Microsoft Bookings Overview

Microsoft Bookings is a Microsoft 365 (M365) application used for appointment booking. It can be used for scheduling academic advising appointments, office hours, etc. View Microsoft's FAQ on Bookings.

All full-time employees at the University of Waterloo who have a M365 email account have access to Bookings. Students, sponsored/departmental accounts, most part-time staff, alumni and retired employees are not eligible to request, administer, or own a Microsoft Bookings site, but will be able to book appointments with employees that use the application.

How does Microsoft Bookings work? 

Microsoft Bookings allows customers to access and schedule appointments through your business calendar. Options available are:

• Publish your business calendar online to share with your customers and team

• Customize the calendar to include your business hours

• Add or import customers to your Customer list

• Add or manage user permissions for your team members to access the business calendar

  • Note: Staff email addresses should be added in order for staff to receive Bookings notifications

• Add or manage the number of services customers are able to select from your business calendar

• Book an appointment on behalf of a customer; customers can also book appointments themselves

• Customize your bookings page by: 

  • Adjusting scheduling policy settings (e.g. appointment time increments, minimum lead time, maximum lead time)

  • Adjusting language and time zone settings

  • Enabling or disabling customer email notifications

  • Adding a logo to your bookings page

  • Changing the colour scheme of your bookings page

• Embed the published business calendar on your website or Facebook page

How to create a business calendar with Microsoft Bookings

Microsoft Bookings Calendar naming

When requesting a new Bookings calendar, please follow the naming conventions below. Only calendars with acceptable naming conventions will be approved for creation. 

• For department/group calendars: DepartmentName-CalendarName (Department name acronyms should be used for longer department names)

  • Examples: Visitors Centre - Campus Tours, MUR - Events

• For instructor calendars (e.g. Office Hours): 'Office Hours' -ProfessorName

  • Examples: Office Hours - John Smith
    
    

Step-by-step guide

1. Submit a request for a Bookings Calendar. Enter a descriptive calendar name and select the most applicable calendar type (Education, IT Support, Recruiting, Healthcare, Financial Services, Sales, or Other). It may take 24-48 hours for your Bookings calendar to be created. The calendar type you choose will not impact the functionality of your Bookings Calendar. If unsure, choose ‘Education’.
   
   

2. Once you receive your calendar, configure and customize the necessary settings. A default service was created along with your calendar. You will need to delete it or edit it with the details of one of your service offerings.

   1. Enter your business information

   2. Add staff to Bookings

   3. Define your service offerings

   4. Schedule business closures, time off, and vacation time

   5. Set your scheduling policies

   6. Set employee working hours

   7. Customize and publish your booking page

   8. Create a manual booking
      
      

3. Now you are ready to share your Bookings Calendar. Go to Booking Page and click Copy to copy the calendar link. Share the calendar link with your customers so that they can start booking! You can click the Open published page button to preview your Booking page. 

   1. Learn more about how to book an appointment in Microsoft Bookings.
      
      

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Set up your Outlook Bookings With Me Page

Create a booking page and list the availability that others will use to schedule meetings with you.

To create your bookings page:

Step-by-step guide

1. Open your Outlook email home page.

2. Click on the calendar icon from the left sidebar menu.

3. Click Create booking page from the left sidebar menu of your calendar page.

4. Once redirected, create a meeting time to complete your booking page setup.

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