Working Hours

Working hours are the core of your online booking system. They define on which days and at what times clients can book appointments with you. For each weekday, you determine the time windows, the length of appointment slots, and how much buffer time should be between two appointments – TheraTap automatically calculates the available booking times from these settings.

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At a Glance

Flexible Weekly Schedules

Activate individual weekdays and set up as many time blocks per day as you need – perfect for lunch breaks or split working days.

Individual Slot Duration

Choose a slot duration of 15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes per time block. Short follow-up checks in the morning, longer treatments in the afternoon? No problem.

Buffers & Booking Deadlines

Set buffer times between appointments and define how last-minute or how far in advance bookings are allowed.

Instantly Active

Every change takes effect immediately on your online booking calendar. Clients see the updated availability right away.

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Working Hours vs. Opening Hours

TheraTap deliberately distinguishes between two settings:

	Working Hours	Opening Hours
Purpose	Controls the bookable appointment slots	Displayed on your public profile page
Setting	Settings → Working Hours	Settings → Public Profile
Affects	Online booking calendar	Profile page and practice directory

Tip

For example, you can display opening hours of 8 AM–6 PM on your profile while only allowing online bookings between 9 AM and 4 PM. This leaves you time in the morning and evening for preparation and follow-up work.

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Setup

1. Open Working Hours

   Navigate to Settings → Working Hours. You will see a weekly overview from Monday to Sunday.

2. Activate Weekdays

   Use the checkboxes to activate the days you want to be available for bookings. Deactivated days appear as unavailable in the booking calendar.

3. Create Time Blocks

   For each active day, create one or more time blocks:

   • Start time – when the block begins (e.g., 09:00)
   • End time – when the block ends (e.g., 12:00)
   • Slot duration – the interval at which appointments are offered (15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes)

   TheraTap automatically generates the bookable appointment slots from these settings. For a block from 09:00–12:00 with 30-minute slots, the slots 09:00, 09:30, 10:00, 10:30, 11:00, and 11:30 are created.

   Tip

   You can create as many time blocks per day as you like – ideal if you schedule a lunch break or need different slot durations in the morning and afternoon. Example: 15-minute slots in the morning for follow-up checks, 60-minute slots in the afternoon for initial treatments.

4. Save

   Click Save. The changes take effect immediately on your online booking calendar.

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Booking Deadlines & Buffer Times

In addition to the time blocks, you can configure three more parameters under Settings → Booking Settings that directly affect which slots are shown to your clients:

Buffer Time Between Appointments

Setting	Buffer between appointments
Range	0–180 minutes (in 5-minute increments)
Default	0 minutes

The buffer automatically blocks time before and after each booked appointment. This gives you room for travel, room changes, or follow-up work – without clients being able to book into that time.

Maximum Advance Booking

Setting	Advance booking
Range	1–365 days
Default	60 days

Determines how far into the future appointments can be booked. With 60 days, clients only see slots within the next two months.

Minimum Lead Time

Setting	Minimum booking notice
Range	0–120 hours
Default	1 hour

Defines how last-minute an appointment can be booked. With 24 hours, clients can book at the earliest for the next day. With 0, spontaneous bookings are also possible.

Note

These three settings can be found under Settings → Booking Settings – separate from the working hours but closely linked to them.

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How Slots Are Calculated

TheraTap combines multiple factors to determine the available booking times:

1. Working hours – Base framework: Which days and time blocks are active?
2. Treatment duration – Does the selected treatment fit into the slot? For a 90-minute treatment, TheraTap checks whether enough consecutive slots are available.
3. Buffer time – Kept free before and after each existing appointment.
4. Booking deadlines – Is the slot within the allowed advance booking period?
5. Availability exceptions – Vacations, holidays, or continuing education override the regular working hours.
6. Resources – Are the required therapists, rooms, and equipment available?
7. Existing appointments – Already booked or requested appointments are automatically blocked.

The result: Clients see only the time slots in the booking calendar that are actually available – without you having to intervene manually.

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Interaction with Availability Exceptions

Working hours form the base framework. Availability exceptions override them for individual days or periods.

Example:

• Working hours Monday: 08:00–16:00
• Exception: “Monday, March 10 – Continuing education”
• Result: March 10 is completely blocked; all other Mondays remain bookable as usual.

Tip

Use availability exceptions for vacations, holidays, and continuing education. This way, your regular working hours remain permanently in place, and you only adjust the deviations.

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Interaction with Resources

If you work with resources (team members, rooms, equipment), these can have their own availability. TheraTap automatically checks with every booking:

• Does the required therapist have capacity at this time?
• Is the required room available?
• Is the required equipment available?

The team working hours form the outer framework – no slot can be booked outside of the team working hours, even if an individual resource would theoretically be available at that time.

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Related Topics

• Availability Exceptions – Vacations, holidays, and one-time blocked periods
• Online Booking Calendar – How clients experience the booking process
• Treatment Types – Duration and requirements per treatment
• Resources & Rooms – Manage team members, rooms, and equipment
• Appointment Requests – Request mode instead of direct booking
• Public Booking Page – Your profile with opening hours and booking link