There may be instances in which you need to take an hour (or even an entire day) for yourself—whether it be lunch, your own appointment or meeting, or just a day off! In cases like these, you'll want to set up unavailable blocks within your appointment calendar.

Unavailable blocks give practices the flexibility to block time for non-patient tasks. These blocks behave like appointments but don’t need a patient attached, ensuring they don’t interfere with your reporting.

This guide will explain how to:

Head to Settings, and then Unavailable block types:

You'll notice a few default unavailable blocks already set up. You can edit these or create your own by hitting add unavailable block type at the top:

When creating additional block types, you can name them, set a default duration, and pick a colour for easy visual distinction:

Hit create unavailable block type when you're done!

As a side note, you can add emojis in the name for an extra pop of personality. 🎨 Whether it’s 🗓️ for meetings or 🍩 for a donut break, emojis can help you quickly identify block types at a glance on your calendar. Need some emoji inspiration? You can copy your favorite emojis from the Emojipedia website.

Alternatively, if you're using a Mac computer, press the Fn (Globe) key or Control + Command + Space while typing in the name field. This suggests an emoji or you can click the down arrow to open the emoji picker, where you can search and select your desired emoji:

If you're using a Windows computer you can open the emoji keyboard by clicking the Windows key and the full-stop (.) key at the same time:

Once you've created the unavailable block types, you'll be able to select these from the calendar. Head to the Appointments page, and navigate to the date you wish to open up. Under Availability, click Unavailable block:

You'll notice that a yellow message appears across the top of the screen, prompting you to select a time to add it:

Click on the date and time you wish to close, and a pop-up box will appear to add the unavailable block. You can select the type you're after from the drop down menu:

After saving, you'll see the new unavailable block show up in its designated spot:

That's all there is to it! If you (or anyone) clicks on the unavailable block, it will expand and you can see all of the applicable details, like this:

If you need to remove it, simply click the "Archive" button in the lower-right.

You can add as many unavailable blocks as you need! It's also useful to use unavailable blocks if you need to schedule fortnightly availabilities or a multi-day vacation. If you need to open up a spot on your calendar instead, use one-off availabilities to do so!