Booking and Managing Appointments

15 minutes

Tutorial 2.2: Booking and Managing Appointments

Introduction

Learn how to book appointments for customers, assign staff and services, handle multi-service bookings, and manage appointment status. This tutorial covers creating, editing, and rescheduling appointments using Luminate's appointment system.

Who this is for: Owner, Admin, Manager, Staff, Receptionist What you'll learn:

Create new appointments from the calendar
Select customers, staff, and services
Book multi-service appointments
Override service prices
Handle skin test warnings for colour services
Reschedule using drag-and-drop and cut-and-paste
Edit and cancel appointments
Understand appointment statuses
Group existing appointments together (or split them apart)

Time to complete: 15 minutes

Prerequisites

Complete Tutorial 2.1 (understanding the calendar)
At least one active staff member in your salon
Services configured in the system
Customers added to the system (or you can create a new customer on the fly while booking — see Step 2)

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Access the New Appointment Form

There are several ways to start booking an appointment:

Method 1: Click the New Appointment button

Navigate to Appointments in the sidebar
Click the New Appointment button in the top-right corner
The appointment creation form opens

Method 2: Drag on the calendar

In Today or Week view, click and drag on an empty time slot
A dialog appears asking whether to create an Appointment or Block Time
Select Appointment
The form opens with the date, time, and staff pre-filled

Method 3: From the waitlist

Navigate to Waitlist and select an entry
Click Convert to Appointment
The customer, preferred service, and staff are pre-selected in the form

Step 2: Select a Customer

The Customer card appears at the top of the form:

Click the Customer search field
Start typing the customer's name
Select the customer from the dropdown results (showing name and email)

Customer doesn't exist yet? If the typed name doesn't match anyone in your salon, the dropdown shows a Create: "..." option at the bottom. Click it to open a quick-add dialog — enter the customer's first and last name (the only required fields). Phone and email are optional but recommended so the customer can receive appointment reminders. The new customer is selected automatically as soon as you save, and you can fill in their full profile later from Customers > [name].

If the email or phone you enter already matches an existing customer, an amber Possible existing customer panel will appear with a Use this customer button so you can pick the existing record instead of creating a duplicate.

Visit Insights: Once you select a customer, a Visit Insights panel appears below showing four stat cards:

Last Visit — how long since the customer's last appointment
Frequency — their average booking frequency (e.g., "every 4 weeks")
Next Visit — whether a visit is due or overdue
Total — total number of completed appointments

Services Booked: Below the insights, coloured pills show which services the customer books most often, how many times, and how frequently (e.g., "Balayage 3x every 2 months"). Click a pill to filter the appointment history by that service.

Appointments: A collapsible list of the customer's appointments with an Upcoming / Past toggle to switch direction.

Step 3: Select Services

The Services card lets you choose one or more services:

For a single service:

Click the Select a service search field
Search or browse for the service (each option shows duration, processing time, and price)
Click to add it

For multiple services (multi-service booking):

Add the first service as above
Use the Add another service field to add additional services
Services stack sequentially with processing times automatically applied
A timeline shows how the services are arranged

Service stack: When you select multiple services, the selector lists them in order with the duration, processing time, and price for each. A summary at the bottom of the list shows the total number of services, the total duration, and the total price for the booking.

Custom Duration: You can adjust the duration of individual services if needed (e.g., for a more complex cut that needs extra time). When you change a service duration manually, it's flagged as a manual override and is preserved when the appointment is later moved or copied — Luminate won't recompute it from staff-level settings unless you reset the duration.

Staff-level durations: If a service has a per-staff-level duration configured (see Tutorial 4.3), the appointment automatically uses the duration matching the staff member you select. Changing the staff member on the form recalculates the duration unless you've manually overridden it.

Step 4: Select a Staff Member

The Staff Member card allows you to assign who will perform the service:

Click the Staff Member search field
Select from the list of active staff

Roster Indicators:

Staff who are rostered on the selected date appear normally
Staff who are not rostered are marked with "(Not rostered)"

Booking outside a shift (warn-and-confirm): When the slot you've picked falls outside the staff member's rostered shift — or onto a day they have approved leave — a Roster coverage banner appears above the form explaining what's wrong (e.g. "Sarah is not rostered until 10:00 on this day" or "Jamie is on Annual Leave on this day"). You can adjust the time, date, or staff member to clear the banner, or save anyway — submitting the form will trigger a Roster override dialog asking you to confirm. Cancel returns to the form unchanged; Create anyway saves the appointment and the override is recorded against it.

The same dialog appears when you drag, resize, paste from the clipboard, or rebook into an unrostered slot from the calendar (Tutorial 2.1). Online customer bookings have no override — they're hard-blocked at the public booking step (Tutorial 18.3).

Step 5: Set Date and Time

Use the Start Date picker to select the appointment date
Use the Start Time picker to set when the appointment begins
The End Time is calculated automatically based on:
- Service duration(s)
- Processing times between services

Note: If you dragged on the calendar to create the appointment, these fields are pre-filled.

Step 6: Override Price (Optional)

For single-service appointments, a Pricing card appears between Date & Time and Notes & Deposit:

The Price Override field shows the default service price as a placeholder
Enter a custom price to override the default
When a custom price is set, a (Custom) label appears and the default price is shown for reference
Click Reset to default to revert to the standard service price

The deposit amount auto-recalculates when you set a custom price.

For multi-service appointments: Each service has its own price shown inline within the service list. You can adjust individual service prices there.

Step 7: Add Notes (Optional)

Two types of notes are available in the Notes & Deposit card:

Customer Notes:

Enter information that will appear on appointment confirmations
Use for arrival instructions, what to bring, etc.
Helper text: "Notes visible to the customer"

Internal Notes:

Enter information only staff can see
Use for preferences, allergies, special requirements
Helper text: "Notes visible only to staff"

Step 8: Configure Deposit (Optional)

If the service requires a deposit:

Enter the Deposit Amount

Deposits help reduce no-shows for high-value appointments like colour services. When a service has deposit settings configured, the deposit amount is auto-calculated (either a fixed amount or a percentage of the service price).

Note: The Deposit Paid checkbox is only available when editing an existing appointment, not when creating a new one.

Step 9: Save the Appointment

Review all details are correct
Click Create Appointment (or Create X Linked Appointments for multi-service bookings)
If a deposit amount is set, a Save & Take Deposit button also appears, which creates the appointment and redirects to the deposit payment page
The appointment appears on the calendar
You're redirected back to the calendar view

Resolving Multi-Service Booking Conflicts

When you stack multiple services for one customer (e.g. colour + cut + blow-dry), the second and third services land at fixed times after the first. If another customer's appointment occupies any of those windows, Luminate now opens a Booking conflict dialog instead of rejecting the whole booking.

The dialog shows the Stacked plan with a green tick next to clean slots and an amber warning next to clashing ones.

Two resolution options appear as radio buttons. Pick one and click Continue, or click Cancel to back out.

Auto-fit colliding appointments into next free slot — Luminate keeps the clean services at the times you picked and pushes each clashing service forward to the next free slot for the same staff member that day. All services stay linked under one booking, so deposit, billing, and reminders behave as if they had been booked together.
Move colliding appointments to clipboard — Luminate books the clean services straight away and adds the clashing services to your clipboard panel as amber dashed cards labelled "Awaiting placement". Click those cards then click anywhere on the calendar to drop them into a slot. Each pasted card joins the original booking group automatically.

If the staff member is fully booked for the rest of the day, the auto-fit option is greyed out and the dialog explains why ("No free slots remaining for this staff member today."). Pick clipboard or cancel instead.

Tip: Pending clipboard items behave the same as cut appointments — click one to pick it up, then click anywhere on the calendar to drop it into that slot.

Skin Test Warnings

When you book a service that requires a skin test (e.g., colour services), Luminate checks the customer's test history. Depending on your salon's enforcement settings, you may see a warning:

No valid test / Expired test — An amber warning appears. You can override this with a reason (if your salon allows it) or click Record New Test to add one first
Test too recent / Awaiting signature — An amber warning explains the issue
Pending test — An info notice appears with a Record Result button
Positive allergy result — A red alert blocks the booking entirely. The appointment cannot be created for this customer and service combination
Expiring soon — A blue info notice lets you know the test will expire before the appointment date

Your salon administrator configures whether these warnings are advisory (can be overridden) or enforced (must be resolved before booking). See Tutorial 11.1 for skin test management details.

Managing Existing Appointments

View Appointment Details

On desktop, clicking an appointment on the calendar opens the right-hand sidebar with a summary and inline actions. To see the full record, click the appointment title in the sidebar (or tap the appointment on mobile) to open the appointment detail page.

The calendar sidebar shows:

Service card — Service name, staff, date/time, duration, and price. For unbilled appointments, click the pencil icon next to the price to override it inline; click Reset to default to revert to the standard service price.
Status stepper — Move the appointment through Scheduled → Confirmed → Arrived → Complete (or No Show / Cancel) without leaving the calendar.
Continue Transaction / Create Transaction — Jumps straight into billing for this appointment.
Group with another appointment — Tie this appointment to others for the same customer that day so they share status, billing, and rescheduling. Once grouped, the button reads Manage group (N).
Colour Formulas — Appears when the service is a colour service and your salon's colour mode is Formulas or Full. Shows recent formulas for this customer with a New Formula action. See Tutorials 12.5 and 20.6 for the formula dialog, or Tutorial 20.9 for the tablet-based Colour Bar flow.
Notes — A condensed view of notes for this customer with a count badge. Click to view, edit, or add notes. Notes are stored in a single Notes table that's shared between the customer profile and the appointment, so anything you record here is also discoverable from the customer's profile, and vice versa.
Badges — Toggle customer badges (e.g., VIP, Prefers Silence) and appointment badges (e.g., First Visit, Running Late, Special Occasion, Requires Follow-up).
Payments — Lists transactions linked to the appointment.

The sidebar header has three small icons next to the customer name: an eye (view the full appointment detail page), a pencil (open the edit form), and a currency icon (open or continue the transaction). The eye and pencil icons are real links — Cmd-click (macOS) or Ctrl-click (Windows / Linux) opens them in a new tab if you'd rather not lose your place on the calendar.

The appointment detail page header: The header has a row of action buttons, grouped left-to-right by purpose: financial actions first (e.g. Continue Transaction), then Edit, Manage group, View on Calendar, then destructive actions (Cancel) last. View on Calendar jumps to the calendar's day view focused on the appointment's date in the salon's timezone, which is useful when you've opened the page from a search result, a customer profile, or the dashboard and want to see what's happening around it.

The appointment detail page shows:

Status card — Clickable buttons to update: Scheduled, Confirmed, Arrived, Complete, No Show, Cancel
Customer card — Name, Email and Call buttons, customer badges
Service card — Service name, price (with a Custom badge when overridden), duration, staff member, date, and time range
Deposit card — Deposit amount and paid status; for overridden deposits a Reset link reverts to the service default
Appointment Badges — Toggle badges like First Visit, Running Late, Special Occasion, Requires Follow-up
Colour Formulas — Same panel as above, with a New Formula action
Notes for [Customer Name] — Notes recorded against this customer, including any pinned to previous appointments, with a General / Colour filter. The Notes panel and the calendar sidebar's Notes panel are the same underlying store.
Booking Details — Collapsible section with booking reference and timestamps

Editing the price on the calendar sidebar: For unbilled appointments, the price field in the sidebar's Service card is editable. Click it, type the new value, and confirm. A Reset to default link appears whenever a custom price is set, reverting it to the standard service price. This saves you from opening the full edit form for a simple price adjustment.

Edit an Appointment

Click the appointment to open the detail page
Click the Edit button (top-right corner)
Modify the fields as needed
Click Update Appointment

Reschedule Using Drag-and-Drop

For quick rescheduling:

Click and hold on the appointment card
Drag it to a new time slot or staff column. As you hover, the ghost preview shows where the appointment will land — and if the destination staff member has a different level-specific duration, the ghost live-resizes to match
Release to drop it in the new position
The appointment updates automatically. The duration adopts the destination staff's level-specific override if one is configured; manually resized appointments keep their custom duration

For linked appointments (multi-service bookings):

A dialog appears asking whether to move just this appointment or all linked appointments
Choose Move this appointment only or Move all linked appointments

On mobile devices: Tap an appointment to open a popup with View, Edit, and Cut options. Use Edit to change the date, time, or staff member directly. Use Cut to move the appointment via the clipboard (see Cut and Paste below). Drag-and-drop rescheduling is available on desktop and tablet devices.

Cancel an Appointment

Click the appointment to open the detail page
Click the Cancel status button
Confirm the cancellation

What happens when cancelled:

The appointment status changes to "Cancelled"
The time slot becomes available for new bookings
The appointment record is preserved for reporting

Cut and Paste Appointments

The clipboard holds items that can be placed on the calendar by clicking a time slot. There are two types of clipboard item:

Cut items (amber) — existing appointments you've cut for rescheduling
Rebook items (blue) — new appointments created from the rebook prompt after completing a transaction (see "Rebooking from a Transaction" below)

Cut-and-paste lets you move appointments to a different date, time, or staff member. Unlike drag-and-drop, cut-and-paste lets you navigate to a different day or week before choosing where to place the appointment.

Cutting an appointment:

On desktop: Hover over an appointment card on the calendar and click the scissors button that appears on the card.

On mobile: Tap the appointment card. A popup menu appears with View, Edit, and Cut options. Tap Cut.

The appointment moves to the Clipboard panel in the left sidebar.

Linked appointments: If the appointment is part of a multi-service booking, a dialog appears asking whether to cut all linked appointments or just the one you clicked. Choose Cut All N to move them together, or Cut Only This One to move a single appointment.

Pasting from the clipboard:

Open the Clipboard tab in the left sidebar to see your cut items
Click a clipboard item to select it -- the card highlights with an amber border and shows "Click calendar to paste"
Move your mouse over the calendar -- a ghost preview appears showing where the appointment would land. If you hover over a different staff column with a different level-specific duration for the service, the preview live-resizes to match
Click the desired time slot and staff column to paste the appointment there
The appointment moves to the new position. If the destination staff member has a level-specific duration override for the service, the pasted appointment adopts that duration. If you'd manually resized the appointment before cutting, that custom duration is kept regardless of who you paste it onto

Overlap warning: If pasting would overlap with an existing appointment, a warning dialog appears listing the conflicting appointments. You can click Cancel to choose a different slot, or Paste Anyway to proceed with the double-booking.

Cancelling a cut: To cancel a cut and return the appointment to its original position, hover over the clipboard card and click the X button (on desktop), or tap the clipboard card and tap the X button (on mobile).

Copy and Paste Appointments

Copy is the non-destructive sibling to Cut. Use it when you want to duplicate an appointment elsewhere — for example, the customer wants the same combination next month, or you're staging a recurring template — without disturbing the original. The copied card sits on the clipboard alongside any cut items, distinguished by a copy icon (instead of the scissors icon used for cut items).

Copying an appointment:

On desktop: Hover over an appointment card on the calendar and click the copy button (paired with the existing scissors icon).

On mobile: Tap the appointment card. The popup menu now includes a Copy option alongside View / Edit / Cut. Tap Copy.

The original appointment stays exactly where it was. A new entry appears in the Clipboard panel.

Pasting from a copy:

Open the Clipboard tab in the left sidebar — copied items show with a copy icon, distinct from cut items (scissors icon, amber) and rebook items (calendar icon, blue)
Click a copied clipboard item to select it — the card highlights and shows "Click calendar to paste copy"
Click the desired time slot and staff column — a new appointment is created at that slot with the same service, customer, duration, and notes as the original; the original is untouched
The clipboard entry stays available so you can paste the same template multiple times if you need to. Click the X button on the clipboard card when you're finished with it.

Linked appointments: As with Cut, copying a multi-service booking prompts you to choose between copying all linked appointments together or just the one you clicked. Copies retain the booking-group link so the new set behaves as one visit.

Roster override: Pasting a copy into an unrostered slot triggers the same Roster override dialog as Cut and Rebook — the override applies to the new appointment, not the original.

Rebooking from a Transaction

After completing a transaction in Quick POS, you're prompted to rebook the customer's next appointment (see Tutorial 2.4, Step 12). When you choose a rebook date, you're taken to the calendar with rebook items on the clipboard. Here's how to use them.

How rebook items appear:

Rebook items appear as blue cards on the Clipboard tab (the tab opens automatically)
Each service from the transaction becomes a separate rebook item
The first item is auto-selected, ready for booking

Rebook items vs cut items:

	Cut Items	Rebook Items
Colour	Amber border	Blue border
Icon	Scissors	Calendar
Hint text	"Click calendar to paste"	"Click calendar to book"
Action	Moves an existing appointment	Creates a new appointment
Overlap check	Warns about conflicts	No overlap warning

Choosing where to start: the "Book from" date

Before placing rebook items, decide what date the X-week buttons should count from. The clipboard panel shows a Book from date picker — by default it's set to today, but you can change it to any future date (e.g. the customer's preferred next visit date).

The +1 week / +2 weeks / +3 weeks / +4 weeks / +6 weeks / +8 weeks quick-buttons that appear with each rebook item are anchored to the chosen "Book from" date, not to today. So if you set "Book from" to 1 June, +4 weeks jumps you to 29 June. This is much faster than navigating week-by-week when the next visit is far ahead, or when you're rebooking several customers in a row each with different intervals.

Reviewing existing future appointments before placing one:

The customer's existing future appointments appear underneath the rebook card so you can see whether they already have something on a target day. If the customer has more than five future appointments, the list groups by day (with each day's appointments folded under a single date heading) — much more readable than a long flat list of times.

Booking a rebook item:

The clipboard opens with the first rebook item selected (blue highlight with "Click calendar to book")
Set the Book from date if needed, then either click an X-week quick-button or navigate manually to the target week
Click a time slot on the calendar — the appointment is created directly, no form needed
The calendar updates in place — you don't need to refresh the page to see the new appointment. The card appears in the slot you clicked, and the clipboard advances to the next item automatically
Repeat until all services are booked

Multi-service rebooking:

Each service is booked as a separate appointment
All appointments from the same rebook are linked together (via a booking group) so they move as a set if rescheduled later
A "+X more services" indicator appears on the clipboard card when multiple services are queued

Dismissing a rebook item: If you don't want to book a particular service, hover over the rebook card and click the X button to dismiss it.

Roster override on rebook: If the slot you click falls outside the staff member's roster, the Roster override dialog appears just as it does for new bookings (see Step 4 above). Confirm to place the appointment with an override recorded, or cancel and pick a different slot.

On mobile: A blue indicator bar appears at the bottom of the screen showing "Tap calendar to book [Customer Name]". Tap any time slot to create the appointment.

Tip: After completing a transaction in Quick POS, the rebook flow makes scheduling the next visit fast — set "Book from" to the date the customer is targeting, hit the relevant week button, and click. No form, no manual refresh.

Understanding Appointment Statuses

Appointments move through these statuses:

Status	Description
Scheduled	Default status when created
Confirmed	Appointment has been confirmed by the customer
Arrived	Customer has arrived at the salon
Complete	Service has been finished
Cancelled	Appointment was cancelled
No Show	Customer didn't arrive

Billing Status: Appointments also track billing status:

Unbilled - Not yet invoiced
Partial - Partially billed
Billed - Fully invoiced

Grouping Existing Appointments

Sometimes you only realise after booking that two or three of a customer's appointments today should be treated as one visit — for example, they added a service mid-chair, or you booked a colour and a cut as separate appointments by accident. Grouping ties them together so they share status, billing, and rescheduling.

What grouping changes

When two or more of the same customer's appointments are in a group:

Marking one as Arrived/Completed/etc. offers to move the whole group at once
Creating a transaction can bill the whole group on one invoice
Dragging one to a new time can move the others with it
Cutting/copying offers an "all or just this one" choice on the clipboard

The customer sees no change — they still see one booking with multiple services in their account and confirmation emails.

Group two appointments together

On the calendar, click the appointment you want to group from. The sidebar opens on the right.
Below the status stepper, click Group with another appointment.
The dialog lists the customer's other appointments today. Tick the one(s) you want to group with.
Click Group together (or Add to group if this appointment is already grouped).

If you tick an appointment that's already part of a different group (e.g., the customer's friend already booked them as a multi-service), the dialog warns you it will merge two groups into one before you confirm.

Manage an existing group

If the appointment you opened is already part of a group, the button reads Manage group (N) and the dialog opens on a list of all members. From there you can:

Add another appointment — surfaces the same picker so you can grow the group
Remove this from group — detaches the current appointment only, leaving the rest grouped (if only one is left, it also becomes standalone — a "group of one" doesn't make sense)

Where to find it

The same Group button is on:

The calendar's right-hand sidebar when an appointment is selected
The appointment detail page (alongside Edit / Cancel)

Limits

Only same-customer appointments can be grouped — to combine two customers' bookings (e.g., a parent and child arriving together) book them as a multi-service from the start
Only same-day appointments are offered as candidates — for cross-day pairings (a colour test today, the colour service next week) keep them as separate appointments
Cancelled appointments are hidden from the picker

Common Pitfalls

"The customer I want isn't appearing in the search"

Check your spelling and try a partial match (first name, last name, phone, or email). If they really aren't on file yet, click the Create: "..." option at the bottom of the dropdown to add them inline without leaving the booking flow — first and last name are the only required fields. You can also add them up front from Customers > Add Customer if you'd rather capture their full profile first.

"The staff member shows (Not rostered)"

The staff member doesn't have a shift on the selected date. You can still book them, but consider checking the roster or selecting a different date.

"My multi-service booking times don't look right"

Processing times are automatically added between services. Check the service stack — the selector lists each chosen service with its duration, processing time, and price, and the summary at the bottom shows the total duration. Adjust individual service durations if needed.

"I moved an appointment but the linked services didn't move"

For multi-service bookings, you're prompted whether to move all linked appointments. If you chose to move only one, the others remain in place. You may need to move them individually or cancel and rebook.

"A skin test warning is blocking my booking"

If a colour service requires a skin test and the customer doesn't have a valid one, Luminate may warn or block the booking depending on your salon's enforcement settings. You can record a new test, override the warning (if permitted), or choose a non-colour service.

Tips and Best Practices

Check Visit Insights - The stat cards show the customer's booking frequency and whether they're overdue for a visit
Use service frequency pills - Click a pill in the customer history to quickly see when they last had that specific service
Use processing times wisely - For colour services, processing time allows you to book another client in between
Add internal notes for allergies - Record any sensitivities or preferences staff need to know
Take deposits for colour appointments - Reduces no-shows on high-value services
Override prices when needed - Use the Pricing card to adjust prices for special promotions or complex services without changing the service catalogue
Use the clipboard for complex rescheduling - Cut the appointment, navigate to the target date, select the clipboard item, then click on the calendar to paste
Keyboard shortcuts pause on forms - Global nav shortcuts (d, a, w, t) are automatically suppressed on Create/Edit/Settings pages and when any dialog or sheet is open, so typing into an appointment form won't accidentally jump you to another screen. They re-enable as soon as you close the form.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I create a customer while booking an appointment?

Yes. If the customer search doesn't return a match, the dropdown shows a Create: "..." option that opens a quick-add dialog — enter first and last name (the only required fields), optionally add phone and email, and the new customer is selected automatically when you save. You can fill in the rest of their profile later from Customers > [name].

How do I book the same staff member for the whole multi-service appointment?

When you select a staff member, they are assigned to all services in the appointment. You cannot assign different staff to different services within the same appointment.

What happens if I book during a time someone else is already booked?

Luminate checks for conflicts and warns you. You can choose to proceed anyway (double-booking) or adjust the time.

Can I resize an appointment to change its duration?

Yes, in the calendar view you can drag the bottom edge of an appointment card to extend or shorten its duration.

How do processing times work?

Processing times (e.g., for colour development) are set on each service. When booking multiple services, processing time is automatically added between services where the previous service has processing time configured.

Can I change the price of an appointment after it's been created?

Yes, for unbilled appointments you can edit the price directly from the appointment detail page. Once an appointment has been billed (linked to a transaction), the price can no longer be changed.

What happens if a customer has a positive skin test result?

If a customer has recorded a positive allergic reaction to a skin test, Luminate blocks the booking entirely for any service that requires a skin test. This cannot be overridden — the customer should be offered alternative services that don't require a skin test.

Last Updated: May 2026 Verified against Luminate codebase: May 2026 (level-aware durations on calendar moves)