Set up online booking, sync with Google Calendar or Calendly, manage services, providers, and automated reminders.
The Appointments module lets your visitors book appointments directly through the Helpon chat widget, your website, or an integrated calendar platform. Access it from Helpon → Appointments in your WordPress admin sidebar.
The module provides a complete booking workflow: visitors select a service, choose a provider, pick a date and time, fill in their details, and receive an instant confirmation. On the admin side, you get a full calendar view with filtering, status management, and export capabilities.
The Appointments module must be enabled before use. Go to Helpon → Settings → Modules and toggle Appointments to On. If you ran the setup wizard and left Appointments disabled, you can enable it at any time.
Configure the core booking settings that control how visitors can schedule appointments. Navigate to Helpon → Appointments → Settings to access these options.
Toggle Enable Booking to On. This activates the booking interface in the chat widget and makes your appointment calendar publicly accessible for scheduling.
Define your weekly availability by selecting days and time ranges. For each day, set a start time and end time. You can add multiple time ranges per day to account for lunch breaks or split shifts.
Set a buffer period between consecutive appointments. This gives providers time to prepare for the next patient. Common values are 5, 10, or 15 minutes.
Control how far in advance visitors can book. Set a minimum lead time (e.g., 2 hours) so you don't receive last-minute bookings, and a maximum advance window (e.g., 30 days) to prevent bookings too far into the future.
Choose which fields visitors must fill out when booking. The default fields are Name, Email, and Phone. You can add custom fields such as Reason for Visit, Insurance Provider, or Date of Birth.
Keep the booking form short. Every additional field reduces completion rates. Only make fields required if they are essential for the appointment. You can collect extra information through the pre-appointment reminder email.
Services define what visitors can book (e.g., consultation, follow-up, cleaning). Providers are the staff members or practitioners who deliver those services. Navigate to Helpon → Appointments → Services to manage them.
Each service has a name, description, duration, price (optional), and one or more assigned providers. When a visitor books, they first select a service, then see only the providers available for that service.
| Service | Duration | Price | Providers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Consultation | 30 min | $75.00 | Dr. Chen, Dr. Rivera |
| Follow-Up Visit | 15 min | $40.00 | Dr. Chen, Dr. Rivera, Nurse Patel |
| Teeth Cleaning | 45 min | $120.00 | Hygienist Lee |
| Emergency Exam | 20 min | $95.00 | Dr. Chen |
| Virtual Consultation | 20 min | $50.00 | All Providers |
Each provider can have their own availability schedule that overrides the global settings. Go to Helpon → Appointments → Providers, select a provider, and configure their individual working hours, days off, and vacation dates. The booking system automatically shows only the time slots where both the service and the provider are available.
If a provider connects their Google Calendar, their personal busy times are automatically blocked from the booking calendar. This prevents double-booking across platforms.
If your practice operates from multiple locations, the Locations feature lets visitors choose where they want their appointment. Navigate to Helpon → Appointments → Locations to add and manage locations.
Each location can have its own address, timezone, available services, and providers. When a visitor books, the location selection appears before the service and provider steps.
| Setting | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Location Name | Display name shown to visitors during booking | Downtown Clinic |
| Address | Full street address for in-person appointments | 123 Main St, Suite 200, New York, NY 10001 |
| Timezone | Local timezone for this location (overrides global) | America/New_York |
| Type | In-Person, Virtual, or Both | Both |
| Phone | Location-specific phone number for confirmations | (555) 100-2000 |
| Assigned Services | Which services are offered at this location | All Services |
| Assigned Providers | Which providers work at this location | Dr. Chen, Hygienist Lee |
Create a "Virtual" location for telehealth or video consultations. Set the type to Virtual and leave the address blank. When visitors book at this location, they receive a video call link in the confirmation email instead of a physical address.
Connect Helpon to Google Calendar for two-way synchronization. Appointments created in Helpon appear on your Google Calendar, and existing Google Calendar events block those time slots from being booked.
Go to the Google Cloud Console, create a new project (or use an existing one), enable the Google Calendar API, and create OAuth 2.0 credentials. Set the authorized redirect URI to the one shown in Helpon's settings.
https://yourdomain.com/wp-json/helpon/v1/google-calendar/callback
In Helpon → Appointments → Settings → Google Calendar, paste your Client ID and Client Secret from the Google Cloud Console.
Click Connect Google Account. You will be redirected to Google's OAuth consent screen. Grant calendar access, and you'll be redirected back to Helpon. Then select which calendar to sync with from the dropdown.
Choose your sync direction and frequency:
Set the sync frequency to real-time (webhook), every 5 minutes, or every 15 minutes. Real-time sync is recommended for conflict detection accuracy.
When two-way sync is enabled, Helpon checks the selected Google Calendar before confirming any new booking. If a time slot overlaps with an existing Google event, that slot is automatically removed from the booking calendar. This prevents double-bookings across platforms.
If your Google Cloud project is in "Testing" mode, only test users you add can authorize the app. For production use, submit your app for Google verification or switch to "Internal" if you use Google Workspace.
If you already use Calendly for scheduling, Helpon can embed your Calendly booking page directly within the chat widget and receive webhook notifications when appointments are created or cancelled.
Log into your Calendly account, go to Integrations → API & Webhooks, and generate a Personal Access Token. Copy the token.
Navigate to Helpon → Appointments → Settings → Calendly. Paste your API token and click Connect. Helpon will verify the token and pull in your Calendly event types.
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Helpon displays your Calendly event types in a mapping table. Map each Calendly event to a corresponding Helpon service so appointments from Calendly are categorized correctly in your Helpon dashboard.
Toggle Embed in Chat Widget to On. When visitors request an appointment in the chat, Helpon opens an inline Calendly scheduling frame so they can book without leaving the conversation.
Helpon automatically registers a webhook with Calendly to receive booking confirmations and cancellations in real time. The webhook URL is:
https://yourdomain.com/wp-json/helpon/v1/calendly/webhook
When Calendly fires the webhook, Helpon creates or updates the appointment record, sends confirmation notifications, and updates the CRM contact profile.
You can use Calendly and the built-in booking system at the same time. Calendly appointments sync into Helpon's calendar so you have a single view of all bookings. However, for simplicity, most users choose one or the other.
One of Helpon's most powerful features is the ability for visitors to book appointments directly inside the chat widget. The AI assistant guides them through the booking flow conversationally, or they can use the structured booking interface.
The booking flow is triggered when a visitor types a booking-related keyword (e.g., "book", "appointment", "schedule") or clicks a booking button in a flow. You can also configure the AI to proactively offer booking when it detects intent.
The widget displays available services as quick-reply buttons. The visitor taps to select. If there is only one service, this step is skipped automatically.
If the selected service has multiple providers, the visitor can choose one or let the system auto-assign based on the next available slot.
An inline date picker appears showing only available dates. After selecting a date, available time slots for that day are displayed. Slots already booked or blocked by calendar sync are hidden.
The visitor fills in the required booking form fields (name, email, phone). After submission, the appointment is created, a confirmation message is displayed in chat, and an email confirmation is sent.
When a visitor books through the chat widget, Helpon automatically creates or updates their CRM contact record with the appointment details. You can view all bookings on a contact's profile under the Appointments tab.
Automated reminders reduce no-shows and keep both visitors and providers informed. Configure reminders in Helpon → Appointments → Settings → Notifications.
| Notification | Timing | Channel | Recipient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Booking Confirmation | Immediately after booking | Visitor + Provider | |
| 24-Hour Reminder | 24 hours before appointment | Email, SMS (optional) | Visitor |
| 1-Hour Reminder | 1 hour before appointment | Email, SMS (optional) | Visitor |
| Reschedule Notice | When appointment is rescheduled | Visitor + Provider | |
| Cancellation Notice | When appointment is cancelled | Visitor + Provider | |
| No-Show Follow-Up | 30 minutes after missed appointment | Visitor | |
| Provider Daily Digest | Every morning (configurable time) | Provider |
You can customize the content of each notification email. Go to Helpon → Appointments → Settings → Email Templates and edit the templates. Available merge tags include:
{{visitor_name}} - Visitor's full name
{{service_name}} - Name of the booked service
{{provider_name}} - Assigned provider's name
{{appointment_date}} - Appointment date (formatted)
{{appointment_time}} - Appointment time (formatted)
{{location_name}} - Location name
{{location_address}} - Location address
{{reschedule_link}} - Link to reschedule
{{cancel_link}} - Link to cancel
{{business_name}} - Your business name
{{business_phone}} - Your business phone number
SMS reminders require a Twilio integration. Go to Helpon → Settings → Integrations → Twilio to enter your Account SID, Auth Token, and phone number. Once connected, SMS reminder toggles become active.
The admin calendar view in Helpon → Appointments gives you a complete overview of all bookings. Switch between day, week, and month views, filter by provider or service, and manage appointment statuses.
| Status | Color | Description | Actions Available |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pending | Yellow | Awaiting admin or provider confirmation | Confirm, Reschedule, Cancel |
| Confirmed | Green | Appointment has been confirmed by the provider | Reschedule, Cancel, Mark Complete |
| Cancelled | Red | Cancelled by visitor, provider, or admin | Rebook, Delete |
| Completed | Blue | Appointment took place as scheduled | View Details, Rebook |
| No-Show | Gray | Visitor did not attend the appointment | Rebook, Send Follow-Up |
To reschedule an appointment, click on it in the calendar and select Reschedule. Choose a new date and time, and the visitor will receive an automatic reschedule notification email with the updated details. The original time slot is freed up for other bookings.
Configure your cancellation policy in Helpon → Appointments → Settings → Cancellation. Options include:
Export your appointment data for reporting or external use. Go to Helpon → Appointments → Export. Choose a date range, filter by status or provider, and download as CSV or PDF. The export includes visitor details, service, provider, status, timestamps, and any custom field data.
ID, Visitor Name, Email, Phone, Service, Provider, Location, Date, Time, Duration, Status, Created At, Notes
In the calendar view, press T to jump to today, D/W/M to switch between day/week/month views, and the arrow keys to navigate between dates. Press N to create a new appointment quickly.
Common appointment-related issues and their solutions:
googleapis.comhttps://yourdomain.com/wp-json/helpon/v1/calendly/webhookSome hosting providers or security plugins block WordPress REST API endpoints. Helpon's calendar sync and webhook features rely on the REST API (/wp-json/helpon/v1/). Ensure these endpoints are accessible and not blocked by firewall rules.