Why Availability Settings Matter
The way you configure your scheduling availability is more important than most people realise. Get it wrong and you end up with back-to-back meetings, no preparation time, and bookings at inconvenient hours. Get it right and your calendar reflects how you actually want to work.
Weekly Rules: Your Baseline Availability
Weekly rules define your default working hours for each day of the week. In Slotwise you can set multiple time intervals per day — for example, 9:00–12:00 and 13:00–17:00 on Monday through Friday, with a deliberate midday gap for focused work.
Best practice: Don't make yourself available during all your working hours. Reserve a "deep work" window each day (many professionals protect 9–11 am or 2–4 pm) where no meetings can be booked. Use availability settings to enforce this automatically.
Buffer Times: The Secret to Arriving Prepared
Buffer time before a meeting gives you space to review your notes and prepare. Buffer time after a meeting lets you write up actions before moving on. Without buffers, meetings bleed into each other and nothing gets done.
Recommended buffer settings:
- Discovery calls / sales: 10 min before, 15 min after
- Consulting / coaching: 15 min before, 20 min after
- Internal team syncs: 5 min before, 5 min after
Minimum Notice: Stop Last-Minute Ambushes
Minimum notice time prevents guests from booking a slot 30 minutes from now when you haven't had time to prepare. Setting a 24-hour minimum notice is appropriate for most professional contexts. For time-sensitive services (support calls, urgent consultations), 2–4 hours may be better.
Maximum Days Ahead: Keep Your Pipeline Focused
Allowing bookings 90 days in advance sounds flexible, but it fills your calendar with commitments you haven't scoped yet and reduces your ability to respond to urgent requests. Most professionals benefit from a 14–30 day window. This keeps your pipeline current and your commitments manageable.
Date Overrides: Handle Exceptions Gracefully
Date overrides let you modify availability for specific dates — holidays, travel days, conference attendance — without disrupting your weekly rules. Use them for:
- Public holidays you're taking off
- Days you want to be more available (e.g. a product launch week)
- Partial availability days (e.g. only mornings when attending a conference)
Multiple Event Types, One Availability Schedule
Slotwise lets you create multiple event types (30-min intro call, 60-min deep-dive, 15-min quick check) all tied to the same availability schedule. Guests see only the times that are free regardless of which event type they're booking — your calendar is never double-booked.
The Five-Minute Setup Checklist
- Set your timezone
- Define weekly availability (include a daily no-meeting block)
- Set buffers for each event type
- Set minimum notice to at least 2 hours
- Cap maximum days ahead at 21–30 days
- Add date overrides for known holidays
- Connect Google Calendar to block existing events automatically
Done. Your scheduling link is now ready to share, and your calendar will only accept bookings when you're genuinely free and prepared.