Documentation
Full When a desired time is already taken, customers can add themselves to the waiting list and are notified automatically as soon as the slot becomes free. This article shows how to enable the waiting list and how it works in practice.
1. Enable the waiting list
- Navigate to JoomBook → Settings → General Settings.
- In the Waiting List section, set "Enable waiting list" to Yes.
- Under "Confirmation window (hours)", set how many hours a notified customer has to confirm the freed slot before it is passed on to the next waiting person (1 to 168 hours, i.e. up to 7 days).
- Save.
2. How a customer signs up
If a desired time is already fully booked, the booking wizard offers the customer the option to join the waiting list for exactly that slot. They enter their name, email and phone, optionally a note, and confirm the privacy notice. They are then waiting for that one time.
3. When a slot becomes free
When an appointment is cancelled or marked as no-show, JoomBook looks for waiting entries whose desired slot overlaps the freed time (not just exact-time matches) and notifies the next waiting person by email with a confirmation link. Their status changes to Notified.
If the customer clicks the link within the confirmation window, the appointment is booked for them and the entry moves to Confirmed. If they let the window pass, the entry becomes Expired and the next waiting person moves up - handled by the scheduled task.
4. The waiting list in the backend
Under JoomBook → Waitlists you see all entries with name, email, phone, the requested service and location, the slot, a note, the creation time and the status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Waiting | The customer is waiting for the slot; no place has become free yet. |
| Notified | A place has become free, the customer has received the email with the confirmation link and has until the end of the confirmation window. |
| Confirmed | The customer confirmed in time; the appointment was booked. |
| Expired | The confirmation window passed without the customer confirming; the place went to the next person. |
| Cancelled | The entry was cancelled. |
5. Notification texts
The subject and text of the waiting-list notification are set under JoomBook → Settings → E-Mail Notifications in the Waiting List Notification section.
