Articles on: Calendar

Booking page creation (1/3)

With a request page in the ChurchDesk booking tool, you allow members of your congregation to easily request a time or resource online — for example, for a wedding meeting, a funeral, or the use of a church room. This helps avoid time-consuming email or phone coordination. Instead, people can directly see which times are available and choose accordingly.
In this article, we’ll guide you step by step through how to set up a new request page, what to consider, and which options are available.

The product is part of the Medium and Large subscriptions.

Where do I find the booking tool?

You can access the booking tool in two ways:

Via the Calendar > Enquiries tab
Or via ChurchDesk Settings > Booking Pages

Please note: To create booking pages, you need the “Book and Plan” permission in the Calendar module.

General process

A full booking through ChurchDesk involves several steps:

Create a booking page
Enter the availability of involved people in the calendar (mandatory only for option 3)
Publish the link to the booking page (e.g. on your website)
Receive bookings
Accept or decline bookings (explained in a separate article – see below)

Create a Booking Page

Go to the booking tool and click “Manage Booking Pages” (top left).
Then click “Create New Booking Page” and choose one of the following three options:

Option 1: Users with a regular weekly schedule

This option is ideal for recurring office hours — e.g. weekly pastoral meetings or counseling sessions.
Since availability is based on a fixed weekly schedule, there is no need to manually enter time slots. However, it is important to regularly enter absences in the calendar to block out times when you’re not available.

Setup includes:

Users: Choose who should receive and manage incoming requests. Everyone will be notified, but only one needs to respond.
Internal name: For internal use only, e.g. "Wedding Meeting – Pastor Miller"
Title: This will appear in the calendar, e.g. "Wedding Meeting" or "Room Booking"
Description: Visible on the request page
URL: Can be customized or auto-generated from the title
Form: Use an existing form or create a new one (see separate article below)
Optional follow-up form: Automatically sent after the request is accepted, e.g. to collect additional information
Event settings: Define the parish, calendar category, and visibility
Email texts: You can customize confirmation and rejection messages. They can also be edited when responding to a request, but it’s best to set them here in advance.
Click “Next” to proceed to step 2.

Step 2 – Event settings:

Duration: Enter duration in hours and minutes (via keyboard or mouse)
Main resource (location) and additional resources: Resources must be set up in ChurchDesk Settings
Preparation/clean-up time: Block additional time before/after the event
Weekly availability schedule: Click the small arrow next to each weekday or anywhere on the grey bar to expand
Minimum notice period: Controls how far in advance appointments can be booked (e.g. 2 days minimum notice)

Additional options:

Start time increment: Define how often appointments can begin (e.g. every 30 minutes). Note: Event duration (incl. prep time) may block multiple intervals.
Maximum number of enquiries per day or week
Show names of available users: Enable this to show which staff members are available
Group user availability: You can group users in the calendar so they appear together on the request page
Click “Save” to complete setup. You will receive:
A link for sharing
An HTML code for embedding on your website
A preview of what the page will look like to requesters

Option 2: Resource with a regular weekly schedule

Best suited for rooms or items that are regularly available (e.g. parish halls).

Additional setting:

Who should manage incoming bookings? Assign users or groups responsible for this page
All other settings are similar to option 1 — except that user names cannot be shown on the booking page.

Option 3: Users with irregular availability

This is ideal for more complex scenarios — e.g. several pastors responsible for different cemeteries or locations.

Special features:

Requesters choose between multiple options (e.g. locations, churches)
Each option can have its own schedule, availability, and resources
Requesters can choose a preferred time and, if applicable, a preferred person
As with the other options: Only one person needs to accept the request

Entering availability

Availability must be actively maintained for accurate booking options.
(For option 1, this is handled automatically.)
To manually add availability:

Open the Calendar
Click a day in the desired view
In the pop-up, select “Availability”
Choose the relevant booking page
Optionally choose a request option and the relevant user
By default, availability is entered as all-day.
To edit the times:

Click on the availability entry
Click the pencil icon
Adjust the time and optionally copy the availability

FAQ & Common Issues

What happens if two people submit requests for the same time?

Double bookings are not possible.
The first person to submit the request is successful.
The second person receives an error message and must select a different time.

What happens if I delete a booking page?

Existing calendar events remain
Open and completed booking disappear from the Booking section
The page cannot be recovered – only delete if you’re sure it’s no longer needed