Calendar setup
Calendars define when your business can accept appointments. A Calendar can be used by your team when scheduling manually and by the text or voice AI when Built-in Booking is selected.
Calendars are configured inside the unified Jobs workspace; there is no separate Calendars page in the app.
Getting here
In Auto-Respond, open CRM → Jobs.
- To create one, click Create new calendar.
- To edit one, open the Calendar selector and click the edit icon beside its name.
Click Save calendar or Cancel to return to Jobs.
What a Calendar controls
Each Calendar belongs to one business and stores:
- A name and display color.
- The timezone used to calculate availability and booking slots.
- Weekly working hours, including multiple time ranges on the same day.
- Appointment length: 30, 60, 90, or a custom whole number of at least 5 minutes.
- The customer information the AI must collect before it can book.
Create separate Calendars when teams, services, or locations have different working hours or appointment lengths.
Creating a Calendar
Click Create new calendar, then complete the three sections.
Basic information
- Business - required; determines where the Calendar and its Jobs belong.
- Name - required; use a recognizable name such as Estimates or Standard service hours.
- Timezone - required and used to calculate working hours and available slots.
- Calendar color - identifies the Calendar’s Jobs in the combined view.
- Appointment length - sets the duration of every available slot.
Availability
Under Weekly hours, enable the days you accept appointments and add one or more time ranges to each day. For example, set 8:00 AM–12:00 PM and 1:00 PM–5:00 PM to leave a lunch break.
A new Calendar starts on Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM–4:00 PM, with the weekend closed. Adjust it to your real hours before pointing a source or agent at it.
Only complete slots that fit inside these hours are offered. Past times and times occupied by active Jobs are excluded automatically.
Information to collect
This section controls what the AI asks for before making a Built-in Booking.
- Name is always collected and cannot be turned off.
- At least one of Phone or Email must be required.
- Address can be required when the appointment happens at the customer’s location.
- Add custom fields for information such as service type, gate code, or property size. Each custom field needs a unique name and description.
Unchecked fields are not requested as part of the booking.
How available slots are calculated
Auto-Respond combines:
- The Calendar’s timezone.
- Its weekly working hours.
- Its appointment length.
- Scheduled, in-progress, and on-hold Jobs already using the Calendar.
Only future slots that fit the full appointment length are offered. Auto-Respond checks availability again when saving, which prevents two people from reserving the same slot at the same time.
Using a Calendar with Built-in Booking
After creating the Calendar, select it in the scheduling settings that should use it.
Text AI Assistant
Go to Sources → select a source → Messaging Settings → Conversation Setup → AI Assistant → Appointment Scheduling. Enable scheduling, choose Built-in Booking, and select the Calendar.
Voice Agent
Open an Agent → Scheduling → enable Appointment Scheduling → choose Built-in Booking → select the Calendar.
The AI checks the Calendar’s open slots, collects its required information, and creates a scheduled Job after the customer agrees to a time.
A built-in Calendar lives inside Auto-Respond. It is different from choosing a connected third-party calendar as the scheduling service.
Editing or deleting a Calendar
In the Jobs workspace, open the Calendar selector and click the edit icon beside a Calendar. Saving changes updates future availability calculations.
Deleting a Calendar requires confirmation. Existing Jobs are not deleted, but the Calendar is disconnected from any Sources and Voice Agents that use it. Their Built-in Booking configuration is disabled until you select another Calendar. Scheduled Jobs that retain their dates remain available under All calendars with the neutral Unassigned style.
Before deleting a Calendar, update every Source and Voice Agent that should keep booking appointments.
Related topics
Built-in CRM
See how Calendars connect Leads, Contacts, and Jobs.
Jobs
Use the shared Calendar and List workspace to manage scheduled work.
Text appointment scheduling
Configure Built-in Booking for lead conversations.
Voice Agent scheduling
Configure Built-in Booking for phone calls.
Questions? Email support@auto-respond.com.