Approve or deny appointments based on criteria

Approve or deny appointments based on criteria

Hey, community members!

 

Have you ever wondered how to automatically approve or deny appointments?

 

While we're still working on building that feature, we've got an alternative method to cancel appointments if they don't meet your specific criteria.

Let me share a recent client request as an example: Our customer has two types of services that are similar: One is for grown-ups and the other is for children. However, often adults mistakenly book these services without realizing that they are not intended for them. This results in unnecessary confusion for our customers, as they have to contact those who accidentally booked appointments and reschedule them, causing a significant amount of administrative work.

Here's how we helped our customer: We added a criteria field to the booking page (e.g., "What is your age?") Then, we automatically cancel appointments where the input age is greater than 15 and we'll even notify the grown-up client that their appointment has been canceled and guide them to book the appropriate service.


To make this happen, you'll need Zoho Bookings and the Zoho Flow Standard Plan.


Here's a simplified breakdown of the process in three steps:  

  • Zoho Bookings will collect the criteria data and pass it to Zoho Flow.

  • In Zoho Flow, we'll configure a workflow to verify the validity of the data.

  • If the data is invalid, Zoho Flow will trigger a cancellation request to Zoho Bookings, resulting in the appointment being canceled.

 

Don't forget these additional steps: Edit the booking confirmation page and notification email to proactively inform customers that their booking maybe subject to cancellation.

Let's dive into the details together!!!

STEP 1: TO BE FOLLOWED IN ZOHO BOOKINGS APPLICATION:


1. Create a mandatory field in Zoho Bookings Forms.

     A. For service booking form: Add Field

     B. For workspace booking form: Add Field

 

NOTE: Workspace-level settings apply to group and resource bookings, while for One-on-One bookings, you will need to make the necessary changes within the specific One-on-One service settings.

At the end of step 1, let's say we have created a mandatory field called "What is your age?". Now the customers on the booking page will have to provide their age to book an appointment.

Additional Step:

Canceling an appointment without the customer's knowledge might affect the customer experience. Therefore, we should acknowledge the customers in every possible way.

 

Here are some tips:

 

A. We can use the 'Custom Redirection' feature to redirect customers to a custom page after they book an appointment, instead of the default booking confirmation page.

Here is how to change booking confirmation page: Booking Confirmation Page


Here is the sample custom page:



B. By using the "Terms and Conditions" check box, you can include the following message in the box: "This service is specifically designed for children under the age of 15. Bookings made by individuals above the age of 15 may be subject to cancellation". Customers will then need to check the box to confirm their agreement before completing their bookings, ensuring that they are aware of this policy.

More details: 

STEP 2: TO BE FOLLOWED IN ZOHO FLOW APPLICATION

A: Log in and search the template

  • Sign in to Zoho Flow application and create a new flow using the create flow option.

  • Select App > search for Zoho Bookings in the search bar.

  • Select the "Appointment Booked" trigger.

  • Select "Connection" and "Variable" > Done.


How to create a flow in Zoho Flow: Create a flow from scratch

How to create connection in Zoho Flow application: Create a Connection


At the end of step A, we have created a new flow including Zoho Bookings application.


B: Set Variable

  • In the Logic option > Flow Control > Set Variable > Edit the variable

  • Name the variable and in the value provide the input in following format "${trigger.customer_more_info.get("What is your age?")} " > Click on done.



 

NOTE: In Step 1, we created a multi-line field named "What is your age?" If you have instead created a single-line field without spaces (e.g., "Age?") on the booking page, the format for the field would be as follows:

  • Single line field format: ${trigger.customer_more_info.fieldname}

  • Multiple line field format: ${trigger.customer_more_info.get("fieldname")}

At the end of step B, we are fetching the output of the "Age" field from the Zoho Bookings form.


C: Create Condition

  • In the Logic option > Flow Control > Decision.

  • In the condition 1, configure as Set Variable(Age) > is not null. 


At the end of step C, we set up conditions to ensure that all bookings made through the Zoho Bookings application meet the requirements specified in the above conditions.


D: Custom Function

  • In the Logic option > Custom Functions > Create Function.

  • Configure function name, return type and input parameter.

  • Details on custom function: Custom Function

Reference below: 




Below is the sample code which you can have for reference. You can configure and modify the code according to your specific requirements.



Code Explanation:


Line 1: To pass the input data below to the code

  • Age: This is used to verify and analyze the customer's input.

  • Customer Email: This is required to send an email notification to the customer in the event of an appointment cancellation.

  • Booking ID: This serves the purpose of identifying the specific booking that needs to be canceled using its unique booking ID.

Line 3: We are implementing an "if condition" to verify the customer's input. In this case, we will check if the entered age is greater than 15. If it meets this condition, the following loop will be executed.

Line 5 - 8: To update appointments, we are utilizing the Zoho Bookings API. Within the update appointment API, there are two mandatory fields that need to be included: BookingID and action (completed/cancel/noshow). In cases where the criteria are not met and an appointment needs to be canceled, we will pass the action field as "cancel".

Line 9 - 14: We are using invokeURL task for API calls. To know more about invokeURL task please refer to the following document: InvokeURL task for API calls

Line 16 - 21: We utilize the sendmail task to send an email to the customer when their appointment is canceled. Additionally, the Zoho Bookings application automatically sends a cancellation email to the customer in such cases. Therefore, you have the option to either use the sendmail task or rely on the default notification system to inform the customer about the cancellation of their booking.


More details on send mail task: Send Mail Task

This is what the final flow will look like:



Here is the demo video:  In this demo video, we have showcased the behaviour of our setup configuration for different inputs from customers. One input satisfies the configured condition, while the other input does not meet the configured condition.




CONCLUSION:

In the preceding discussion, we have outlined a method for automatic appointment cancellation. You can use this document as a reference to explore the various possibilities that suit your needs.

In the upcoming posts, we will explore various scenarios and methods for updating the appointment status. Furthermore, we have covered the process of canceling an appointment after it has been booked.If you are wondering whether there is a way to verify customer inputs before booking an appointment, the answer is yes. We will delve into that topic in the next series.

As the above configuration may differ based on individual business requirements, we have provided a generic example for reference. If you have any questions or need assistance with configuration to align with your specific business needs, please email us at hello@zohobookings.com or support@zohobookings.com.



      • Sticky Posts

      • Approve or deny appointments based on criteria

        Hey, community members! Have you ever wondered how to automatically approve or deny appointments? While we're still working on building that feature, we've got an alternative method to cancel appointments if they don't meet your specific criteria. Let

        • Recent Topics

        • Pro rata holiday allowance for variable part time employees

          We have some part time staff who work variable hours and their holiday allowance is based on pro rata system. In Zoho people is there any way to calculate their holiday allowance based on actual hours worked? I.e. worker is entitled to a pro-rata amount of 5.6 weeks holiday, which is equivalent to 12.07% of hours worked over a year. So part time staff's holiday is accrued at a rate of 12.07% per hour worked. Thanks

        • Introducing SlyteUI : From Idea to a Working Interface in Minutes

          Hello everyone! Are you spending hours building basic UIs? Does even the smallest customization feel like a major task? CRM customization should feel intuitive and straightforward, not time consuming or exhausting. SlyteUI makes this possible by simplifying

        • Trying to validate user's age through DoB

          We have a form where a user enters their birthdate. We'd like a rule that counts whether the user is over or under 25 years of age. This amounts to 9125 days elapsed between today and an easy way to do this would be to use conditional rule Is Before [x]

        • Invoice date is incorrect

          I'm trying to pull a report of Sales Orders and filter by Invoice Date. (ex: all of 2025) Unfortunately, the filter still returns lots of SO's from other years including 2026 which would be impossible to have an invoice in 2025 from a 2026 order. It's

        • Query on Tracking Visitor Activity with Zoho Forms & SalesIQ

          I have a query regarding Zoho Forms, Zoho SalesIQ, and Zoho CRM. I have embedded a Zoho Forms form on my website, and I’m trying to understand if it’s possible to capture a user’s website activity (such as pages visited, visit count, etc.) when they submit

        • Understanding tasks

          So we have a module linked to contacts called Equipment and that in turn has a related module called service calls. Often on a service call we want add a task but we are not able. I think it needs a link to the contact. WE therefore tried to add tasks

        • How to transfer files from Creator file upload fields to CRM file upload fields

          This article describes how to transfer files from Zoho Creator file upload fields to Zoho CRM file upload fields. I'm posting it here because the current documentation does not fully and accurately describe how to do this with certain file types (PDF,

        • Add Comprehensive Accessibility Features to Zoho Writer

          Hello Zoho Writer Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request to enhance Zoho Writer with a full set of accessibility tools, similar to the accessibility options already available in the Zoho Desk agent interface. 🚧 Current

        • ¿Puedo migrar mi sitio desde WordPress a Zoho? ¿Zoho admite herramientas con código personalizado?

          ¡Hola comunidad! Estoy evaluando la posibilidad de migrar mi sitio web https://calculadoradenotas.cl/ desde WordPress a una solución Zoho, y tengo algunas dudas técnicas que espero puedan aclararme. Mi sitio no es solo informativo: es una herramienta

        • Make Task ID and Issue ID columns filterable like all other columns

          Hello Zoho Projects Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request regarding the Task ID and Issue ID columns in Zoho Projects list views. Current Limitation: As of now, in both the Tasks and Issues modules, almost every visible

        • Improve Back Navigation (X Button) Inside Nested Milestones, Task Lists, Tasks, and Issues

          Hi Zoho Projects Team, We would like to request an improvement to the X / close button navigation behavior inside milestones. Currently, the milestone area behaves as a nested hierarchy (tree structure): Project → Milestone → Task List → Task So when

        • Add a way to connect Log360 Cloud logs with Zoho analytics

          Hi, Several month ago Log360 Cloud was added to zoho one - and this is great. But as far as I see there is no prebuilt way to connect Zoho analytics to the logs we have in Log360 Cloud. Please add a prebuilt connection like we have for so many other zoho

        • Extend GitHub Commit Integration to Tasks in Zoho Projects

          Hello Zoho Projects Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request regarding the current GitHub integration in Zoho Projects, specifically the ability to link commit information. Current Limitation: As of now, Zoho Projects

        • Enable Screen Recording in Zoho WorkDrive Mobile Apps (Android & iOS)

          Hi Zoho WorkDrive Team, How are you? We are enthusiastic Zoho One users and rely heavily on Zoho WorkDrive for internal collaboration and content sharing. The screen-recording feature in the WorkDrive web app (similar to Loom) is extremely useful- however,

        • Zoho Project - Total Forecasted Hours

          Does anyone know an easy way to get a total of all the forecasted hours across the portfolio? I'm aware trying to create a custom report that can generate this figure for each task and the total up but the completion percentage doesn't seem to come back

        • Bank Fees - Allow User to Choose Expense Account

          Bank fees from Customer Payments can only be debited against the system Bank Fees account due to hard-coding. The user should be able to select which expense account those fees are debited against. The use case is pretty straightforward. A business like

        • Attendance Kiosk Mode for all Employees

          Is it possible to assign a tablet (ios/android) so that all employees can check in or out using a simple QR code? If not would it be possible to integrate attendance with a web app that also has a tablet app that works in kiosk mode? If yes can anyone recommend such an app?

        • How can we get payment status updates for payment links in Zoho Books using webhooks?

          When we create and share a payment link in Zoho Books, is there a way to know when the payment is updated? Can we use webhooks to get real-time updates for payment link status instead of checking manually?

        • Update to CRM Custom Buttons: Collect Users' Location

          Hello everyone! Buttons in Zoho CRM allow you to extend the default CRM capabilities for your bespoke business needs. It provides the flexibility to connect to any third-party application to perform necessary actions. Wouldn't it be better, if those buttons

        • Introducing note actions and dynamic visibility in Kiosk Studio

          Hello all, We are introducing enhancements to Kiosk Studio that will improve the product scope and meet your custom needs more precisely. What's new? Add notes as Actions: You can add notes to CRM records as kiosk Actions, as well as insert merge fields

        • CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users

          Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storage

        • Challenges with data consistency when integrating Zoho with other systems

          In setups where Zoho (CRM/Inventory) is connected with external systems like eCommerce platforms, maintaining consistent and reliable data across systems can be challenging. Some common issues that tend to come up: Product data mismatches (variants, pricing

        • Logging Calls not working

          For some reason, logging calls is not working anymore. Description of problem: On a Lead's record, in the "Open Activities" block, clicked on "Add New" Clicked on "Call", clicked on "Log a call" Nothing happens. If I click on "Schedule a call" nothings

        • Announcing Zoho Sheet desktop app for macOS and Windows (Beta)

          Hello Sheet users, We know you’ve been waiting for this one. It has always been the top priority on our roadmap to provide a single native desktop app for macOS and Windows that works both online and offline. Today, we are excited to announce that the

        • Zoho Mail Android app update: UI revamp

          Hello everyone! We are excited to share that the first phase of the Zoho Mail Android UI revamp is now live. In this update, we have redesigned navigation bar at the bottom to quickly access the Email, Calendar, Contacts, and Settings modules. Also, the

        • Records Per Page

          Can we get max number of records per page increased from 100 to 250 and 500 please? Or alternatively allow us to use the Zoho Sheet View for all records and not just the max 100 showing on the page? thanks.

        • This campain is on hold

          Trying to start a Zoho Campaign for our company but the error message when we try to send it out it this: This campaign is on hold Our compliance team needs additional information about your sender domain address. They'll reach out to you shortly via

        • Blueprint transitions on locked records

          We use the ability to automatically lock records (quotes, sales orders, etc.) based on criteria, such as stage. For instance, if a quote has been sent to a client, the quote is then locked for further edits. Our ideal quote stage process is: Draft>Sent>Won.

        • Whatsapp Limitation Questions

          Good day, I would like to find out about the functionality or possibility of all the below points within the Zoho/WhatsApp integration. Will WhatsApp buttons ever be possible in the future? Will WhatsApp Re-directs to different users be possible based

        • Sales Ordes removes TAX at random for some or all prodcuts, even after creating it

          Hi at Zoho CRM, in the Sales Orders section, when Creating, Cloning or editing any Sales Orders the TAX of one or all products gets "unchecked" at random. All of our products ALWAYS must have the same TAX selected automatically. At least it used to be

        • Turning off self view in Zoho Meeting

          Hi Is it possible to turn off/hide self view in meetings?  Cant see any options for it. Thanks

        • CRM to Desk Contact Sync Issues?

          Hello, I noticed none of the contact changes in CRM are being transferred over to Desk. Anyone else experiencing this? I checked the sync history in desk and it confirms it - it doesn't show "X Contacts Synced" like it normally does.

        • Please add Deluge code editing for Forms

          Assuming Forms is built on the same codebase as Creator, etc., it would be wonderful to be able to edit form code, cut and paste form elements across different forms, share code with other users, and so on.

        • Is there any workaround or method to restrict user login to a particular device

          Hi, I want to restrict my CRM user from accessing the Zoho CRM/Zoho One application to the company provided devices only. As far as I have explored there is no direct way to do this. Is there any workarounds that will allow me to do this. I want to ensure

        • Email from CRM being Blocked or Marked as Spam by Google (and maybe more)

          In the past 24 hours we’ve noticed that emails sent via Zoho CRM are being blocked or flagged as phishing, particularly by Google. The issue seems to occur specifically when emails contain links. URLs like www.domain.com or www.example.com are automatically

        • All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs

          Availability Update: 29 September 2025: It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition exclusively for IN DC users. 2 March 2026: Available to users in all DCs except US and EU DC. 24

        • Zoho Tables - Form default entry

          How so I set a form field to be populated with an entry from another table? I created a view on my source table limiting the results to just the one thing I want to see. When adding a Client via my Add Client form, I want the Client Type field to already

        • Payment Card or Identity form-fill from Vault?

          Hello! I'm working on replacing Bitwarden with Vault and one issue I've run into is that I can't find any option to fill address and payment forms from Payment Card or Identity info that has been saved in Vault. Is there a way to do this? Is it a planned

        • Introducing Bin Locations In Zoho Inventory

          Hello users, We are excited to let you know that your wait for the Bin Locations feature has now come to an end! Yes, you heard us right! We are here to introduce the much-awaited Bin Locations now in Zoho Inventory. But before we dive into the feature

        • Add Actionable “Smart Commits” for GitHub Integration

          Hi Zoho Projects Team, I am submitting a feature request to introduce Smart Commits support for the GitHub integration in Zoho Projects. The Current Limitation: Currently, Zoho Projects offers a "passive" integration. Including a Task ID in a commit message

        • Next Page