Important: This feature is currently in beta and available to selected practices. Contact Dentally Support to register your interest in early access. If your interface does not look like the screenshots shown in this article, you may not have been migrated to the new experience yet. Please refer to our legacy online booking guide instead.
This is part of Phase 3 of the online booking improvements, bringing practice settings into Dentally so you no longer need to switch to the Portal admin dashboard for online appointment setup. If your practice has been migrated from the Portal admin dashboard, see What has changed in your appointment settings for what was moved and what to check.
How do I set up my online booking?
To get an appointment reason ready for patients to book online:
Go to 'Settings' > 'Appointments'.
Create a new appointment reason or select an existing one.
Fill in or review appointment details: name, duration, price, and recall trigger.
Complete the online booking fields: patient-facing name, category, and description.
Turn on the 'Turn online booking on' toggle.
Assign at least one practitioner and choose where they can be booked.
Select 'Save appointment'.
Patients can book this appointment online once at least one practitioner is assigned with available time. Each step is explained in detail below.
How do I access my appointment settings?
Select 'Settings' from the left-hand toolbar.
Select the 'Appointments' tab at the top of the page.
The page opens with the heading 'Appointments & online booking'.
Please note: You need Level 4 (Administrator) permissions to create and edit appointment reasons.
How do I manage appointment reasons?
The appointment reasons table shows key information at a glance:
Appointment Reason - the name used by reception when booking, with the patient-facing name shown below it
Details - duration, deposit, price, and trigger recall at a glance
NHS - shows whether the reason is NHS (only visible for UK NHS practices)
Online - whether online booking is turned on (shown as a green 'On' or red 'Off' tag)
Online details - the number of practitioners assigned, or an 'Add practitioners' link if none are set up yet
Use the 'Show archived' switch at the top right of the table to show or hide archived appointment reasons. Archived reasons display an 'Archived' badge next to their name.
How do I create a new appointment reason?
Select 'Create appointment' at the top of the page, then complete the form.
Visual identifiers
List position - where the reason appears in dropdown lists when booking (only positions not already in use are offered)
Colour - the colour shown on the calendar for this appointment type
Appointment details
Appointment reason (required) - the name reception sees when booking
Recall trigger - whether completing this appointment triggers an exam recall, a hygiene recall, both, or none
Is this an NHS appointment? - toggle on for NHS appointments (NHS appointments cannot take a deposit)
Price - the default price
Deposit - the deposit patients pay when booking online (disabled for NHS appointments)
Duration - the default length in minutes
Online booking fields
Before you can turn online booking on, complete these fields:
Patient-facing appointment name - the name patients see when browsing appointments
Appointment category - how the appointment is grouped for patients (for example: New or lapsed patients, Existing patients, Emergency, Consultation, Direct access hygiene, Hygiene)
Patient-facing description - a short description patients see when selecting this appointment
A checklist shows which fields still need completing. Once all are filled in, the 'Turn online booking on' toggle appears. Switch it on to make the appointment available online.
Top tip: Choose a patient-facing name that is clear and simple. Patients see this when browsing available appointments, so avoid internal abbreviations.
How do I assign online practitioners?
When online booking is turned on, assign which practitioners can accept bookings for this reason:
Select 'Assign practitioners' or scroll to the 'Assign online practitioners' section.
For each practitioner:
toggle them on or off for online booking;
set a specific duration (which may differ from the default); and
Assign specific zones they can be booked into.
Optionally, turn on 'Book into any free space'. This allows online appointments to be booked into any available slot in the practitioner's calendar outside of their designated zones.
Select 'Save appointment' when finished.
Please note: Patients cannot book this appointment online until at least one practitioner is assigned and has available zones or 'Book into any free space' turned on.
How do I edit an existing appointment reason?
Find the reason in the table and select it.
Make your changes.
Select 'Save appointment'.
How do I archive or restore an appointment reason?
To archive a reason you no longer use:
Open the appointment reason from the table.
Select 'Archive' at the bottom of the page.
Confirm in the dialog that appears.
Archived reasons no longer appear in booking dropdowns and online booking is automatically turned off. They display an 'Archived' badge in the table.
To restore an archived reason:
Turn on the 'Show archived' switch at the top of the table.
Select the archived reason.
Select 'Unarchive' at the bottom of the page.
What is still managed in the Portal admin dashboard?
In this release, the following settings are still configured in the Portal admin dashboard on the Patient Portal:
Payment plans and pricing (NHS practitioner locking, plan locking, deposits per plan, discounts)
Notification settings (booking confirmations, cancellation confirmations, site notifications)
Practice display name, portal web address, and privacy policy
Online cancellation settings
These will move into Dentally in a future release.
Why can I not see the Appointments tab in Dentally?
Your practice needs online booking enabled and access to the beta
You need Level 4 (Administrator) permissions
Contact Dentally Support if you believe your practice should have access