Limited review (/questions) for Bookings 2.0

Limited review (/questions) for Bookings 2.0

Hi all, I'm writing this review of Bookings 2.0 for two reasons: 1) it may be of interest to others, and 2) I'd like to be corrected if I'm wrong on any points.

It's a very limited review, i.e. the things that have stood out as relevant, and particularly the problematic things, for my own use case. I'm a sole trader in health, and I make/manage most bookings myself, i.e. clients rarely book directly via the software. Majority of my clients are recurring weekly/fortnightly, usually on the same day/time.

RECURRING BOOKINGS: I'd been hanging out for this, as I've been booking ~20-30 individual appointments every week. As far as I can tell, nothing's improved.
1-on-1 can't be recurring, only group bookings. Group bookings are treated as a "class", meaning that you can make the timeslot recur, but individuals still need to be booked into each week separately.
There's also still no copy/paste function to replicate an appointment, so every single appointment needs to be booked out in full.

CALENDAR VIEW: The calendar view is worse. Week/Month view is gone ("under development"),

APPOINTMENTS: Not much change. Once past their time, they still can't be cancelled or deleted (e.g. if you'd communicated with a client but hadn't been at your computer); you have to hack it by rescheduling to the future, then cancelling (in a different timeslot) or deleting.

INTEGRATIONS: The Bigin integration is meant to be able to differentiate first/last name from the existing single "customer name" field, but it's just mucked up my Bigin setup, with the full name now being pushed into the Last Name field.
The Bookings browser extension is kind of a nice start, except that for any actual interaction, it just loads the website anyway, so not as convenient as it looks.
The integration with Calendar still doesn't properly handle rescheduled appointments, leaving a copy in the calendar at the old time.

CUSTOMERS: A bug has been introduced where apostrophes aren't allowed, so good luck if you've got an O'Leary or a D'Artagnan.

WORKFLOWS: I believe these are new? They seem like a good addition, from limited testing.

BOOKING PAGES: Seem fine in my very limited view.

--
In summary, I would suggest that:

- If your use case is that you want an externally-facing booking solution, where other people are booking into your calendar, and you have minimal need to manage your bookings directly, this system could well be useful - it handles a number of those elements nicely.

- If your use case is like mine, where you're heavily managing your own calendar and the bookings in it, Zoho Bookings is frankly terrible. Extremely clunky, time and labour intensive, lacking features, and buggy at times.

The inclusion in Zoho One and the potential for smooth integration with other Zoho products has kept me here so far, but this major update has actually made things worse if anything for my situation. Given how long it's taken to see changes, and how under-resourced Bookings seems to be, I'm looking elsewhere and will check back in 12 months.

(As above, if I'm wrong on any points, very happy to be corrected here - I want this to be accurate)

    Access your files securely from anywhere









                          Zoho Developer Community




                                                • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                • Digest


                                                • Functions


                                                • Meetups


                                                • Kbase


                                                • Resources


                                                • Glossary


                                                • Desk Marketplace


                                                • MVP Corner


                                                • Word of the Day


                                                • Ask the Experts



                                                          • Sticky Posts

                                                          • Zoho Bookings know-how: A hands-on workshop series

                                                            Hello! We’re conducting a hands-on workshop series to help simplify appointment scheduling for your business with Zoho Bookings. We’ll be covering various functionalities and showing how you can leverage them for your business across five different sessions.
                                                          • Announcing: custom color palette + free workshop

                                                            Hello everyone, We're excited to share new feature in Zoho Bookings—a color palette within booking page themes. You'll find this option under Manage Bookings > Workspaces > Booking Page Themes. You can customize the color of every element in your booking page and even alter the transparency of your background image. Please note that this is a paid feature included in the Basic and Premium plans. At the moment, it's available only under the Modern Web theme. This means you can create billions (7,
                                                          • Complete walk-through of Zoho Bookings (video)

                                                            Save time for both you and your customers. Use Zoho Bookings, the appointment scheduling app from Zoho, to free yourself from email and paper-based scheduling. Zoho Bookings can give you a common calendar by syncing multiple calendars, including yours and your staff's. Your customers can book a time convenient for them, and pay for services, through your website or the customizable webpage features available in Zoho Bookings. They'll also get emails reminding them about their appointments and any
                                                          • New Features: Service Availability and staff booking page themes!

                                                            Dear All,  Want a dedicated schedule for your one-on-one services? How would it feel to have one-on-one services open for consultations only during certain times? You need a superpower to make that happen and we give it to you - Service Availability is
                                                          • Zoho Bookings has a new pricing - Pay per user

                                                            Dear customers, Businesses around the world use Zoho Bookings. Customers have booked 1.5 million appointments and over 200K online meetings using Bookings. We are only set to cross more milestones, thanks to your support. We are excited to introduce to


                                                          Manage your brands on social media



                                                                Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                    Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                                      Zoho Books Resources


                                                                        Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                          Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                            Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                              Qntrl Resources


                                                                                Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                                    Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                                    • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                      CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                    • Kaizen

                                                                                      Kaizen

                                                                                    • Functions

                                                                                      Functions

                                                                                    • Meetups

                                                                                      Meetups

                                                                                    • Kbase

                                                                                      Kbase

                                                                                    • Resources

                                                                                      Resources

                                                                                    • Digest

                                                                                      Digest

                                                                                    • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                      CRM Marketplace

                                                                                    • MVP Corner

                                                                                      MVP Corner







                                                                                        Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                        Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                        Get Started Now


                                                                                          Zoho Show Resources

                                                                                            Zoho Writer

                                                                                            Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                            Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                              Zoho CRM コンテンツ






                                                                                                Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                    ご検討中の方







                                                                                                            • Recent Topics

                                                                                                            • Zoho Quartz Screen Recording

                                                                                                              Hello, can we get access to Quartz, please, as a standalone solution? It would be great for creating training videos for current and future staff on how to use Zoho software according to our company requirements. Thank you
                                                                                                            • Tip 26: How to hide the "Submit" button from a form

                                                                                                              Hi everyone, Hope you're staying safe and working from home. We are, too. By now, we at Zoho are all very much accustomed to the new normal—working remotely. Today, we're back with yet another simple but interesting tip--how to hide the Submit button from your forms. In certain scenarios, you may want to hide the submit button from a form until all the fields are filled in.  Use case In this tip, we'll show you how to hide the Submit button while the user is entering data into the form, and then
                                                                                                            • How do I move Notes around within a Group?

                                                                                                              It says here: " You can now sort notes by title (alphabetically), or by date modified and date created. You can even organize your notes by dragging and dropping them into a particular order. To sort your notes, simply go to Settings and tap “Sort By.” Please note: all sort settings will be saved and synced across devices, except for custom sorting. Custom sorting will be device specific."However, I am unable to 'custom sort' in either Notebook for Mac or on the Web. In addition, I can't find the
                                                                                                            • Zoho Sign: need to leave document pending for up to a year, or maybe there's a better way?

                                                                                                              I have zoho one, maybe there's a better way to do this with another service than sending a zoho sign template from zoho crm. At the end of the day this requirement is due to regulations, no matter how dumb it may seem. I'm just looking for a way of getting
                                                                                                            • Separate Items & Services

                                                                                                              Hi, please separate items and services into different categories. Thank you
                                                                                                            • Unable to edit or delete email address

                                                                                                              I signed up for free Zoho today. I usually am pretty good at understanding and configuring things like this, but your interface baffles me, and your online help is cryptic to say the least. I have spent hours just trying to set up a couple of email accounts in Zoho before pointing my domain MX records to Zoho. I solved some other issues on my own, but I can't figure out this latest problem: I have created two email addresses in Zoho. Let's call the first one myname@mydomain.com and the second one
                                                                                                            • Mastering Zia Match Scores | Let's Talk Recruit

                                                                                                              Feeling overwhelmed by hundreds of resumes for every job? You’re not alone! Welcome back to Let’s Talk Recruit, where we break down Zoho Recruit’s features and hiring best practices into simple, actionable insights for recruiters. Imagine having an assistant
                                                                                                            • We are unable to process your request now. Please try again after sometime or contact support@zohoaccounts.com

                                                                                                              I cannot sign up and return the error of we are unable to process your request now. Please try again after sometime or contact support@zohoaccounts.com
                                                                                                            • Multi-currency - What's cooking ?

                                                                                                              Hi,       We have been doing this feature for sometime and we would like to give you some glimpses of it.  Working with Multi Currency :        Multicurrency support gives you the ability to handle business transactions in multiple currencies. You can define a base currency for your organization and add more currencies with exchange rates based on the base currency.  Setup :        From the setup page, you can manage all the currencies supported by your organization.       Currencies page        
                                                                                                            • How to reduce programmatically the image uploaded by user?

                                                                                                              I need a function that will automatically reduce the pixel dimension to 800 x 600 pixels / 180 resolution or (approx. 1.37MB) of image uploaded by user from digital camera, for example, 2271 x 1704 pixels /180 resolution or approx. 11.1MB. After the user selected the image, the function will able to detect if pixels is above 800x600, process the photo (crop/ reduce) and resume upload. Need help...  
                                                                                                            • Dark mode for Zoho Creator / Zoho CRM Code editor

                                                                                                              Hi Team, Is there any plans for Dark mode in Zoho creator / Zoho Crm code editor and development pages in pipeline?
                                                                                                            • Is there a way to make a button scroll down?

                                                                                                              Looking to have a button on a landing page scroll down to another section on the page. Any recomendations outside of coding?
                                                                                                            • ZOHO Android Client

                                                                                                              Hi, I installed the Android app, but it had an issue, so I reinstalled it. I was able to add multiple accounts, but now when I add the next account, it just duplicates the one I already have and will not even allow me to enter the info for another account.
                                                                                                            • I'd like to suggest a feature enhancement for SalesIQ that would greatly improve the user experience across different channels.

                                                                                                              Hello Zoho Team, Current Limitation: When I enable the pre-chat form under Brands > Flow Controls to collect the visitor’s name and email, it gets applied globally across all channels, including WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram. This doesn't quite align
                                                                                                            • Enhance Barcode/QR Code scanner with bulk scanning or continuously scanning

                                                                                                              Dear Zoho Creator, As we all know, after each scan, the scanning frame closes. Imagine having 100 items; we would need to tap 100 times and wait roughly 1 second each time for the scanning frame to reopen on mobile web. It's not just about wasting time;
                                                                                                            • Managing Rental Sales in Zoho Inventory

                                                                                                              I am aware that Zoho Inventory is not yet set up to handle rental sales and invoicing. Is anyone using it for rentals anyway? I'd like to hear about how others have found work arounds to manage inventory of rental equipment, rental payments, etc. Th
                                                                                                            • Zoho Flow to Creator 3001 Respoonse

                                                                                                              I have updated my Flows with the new V2 connection to Zoho Creator, but now some Flows do not work. They take in data from a Webhook and are supposed to create a record in Creator, however creator returns a 3001 message along with a failure, but I cannot
                                                                                                            • File Upload to Work Drive While Adding Records in Zoho Creator Application

                                                                                                              Hi I am trying to set a file attachment field in zoho creator form, to enable the user to upload a scanned document from their local pc. The file should be uploaded to zoho workdrive and not to the default zoho creator storage. The file link should be
                                                                                                            • Why not possible to generate?

                                                                                                              Using this https://desk.zoho.com/DeskAPIDocument#TicketCount#TicketCount_Getticketcountbyfield on my ZML script url :"https://desk.zoho.com/api/v1/ticketsCountByFieldValues?departmentId=XXXXXXXXXXX&accountId!=XXXXXXXXX&customField1=cf_country_1:XXXXXX&field=overDue"
                                                                                                            • email

                                                                                                              Hi My crm email is not working, can you check, I have zoho one account.
                                                                                                            • Need option to see Mass Emails & Cadences in Gmail Outbox OR a dedicated Zoho Outbox

                                                                                                              Hi everyone, Right now, when we send 1:1 emails from gmail (with gmail API connected to Zoho CRM), those emails appear both in gmail's sent folder and in Zoho CRM. That works well. But when we send Mass Emails or Cadence emails form Zoho CRM, they are
                                                                                                            • I can't found API for Sales Receipts

                                                                                                              Hello May you please help me to find an API document for Sales Receipts to get data and retrive a custom fields like Invoice and credit notes Regards
                                                                                                            • Kaizen #205 - Answering Your Questions | Managing Picklists and Enabling History Tracking via Zoho CRM APIs

                                                                                                              Hello everyone! Welcome back to another post in our Kaizen series. In this post, we will look at how you can manage picklist fields in Zoho CRM using APIs. This topic was raised as feedback to Kaizen #200, so we are taking it up here with more details.
                                                                                                            • Multiple Vendor SKUs

                                                                                                              One of the big concerns we have with ZOHO Inventory is lack of Vendor Skus like many other inventory software packages offer. Being able to have multiple vendor skus for the same product would be HUGE! It would populate the appropriate vendor Sku for
                                                                                                            • Internally created tickets

                                                                                                              Hi there When tickets are created internally on-behalf of customers - there is nothing to show that the ticket was created by an internal agent. This means, that it's easy for our agents to confuse tickets which were created by internal team members and
                                                                                                            • Automatically change website passwords

                                                                                                              Hi everyone, We just switched to a Professional package to also use the "Automatically change website passwords" function. But I cannot find anything about it, how to use it, anywhere. Does anyone know how I can use this function? Best, Caspar
                                                                                                            • Change Invoice Prices for an Effective Date

                                                                                                              Hi, It would be a really good feature to be able to change the prices on invoices/recurring invoices from an effective date in the event of price increases. For instance, I am in the process of increasing prices that will be effective from a specific
                                                                                                            • "Other Current Asset" accounts as "Paid Through" accounts in Expense

                                                                                                              It would be incredibly useful to be able to assign accounts of type Other Current Asset as Paid Through accounts in Expense. Currently, Other Current Liability are permitted as Paid Through Accounts. This makes sense, as Credit Cards are current liabilities.
                                                                                                            • Multi column open text questions that allows respondents to add rows for additional information

                                                                                                              I need to create a question that has 2 columns with open text, but I also need to allow respondents to click a "+" button, or something similar, so that they can add additional information if they choose to. I've tried using the Multiple Textboxes type
                                                                                                            • Bot Filtering & Apple Mail Privacy Protection Compliance in Zoho Campaigns

                                                                                                              Dear Campaigns Users, The wait is over! We’re excited to announce that the enhanced bot filtering feature is now live in Zoho Campaigns. This update brings greater accuracy to your email campaign reports by distinguishing real user engagement from automated
                                                                                                            • Découvrons les détails qui simplifient vos journées de travail avec Trident

                                                                                                              Nous nous installons dans des routines efficaces et rodées avec le temps. Chaque matin, nous ouvrons nos e-mails, passons aux messages, consultons notre agenda, puis attaquons nos tâches. Ce processus nous semble maîtrisé, mais est-il réellement optimisé
                                                                                                            • Issue with Purchase Rate Showing as “0” After Importing Items List

                                                                                                              Dear Zoho Books Support Team, Good day. I’m reaching out regarding an issue I’m facing while importing my items list into Zoho Books. Despite mapping all fields correctly and including the purchase price for each product in my Excel file, the Purchase
                                                                                                            • API for Task Entity in Zoho Books

                                                                                                              I’m working on automating task creation in Zoho Books via a custom button in the Bills Module. The goal is to create a task in the Tasks Module and assign it to the Finance Team, so they can track progress efficiently. While reviewing Zoho Books documentation,
                                                                                                            • create invoice in zoho books from the zoho forms

                                                                                                              Is there a native way to have create invoice in zoho books, when zoho form is completed?
                                                                                                            • Email undelivered

                                                                                                              GOod Day I am always receiving an uncategorized-bounce to my email. I am not sure why this is happening.
                                                                                                            • Add inventory_valuation_method to items endpooints

                                                                                                              To ensure consistent item creation it would be helpful to have the inventory_valuation_method (FIFO vs WAC) be able to be set at item creation or as an update (consistent with current behavior where it is not allowed for items with existing transactions)
                                                                                                            • Use Zoho to send sales receipts for Gocardless transactions

                                                                                                              I've been using gocardless for years and have d/d mandates set up on there. Each week we get bulk payments from customer d/d's. However, we need to send sales receipts to these customers. So I know I can sync mandates into Zoho, and then I can set up
                                                                                                            • Zoho - Gocardless sales receipts

                                                                                                              I've been using gocardless for years and have d/d mandates set up on there. Each week we get bulk payments from customer d/d's. However, we need to send sales receipts to these customers. So I know I can sync mandates into Zoho, and then I can set up
                                                                                                            • Introducing Rollup summary in Zoho CRM

                                                                                                              ------------------------------------------Moderated on 5th July'23---------------------------------------------- Rollup summary is now available for all organizations in all the DCs. Hello All, We hope you're well! We're here with an exciting update that
                                                                                                            • Introducing Connected Workflows in Zoho CRM for Everyone : Free Your Teams to Focus on What Matters

                                                                                                              Hello Everyone, We’re thrilled to introduce the next big evolution in Zoho CRM for Everyone -- Connected Workflows. This new feature builds on our commitment to deliver a CRM that’s truly inclusive, adaptable, and designed for consistent collaboration
                                                                                                            • Next Page