The online booking settings page can be accessed from the System Settings screen in PPS Express. You will need to be logged in as the system administrator user in order to access the System Settings.
Use the Online Booking Settings page to control where and how your booking form appears. Here, you can set up approved domains, customise the form’s look and functionality, and create profiles for different locations, services or practitioners.
If you are upgrading from Online Booking V3 or V5 then there is no longer an Online Booking Admin module. All the online booking settings are located within the Online Booking Settings page in PPS Express. Please contact support if you are unsure on how to access PPS Express.
Global Settings
The Global Settings section allows you to customise how your online booking form looks and functions.
Description
Add a short description that will appear on your booking form. This can be used to introduce your services, outline booking policies, or provide key information for clients.
Booking Type
Choose which types of bookings to allow:
- Allow Appointments and Events – Allows both appointments and event bookings.
- Allow Appointments Only – Restricts the form to appointment bookings only.
- Allow Events Only – Restricts the form to event bookings only.
Colours
Customise the look of your booking form to match your brand:
- Primary Colour – Used for the left-hand sidebar, section headers, and main buttons.
- Secondary Colour – Used for the main background area of the form.
- Border - A border can be either enabled or disabled around the online booking form. If a border is enabled it will use your primary theme colour.
Appointment Types
Select which appointment types will be available for clients to book online. If none are selected then the online booking form will show 'No appointments currently available!'.
Appointment types that do not have a profile set up will display a warning triangle. These appointment types will not appear within the online booking form until a profile is set up for them.
Setting up Profiles for Express-Only systems | Setting up Profiles for systems that also use PPS
Privacy Notice
Enable and display a privacy notice for your clients:
- Tick Enable Privacy Notice to activate.
- Enter your privacy notice text in the provided box.
Booking Window
The Minimum Booking Window and Maximum Booking Window setting allow you to configure how soon or how far in advance clients can make appointments through online booking.
- The Minimum Booking Window sets the shortest amount of notice required before a client can book an appointment. For example, setting this to 2 hours will only show available slots that are 2 or more hours into the future.
- The Maximum Booking Window sets how far ahead clients are allowed to book. For example, setting this to 30 days means appointments can only be booked up to 30 days in advance.
This can be configured globally or set within each preset if you need to offer different booking windows for different preset configurations.
The booking window applies to both Appointment and Event booking types.
Terms and Conditions
Enable and display terms and conditions for your clients:
- Tick Enable Terms and Conditions to activate.
- Enter your terms and conditions in the provided box.
When Terms and Conditions are enabled, clients will be required to read and accept them before they can proceed with their booking.
When finished, click Update to save your changes.
Client Matching
When clients book appointments online their appointment can be automatically matched to an existing record. You can also enable a new client record to be created if the details entered at the time of booking do not match any existing clients. Auto client matching is enabled by default.
A client will only be matched if the details entered at the time of the booking match that of a client already in your database. The appointment will not be matched to a client if some of the fields entered are already in your database. For example if there are multiple clients with the same first name and surname, but different dob, mobile number and email address then it will not auto match and the appointment will need to be manually matched to a client.
If the auto create client record has been enabled then a client record will only be created if non of the fields entered at the time of booking exist in your database.
These can be left off if you would prefer to manually match an appointment to a client record.
Appointments that are matched to a client record where the mobile number, dob or email address are not the same as those entered for the online booking will have a critical note added to their client record. The critical note will contain the original value entered at the time of booking if it differs to what is already on the client's record.
Presets
Presets allow you to create different versions of your online booking settings for specific purposes. Each preset can have its own customised configuration, overriding the global settings where needed.
For example, you might create separate presets to:
- Use different colour themes for various brands or locations.
- Set different defer search values
- Show only certain appointment types in each profile.
- Show only certain practitioners and locations
- Display different Terms and Conditions or Privacy Notices depending on the service or location.
To add a new preset, click + Create Preset and give it a label. You can then configure its settings. Any setting not specifically overridden in the profile will use the global default.
Domains
The domains section of the online booking settings allows you to configure any domains where you would like to place the online booking form on.
To add a new domain click on the '+ Add Domain' button.
When adding a domain, you do not need to include http:// or https://, and make sure it does not end with a slash (/) or any other special characters.
Example: Use www.example.com or www.book.example.com, not example.com/ or example.com/booking.
The Embed Instructions button provides the code you can place on your website to display the booking form. More detailed embedding instructions can be found in our Embedding Online Booking Guide.
Payments
Only Dojo payments are supported in online booking. If you are moving from Online Booking Version 3 or 5 then PayPal and Elavon are not currently supported in this version of online booking.
If you don't already have an account with Dojo then please contact our support team for assistance in setting this up. Once your Dojo account is set up, make sure that Dojo Online Checkout is enabled for your account. This is required for payments to be processed through online booking. Activating Dojo Online Checkout.
Once you have an account created with Dojo and Dojo Online Checkout has been activated you'll then need to generate an API key that can be used to link your Dojo account to your online booking form.
You can generate a Dojo API key from the Developer Portal in Dojo > API keys and select Create new key.
The key should look similar to the Dojo example below:
sk_sandbox_c8oLGaI__msxsXbpBDpdtwJEz_eIhfQoKHmedqgZPCdBx59zpKZLSk8OPLT0cZolbeuYJSBvzDVVsYvtpo5RkQ
The API needs to be entered within the Dojo settings screen that can be accessed from the system settings menu.
Once the API key has been entered and saved the box will turn green to show the API key has been saved.
To disable the payments the Dojo API Key can be removed from the API Key field and then saved. This will revert it back into the '[Not Configured]' state.
In order for an appointment type to prompt for payment a standard charge will need to be assigned to it. A standard charge can be assigned to an appointment type from the 'Appointment Types' settings page. Standard Charges can be created or modified from the 'Standard Charges' settings page. The value of the standard charged linked to the appointment type will show within the online booking form.
Any appointment types that are not assigned a Standard Charge will not require payment in order for the online booking to be made.
Confirmations and Reminders
For setting up confirmations and reminders please refer to our guide: Confirmations and Reminders in Online Booking
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