> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://q.odontox.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Creating Appointments
> Book appointments from the calendar, choose a procedure from your Service Catalog, leave a booking unassigned, and reschedule with confidence.
The booking form is where most of a receptionist's day happens, so we have built it to be quick and unambiguous. This article covers how to book an appointment, pick the right procedure and duration, and book without a doctor when you need to.
## Booking an appointment
From the sidebar. The Overview panel starts collapsed so the calendar gets the full canvas.
The **New Appointment** button in the toolbar is the booking entry point. Clicking an empty slot on the calendar is display-only by default — see the note below.
Pick the expected visit length. The duration picker offers `30 min (default)`, `1 hour`, and `Custom…` (5–480 minutes for the rare long case). New bookings default to 30 minutes.
Choose the patient, the doctor (optional — see [Unassigned appointments](#unassigned-appointments)), the procedure, and the room. Add any notes for the visit.
The appointment lands on the calendar at its scheduled time, with a colour status ribbon reflecting its status.
**Clicking an empty slot does not open the booking form by default.** Bookings go through the **New Appointment** button. If you prefer the older behaviour, re-enable **click-to-book** under **Settings → Appointment Setup**.
### Save & Book a new patient
If a walk-in patient is not in the system yet, open the patient form and click **Save & Book Appointment** instead of saving the patient first. This creates the patient record and opens the booking form in one step.
## Choosing a procedure
The **Procedure** field is a searchable picker powered by your **Service Catalog**. Start typing to filter, and matching services appear grouped by category with their prices, so you can confirm you have picked the right treatment at the right fee.
If your clinic has not set up a Service Catalog yet, the picker falls back to a set of standard defaults, so you can always book a visit. Build out your catalog to make this field reflect your own treatments and pricing.
## Duration and time format
* **Default length.** New bookings stage a 30-minute appointment. Use `1 hour` or `Custom…` for longer visits.
* **Time format.** Your clinic's 12-hour or 24-hour preference (set under **Settings → Appointment Setup**) applies everywhere — the axis, cards, hover tooltips, and drag confirmations.
## Unassigned appointments
You do not have to choose a doctor at booking time. Leave the doctor field empty and the appointment is created as **unassigned**, which is useful when you are holding a slot for whoever is free, or booking ahead of a rota decision. Several unassigned bookings can share the same slot.
Wherever an unassigned appointment is listed — on the calendar, in the queue, and on its detail page — an amber **Assign doctor** badge appears. Click it to open a doctor picker (including any visiting doctors) and assign the visit.
In the Day view, when the **All doctors** filter is active, unassigned appointments collect in a dedicated **Unassigned** lane on the left. The lane is hidden when you filter to a single doctor.
**Start appointment** stays disabled until a doctor is assigned. Assign one from the **Assign doctor** badge before the visit begins.
## Booking safeguards
The form validates each booking against your clinic's setup before saving:
* **Operating hours.** If a slot falls outside your open–close window, the message shows the appointment's start, the computed end, and the clinic's hours so you can pick a slot that fits.
* **Doctor schedules.** If a doctor is marked off that day, or the slot falls outside their configured working hours, the booking is declined with a clear message. Filtering the Day view to a doctor shrinks the time grid to that doctor's shift.
* **Duplicate guard.** A patient cannot hold two active appointments at the same time on the same day. Cancelled and no-show slots are excluded, so re-booking after a cancellation always works.
## Rescheduling
Drag a card to a new time on the Day or Week view, or open an appointment and choose **Reschedule**. Drops snap to 30-minute boundaries by default; switch to 15-minute snap under **Settings → Appointment Setup**. The reschedule picker offers 15-minute increments for fine placement.
Cancelled and no-show appointments can be rescheduled directly — those are exactly the cases where you need to move the patient to a new slot. Rescheduling resets the status to Scheduled automatically.
## Need help?
If anything is unclear, write to [support@odontox.io](mailto:support@odontox.io) or open a ticket from **Settings → Support**.
## Related articles
* [Scheduling Calendar](/clinical/calendar) — Day, Week, and Month views, drag-to-reschedule, and filters
* [Appointment Detail Page](/clinical/appointment-detail) — Where the visit workflow happens once an appointment is booked
* [Appointment Statuses & Workflow](/clinical/appointment-lifecycle) — Valid status transitions