Your scheduling settings control whether the AI receptionist collects appointment times — and when those times can be. Some businesses want full appointment capture. Others only want the AI to answer questions and take messages. Both are supported.
Turn scheduling off completely
If you don't want appointment booking — and only want message taking, Q&A, quotes, and transfers — turn appointment capture off.
1. Go to Settings > Scheduling.
2. Find Capture appointment requests under Scheduling requests.
3. Turn it Off.
4. Save.
What still works when scheduling is off
- Answering questions about services, hours, and FAQs
- Capturing quote requests and lead details
- Taking messages and using one matching Call questions scenario when one applies
- Warm transfers (if configured)
- Call recovery texts to your default form
- Notifications and call recordings
What stops when scheduling is off
- The AI will not collect preferred appointment, reschedule, or cancellation times on calls
- Online forms will not collect preferred visit times the same way appointment scheduling does
You can still keep your business hours set so the AI can answer "What are your hours?" accurately.
Configuring business hours
Even if scheduling is off, set your public hours so callers get accurate answers.
1. Go to Settings > Scheduling.
2. For each day of the week (Monday–Sunday), set:
- Open/Closed — Toggle whether you're available that day.
- Open time — When your day starts.
- Close time — When your day ends.
3. Save your changes.
Default hours
New accounts start with Monday–Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, with Saturday and Sunday closed. Adjust these to match your actual schedule.
How business hours are used
- The AI receptionist tells callers your hours when asked "What are your hours?"
- When scheduling is on, availability checks only offer time slots within your open hours (or your appointment request windows — see below).
- Closed days show as unavailable for appointment requests.
When scheduling is on: appointment request windows
If Capture appointment requests is on, choose whether requested visit times should follow your public business hours or a smaller set of times your team is willing to review.
- Use business hours — Preferred times match the hours you publish to customers.
- Custom appointment windows — Offer a narrower set of times inside your business hours for requests your team will review.
Your team always confirms the final schedule on the lead.
Earliest availability
Set the minimum number of days in advance a customer can request:
Setting | What it means |
0 days (default) | Same-day requests are allowed |
1 day | Customers must request at least 1 day ahead |
2+ days | Gives you more lead time to prepare |
Example: If it's Monday and you set earliest availability to 1 day, the AI will only offer slots from Tuesday onward.
This applies to both phone requests and online form submissions.
Date overrides (holidays and closed days)
Use date overrides to block specific dates — for example, holidays or days your crew is offline — without changing your weekly schedule.
1. Go to Settings > Scheduling.
2. Add a date override for the day you want closed (or with special hours).
3. Save.
Overrides apply to both the AI receptionist and your online forms when scheduling is enabled.
Tips
- Message-taking-only businesses: turn Capture appointment requests off, keep FAQs current, add Call questions only for must-have follow-up details, and use notifications for follow-up.
- If you work weekends during busy season, remember to open Saturday and Sunday in your business hours.
- Add date overrides before holidays so customers aren't offered unavailable days.
- The AI uses your business's timezone for all scheduling. Make sure it's correct.
- Changes take effect immediately on the next call.