> ## 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. # Scheduling Settings > Configure opening hours and scheduling preferences for your business Set your business opening hours for each day of the week on the **Scheduling** settings page. These hours serve as the **fallback default** working hours for your team members. *** ## How Opening Hours Work Opening hours act as a **fallback** for team member availability. When a team member has no personal schedule, your account's opening hours are used instead. The system calculates availability using the following precedence (highest to lowest priority): 1. **Time off** - Blocks availability entirely for the specified period 2. **Custom Working Hours** - Per-date overrides for individual team members 3. **Team Member Default Schedule** - The team member's regular weekly schedule 4. **Account Opening hours** - Used only when a team member has no schedule configured **Important:** If a team member has their own default working hours set, the account opening hours will NOT apply to them. Each team member's schedule takes precedence over the account-level settings. When a team member is using inherited hours, a **"Business hours"** label appears above their shifts on the Working hours tab and the Team schedule grid. On the Team schedule grid, inherited hours appear in a muted style to distinguish them from explicitly configured schedules. ### When Account Opening Hours Apply Account opening hours are used when: * A team member has no default working hours configured at all * A team member's schedule doesn't include a specific day (falls back to account settings for that day) ### When Account Opening Hours Don't Apply Account opening hours are **ignored** when: * A team member has their own default working hours that cover that day * Custom hours have been set for that specific date *** ## Opening Hours Set your business operating hours for each day of the week. You can configure different hours for each day or mark specific days as closed. ### Configuring Opening Hours 1. Navigate to **Settings** → **Scheduling** 2. In the **Opening hours** section, you'll see all seven days of the week, listed from the day your week starts on (see [Week starts on](#week-starts-on)) 3. For each day: * Use the **toggle switch** to mark the day as open or closed * For open days, select the **start time** and **end time** from the dropdowns 4. Click **Save** to apply your changes ![Scheduling settings page showing opening hours configuration for each day of the week](https://mintcdn.com/bellabooking/SHCP3YJ5oUsmTxdY/images/Settings-scheduling.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=SHCP3YJ5oUsmTxdY\&q=85\&s=67824f8226f22517a6937b5beea104ee) ### Apply to All Days Use the copy icon next to any open day's time settings to quickly apply those hours to all other open days. This only copies the times to days that are already marked as open - it won't change closed days to open. **Tip:** This is useful when most of your business days share the same operating hours. Set one day's hours, then click the copy icon to apply them across all open days. *** ## Week Starts On The Scheduling page shows which day your week starts on - the day the scheduler's Week view, the team roster, timesheets and every date picker begin on, in the dashboard and on your online booking page. It's set for you when your business is created, based on your country: Sunday in the US and Canada, Saturday in much of the Middle East, Monday almost everywhere else. To change it, go to **Settings** → **Business settings**, where it sits with your country and currency. See [Business settings → Week starts on](https://docs.bellabooking.com/settings/general.md). *** ## Time Slot Interval The **Time slot interval** - the spacing between the available times clients can pick when booking online - is now set under **Settings** → **Booking policies**. See [Booking policies → Time slot interval](https://docs.bellabooking.com/appointments/booking-policies#time-slot-interval). *** ## Closing Your Business Temporarily or Permanently To prevent all bookings for your location: 1. Navigate to **Settings** → **Scheduling** 2. Toggle **all seven days** to closed (off) 3. Click **Save** **Important considerations:** * This only affects team members who rely on account opening hours as their fallback * Team members with their own default working hours will **still show availability** unless their schedules are also updated * For complete closure, you must also update each team member's schedule (see [Team Schedule](https://docs.bellabooking.com/teams/team-schedule.md)) ### For Temporary Closures For holidays or short closures, use the **Set not working** feature on the [Team Schedule](https://docs.bellabooking.com/teams/team-schedule.md#set-not-working-bulk-action) page. This lets you select a date range and multiple team members at once, creating time off entries for everyone in one action - much faster than adding individual time off for each team member. This preserves your regular schedule configuration and makes it easy to resume normal operations. ### For Permanent or Long-Term Closure If ending availability after a specific date (e.g., closing at end of year): 1. Set account opening hours to closed for all days (safety net) 2. For each team member, set a new default schedule starting on the closure date with no shifts See [Planning Future Schedule Changes](https://docs.bellabooking.com/teams/team-schedule.md#planning-future-schedule-changes) for detailed instructions. *** ## Working Hours Enforcement Control whether appointments from the scheduler must fall within team members' working hours. The same switch also turns two other advisory warnings into blocks: a service booked outside its own [Available times](https://docs.bellabooking.com/service-catalog.md#available-times), and a room or piece of equipment that is closed, out of service or outside its [operating hours](https://docs.bellabooking.com/teams/resources.md#resource-operating-hours-and-out-of-service). ### How It Works When **Enforce working hours** is enabled: * **Scheduler cells** outside a team member's working hours are visually dimmed and show a `not-allowed` cursor - clicking them is blocked * **Appointment form** - if the selected time falls outside working hours (e.g., a long service extends past the end of the day), the warning turns red and the **Schedule** / **Update** button is disabled * **Shade non-working hours** in the scheduler is automatically turned on and cannot be turned off, so team members' hours are always visible * **A service outside its Available times**, or a required resource that is closed, out of service or outside its operating hours, blocks the save instead of warning When **Enforce working hours** is disabled (the default): * Appointments can be created at any time from the scheduler, even outside working hours * **Shade non-working hours** is on by default and can be turned off from the scheduler's **Display** menu **Note:** Online booking always enforces working hours regardless of this setting. This setting only controls appointments your team creates from the scheduler. ### Enabling Working Hours Enforcement 1. Navigate to **Settings** → **Scheduling** 2. Scroll to the **Working hours enforcement** section 3. Toggle **Enforce working hours** on 4. The setting takes effect immediately ### Shading non-working hours in the scheduler In **Day**, **3 days** and **Week** views, the scheduler can dim the time outside each team member's working hours. This is controlled by the **Shade non-working hours** toggle in the scheduler's **Display** menu. * When **Enforce working hours** is enabled, the shading is always on and the toggle is disabled * When **Enforce working hours** is disabled, the shading is on by default and can be turned off * Like every scheduler Display setting, the toggle is personal to each team member and follows them across devices - it is not a business-wide setting *** ## Opening Hours & Online Booking Account opening hours play a special role in online booking availability. Understanding this relationship helps avoid common configuration issues. ### How Online Booking Slots Are Generated When a client selects a date on your online booking page, the system: 1. **Collects all team members' actual working hours** for that day, resolving the full hierarchy (custom hours > personal schedule > account opening hours as fallback) 2. **Generates candidate time slots** from the union of all team members' working hours 3. **Shows only slots** where at least one eligible team member is available and the full service duration fits within their working hours This means online booking slots are driven by **actual team member availability**. If a team member has a personal schedule that includes Saturday (even if account hours don't), Saturday slots will appear for that team member. ### How Account Opening Hours Affect Online Booking Account opening hours serve as a **fallback** for team members without personal schedules. They do not act as a hard boundary: * **Team member with a personal schedule:** Their own hours are used, regardless of account hours * **Team member without a personal schedule:** Account opening hours are used as their working hours ### Example * Account opening hours: Monday-Friday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM, Saturday-Sunday closed * Team member "Sarah" has a personal schedule: Monday-Saturday 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM * Team member "James" has no personal schedule (uses account defaults) **Result:** Sarah's Saturday slots appear on the online booking page. James has no Saturday availability (account hours are closed). Monday-Friday shows slots for both. *** ## Processing Time & Buffer Defaults Set location-level default values for processing time and buffer times. These defaults are inherited by all services unless a service explicitly overrides them. ### What Are Processing Time and Buffer Time? * **Processing Time**: Time after the active service where the client remains but the team member is free to serve others (e.g., colour development, treatment absorption). Visible to clients. * **Buffer Before**: Setup time before a service that blocks the team member and any room or equipment the service uses. Not visible to clients. * **Buffer After**: Cleanup time after a service that blocks the team member and any room or equipment the service uses. Not visible to clients. For a detailed explanation of how these compose together, see [Service Timing Concepts](https://docs.bellabooking.com/service-catalog/timing.md). ### Configuring Defaults 1. Navigate to **Settings** → **Scheduling** 2. Scroll to the **Processing time & buffer defaults** section 3. Set each value using the dropdown: * **Default processing time**: Choose from 0 to 120 minutes * **Default buffer before**: Choose from 0 to 60 minutes * **Default buffer after**: Choose from 0 to 60 minutes 4. Changes save automatically ### How Defaults Are Inherited When a service has **"Use default"** selected for any of these values, it inherits the location-level default. The resolution order is: 1. **Bundle override** (if the service is part of a bundle with a custom value) 2. **Service-level value** (if an explicit value is set on the service) 3. **Location default** (the value set here) 4. **0 minutes** (if no default is configured) ### When to Use Defaults **Set a default processing time when:** * Most services at your location require similar processing time (e.g., a colour salon where most services need 30 minutes for colour development) * You want to avoid setting processing time individually on every service **Set default buffer times when:** * All services need consistent setup/cleanup time (e.g., 10 minutes between clients for room sanitisation) * You want to ensure team members always have preparation time between appointments **Leave defaults at 0 when:** * Processing and buffer times vary significantly across services * You prefer to configure these per service individually *** ## Resources Resources are physical assets like rooms, chairs, or equipment that can be assigned to services and appointments. ### Enabling Resources 1. Navigate to **Team & resources** → **Resources** 2. Find the **Resources** toggle at the top of the page 3. Turn it **On** to enable resources for this location Once enabled, you manage your rooms, chairs and equipment on that same page. For detailed information on setting up and using resources, see [Resources](https://docs.bellabooking.com/teams/resources.md). *** ## Attendance Tracking Attendance tracking allows your team to clock in and out, recording work hours for payroll and reporting. ### Enabling Attendance Tracking 1. Navigate to **Settings** → **Scheduling** 2. Find the **Attendance tracking** toggle 3. Turn it **On** to enable for this location Once enabled: * The **Time clock** widget appears in the sidebar for all team members with access * The **Timesheets** page becomes available in the sidebar * The **Attendance** report appears under Reports * Admins can set up **clock-in PINs** for team members (see [Clock-in PIN](https://docs.bellabooking.com/teams/index.md#clock-in-pin)) *** ## Scheduler Colours Customise the background colour used for appointment statuses, check-in, blocked time, and non-working hours in the scheduler. This makes it easy to distinguish between confirmed, completed, pending and cancelled appointments, no-shows, clients who are waiting or being served, blocked time slots, and time outside working hours at a glance. ### Default Colours Each entry has a default colour that is used unless you choose a different one: | Entry | Default Colour | | - | - | | Confirmed | Indigo | | Completed | Green | | Pending confirmation | Amber | | Pending approval | Orange | | Cancelled | Slate | | No-show | Red | | Blocked time | Light Slate | | Waiting | Teal | | In progress | Purple | | Non-working hours | Slate | > [!NOTE] > > Cancelled appointments, no-shows included, only appear on the calendar once **Cancelled** is ticked under **Filters → Status** in the scheduler header. It is off by default, and each person's tick is saved to their profile, so it follows them to other devices. A no-show takes the **No-show** colour and every other cancellation the **Cancelled** colour, in both Colour by modes. See [Filters](https://docs.bellabooking.com/scheduler.md#filters-status-booking-source-tags). **Waiting** and **In progress** are the [check-in](https://docs.bellabooking.com/appointments/index.md#checking-in-a-client) colours, not statuses. When you colour the scheduler by status, checking a client in switches their appointment to the Waiting colour, and starting their service switches it to In progress - taking precedence over the status colour while the client is with you. After checkout the appointment returns to its status colour (Completed). See [Colour by status or by service](#colour-by-status-or-by-service) below for how this looks when you colour by service instead. **Blocked time** is the colour every blocked time starts with. A single block can override it from the **Scheduler colour** field on the blocked time form, so a lunch break, a team meeting and a deep clean can each read differently at a glance. Blocks that have not chosen their own follow this setting, so changing it here recolours them. See [Blocked time management](https://docs.bellabooking.com/scheduler.md#blocked-time-management). **Non-working hours** shades the empty grid (not appointment tiles) outside your team's working hours - shown in the Day, 3 days and Week views when **Shade non-working hours** is on in the scheduler's **Display** menu (on by default; working hours enforcement keeps the shading on for everyone). The default has clear contrast against working hours in both light and dark mode, and a colour you choose applies to both. ### Colour by status or by service **Colour by** decides which colours you see. It sits at the top of the **Scheduler colours** section on this page, above the swatches: * **Status** - appointments take their status colour, or their check-in colour while a client is waiting or in progress. * **Service** - live appointments keep the colour of their service or service category. After checkout (or if cancelled) the whole tile uses the Completed, Cancelled or No-show colour. Month and Agenda show the status with the appointment's icons. In both modes, the Day, 3 days and Week views leave a small gap where one booking ends and the next starts, so back-to-back bookings stay apart. Each appointment also shows its status as an icon, whichever mode you choose. So you can colour by service to tell appointment types apart, and still have the whole tile go grey (or whichever Completed colour you pick) once you check out. You do not need to switch Colour by to Status for that. If your appointments are currently showing service colours and you want them to change colour by status while they are still live, switch **Colour by** to **Status**. Service colours themselves are set per service - see [Scheduler Colour](https://docs.bellabooking.com/service-catalog/index.md#scheduler-colour). > [!NOTE] > > Colour by applies to the whole location - everyone on your team reads the same board - so changing it needs permission to manage settings. > > The scheduler's **Display** menu links straight here for anyone who can manage settings - it holds only the personal view preferences itself. ### Changing a Colour 1. Navigate to **Settings** → **Scheduling** 2. Scroll to the **Scheduler colours** section 3. Click the colour button next to the entry you want to change 4. In the popover, either: * Select a **preset colour** from the swatch grid * Use the **custom colour** picker to choose any colour 5. The change saves automatically ### Resetting a Colour To reset a single entry back to its default colour: 1. Click the colour button next to the entry 2. Click **Reset to default** at the bottom of the popover This option only appears when you have set a custom colour for that entry. *** This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.