Enhancement: Pre-buffer

Enhancement: Pre-buffer

Hello Bookings Community,

 

Greetings from the Bookings Team!

 

We're delighted to announce one of the most-awaited features, Pre-buffer, which allows you to add buffer time before the appointment time.

 

What is buffer time?

Buffer time is additional time added to the appointment duration, either before or after the appointment. It can be used to ensure that you have enough time to prepare or get ready for the next appointment. Pre-buffer refers specifically to the buffer time added before the appointment, and post-buffer is for after the appointment.

 

How has buffer time worked so far in Bookings?

  • Until now, you've been able to include buffer time when setting up a new service, and it was added after the appointment time.
  • If appointments were created as calendar events, the buffer time was blocked along with the appointment time by default.

 

How will buffer time work from now on?

  • Beginning 08-Dec-2023, you can add a buffer time before and after the appointment time.
  • If the appointment is created as a calendar event, you have the option to choose whether to block buffer time along with it or not.

 

Learn how to implement buffer time


While adding a new service, you can tick the Add buffer time checkbox. Then, add the time duration for Pre-buffer and Post-buffer.

 


When the customer books an appointment, slots will be made available calculating the buffer time and appointment duration. For instance, if a service is created with an appointment duration of 30 minutes, a pre-buffer of 15 minutes, and a post-buffer of 15 minutes, the time slot will only be offered if a total duration of one hour is available for the staff (i.e., pre-buffer + appointment duration + post-buffer).

 

Once the appointment is booked, staff can view the buffer time from the Appointment Summary and Calendar View.


 

Block buffer time in calendar events

In Bookings, the availability of a staff member for an appointment is decided by including the buffer time. But, there can be situations where a staff member's exact availability is needed in external calendars. This can be useful if the staff member has to attend meetings apart from the appointments in Bookings. You can then choose to block buffer time in your calendar events along with the appointment time.  


 

Notifications

You can include the pre_buffer and post_buffer variables in the email and SMS notification templates for your staff.

 

Please note that your customers will not be aware of this buffer time, but if the buffer time is added to calendar events, then the customer can view this additional time in their calendar invite.  


 

Help documentation

Explore our extensive help document designed to provide a thorough understanding of buffer time.

 

We value your feedback and are constantly working to improve and innovate based on your needs. Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts or questions with us at support@zohobookings.com or in the comments section below.

 

Thanks,

The Zoho Bookings Team

 

 


    • Sticky Posts

    • 📣📣 Zoho Bookings Schedulathon 2025 is here!

      Hey Zoho Bookings fam, We're excited to invite you to our first-ever hackathon: Yes, Zoho Bookings Schedulathon 2025 is live now. This is a virtual event and you can participate anywhere from the world. Businesses should be able to set up meetings from

    • 📣 [Webinar] Spikra shows how businesses leverage Zoho Bookings to increase revenue

      [Webinar] Spikra shows how businesses leverage Zoho Bookings to increase revenue Hi all, Service-based businesses need to be on top of their client experience game to stay ahead. Spikra, one of our Advanced Zoho Partners, has been helping businesses deliver

    • 📣📣 Zoho Bookings - Feature Roadmap 2024

      Hi Everyone, Thank you for all the support you have been showing Zoho Bookings. We had a fabulous 2023, with a bunch of new features and over 60K new users. In 2024, our prime focus will be on user experience, and we have a few vital features coming in

    • Attention: Important updates to the payment gateway integrations

      Greetings from the Zoho Bookings team! We have a few important updates to the payment gateway integrations that allow you to collect online payments for your appointments. The following payment gateways will be updated, and we encourage you to make the

    • Attention: Scheduled Maintenance at US DC on Dec 19, 2024

      Dear Bookings users, We would like to inform you that we've scheduled maintenance activity at our US data centers on Thursday, December 19th, 2024, from 5:30 PM to 5:45 PM PT. During this period, Zoho Bookings will be completely unavailable for the accounts

    • Recent Topics

    • Inserting the current date / time

      I'd like to use Zoho Notebook as a log - so it would be great to be able to insert the current date and time at the beginning (or end) of each my log/journal entries - or wherever I want. Something simple, like pressing a button/icon to insert it wherever my text cursor is. It could be formatted like "Mon Dec 11, 2017 - 11:43p". 

    • Campaign editor overrides href value

      I've been trying to insert a deep link in an email campaign so recipients can directly open a native app on their device. My deep link looks something like "myapp://". The options to insert links in the campaign editor are limited to strict urls, emails,

    • Bug Report and Suggestions for Improvement in Zoho Applications

      Hi Zoho Team, I’d like to report a few bugs and improvement suggestions I’ve noticed while using Zoho products: Zoho Cliq Video Call: The camera sometimes turns off automatically during video calls. This seems to be a bug — please check and fix it. Zoho

    • Canvas Flex Box containers should not require a width/height.

      Flexbox containers are often used as organizational concepts, to ease re-flow on mobile etc. - I cannot use % for flexbox W or H - I cannot omit W or H This means that the content cannot dictate, and a Flexbox container cannot be used merely as an organizational

    • Zoho Desk Android app update: Filter enhancement, Save Filters

      Hello everyone! We have now enhanced the filter section on the ticket listing screen of Zoho Desk Android app as it is on the web(desk.zoho.com). Also, we have introduced an option to save filters for tickets on the mobile app. You can easily apply, rename,

    • Very long loading times | bad performance [ZOHO DC: EU]

      Hello there, we have recently noticed that the loading times have become extremely long when retrieving tickets and ticket details. For example, I open any ticket and get the following view. The subject and standard information (ticket owner, status etc.)

    • Zia Profile Summary now supports six languages and responds faster

      After numerous customer requests, we’ve expanded Zia Profile Summary to do more than just summarize resumes quickly. It can now summarize them in six different languages and deliver results even faster. What’s New 1. Extended language support Zia can

    • Introducing Zoho Show Android 3.0

      Good ideas need the right space to grow. They deserve tools that move as fast as your thoughts and make creating feel effortless. And that is why we are bringing you Zoho Show Android 3.0! From a brand-new look and smoother navigation to improved collaboration

    • Properly Capture Dropdowns & Hover Elements When Recording a Window/Tab

      Hi Zoho WorkDrive Team, Hope you are doing great. We encountered a limitation when recording a selected window or browser tab: Certain UI elements, such as dropdown lists, hover menus, and overlays, are not captured unless we record the entire screen.

    • Peppol integration zoho invoicefu

      Hi, Belgium will require Peppol invoicing as of 2026. I found that this is being prepared for Zoho books, to be released in Sep 2025. Will Zoho Invoice get this functionality too? I like the Invoice app for my part-time side business as bike mechanic

    • Allow Recording Only a Selected Portion of the Screen

      Hi Zoho WorkDrive Team, Hope you are doing well. We would like to request a more flexible recording option in Zoho WorkDrive. At the moment, we can record either the entire screen or a specific window/tab — but not a custom selected portion of the screen

    • Restricting Calendar View to Working Hours

      Hi: I'm trying to implement a calendar which displays all of my customer appointments.  Currently, the calendar shows all 24 hours of the day.  Is there a way to restrict the hours to simply the times my business is open? Thanks!

    • Add Camera Background Blur During Recording

      Hi Zoho WorkDrive Team, Hope everything is well. We would like to request an enhancement to the video recording feature in Zoho WorkDrive. Currently, the camera preview displayed during a recording does not support background blur. This is an essential

    • Amazon FBA integration - Handle invoice reconciliation under different GSTINs,

      Dear Zoho Community, Thank you for the clarification regarding the Amazon FBA integration, default warehouse, and GSTIN mapping in Zoho Inventory. I understand that Zoho currently supports only one warehouse for Amazon FBA, and that all FBA orders are

    • Whatsapp Integration questions

      Hi Questions: 1. Whatsapp messages are not reaching our CRM, is there a delay? 2. Is there any way to create a whatsapp catalog on a number that is integrated with ZOHO? 3. How do I configure my profile picture on a number that is integrated with ZO

    • Allow Font Size 11 in Editors...

      That is basic functionality...

    • link mail.zoho.com/UnblockMe to unblock

      Could you please unblock my account heloisa.bomfim@expansaodenegocios.com

    • Unblocked me

      Please can you help unblocked my account thanks materiauxjcbrunet2000@zohomail.com

    • Integrating External Portal Tickets Into Zoho Desk

      A B2B travel company has a customer portal where clients can raise and submit tickets related to their bookings. These tickets need to be handled and managed in the backend through Zoho Desk. Ticket updates and replies from Zoho Desk should also be visible

    • Send WhatsApp voice messages from Bigin

      Greetings, I hope all of you are doing well. We're happy to announce this enhancement we've made to Bigin. Bigin's WhatsApp integration now supports audio messages, so you can record and send voice messages. This makes it easier to handle customer questions

    • CUSTOM FUNCTION GIVE ERROR #EVAL!

      CUSTEM FUNCTION CREATE KYA ZOHOSHEET ME US FUNCTION KO USE KIYA LEKIN DATA TO SAHI HAI LAKIN DATA SHEET ME NAHI LAG LAHA HAI KRUPYA SOLVE KARE MY CODE IS float ADDTWO_TWO(float NO1, float NO2) { ADD = NO1 + NO2; return ADD; }

    • Samsung Keyboard Issues with Notebook

      Dear Users, We're sorry to inform you that some of our users are experiencing certain issues like scrolling, delay/lag, cursor placement especially within the text notes. This occurs mainly due to Samsung Keyboard compatibility with Android 13 and some

    • Zoho Books | Product updates | September 2025

      Hello users, We’ve rolled out new features and enhancements in Zoho Books. From PayNow payment method to applying journal credits to invoices and bills in other locations, explore the updates designed to enhance your bookkeeping experience. Integrate

    • Zoho Workdrive for Office, "vsto runtime not found"

      Hi all, I have been trying to get ZohoWorkdrive_MS-addin_1.4.exe installed, but I keep getting the error "VSTO Runtime Not Found!" - even though I have installed it ... Anyone else hear had problems with the MS addin?  FYI, I am using O365 on A Dell laptop running Win 10 Home - fully patched and up-to-date.  I have tried compatibility modes and running explicitly as Administrator - the usual steps. Any advice would be appreciated.

    • Can no longer export as pdf

      In NOTEBOOK I am no longer able to export notes to pdfs as I used to be able to. When I hit that command it asks where I want to send it, but no matter what I chose there is no pdf attachment that shows up in order to send. Nothing happens.

    • How can I prevent the Zoho Vault extension from automatically logging me out?

      Hi, I want the Zoho Vault Chrome extension to never log out. How can I do this? It only allows me to log out for 1 week, and the same applies to the Android app.

    • Zoho CRM App - Links

      Hi  Is there are plan for making Custom Links available in the Zoho CRM Android App? I can't see them being added? Thanks Gene

    • Templates

      Trying to sort out / get rid of unwanted invoice templates, the error msgs are not at all helpful. Surely it's easy to amend the error msg by including a list of the names of the customers / vendors that use it, denying deletion or making it inactive

    • Contacts limit in basic vs standard - what counts? Are customers contacts?

      I’ve been using books for a number years for my small business. I only ever work with 20 clients at any given time. I do purchase services from a number of vendors to run my business, so there are some comtacts there too. I used to use the basic package,

    • Finding missing records

      I have a challenge and I am not really sure where to start with it. I can't find any similar threads on here, can anyone help: I have two forms, FormA and FormB. Both forms have records that contain a field called Job_Number. What I am trying to achieve

    • Updates for Zoho Campaigns: Merge tag, footer, and autoresponder migration

      Hello everyone, We'd like to inform you of some upcoming changes with regard to Zoho Campaigns. We understand that change can be difficult, but we're dedicated to ensuring a smooth transition while keeping you all informed and engaged throughout the process.

    • What's New in Zoho Inventory | August – October 2025

      Hello customers, The last quarter has been incredibly productive! We've released a powerful slate of new features and enhancements in Zoho Inventory designed to give you better control, greater efficiency, and expanded functionality across your inventory

    • Let's Talk Recruit: Meet Zia, your all-in-one AI assistant (Part-2)

      Welcome back to Let’s Talk Recruit series. In Part 1, we introduced Zia and how AI is reshaping the way recruiters work. This time, we’re taking a closer look at how far Zia has come and how each update continues to simplify your everyday tasks. When

    • Zoho Developer - Feature Request Platform

      Zoho Developer is one of the most underatted platform in zoho ecosystem, however, it may just be what zoho needs to welcome more people to use Zoho Services. The more developers you have creating zoho creator applications and zoho extensions the more

    • Last/Previous month in relative date filter

      In the relative date filter, what is the difference between "Last 2 months" and "Previous 2 months"? So, if we are on 25-July, then is my understanding correct of the following: Last 2 months :=:      25-May~24 July Previous 2 months :=:     01-May~30-June Thanks.

    • Tags get removed from notes on mobile

      I don't know why this keeps happening even after all these app updates but if you log out and log back into the app or you reinstall it, all the tags you assigned to your notes get taken off, but if you go on the desktop version the tags are still there.

    • VAT rates - exempt and out of scope

      Good Evening, UK based company here. I am a bit confused in respect of setting up VAT rates for exempt goods and services; at present I am simply leaving the VAT rate blank in the transactions in order to prevent any VAT appearing in the VAT return. When

    • Introducing Lead Capture: Empower exhibitors to capture leads effortlessly

      Events provide a great opportunity for exhibitors to generate awareness and engage with potential customers. Efficiently distributing attendee information to exhibitors through a seamless and secure way is of paramount importance. Introducing Lead Capture

    • Work Order Creation Issue

      Dear Team, I would like to inquire about the daily limit for Work Order creation in Zoho FSM. Yesterday (02/05/2025) at around 6:30 PM GST, I attempted to create a Work Order, but I have been unable to do so since then. Please find the attached image

    • Convert invoice from zoho to xml with all details

      How to convert an Invoice to XML format with all details

    • Next Page