Booking an appointment for a patient

In Ona, booking an appointment creates a visit. The visit appears on the calendar at the scheduled time and is the record you open when the patient arrives.

Clinicians use My Calendar for their own schedule. Owners, admins and staff can use Calendars to work across team calendars.

How do I book from My Calendar?

Use My Calendar when you are booking on your own schedule. Selecting a calendar slot starts the visit with that date and time already chosen.

Use Calendars (1) in the sidebar to switch to the team calendars page, or use New Visit (2) at the top of My Calendar to start booking without first choosing a time.

When you start from a slot, Create New Visit opens with the slot time filled in.

The dialog uses Patient (1) for the person you are booking, Clinician (2) for whose schedule it lands on, Date (3) and Time (4) for the visit start, and Add New Visit (5) to create it.

1. In the left sidebar, click Calendar to open My Calendar.
2. Find an open time on the calendar.
3. Select the open slot, or hover over it and select New visit.
4. Complete the required details in Create New Visit.
5. Save the new visit.

The visit appears on My Calendar at the selected time.

You can also select New Visit at the top of My Calendar. Use this when you want to start the booking without selecting a time first.

How do I book on another clinician's calendar?

Use Calendars when you manage appointments across the team. Choose the clinician's calendar first so you can see their availability, existing visits and blocked time before booking.

Use Calendars (1) to open the team calendars page, Clinicians (2) to show the clinician list, and Clinician schedule (3) to pick the schedule you want to book on.

1. In the left sidebar, click Calendars.
2. Open the clinician schedule you want to use.
3. If the calendar opens in Month view, select the day you want to book.
4. Find an open time in Day view.
5. Select the open slot, or hover over it and select New visit.
6. Complete the required details in Create New Visit.
7. Save the new visit.

The visit is added to the selected schedule.

How do availability and conflicts affect booking?

In the left sidebar, click Calendar for My Calendar, or click Calendars to work across team calendars. Use My Calendar or Calendars to check whether a time is open before you book. Working time is plain, while Off hours are shaded. Existing visits, blocked time and Google Calendar busy time occupy time on the calendar.

Use Off hours (1) for shaded time that falls outside working hours, New visit (2) to start booking from an open slot, Block time (3) to open the unavailable-time dialog, and Edit availability (4) to open the availability editor.

A slot is not available for a new visit when it overlaps any of these:

Calendar item	What it means
Existing visit	Another appointment is already booked in that time.
Busy	The clinician is busy from a connected Google Calendar. Google Calendar is connected from Calendar Sync in Settings.
Blocked time	The clinician or practice marked that time unavailable for booking.
Off hours	The time falls outside working hours.

When a slot is occupied, the calendar does not show the New visit control there, and selecting the occupied area does not create a visit. Month view also does not create a visit from a time slot; selecting a day switches to Day view, where the open-slot flow applies.

Availability can also include a maximum number of visits for an online booking block. That limit closes online booking once enough visits start in the block, but internal booking can still add more visits.

What can't I do here?

In the left sidebar, click Calendar for My Calendar, or click Calendars to work across team calendars.

Booking from the calendar has a few limits:

• Clinicians use a calendar scoped to their own schedule. The full operational Calendars page is for owners, admins and staff.
• You cannot create a visit by selecting time that overlaps an existing visit, Busy time or Blocked time.
• Online booking visit limits do not stop internal booking from adding more visits inside Ona.
• If your organization cannot make changes, New Visit and Block Time are not shown on My Calendar.

Common questions

Is an appointment different from a visit?

No. Booking an appointment creates a visit. The visit is the appointment on the calendar and the record you open when the patient arrives.

Why don't I see New visit on a time slot?

In the left sidebar, click Calendar for My Calendar, or click Calendars to work across team calendars. The slot may overlap an existing visit, Busy time from Google Calendar or Blocked time. Month view also does not show the time-slot New visit control. Choose an open time in Day view instead.

Can I book outside a clinician's availability?

In the left sidebar, click Calendar for My Calendar, or click Calendars to work across team calendars. Yes, if the time does not overlap an existing visit, Busy time or Blocked time. Availability guides booking, but it is not the same as a blocked slot.

What happens after I book?

The visit appears on the calendar at the selected time. For what to do next, see Creating and running a visit.

Where do I set availability?

In the left sidebar, click Calendar, then select Edit Availability. For setup details, see Setting up your calendar and availability.