Question 1

Do I need an account to book?

Accepted Answer

No. A name, an email address and a phone number are all a business needs, and the confirmation email carries a link that lets you change that booking later. An account only exists so that every booking you have made sits in one place: My bookings.

Question 2

Is my appointment confirmed straight away?

Accepted Answer

Usually. Instant confirmation is on unless the business turns it off, in which case your request arrives as pending and waits for a person to say yes. Either way the slot is yours from the moment you book, and the email you get says which of the two happened.

Question 3

How far ahead can I book?

Accepted Answer

As far ahead as that business takes bookings, which its own page draws for you: a new business opens 90 days of diary, and some open more or less, so there is no one answer to print here. You cannot book a time in the past, and you cannot book a slot that has already started.

Question 4

Can I cancel or move my appointment?

Accepted Answer

Yes, while it is still pending or confirmed and has not yet finished. Open it from My bookings, or from the link in your confirmation email if you booked as a guest, and choose cancel or reschedule. Bokful enforces no notice period of its own; the business may still have one, so give them what warning you can. Once the appointment has ended it is the business who changes it, not you.

Question 5

Why will it not let me book twice?

Accepted Answer

Two rules, both checked as you book rather than afterwards: one live booking per business per day, and no two bookings anywhere on Bokful that overlap each other. They exist because a customer booking over themselves is nearly always a mistake. If you genuinely need a second slot on the same day, ask the business to add it.

Question 6

Which timezone are the times in?

Accepted Answer

The business’s, named with its current offset above the day picker, and the banner tells you when your own device is somewhere else. Daylight-saving changes are handled, so a 9am slot is 9am for the business whatever your phone is set to.

Question 7

What emails will I get?

Accepted Answer

Only ones about your own booking, one for each thing that can happen to it: requested, confirmed, booked for you by the business, moved, completed, declined, cancelled by you, cancelled by the business, and expired. Every one carries a calendar invite, and the four that end a booking send it as a cancellation so your calendar clears itself. We send no marketing email.

Question 8

Nobody ever confirmed my request. What happens?

Accepted Answer

It closes itself. A booking that is still pending or confirmed seven days after it should have finished is cancelled automatically and you are emailed. Nothing is charged, because Bokful takes no money.

Question 9

A slot looks free but will not book

Accepted Answer

Almost always somebody took it moments earlier. Overlapping bookings are refused by the database itself, so when two people press book at the same instant one of them is told the slot has gone. It can also mean the business closed that time while you were choosing. If a time keeps failing, report it: that is a bug and we want to know.

Question 10

Can I keep a business for later?

Accepted Answer

Yes, once you are signed in. Save it from its page and it is waiting in Saved. Saving is private: the business is not told.

Question 11

What happens to what I type in?

Accepted Answer

Your name, email and phone go to the business you booked with, because that is who is expecting you. What we hold and why is written out in the privacy policy, and the same address handles a request to see, correct, export or delete any of it.

Question 12

How do I start taking bookings?

Accepted Answer

Four things, and a slot only appears where all four meet: the business exists, a service has a length, the weekly hours have an open day, and the page is published. Publishing needs a confirmed email address and enough of a location for a customer to find you. Create a business walks you through the lot.

Question 13

How do I add my Bokful booking link to Instagram?

Accepted Answer

In your Bokful dashboard, open Integrations and choose Copy for Instagram. In the Instagram app, open your professional profile, choose Edit profile, then Links, then Add external link. Paste the Bokful address, title it Book now and save it. You can also share the same address in a Story with Instagram's link sticker. This is a profile link, not Instagram's native Book now action button. Bokful cannot add it to your Instagram profile for you today.

Question 14

How do I add my Bokful booking link to Google?

Accepted Answer

In your Bokful dashboard, open Business profile, find Your page and copy its link. Sign in to the Google account that manages your Business Profile. In Google Search choose Booking, or in Google Maps choose Edit profile and then Booking. Add the Bokful link, save it, and mark it as preferred if you have more than one. Google decides which businesses can show booking links and where they appear. This is a link you manage yourself. Bokful cannot add it to your Google profile for you today.

Question 15

Why can nobody book me?

Accepted Answer

Nearly always one of three. The page is not published yet. Or the weekly hours have no open day, in which case every slot is refused as closed. Or the service has no duration, and a service with no length has no grid to offer starts on. Your dashboard flags the missing one at the top.

Question 16

How are appointment lengths decided?

Accepted Answer

By the service. Each one carries its own duration, so a 30-minute service offers 30-minute starts and a 90-minute one offers 90-minute starts. Change the duration and the grid of available times changes with it.

Question 17

What is the difference between a holiday and leave?

Accepted Answer

A holiday can repeat: daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, which is how you close every Sunday, or Eid, or Christmas, once. Leave is always one-off, for time away. Both close the whole business rather than one person’s diary.

Question 18

How far ahead can my customers book?

Accepted Answer

90 days to begin with. You can shorten it in your business settings. Only we can lift it further, so if you take bookings further out than that, tell us why and we will raise it.

Question 19

Can two customers take the same slot?

Accepted Answer

No, and this is enforced by the database rather than checked in the app, which is the difference between usually and never: two live bookings cannot overlap on the same person’s diary, so simultaneous requests cannot both succeed. One gets the slot and the other is told it has gone.

Question 20

Do I have to confirm every booking?

Accepted Answer

Only if you want to. Instant confirmation is on by default, so a booking is confirmed the moment it is made; turn it off and every request waits for you to say yes. Either way an email goes to every owner and admin the moment one arrives, and to the member it is assigned to.

Question 21

Can I add staff or team members?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Invite them by email from the Team screen and choose admin or staff. An admin runs the business alongside you but cannot take it from you; staff work the diary. Owner is the one role nobody can be invited into, and there is exactly one per business. An invitation lasts 7 days and only the address it was sent to can accept it. A business holds up to 25 members.

Question 22

Where do I see my day?

Accepted Answer

The calendar in your dashboard draws the day as a grid, one column per person, with your closing hours shaded out and a marker on the current time. Requests that are still waiting on you sit in their own queue beside it, so nothing pending is hiding inside the diary.

Question 23

Can I take payment through Bokful?

Accepted Answer

No. There is no payment provider in Bokful today: no card processing, no deposits, no payouts, and nothing stored. Bokful handles the scheduling, and the money is arranged with your customer directly. Deposits are planned.

Question 24

What does Bokful cost?

Accepted Answer

Nothing. Bokful is free for businesses and for their customers: no subscription, no commission on a booking, no per-booking fee, and no card to sign up.

Question 25

Am I being charged anything?

Accepted Answer

No. Nothing on your account is charged. No card is stored and no invoice is issued.

Help for the people using Bokful

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