How to schedule an appointment with Jotform

Ever sat in one of those meetings that should have ended, oh, maybe 15 minutes ago?

You heard the pitches, contributed to the discussions, followed the presentations, and listened to all of the ideas that were tossed around. But you have a class to teach, a critical meeting with another client, an urgent appointment with a customer, or an important event to attend — and you’re late.

Jotform can help you take control of your schedule and ensure that everyone’s in the loop. Recent updates to Jotform’s Form Builder include a new appointment field that lets people choose a time to meet with you when they fill out your customizable appointment forms.

More important, the new appointment field in Jotform’s Form Builder lets you determine when, how long, and how often meetings can take place. The appointment field also enables you to permit group meetings and limit the number of people who can sign up for a single time slot.

Once someone fills out and submits your form, all of the meeting details, including the date, time, and duration, will be stored in your Jotform account and sent to the email address associated with it. If you’ve enabled an autoresponder for your form, the meeting reservation will show up there as well. The meeting slot, in turn, will be closed off to other people, unless it’s intended to be a group event.

As an added bonus, you can connect the appointment field to Jotform’s Google Calendar integration, which automatically creates new events using submitted form information.

Apart from scheduling appointments, Jotform’s new appointment field can come in handy when you’re creating order forms, reservation forms, signup forms, volunteer forms, photography forms, or booking forms.

If you run a business that requires customers, clients, or employees to be somewhere at a certain time, it can be frustrating when they’re running late or when you are. Your employees need to know when their jobs must be done. Customers or clients, meanwhile, need to trust that you can deliver high-quality work on time.

Jotform’s new appointment field ensures that expectations are clear from the get-go so orders are fulfilled and services completed within a reasonable period of time.

To add the new appointment field to a form, click on the Add Form Element icon in the Form Builder.

Once you place the appointment field on your form, you can set up the meeting reservation process by clicking on the Properties icon.

We’ll walk through some of the finer points of this new feature so you can take control of your schedule, avoid needless hassles, and make the most of your day.

What you can do with the appointment field

1. Avoid scheduling conflicts by specifying when meetings can be held

Having lots of options can be good, but leaving your entire schedule wide open for appointments can lead to problems.

For instance, people may try to schedule appointments on days when you’re not working or at times when you have other important commitments.

Jotform’s appointment field can save you a lot of grief by showing appointment slots only for dates and times that work with your schedule.

The new appointment field prevents people from scheduling an appointment too far into the future by enabling you to indicate when your calendar begins and ends. This option (under the Limits tab in the Appointment Properties menu) also allows you to block out days when you will be out of the office or taking a vacation.



Under the Availability tab in the Appointment Properties menu, you can allocate time periods on certain days for appointments, and save the rest of your time for teaching classes, participating in weekly meetings, or taking part in other regularly scheduled activities without worrying about someone booking an appointment for the same time.



2. Manage your appointments by specifying how long they will last

It’s easy for meetings to run long and conflict with other important commitments.

Jotform’s new appointment field allows you to set time limits for your meetings so you don’t get pulled into one that takes too long and creates an inconvenience for your or others. This can help you manage your time wisely by incorporating a predictable meeting format into your schedule.

This feature allows people to plan around your time constraints and schedule a meeting that works well for everyone.



Not all meetings are created equal, and sometimes the length of each one needs to be something other than 15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes. You can use the Custom min option (under the Availability tab in the Appointment Properties menu) to indicate how long your meetings should last. This provides the flexibility you need to schedule appointments on your terms.



3. Block out time for lunch breaks in your appointment schedule

Everyone needs to build a break into their day, especially when they’re juggling multiple commitments or working to complete tasks promptly.

Regular breaks can sometimes provide a much-needed respite to recharge and de-stress so you can take on the rest of your day. They also give you a chance to eat!

Jotform’s new appointment field can help you carve out time in the day for a regularly scheduled break by preventing people from scheduling meetings during certain time periods.

This option — which you can set under the Availability tab in the Appointment Properties menu — ensures you have enough time to focus on other important matters, whether it’s catching up on work or enjoying some down time.



4. Control how many people can participate in an appointment

One-on-one meetings can be helpful when two people need to strategize, trade feedback, and resolve problems or issues that don’t involve anyone else. So you probably don’t want multiple people to reserve an appointment time that was only intended for one person.

On the other hand, you may need several people in the same room to ensure everyone is on the same page and aware of their responsibilities.

Jotform’s appointment field lets you decide whether multiple people or only one person can reserve specific appointment slots on your online form.



Even if multiple people are allowed to lock in appointments for the same date and time, you can still maintain control of your schedule by capping the number of reservations that will be accepted.

This option — under the Advanced tab in the Appointment Properties menu — can also be particularly helpful if multiple clients or customers need to pick up their orders at the same time. Limiting the number of people who can show up at the same time reduces capacity issues and keeps your employees from getting overwhelmed.

5. Prevent last-minute bookings or too many appointments in a day

It’s safe to say that no one likes being blindsided by last-minute changes or overrun by too much work.

Either of these scenarios can happen when too many appointments pop up on your calendar or appear out of nowhere at the last minute. It can be stressful to accommodate those meetings and stay on top of your work, but asking people to reschedule is inconvenient for you and them.

If only there was a way to limit the number of meetings in your day and cut off reservations at a certain point before meetings are held.

Jotform’s new appointment field can do just that, so you don’t have to worry about meetings popping up out of the blue or swallowing up a good chunk of your workday.

Under the Limits tab in the Appointment Properties menu, you can set the maximum number of events that can be scheduled per day. You can also indicate how much notice you need before an event to keep people from scheduling meetings that start in two minutes.

These settings are applied to your entire calendar so you don’t have to constantly protect your days from too many meetings.



Conclusion

It’s easy for appointments to fill up your calendar. Without a way to manage them, you could miss a meeting, double-book yourself, or otherwise inconvenience yourself and others, ultimately undercutting your productivity.

With Jotform’s new appointment field, you can open up your schedule to meetings and make time for other important commitments. Getting people into your virtual day planner doesn’t have to be tedious and tiresome.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Give Jotform’s new appointment form field a try today, and see how we’re making it easy for businesses all over the world to take control of their work.