By default, all practitioner availability is open for online booking in the Patient Portal. This article shows you how to customize that availability so patients can only book during specific times.
This is useful when you want more control over appointment types, protect high-demand time slots, or limit when patients can book online.
When to Use This
Use this when you want to:
- Limit online booking to specific times
- Hide certain appointment slots from the portal
- Control when patients can book appointments
- Adjust how a practitioner appears in the patient ortal
What you Need
Before you begin, make sure:
- The practitioner already has Standard Availability set up
- The Patient Portal is enabled
- The practitioner is marked as bookable in the portal
Permissions
- Permission to edit practitioner profiles
Customizing Portal Availability
- Go to Settings
- Under Staff, select Practitioners
- Open the practitioner's profile
- Click the Availability tab
- Locate the availability record you want to modify
- Click the options icon beside it and select Edit
- Click Customize Portal Availability
This allows you to choose which appointment times appear in the Patient Portal
- Using the availability blocks, select the times that should be visible for online booking
- Click Save
- Only the highlighted time slots will appear in the Patient Portal if they are not already booked
- Light-coloured blocks display the practitioner's full schedule internally
- Darker blocks indicate the times patients can book online
Result
Once saved, only the selected time slots will appear in the Patient Portal for booking. Any unselected times will remain available internally but hidden from patients.
Avoid Common Issues
No availability appears in the Patient Portal
- Ensure that at least one time block is selected when customizing portal availability. If no blocks are selected, no times will be visible for online booking.
Entire day remains open for booking
- Confirm that you have clicked Customize Portal Availability and saved your changes. If availability is not customized, all scheduled times will remain open by default.
Unable to block a full day from online booking
- To fully restrict a day, select a time outside of the practitioner’s scheduled availability. If this step is missed, the system will continue to display the full day as available.
Troubleshooting
Don't see the Customize Portal Availability option
If you don't have the option to Customize Portal Availability, then your clinic administrator will need to turn on the setting:
- Go to Settings
- Under System & Company Settings, select General
- Click on Portal
- Scroll to the Scheduling section
- Find Slot Availability and set to Enabled
Practitioner not showing up on the patient portal for bookings
Check the following:
- Can Be Booked in Patient Portal is set to Yes in your practitioner profile.
- Availability has been created and includes bookable hours
Customized Portal Availability does not include blocks outside working hours. This can unintentionally close off your entire day.
I'm trying to prevent new patients from booking with a specific practitioner, but I want returning patients to be able to book online still
It's not possible to restrict online booking based on patient type. If a practitioner is available in the Patient Portal, they can be booked by both new and returning patients.
However, you can remove assessment or first-visit appointment types for practitioners who are not accepting new patients. While this does not fully prevent new patient bookings, it can help guide patients toward the appropriate providers.