Using pencilled-in bookings

A pencilled-in booking reserves a timeslot without confirming the booking. This guide explains how pencilled-in bookings work and walks you through creating, confirming, modifying, and cancelling them.

What is a Pencilled-In Booking?

A pencilled-in booking holds a timeslot — and any associated staff or resources — while the booking is still pending. It prevents double bookings but doesn't trigger any customer notification until you manually confirm it.

Pencilled-in bookings are useful when you take bookings by phone or email and need to confirm later, when a customer needs to complete payment before their spot is secured, or when your business uses a multi-step process before final confirmation.

Only you can create pencilled-in bookings — customers cannot create them through the booking page. A pencilled-in booking stays active until you confirm or cancel it manually; it does not expire on its own.

⚠️ WARNING: If you change the date or time of a pencilled-in booking, it will automatically be confirmed. If it needs to remain pencilled-in at a new time, cancel the existing booking and create a new one.

Create a pencilled-in booking

1. Go to Schedule > Calendar from the left-hand menu.
2. Use the date selector to navigate to the required date.
3. Click the timeslot you want to reserve.
4. In the booking window, enter the customer details, service, and any relevant comments.
5. Under Booking Status, select Pencilled-In.
6. Click Add Booking.

The timeslot is now reserved. The booking remains unconfirmed until you update it manually.

📝 NOTE: Customers do not receive any notification when a pencilled-in booking is created. A notification is only sent once the booking is confirmed. Pencilled-in bookings do not expire. They remain active until you confirm or cancel them.