> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bellabooking.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Appointment Series

> Create recurring appointments on a schedule — weekly, fortnightly, or monthly — from the scheduler in one step

## Introduction

An **appointment series** lets you create multiple recurring appointments for a client in a single step. Instead of booking the same service week after week by hand, you set a pattern (e.g. every 2 weeks for 6 months), review the planned dates, and create the entire series at once. Each appointment in the series is a normal, independent appointment — it appears on your calendar, triggers reminders, and can be rescheduled or cancelled individually.

Series are created by team members from the scheduler. Clients cannot create a series through online booking.

***

## Key Features

* **Flexible recurrence patterns**: Weekly, fortnightly (every 2 weeks), every 4 weeks, or monthly
* **Pre-flight preview with conflict detection**: See every planned date and any scheduling conflicts before you commit — no competitor offers this
* **Skip conflicts**: Choose to skip dates that clash with existing appointments or leave, and create the rest
* **Notification control**: Send a confirmation for the first appointment only (default), every appointment, or none
* **Cancel upcoming**: Cancel all remaining appointments in a series at once
* **Independent instances**: Each appointment can be rescheduled, edited, or cancelled on its own without affecting the rest

***

## Recurrence Patterns

| Pattern                         | Example                                            |
| ------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| **Weekly**                      | Every Wednesday for 12 weeks                       |
| **Every 2 weeks** (fortnightly) | Every other Monday for 6 months                    |
| **Every 4 weeks**               | Every 4 weeks on Friday until December             |
| **Monthly**                     | Same day of the month (e.g. the 15th) for 6 months |

**Limits:**

* An end date is always required — open-ended series are not supported
* Maximum **52 appointments** per series
* End date cannot be more than **12 months** from the first appointment

***

## Creating an Appointment Series

### 1. Open the appointment form

Click a time slot on the scheduler calendar and select **Add Appointment**, or press **N** to open a new appointment form.

### 2. Fill in the appointment details

Select the client, add one or more services, assign team members, and set the date and start time — exactly as you would for a single appointment.

### 3. Enable Repeat

Toggle the **Repeat** switch in the appointment form. A recurrence section expands where you can:

* Set the **interval** (every 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, or 1 month)
* Set the **end date** for the series

A summary line confirms the pattern — for example: *12 appointments, every Wednesday from 27 May to 12 Aug 2026*.

### 4. Click Create

Clicking **Create** opens the **pre-flight review dialog** instead of saving immediately. This dialog shows:

* A list of every planned date
* Conflict warnings on any dates where the team member is unavailable or already booked
* A summary such as "2 of 12 dates have a conflict"

### 5. Handle conflicts (if any)

If conflicts are found, you can:

* **Skip the conflicting dates** and create the rest
* **Go back** and choose a different pattern or time

If the first date has a blocking conflict, the series cannot be created — fix the first appointment before proceeding.

### 6. Choose notification preferences

Before confirming, select how the client is notified:

| Option                                                         | What happens                                                                                                                                    |
| -------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Send confirmation for the first appointment only** (default) | The client receives one confirmation email/SMS for the first date. Standard reminders still fire for every appointment as each date approaches. |
| **Send confirmation for every appointment**                    | The client receives a separate confirmation for each appointment in the series.                                                                 |
| **Don't send any confirmations**                               | No confirmation emails or SMS are sent. Reminders still fire normally.                                                                          |

### 7. Confirm and create

Click the **Create** button (e.g. "Create 10 appointments") to commit the series. All appointments are created and appear on your calendar.

<Note>
  Each appointment in the series is a fully independent record. Services, prices, and team member assignments are copied from the first appointment at creation time. If you later change a service price, existing appointments in the series keep their original price.
</Note>

***

## Deposits and Series

When a service has a deposit policy, the series handles deposits as follows:

* **First appointment**: The standard confirmation email includes the deposit request. If the client has a card on file and you select it, the deposit is charged immediately for the first appointment only.
* **Remaining appointments**: No immediate email is sent at creation. As each appointment date approaches, the standard reminder includes a deposit request so the client can pay closer to the date.

This avoids a flood of deposit requests when the series is created and ensures each deposit is collected at the right time.

<Note>
  If your business has auto-cancel enabled for unpaid deposits, it only applies to the first appointment. Remaining appointments in the series are not auto-cancelled — they wait for the per-appointment reminder to prompt payment.
</Note>

***

## Viewing Series Appointments

Each appointment in a series appears as a normal appointment on the scheduler. You can open any instance to view or edit its details individually.

<Info>
  A dedicated series section in the appointment detail panel and a visual series indicator on calendar cards are planned for a future update.
</Info>

***

## Rescheduling a Single Instance

You can reschedule any appointment in a series using the normal reschedule flow. A note in the reschedule dialog confirms that only this appointment will move — the rest of the series stays unchanged. The rescheduled appointment keeps its series membership.

***

## Cancelling Upcoming Appointments

You can cancel all remaining appointments in a series at once. The cancel-upcoming action shows how many upcoming appointments will be cancelled and leaves completed or past appointments untouched. Select a cancellation reason and optionally notify the client (one cancellation message per appointment).

<Note>
  You can also cancel a single appointment in a series using the normal cancellation flow. The cancelled appointment keeps its series link for reporting purposes.
</Note>

***

## FAQs

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Can clients create a series through online booking?">
    No. Appointment series are staff-only. Clients interact with each individual appointment normally — they can confirm, cancel, or reschedule single instances through self-service.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What happens if I edit a single appointment in a series?">
    The edit applies only to that appointment. There is no "edit all future" option — each appointment is independent after creation. The edited appointment keeps its series link.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I add multiple services to a series?">
    Yes. A series supports multiple services per appointment, just like a regular appointment. The full service list (including bundles and add-ons) is copied to every instance.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What is the maximum number of appointments in a series?">
    52 appointments, with an end date no more than 12 months from the first appointment.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does each appointment in the series get its own reminder?">
    Yes. The standard reminder schedule applies to every appointment individually, regardless of the notification mode you chose at creation. Notification mode only controls the initial confirmation email/SMS.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="What if a team member is deleted after a series is created?">
    Future appointments in the series become unassigned, just as they would for a single appointment. You can reassign them individually from the scheduler.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Do series appointments sync to Google Calendar?">
    Yes — provided the team member's Google Calendar sync direction includes **Bella Booking → Google** (two-way or push-only). Each appointment then syncs as a separate Google Calendar event, identical to any other appointment.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Are any special permissions required?">
    No. Series use the same permissions as regular appointments — if you can create, view, and cancel appointments, you can work with series.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I filter the calendar to show only a specific series?">
    Not in the current version. Each appointment in a series appears individually on the scheduler.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

***

## Related

* [Scheduler](/scheduler/index) — Calendar and appointment management overview
* [Scheduling Settings](/settings/scheduling) — Working hours enforcement, buffer defaults, and more
* [Automated Messages](/settings/automated-messages) — Configure confirmation and reminder templates