Scheduling sessions and keeping track of available dates can be a challenge, but calendar integration in Photonesto does it for you! Depending on which calendar you use, you can conveniently preview your bookings or completely automate the blocking of busy dates.
Why is it worth enabling integration?
Everything in one place: every new booking from a client immediately goes to your phone or computer
Protection against double-booking (Google): by connecting Google Calendar, you can be sure that a client will not book a session during a time when you have personal plans
Time savings: convenient schedule management without the need to manually rewrite dates and times.
How to enable it?
Just go to the calendar view in the session booking system:
Then click on the green "Connect calendars" button and select which calendar you want to sync:
Google Calendar
After selecting the "Google Calendar" option, a confirmation window will pop up, where you should select "Connect my account with a Google account"
Next, select your account - enter your email address, password (if necessary), or authorize access in another displayed manner.
Syncing with Google Calendar is a connection between two platforms - for this reason, you may receive various requests to confirm login and accept terms and conditions - confirm and allow if needed.
You will receive information that you are connected to a Google account and you will have the opportunity to decide on several calendar settings:
Finally, just click the "Done" button and the calendars will be synced - on both the Photonesto and Google Calendar sides:
You can always return to the sync settings by clicking on the "Google Calendar" button (where the button to connect was previously), where you will also find the option to disconnect from the calendar
Apple iCloud Calendar (iCalendar)
Select the "Other calendar" option, and then "Open in Apple Calendar" - the green "Open calendar" button
The Calendar app will open, where a window with a pre-filled link to subscribe to the Photonesto calendar will pop up; confirm by clicking the "Subscribe" button
After a short moment, you will get a window with calendar settings:
Confirm the entered settings with the "OK" button.
Bookings from Photonesto are visible in the calendar, and the newly added calendar itself is displayed in the sidebar on the left side - two curved bars inform us that it is a subscribed (synced) calendar. You can go to its settings by right-clicking on the calendar name and selecting the "Get Info" option:
Remember that synchronization with Apple Calendar is ONE-WAY, meaning it works in one direction - in your calendar, you will see sessions booked in Photonesto, while in the session booking system, you will not see items from your iCloud calendar.
In Photonesto, simply finish synchronization by clicking on the "Mark as connected" button.
You can enter calendar sync settings by clicking the "Other calendar" button (where the "Connect calendars" button was previously)
Other calendar (e.g. Outlook)
From the option list select "Other calendar" - a window will appear containing a link to subscribe to the Photonesto calendar - you should use it to sync the calendar e.g., in Outlook - click HERE to find out how to do this in Microsoft Outlook.
After successful synchronization, simply click "Mark as connected".
Tip: After connecting, make a test booking in Photonesto to check if the date appears correctly in your calendar.
Summary
Connecting an external calendar with Photonesto takes literally a moment and significantly simplifies daily session schedule management!
Have questions regarding configuration? Click the chat icon in the bottom right corner of the screen - we are happy to help!
