with your intended availability.
Timezone Alignment
Timezone mismatches are a frequent cause of slots appearing at the wrong time or not at all. Verify that the timezone in your user profile matches the timezone set for the calendar's viewing and display. A slot that is available in one timezone may be outside of business hours in another.
Use the Calendar Troubleshooting Tool
Your CRM includes a dedicated tool to analyze why specific time slots are blocked.
To use it:
- Go to your Calendar Settings.
- Find the calendar in question.
- Select the option to troubleshoot it.
The tool provides a detailed report, showing which rules—such as capacity limits, buffer times, team member assignments, external conflicts, or timezone settings—are preventing a slot from being available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is a team member shown as available but not receiving bookings?
This can be due to Round Robin distribution settings, availability priority rules, or how users are assigned to the specific service.
Why are my bookable slots not matching my configured working hours?
Double-check your service interval, duration, and buffer settings. Also, look for conflicts from synced external calendars.
Do overlapping appointments block entire time slots?
No. With the updated logic, an overlapping appointment reduces the capacity of affected slots by one. A slot is only completely blocked when its defined capacity limit is fully reached.
What does the Troubleshooting Tool show?
It displays a list of all active rules and checks that are impacting the visibility of a selected time slot, including capacity, buffers, user assignment, and external calendar conflicts.