This guide follows an appointment from booking to payment and beyond. An appointment usually moves from Pending to Confirmed, In Progress, Ready to Review, Ready to Pay and Paid. It can also end as Declined or Cancelled, and a card payment that fails shows Payment Declined until a retry succeeds. See Appointment Statuses for what moves a booking from one status to the next.

Open an appointment

1. Open Appointments.
2. Select the booking's card. A course booking opens the course instead.

The page has these tabs:

• Appointment: the status, date and times, pets and services, location and resources, the Time Tracker, and the Invoice
• Pet & Owner: the customer's contact details and the pets, on a narrow screen. On a wide screen they sit beside the page
• Notes & Attachments: Business Notes and Pet Owner Notes
• Packages and Membership: when the booking uses a package or the customer has one, and when they have an active membership
• Messages: messages with the customer
• Belongings: when a service on the booking takes belongings at drop-off
• Activity Log: every change to the booking, with a count of events

Statuses and what the page offers

The button beside the status changes with the status, and the rest sits in Manage.

A few details by status:

• Pending: reply quickly. Most customers expect an answer within 2 hours
• Confirmed: Petboost sends the reminders set under Pre-Appointment Reminders in Notifications. Automatic Actions can hold funds on the card before the visit and check the booking in at its start time
• Paid: the payment record keeps the method, the amount, the transaction and any refunds
• Payment Declined: common reasons are insufficient funds, an expired card, a card the bank declined, a wrong security code or postcode, and a daily limit reached
• Cancelled: the booking keeps who cancelled, the reason, any refund and any late cancellation fee

Use the Manage menu

Manage, at the top of the page, groups everything the booking offers besides the main button.

1. Open Appointments and select the booking.
2. Select Manage.
3. Choose the action.

The menu shows only what applies to the booking's status and services:

• Edit, or Edit this visit only and Edit all future visits on a recurring booking, Cancel, Mark as no show, Message owner and Add to Calendar
• Quick SMS: the drop-off or pick-up text and Send Late SMS: 15-30 min
• Print & Reports: Print Grooming Card, Print Kennel Card for a stay, Preview Report Card, Print Report Card, Send Report Card SMS and Print Upcoming Appointments
• Google Reviews: Send Google Review Email and Send Google Review SMS
• Booking: Convert to Recurring Series and Quick Book Again
• Pet Management: Attach Additional Existing Pet and Create & Attach New Pet
• Preview Notifications, Send Reminder Notification, Resend Booking Confirmation and Delete Appointment

On the calendar, right-click a card on a computer for the most common actions without opening the page. The right-click menu is not available on phones. See Calendar Views & Navigation.

Change the date or time

1. Open Appointments and select the booking.
2. Select Manage, then Edit. On a recurring booking, choose Edit this visit only or Edit all future visits.
3. Change the date and time.
4. Select Update This Appointment, or Update All Future Appointments for a series.
5. Under Notify customer?, choose Send notification or Update silently.

With Drag Lock off, you can also drag the card to a new time on the calendar. A move made by dragging is silent by default. On a computer, Reschedule Appointment in the card's right-click menu lets you pick the new time on the calendar itself.

When Magic Availability Check is on, the form only offers times the team member and resources are free. Switch it off to set a time yourself: Petboost warns you about a clash and saves the time anyway. A notification to the customer carries the new date and time, and the link to cancel or rebook.

Add a service or another pet

The Services for box on each pet holds more than one service, so you add to a booking rather than start again.

1. Open Appointments and select the booking.
2. Select Manage, then Edit.
3. In Services for and the pet's name, choose the extra service. It is added beside the existing one. To remove a service, select the X on its chip.
4. To add another pet from the same household, select Add Sibling and choose the pet, or Create & Add Pet for a new one.
5. Set the new pet's services, Team Member and times.
6. Select Update This Appointment. The price and duration update themselves.

Attach Additional Existing Pet and Create & Attach New Pet, under Pet Management in Manage, add a pet without opening the whole form. For the full booking form, see Using the Booking Form.

Adding a pet to the existing booking gives you one calendar card for the family, one itemised invoice and one payment, while each pet keeps its own start and end time. A multi-pet discount applies if you have set one. Book separately instead when the pets come on different dates, different family members drop off and pick up, or the customer asks for separate invoices.

For example, two dogs from the same family: Dog A from 10:00 to 11:00 am with Sarah at Grooming Table 1, and Dog B from 10:30 to 11:30 am with Mike at Grooming Table 2. Same appointment card, one invoice, one payment.

When Petboost finds a booking already on that day

When you create an appointment for a customer who already has one that day, Petboost asks Merge the pet with an existing booking?: one visit, one invoice, separate timing for each pet, or book separately.

1. Start the new appointment as usual.
2. When the dialog opens, select Add to visit on the existing booking. Book separately creates a second appointment, and Return to form takes you back.

Schedule the extra pet

With Magic Availability Check on, Petboost finds times that work for the extra pet, checking the team member's availability, the resource's capacity and your multi-pet setting. With it off, you set the times yourself, which is quicker when you already know the day, and Petboost shows a warning for any clash instead of checking.

How close together Petboost books pets from one household is set under Multi-Pet Scheduling in Duration & Timing, under Advanced options:

• Best Fit: pets grouped together when possible, with fallback options
• All Pets Together: all pets must start at exactly the same time
• Clustered Start: all pets must start within a set time window of each other

Change the team member or resource

1. Open Appointments and select the booking.
2. Select Manage, then Edit.
3. Under Team Member or Resources on the pet, choose the new one.
4. Select Update This Appointment, then answer Notify customer?.

Magic Match in Team Member lets Petboost pick a free team member when you book, which suits services where it does not matter who does the work. When a service lists the team members who perform it, only they are offered.

For a mobile service, Change Location on the Appointment tab opens Change service location, where you set the New location.

Adjust the invoice

Before you finalise, check every line, apply any discount, add a tip or extra services, and add a message for the customer.

1. Open Appointments and select the booking.
2. On the Invoice, change a price or quantity, or select Add Item.
3. Under Notify customer?, choose Send notification or Update silently.
4. Select Save Changes.

A price you type here belongs to this booking only. The service's own price does not change. Do not finalise the invoice before the service is finished. See Payment Processing for taking payment.

Add notes and photos

Internal notes are for your team: observations, special handling, follow-ups and concerns. Customer-facing notes are for the customer: a summary of the visit, recommendations, care instructions and a suggestion for the next visit.

1. Open Appointments and select the booking.
2. Open Notes & Attachments, then Business Notes.
3. Type in Internal Notes (private) or Customer-facing Notes.
4. To add photos or files, select or drag them onto Business Photos & Attachments.
5. For customer-facing notes and photos, choose Send notification or Update silently.
6. Select Publish Changes. Until then the note is a draft in this browser.

The customer sees customer-facing notes and business photos in their portal. Pet Owner Notes holds the customer's own Instructions & Notes and Customer Photos & Attachments.

Uploads can be JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP or PDF, up to 10 MB each. iPhone HEIC photos are converted automatically. Before and after photos suit grooming, a photo of the pet having fun suits daycare and training, and a photo of an injury or concern is a useful record, including for insurance.

Notes from service templates

When a new appointment is created, Petboost adds the service's default notes from its notes templates, both internal and customer-facing, and any default attachments. Notes from several services are joined with a separator, and notes typed into the booking come after them. Staff can edit or remove them afterwards. See Notes Templates.

Cancel an appointment

1. Open Appointments and select the booking.
2. Select Manage, then Cancel.
3. If a cancellation fee applies, answer Charge customer a cancellation fee? with Charge Cancellation Fee or Waive Cancellation Fee.
4. If the booking used package credits after the notice period, answer What happens to the customer's package credits? with Retain package credits or Forfeit package credits.
5. Under Notify customer?, choose Send notification or Cancel silently.
6. Optional: add a note under Write a message for and the customer's name.
7. Select Cancel Appointment.

Recurring series

To pause a recurring series, use Cancel. There is no separate pause button. The cancel form offers three options:

• Cancel single: one visit. The series continues
• Skip these dates: a date range, the pause. Set Stop at, and the series continues after that date. If you leave Stop at empty, the series ends from Start from onwards
• End series (all future): stops the series for good. You cannot undo this

See Pause or cancel a recurring series for the full steps, other series on the same pet, and what pet owners can do.

Refunds after a cancellation

If the customer has already paid, choose between a full refund, a partial refund, such as the amount less a cancellation fee, and no refund for a late cancellation. Select Issue refund in Manage. A card refund goes back to the original payment method, and how long it takes to appear depends on the customer's bank. Issue refund asks whether to notify the customer.

Read the Activity Log

The Activity Log tab records the booking's history: status changes and who made them, edits, messages sent, payment attempts and whether they succeeded, refunds, notes and photos. Use it to settle a dispute, understand why a payment failed, see who changed what, or check what the customer was sent.

1. Open Appointments and select the booking.
2. Open Activity Log. Its header shows the number of events.

Undo a check in

If a booking was checked in, marked In Progress, by mistake, you can send it back to Confirmed: an accidental check in, the wrong pet, or a customer who has not arrived yet.

1. Right-click the card on Appointments on a computer, or open the booking or its Mission Control card.
2. Select Undo Check In (Undo check in on the booking's page).

The booking goes back to Confirmed. No time is cleared, the earlier Appointment started entry stays in the Activity Log, and the customer is not notified. Undo Check In only appears while the booking is In Progress. If auto-start is on for the service, Petboost blocks the undo: turn auto-start off first.

Undo a check out

If a booking was checked out, marked Ready to Pay, by mistake, you can send it back to the status it held before. Check out is available from In Progress, Completed, Confirmed and Payment Declined, which is why the destination varies.

1. Right-click the card on Appointments on a computer, or open the booking or its Mission Control card.
2. Select Undo Check Out (Undo check out on the booking's page).

The booking returns to its earlier status. No time is cleared, the earlier Appointment Finalised entry stays in the Activity Log, and the customer is not notified.

Undo Check Out appears while the booking is Ready to Pay and that status came from a check out. A booking that was never checked out has nothing to undo, so the action does not appear on the booking's page, on the calendar or on a Mission Control card. That covers a payment recorded without a check out and then un-marked, and older bookings where Petboost has no record of the check out. Un-marking a payment does not erase a check out: a booking that was checked out, paid and then un-marked still goes back to the status it came from.

Petboost blocks the undo when the service has the automation on that would move the booking forward again: auto-complete when it was In Progress, auto-finalise when it was Completed, auto-start when it was Confirmed. On the booking's page Undo check out is not offered while that automation is on. The status chip still lists the earlier status, and selecting it is refused with the automation named, the same message the calendar and Mission Control show. Turn that automation off in the service's settings first.

The Mission Control board only moves forward, so use Undo Check Out rather than dragging the card back. Drag Lock on Mission Control stops accidental status drags and Drag Lock on the calendar stops accidental reschedules. They are separate switches: turn Mission Control's on when you are browsing, not moving cards.

Recover or remove a booking

Recreate a cancelled appointment

Recreate books a cancelled appointment again with its details filled in: the customer changed their mind, it was cancelled in error, or they want the same slot.

1. Open Appointments and select the cancelled booking.
2. Select Recreate. When a cancellation fee is still owed, Recreate is in Manage.
3. In Re-create appointment, check and adjust the details.
4. Select Create Appointment.

On the calendar the same action is Un-cancel Appointment in the card's right-click menu. The original cancelled booking stays on record, and the new one is a separate appointment that follows your usual booking notifications. See Un-cancel & Appointment Recovery.

Archive or permanently delete an appointment

Archiving hides a booking from your views while it stays in reports and history, which suits old bookings cluttering the calendar. Permanent deletion removes it from the system, which suits test bookings, duplicates and requests to erase a customer's data.

1. Open Appointments and select the booking.
2. Select Manage, then Delete Appointment.
3. Choose Archive or Permanently Delete. For a permanent delete, type DELETE and tick the box.
4. Select Archive Appointment or Delete Appointment.

A booking can only be archived or deleted while it is Pending, Confirmed, Declined, Cancelled or Invoice Amount Void, so a paid booking cannot be deleted. A recurring series with visits still to come cannot be archived, and one with any visits cannot be permanently deleted. Archiving a booking that is still Pending or Confirmed cancels it first, silently, with no fee and no message to the customer.

Report cards

When the booking has Customer-facing Notes or business photos under Notes & Attachments, on Business Notes, report card actions appear in the booking's Manage menu under Print & Reports:

• Preview Report Card: see the interactive report card the pet owner receives
• Print Report Card: a PDF with switches for the pet photo, attributes, team member, photo gallery and more
• Send Report Card SMS: text the pet owner a link to the report card

Internal notes never make a report card. For the full guide, see Report Cards.

Print cards and upcoming appointments

Print actions sit in the booking's Manage menu, under Print & Reports.

Print a grooming card

This shows when the booking includes a grooming service.

1. Open Appointments and select the booking.
2. Select Manage, then Print Grooming Card under Print & Reports.
3. Choose what to include, then select Print Grooming Card.

Print a kennel card

This shows when the booking is a stay.

1. Open Appointments and select the booking.
2. Select Manage, then Print Kennel Card under Print & Reports.
3. Choose what to include, then select Print Kennel Card.

Print upcoming appointments

1. Open Appointments and select the booking.
2. Select Manage, then Print Upcoming Appointments under Print & Reports.

For today's full schedule, see Can I print today's schedule?.

Book the same visit again

Quick Book Again opens a new booking with the same customer, pets and services. It is available when the booking is Paid, Completed or Refund Granted.

1. Open Appointments and select the booking.
2. Select Manage, then Quick Book Again under Booking.
3. Check the date and details, then save.

Group the week by day

In Week view with the calendar grouped, you can choose how the columns run:

• By the grouping, such as By Team Member: each column is a team member, resource, service or category across the whole week
• By Day: each column is a day of the week, with the number of appointments shown per day for each row

1. Open Appointments in Week view, grouped by team member, resource, service or category.
2. Open the view button.
3. Under Week, choose the grouping or By Day.

Your choice is kept for next time, and the per-day counts show the total for each day and each row rather than the whole week.

Tips

• Turn on Automatic Actions to cut manual status changes
• Add notes straight after the service, and take photos while you are still with the pet
• Do not cancel a paid booking without deciding on a refund, and check a pet's eligibility before you confirm
• Send the customer photos after the visit, add a personal note about their pet, and tell them early about any issue or delay

What's next?

• Report Cards: share appointment summaries with pet owners
• Payment Processing
• Recurring Appointments
• Calendar Views
• Un-cancel & Appointment Recovery: recover cancelled appointments
• Availability Troubleshooter: understand the booking engine's decisions
• FAQ