Setting your availability
Your availability in CoreHue sets the days and times clients can book you on your booking page. Add a gap between bookings, a minimum notice period and a booking window, then use Availability for specific dates for holidays, shoots elsewhere or a one-off late evening.
Availability applies to direct booking services. Mini sessions run on their own dates, and inquiry services don't offer times at all.
Setting your weekly hours
- Go to Bookings → Settings → Availability.
- Under Shared weekly availability, switch each day on or off. A day that's off reads Unavailable.
- Set the start and end time for each day that's on. New ranges start at 09:00 to 17:00.
- Choose + Add time range to add a second block on the same day, like a lunch break.
- Choose Save in the bar at the bottom.
These are booking hours, not working hours. If you edit on Mondays and don't shoot, switch Monday off.
The settings that protect your time
| Setting | What it does | Starts at |
|---|---|---|
| Booking gap | Time kept free between one booking and the next. Choose No gap, 15 min, 30 min, 45 min or 1 hour. | No gap |
| Minimum notice | How far ahead a client must book, in hours, up to 720. | 24 |
| Booking window | How far into the future clients can see and book, in days, up to 730. | 365 |
| Timezone | The timezone every time is worked out from. Set it to where you actually shoot. |
Booking gap is the one to change first. Without it, a client can book you at 11:00 when your last session ends at 11:00 across town.
Wedding photographers often want a longer booking window. Portrait photographers usually want shorter, since a booking eleven months out is likely to move.
All four save together with your weekly hours.
Days off and special hours
Your weekly pattern covers a normal week. Availability for specific dates handles the exceptions.
- Choose Add date to open Set availability for a date.
- Pick the Date.
- Under Availability, choose Unavailable all day, Unavailable during certain hours or Available during certain hours.
- For the last two, set the Hours to block or Available hours.
- Add a note if you like, such as "Vacation", and choose Save.
A specific date always beats your weekly pattern. Use it for holidays, travel days, a shoot booked outside CoreHue, or a Saturday you're opening up specially. You can add more than one change to the same day as long as the hours don't overlap. Past dates drop off the list on their own.
What else hides a time
A time only shows on your booking page if all of these are true:
- It's inside your weekly hours or a specific date that opens it
- Nothing is already booked there, including the booking gap around it
- Nobody else is holding it mid-booking
- It's past your minimum notice and inside your booking window
- Nothing busy on your connected Google Calendar overlaps it, if Block busy times is on
See Connecting Google Calendar to set up the last one.
What your client sees
Clients see times in your timezone, labelled with the offset, like "(GMT+1)". Nothing is converted to their local time. That's what you want for a session they travel to. If you run video calls with clients abroad, say so in your service description or confirmation message.
One service, different hours
Everything here is your shared availability, used by every direct booking service by default. One service can run on its own hours instead, like headshots on Tuesday mornings only. See Giving a service its own schedule.
Frequently asked questions
How do I block a day off?
Go to Bookings → Settings → Availability, choose Add date under Availability for specific dates, pick the day and choose Unavailable all day.
Can I add a break in the middle of the day?
Yes. Choose + Add time range on that day and set two blocks, like 09:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 17:00.
Why can't clients book me tomorrow?
Your Minimum notice is probably 24 hours or more. Lower it if you're happy to take short-notice bookings.
Does availability affect mini sessions?
No. Mini sessions only use the dates you add to them. They can still block your shared times, though, through Block shared availability on the service.
No times are showing at all. What should I check?
Start with whether the service is published and your booking page is on, then work through your hours, notice and window. Available times aren't showing on my booking page has the full checklist.