How do I set up and use Calendar?

Calendar is where you define when customers can book appointments and how those appointments should work.

It is a prerequisite for using AI Answer with Scheduling enabled.

Before the AI agent can offer appointment times, you need a Calendar with:

• Weekly availability
• A timezone
• Appointment length
• Booking rules
• Optional gaps between appointments
• Optional limits per time slot
• Optional email alerts
• Optional SMS reminders

Once the Calendar is configured, AI Answer with Scheduling enabled can use that availability when customers ask to book.

How to access Calendar

Open the main AskHandle menu and select Calendar.

The Calendar page gives you a weekly view of your availability and appointments.

From here, you can:

• Create a new Calendar
• Set weekly hours
• Add an appointment manually
• Change Calendar settings
• Review the current week
• Switch between Calendars
• Save or discard changes

Create a new Calendar

Click + New calendar to create a Calendar.

You can use separate Calendars for different:

• Teams
• Locations
• Services
• Departments
• Appointment types

Give each Calendar a clear name so it is easy to recognize later when connecting it to Scheduling.

For example:

• Sales Consultations
• Property Viewings
• Available Calendar
• Customer Support Appointments
• New Patient Appointments

Calendar availability

The weekly Calendar view shows the times when appointments can be booked.

Available time appears as blocks across each day.

For example:

• Monday to Friday: 9 AM to 5 PM
• Saturday and Sunday: 9 AM to 2 PM

These hours define when online appointments can be offered.

Set weekly hours

Click Weekly hours to define your repeating availability.

You can start with a preset or create your own schedule.

Available options include examples such as:

• Start empty
• Weekdays 9-5
• Weekdays 9-6
• Weekdays 8-5
• Every day 9-5
• Custom hours

Use a weekly-hours preset

A preset gives you a quick starting point.

For example:

Weekdays 9-5

sets Monday through Friday as available from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and leaves Saturday and Sunday closed.

You can adjust individual days afterward if needed.

Set custom weekly hours

Use Custom hours when your schedule does not match one of the presets.

Choose whether the hours apply to:

• Weekdays
• Every day

Then select the start and end time and click Apply.

For example:

Weekdays
8:00 AM to 7:00 PM

You can still adjust individual days directly on the weekly Calendar afterward.

Adjust individual days

After setting weekly hours, you can change a specific day without changing the entire repeating schedule.

This is useful when one day needs different availability from the others.

For example:

• Monday to Friday: 9 AM to 5 PM
• Saturday: 9 AM to 2 PM
• Sunday: 9 AM to 2 PM

The weekly view makes these differences visible.

Calendar settings

Click Settings to configure how appointments work.

The settings panel includes Calendar and appointment controls such as:

• Calendar name
• Calendar color
• Open for appointments
• Email alerts
• SMS reminders
• Timezone
• Appointment length
• Gap between appointments
• Appointments per time slot
• How soon people can book
• How far ahead people can book

Calendar name

Use a clear Calendar name.

The name helps your team distinguish between Calendars when you have more than one.

Examples:

• Sales Demo Calendar
• Miami Property Viewings
• Spa Appointments
• Main Consultation Calendar

Calendar color

Choose a color for the Calendar.

The color appears in the Calendar list and on available hours in the weekly view.

This is useful when you manage several Calendars and want to identify them quickly.

Open for appointments

The Open for appointments setting controls whether new bookings are allowed.

When it is on, the Calendar can accept new appointments according to its configured availability.

When it is off, the Calendar remains available in AskHandle but new appointments are blocked.

This is useful when you temporarily want to stop new bookings without deleting the Calendar.

Email alerts for new appointments

You can enter one or more email addresses that should receive an alert when a new appointment is confirmed.

Use Add email to include additional recipients.

Leave this blank if you do not want appointment email alerts.

This is useful for:

• Sales teams
• Service teams
• Property managers
• Reception staff
• Anyone who needs to know when a booking is created

SMS reminders

You can enable SMS reminder to send the customer a text message before the appointment.

A phone number is required for SMS reminders.

If SMS reminder is off, no SMS reminder is sent.

Use this when text reminders are useful for reducing missed appointments.

Set your timezone

Choose the timezone used by the Calendar.

For example:

America/Los_Angeles

The weekly hours are stored and displayed in the Calendar's timezone.

Customers can still see booking times in a format they can understand, while the Calendar keeps one consistent timezone behind the appointment.

Make sure the timezone matches the location or team using the Calendar.

Appointment length

Set how long each appointment should last.

For example:

• 15 minutes
• 30 minutes
• 45 minutes
• 60 minutes

The appointment length affects which time slots can be offered.

For example, if appointments are 30 minutes long, the Calendar can offer 30-minute booking slots within your available hours.

Gap between appointments

Use Gap between appointments when you need time between bookings.

Examples include:

• Travel time
• Preparation
• Cleanup
• Notes
• Reset time between customers

You can also choose No gap when back-to-back appointments are acceptable.

Appointments per time slot

Use Appointments per time slot to control how many appointments can share the same time.

When the setting is unlimited, any number of appointments can share the same time slot.

You can use a limit when only a certain number of bookings should be allowed at the same time.

This is useful for:

• Group sessions
• Classes
• Multi-staff availability
• Events
• Services with limited capacity

How soon people can book

Use How soon people can book to set the minimum amount of notice required before an appointment.

For example:

2 hours from now

means customers can only book appointments that begin at least two hours in the future.

This gives your team preparation time and prevents last-minute bookings when they are not practical.

How far ahead people can book

Use How far ahead people can book to control the maximum booking window.

For example:

60 days

means customers cannot book an appointment more than 60 days into the future.

Choose a booking window that matches how far ahead your business normally plans.

Save your Calendar changes

After changing weekly hours or settings, click Save.

Use Discard if you do not want to keep the changes.

Make sure important Calendar changes are saved before testing Scheduling.

Add an appointment manually

You can create an appointment directly from Calendar.

Click + Add appointment.

This is useful when someone books through another channel, such as:

• A phone call
• An in-person request
• A team member
• Another offline process

Manual appointments use the same open hours as online booking.

Information for a manual appointment

When adding an appointment, you can enter:

• Name
• Email
• Phone
• Date
• Time
• Team note

The customer's name is required.

Email and phone can be optional depending on the booking.

Choose the date and time

Select the appointment date and an available time.

The time shown is based on the Calendar timezone.

The appointment should fit within the Calendar's configured availability and booking rules.

Add a team note

Use Team note for information your team should know about the appointment.

For example:

• Customer requested wheelchair access
• Bring product samples
• Follow up about contract renewal
• Customer called about a specific property

Team notes are visible to teammates, not the customer.

Do not use the team note for information that should be sent to the customer.

Book the appointment

Once the details are complete, click Book appointment.

The appointment will be added to the Calendar.

Manual appointments and AI-booked appointments use the same Calendar availability.

Calendar and AI Answer Scheduling

The Calendar provides the availability used by AI Answer with Scheduling enabled.

A typical setup is:

1. Create a Calendar
2. Set weekly availability
3. Configure appointment rules
4. Save the Calendar
5. Enable Scheduling in AI Answer
6. Connect the appropriate Calendar
7. Test the booking experience

The Calendar controls when appointments can be booked.

AI Answer handles the conversation with the customer.

Example: consultation booking

Your Calendar is configured with:

• Monday to Friday
• 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
• 30-minute appointments
• No gap
• Minimum notice of 2 hours
• Booking up to 60 days ahead

A customer asks:

“Can I book a consultation Thursday afternoon?”

AI Answer with Scheduling enabled checks the Calendar and offers available times that match those rules.

Example: weekend availability

Your Calendar has:

• Monday to Friday: 9 AM to 5 PM
• Saturday and Sunday: 9 AM to 2 PM

A customer asks:

“Do you have anything Sunday afternoon?”

Scheduling should only offer times that fall inside the configured Sunday availability.

If no qualifying time is available, the AI agent should not invent one.

Example: last-minute booking

Your Calendar requires at least two hours of advance notice.

A customer asks for an appointment 30 minutes from now.

That time should not be offered because it falls inside the minimum booking-notice period.

Use multiple Calendars when needed

You may want more than one Calendar when different teams or services have different availability.

For example:

Sales Calendar

• 30-minute demos
• Weekdays only

Property Viewing Calendar

• 60-minute appointments
• Includes weekends

Service Calendar

• 45-minute appointments
• Different working hours

Keep Calendar names clear so the correct one can be selected for the right scheduling workflow.

Temporarily stop bookings without deleting the Calendar

If you need to pause new bookings, turn Open for appointments off.

This keeps the Calendar and its settings available while blocking new appointments.

You can turn it back on later.

This is useful for:

• Temporary closures
• Seasonal pauses
• Staff availability changes
• Maintenance periods
• Calendar reconfiguration

Review availability before enabling Scheduling

Before connecting the Calendar to AI Answer, check:

• Weekly hours
• Timezone
• Appointment length
• Gap between appointments
• Time-slot capacity
• Minimum booking notice
• Maximum booking window
• Email alerts
• SMS reminder settings

These settings determine what the customer can book.

Test Calendar and Scheduling together

After connecting the Calendar to AI Answer with Scheduling enabled, test realistic booking requests.

Try:

• A time inside available hours
• A time outside available hours
• A same-day request
• A request inside the minimum notice period
• A request beyond the booking window
• A weekend request
• A request for a time that is already booked
• A customer changing the selected time
• A completed booking

Confirm that the AI agent offers only valid appointment times.

Tips for using Calendar

• Create a Calendar before enabling Scheduling.
• Give each Calendar a clear name.
• Set weekly hours that match real availability.
• Confirm the timezone before accepting bookings.
• Set appointment length and gaps based on how your team actually works.
• Use minimum booking notice to prevent impractical last-minute bookings.
• Use the booking window to control how far ahead customers can schedule.
• Add email alerts for teammates who need booking notifications.
• Enable SMS reminders when customer phone numbers are available and reminders are useful.
• Use manual appointments for bookings made outside the AI experience.
• Turn Open for appointments off when you need to pause bookings temporarily.
• Test the Calendar together with AI Answer Scheduling before publishing.

Related guides

For more information, see:

• How does Scheduling work?
• What are AI Answer skills?
• How to use the AI Answer node
• How should I test my AI agent before publishing?