How do I turn on online booking?

Clients book themselves through your booking page. What they can book is decided by settings you may already have made; this page puts them in order. It satisfies the checklist row "Online booking settings".

1. Services and prices

Under Settings › Grooming each service has an Allow Online Booking switch. Only services with it on appear to clients, and they see the price for their pet's size from your price matrix. See Set your grooming prices by size and coat.

2. Groomer schedules

Availability follows your groomers' weekly schedules: no schedule, no open times. Each groomer needs one, set from Step 3 of Grooming setup or the schedule editor. See Set each groomer's weekly schedule.

3. Business hours

Clients are only offered times inside the hours you posted in Business Setup, even if a groomer's schedule runs past close. If you want the schedule to win, turn on Let clients book outside your posted business hours under Availability & Rules.

4. The Settings tab

Open Schedule › Online Booking and the Settings tab. Each section shows what clients will see and where to change it:

• Business Info and Client Policies: your details, cancellation policy and drop-off/pick-up policy, edited under Settings.
• Branding & Appearance: logo, brand colour, brand message and social links, from Business Setup.
• Bookable Services: a summary of what is on, linking to Grooming setup.
• Availability & Rules: how far ahead clients can book, how much notice they must give, your cancellation window, and the business-hours rule.
• Booking Approval: confirm bookings instantly, or review each request first.
• Vaccination records: require valid records, or warn only.
• Payment Options: deposits and card on file, from Payment Policies. These need Woof Pay.
• Booking emails: the reply-to address clients answer to, and whether you want an email for every new online booking.
• Forms & Questions: the waiver and questionnaire a client completes on their first booking.

Booking rules, lead times and approvals goes through the rules in detail.

5. The on/off switch

The banner above the stat cards is the master switch. Paused means the booking page says so, the portal offers no times, and any attempt to book is refused. Clients can still sign in and cancel existing appointments, and staff booking is untouched: pausing online booking is not closing the shop.

If your free trial ended before you added a card, the banner also says Paused because your trial ended, and clients see the same paused booking page even while your switch is on. Your setting is kept, and online booking comes back the moment you add a card (see Your Woof plan and billing).

6. Try it as a client

On the Preview tab, Open in new tab shows your live booking page. Walk through it the way a client would, then tick "Try the client side" on the checklist. What your clients see describes each screen.