How to Block Out Unavailable Times for Single Booking Services
The Block Out function allows you to permanently prevent bookings at specific times every week for a single booking service. This ensures that certain times remain unavailable for the entire lifespan of the service and applies to all assigned staff and/or resources.
Why Use Block Out?
Block Out is useful for businesses that offer appointment-based services and need to automatically prevent bookings at certain times every week without adjusting overall service availability.
✅ Common Uses for Block Out:
- Lunch breaks – Prevent bookings from being made during daily breaks.
- Staff meetings – Block out times dedicated to internal meetings.
- Prep/Admin time – Reserve set hours each week for paperwork or prep time.
This method applies to the entire service, affecting all staff and resources assigned to it. It is not the same as blocking out individual staff availability via the Calendar.
For blocking out time for individual staff or resources on specific dates, use the Busy Time feature. Busy Times allow staff to block out time in the middle of the day while still maintaining availability before and after.How to Block Out Times for a Service
1️⃣ Go to Inventory > Services.
2️⃣ Click the ••• (three dots) action menu next to the service and select Edit.
3️⃣ Navigate to the Availability tab.
4️⃣ Click on the timeslots for the days you want to block out.
5️⃣ To block out an extended period, click and drag across all the timeslots you wish to block out.
6️⃣ Click Update to confirm.
How to Block Out Days for a Service
1️⃣ Go to Inventory > Services.
2️⃣ Click the ••• (three dots) action menu next to the service and select Edit.
3️⃣ Navigate to the Availability tab.
4️⃣ Click on All day in the top row of the day(s) required to block out the entire day.
5️⃣ Click Update to confirm.
Removing a Blocked-Out Time
1️⃣ Go to Inventory > Services.
2️⃣ Click the ••• (three dots) action menu next to the service and select Edit.
3️⃣ Navigate to the Availability tab.
4️⃣ Click on the block out times marked in blue to remove.
5️⃣ Click Update to confirm.
📌 Block outs remain in place permanently unless manually removed.
Booking Resolution & Starting Time
When setting up availability, you can also adjust how bookings are scheduled by configuring Booking Resolution and Starting Time:
Booking Resolution
- Example: If you only accept bookings on the hour, set the resolution to 1 hour.
- If you allow appointments every 30 minutes, set the resolution to 30 minutes.
Starting Time (Optional)
- Example: If you want bookings to start at 9:00 AM, set the Starting Time to 9:00 AM instead of allowing bookings at any time within the resolution.
Troubleshooting & FAQs
If a recurring lunch break is needed, use Block Out at the service level. If a one-off mid-day break is required, use Busy Time instead.
Yes, blocks repeat every week indefinitely once added in the Availability tab.
No, Block Out must be added separately to each service in the Availability tab.
The service will immediately become available for booking during that time again.
Need Help?
If you need assistance, contact our support team:
💬 Live Chat: Click the chat icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
📧 Email: support@nabooki.com
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