What is it?
Microsoft Bookings is a schedule and appointment manager application by Microsoft. It is one of the productivity applications included in the Microsoft 365 suite. Microsoft Bookings was designed originally for small businesses (Hairdressers/Car Garages etc.) as a way for their customers to book and manage their appointments online.
Key features of Bookings:
- A 24/7/365 online solution for booking appointments — no calls necessary.
- Automatic email confirmations, reminders, and calendar invitations.
- The ability to cancel or reschedule online.
- Flexibility to choose a staff member or automatically allocate someone.
- Synchronisation with staff outlook calendars.
- Individual or group bookings.
- Downloadable 120-day TSV file.
- An easy way to add appointments to your existing Outlook calendar.
- The option to schedule via phone or in person, you can easily add appointments to Bookings manually from a computer or on a mobile device.
It is available for Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, Android, Apple IOS and on Linux using WINE.
What do I use it for?
Microsoft Bookings can allow people to book into their choice of time slots via a website, thereby scheduling appointments with staff members providing a service or running an appointment. The web-based scheduling page can be shared via a direct link, e.g. via email or through a link embedded within a website.
You can fully customise a Bookings calendar to fit the specific needs of your organisation, by defining appointment types and details, managing staff schedules and availability, setting business hours and customising how appointments are scheduled.
Bookings is also accessible via a business-facing mobile app, where Bookings calendar owners and administrators can see their appointments, access customer lists alongside contact information and make manual bookings wherever they are.
Please note: with effect from 1st December 2022 the Bookings Mobile Apps on Google Play store and Apple App store will no longer be available for download. Any existing users of the app will be able to continue to use the app but will not receive any support or updates. Users who want to access Bookings on their mobile device can do so via the Bookings web page (https://book.ms) on their mobile browser.
This application integrates with Outlook. You can synchronise staff calendars with their assigned Bookings appointments, making Bookings a good scheduling solution for those already using Outlook.
Use Cases for Bookings Calendars
- Managing Appointments with a team/group of people
- Room Booking / meeting room resourcing
- Equipment Hire
- Event Booking
- Flexible work space / cluster booking
If you want to use Bookings to manage 1 to 1 appointments, please use the Personal Booking tool.
Who is it available to?
Microsoft Bookings is available to all University staff.
How do I access it?
You can access Microsoft Bookings by logging into the Office 365 portal, clicking on all apps and selecting Bookings.
Alternatively, you can access Bookings via an app in Microsoft Teams desktop.
How do I get a Bookings Calendar created?
You can request a new Bookings calendar to be created via the request linked in the related requests section (please note: you will need to be logged in to access this form).
How do I open a Bookings Calendar?
Click the Microsoft Bookings tile from the Office 365 portal (or you can enter 'Book.ms' in the web browser address bar).
If it is the first time you have used Bookings, you will see the following screen:
If your calendar is not visible in the list, click 'Discover calendars' button and then enter the name of the Bookings calendar in the box provided and press enter to start the search. Select your calendar from the list of results.
Please note: 'Create new calendar' will not work as you will need to complete the request to create a new Bookings calendar.
Microsoft Bookings Old Web Version will be retired on 14th November 2022
Currently, users have the option to switch between the old version and the new version of bookings. If you use the old version you will be migrated to the new version automatically after the 14th November 2022. There is no impact or loss of any data.
Training
Microsoft Bookings training is available via LinkedIn Learning.
Further Information and Support
For further information on Microsoft Bookings and for support, please see the Microsoft Website.