Creating and editing appointment types

Enable visitors to choose a service that your business offers when booking time with you.

Appointment types are the services you offer in Acuity. You can use appointment types for one-client services and classes. Clients usually begin the scheduling process by choosing which appointment type they want to book.

This guide reviews how to create, edit, and customize appointment types. Learn how to create group classes.

If you get started and decide you want more hands-on help setting up Acuity Scheduling, you can hire a vetted expert.

Tip: Depending on the services you offer, you may want to offer service products through Squarespace Commerce instead of appointment types in Acuity. Appointments work well for services scheduled for specific times. If clients don't have to book for specific times, use service products instead.

Add an appointment type

Note: The instructions below include links to Acuity settings separated by the kind of account you use to log into Acuity. Which kind of account do I have?

You can create as many appointment types as you like. To create a new appointment type:

Open the Appointment types panel: I log in with an Acuity account | I log in with a Squarespace account.
Click New Type of Service.
Enter the Name, Duration, and Price of the service, and other details. Clients will see some of this information when they book. For information on each field, review Appointment type settings.
If you have more than one calendar, use the Calendars section in the right sidebar to choose which calendars offer this appointment type. To learn more about setting up calendars, visit Managing availability and calendars.

Tip: You can organize appointment types into groups with their own availability settings and scheduling limits. This is useful if some services are only offered at specific times. To learn more, visit Availability and scheduling limits by appointment type.

In the Access section, decide whether the appointment type is public or private.
Click Create Appointment Type.

Note: Clients can access private appointment types when they open a direct link to a private appointment type, a category of private appointment types, or a calendar that only offers private appointment types.

Your appointment types appear in both your account and on your scheduling page in the order in which they were created. To rearrange them, drag and drop the appointment types.

Edit an appointment type

To edit an existing appointment type:

Open the Appointment types panel: I log in with an Acuity account | I log in with a Squarespace account.
Scroll down to an appointment type.
Click Edit.
Make your changes, then click Update Appointment Type.

Note: If you've created packages, gift certificates, or subscriptions that your clients can redeem to pay for your services, each time you create a new appointment type, you need to update the package, gift certificate, or subscription so it applies to that new appointment type.

Duplicate an appointment type

To make a copy of an existing appointment type:

Open the Appointment types panel: I log in with an Acuity account | I log in with a Squarespace account.
Next to the appointment type you want to duplicate, click Duplicate.
The original appointment type's settings will be copied over to the new appointment type. You can update the Name, and any other settings, if needed.
Click Create Appointment Type.

Appointment type settings

When creating or editing an appointment type, use these fields to add information:

Note: If you edit an appointment type's duration field, the updates will apply to both new and existing appointments. However, changes to the price will only apply to new appointments booked moving forward.

Setting	Use
Name	Set the title of the appointment type you're offering.
Duration	Enter a number of minutes between 1 and 1440 (24 hours). All appointments of this type will be scheduled for this duration.
Price	Decide how much your appointment type should cost. If you leave this blank, your scheduler won't list a price for this appointment type and clients will be able to book without paying, even if you have payment enabled.
Description	Click Add a longer description... to add a description of the service that will display below the appointment type name.
Message Shown on Confirmation Page	Click Show a message after scheduling... to add a custom message that displays on the confirmation page after booking. For example, you can add instructions on what to bring to the appointment.
Padding	Click Block off extra time before or after... to add extra time before or after an appointment. Padding is useful for adding employee breaks or preparation time between appointments.
Category	Select an existing category of appointment types, or click Create a new Category to add a new category.
Color	Choose the color used to display this appointment type on your calendar.
Picture	Choose an image to display with the appointment type. Review the recommendations for formatting images.
Access	Set the appointment type as public (visible to everyone) or private (visible only with direct links).
Group Class	Check This is a class or group event to turn this appointment type into a group class. This setting will only appear when creating a new appointment type. You can't turn an existing appointment type into a group class.
Forms	This setting is located at the top right. Choose which intake forms clients see when they book this appointment type.

Delete an appointment type

To delete an appointment type:

Open the Appointment types panel: I log in with an Acuity account | I log in with a Squarespace account.
Scroll down to an appointment type.
Click Edit.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Delete Appointment Type, then click Ok.

After you delete the appointment type, existing appointments will still appear on your calendar.

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