🚨 Important to note: This article refers to the new version of the appointment finder - if you are still using the older version, you can read the separate guide here for support.
How do I use the appointment finder tool?
The appointment finder can be used to quickly and easily find suitable slots and book appointments - all in one go.
In Dentally, go to your practice calendar by clicking the calendar icon in the left-hand toolbar.
Click the magnifying glass 🔍 icon in the top right corner of the calendar to open the appointment finder.
The appointment finder window will open, showing today's date. You can use the 'Availability from' date picker on the left-hand side to select a day (from today's date onwards), use the '+1W', '+3M' and '+6M' buttons to jump forwards in time, or use the 'Today' button to return to today's date.
You can filter by:
Practitioners - You will see a list of all your active practitioners.
Duration - Set the length required for the appointment - only slots fitting that time will be shown. The default duration is 15 minutes.
Zone Groups - Choose to include or exclude any zone groups such as emergencies. To use this feature, it is important to ensure you have set up zone groups.
If you find a suitable slot, you can click the calendar icon 📅 next to the slot to go to that day in the diary, or click the book icon 📖 to book an appointment from within the appointment finder tool.
📝 Please note: Grouping zones is required in order to use the zone inclusion/exclusion. It is strongly recommended that you group your zones so that you can benefit from this feature. If you don't group your zones, there will be none to choose from in the appointment finder.
In order to use the appointment finder effectively and ensure a smooth experience for your patients, ensure you have:
Set up your practitioners to ensure you see the right ones in the dropdown.
Used schedules and opening hours to make your practitioner availability accurate so that you only see slots that are actually available.
Grouped your zones so that they will appear in the zone selector.
Set up correspondence templates to suit your needs.
How do I book an appointment using the new version of the appointment finder tool?
💡 Top tip: Got feedback on how we can continue to improve this feature? Use the 'Give feedback' button at the top of the appointment finder window to let us know!
Open the appointment finder tool and identify a suitable slot.
Click the book icon 📖 next to your chosen slot.
In the window that opens, complete the fields. The 'Patient' field is required, and all other fields will be defaulted, or you can edit them manually:
'Patient' - Start to type a name in and select from the dropdown, or use the arrow ↪ button to automatically populate with the last patient record you viewed.
'Status' - Choose the status of the appointment once it is added to the calendar.
'Unbooked Appointments' - This field will only appear if the patient has unlinked appointments. If they do, a dropdown will be available, where you can select which of the appointments you wish to book.
Note that if the duration assigned to the appointment is different from the duration you have searched for, the unlinked appointment amount will change to match the duration you have searched for.
'Reason' - Choose the appointment reason for the chosen appointment.
'Room' - Choose the appointment room for the appointment to take place in.
'Notes' - Add any required notes for the appointment.
If the practitioner you have selected doesn't match the patient's default practitioner, you will see a warning message.
When you have finished, click 'Book' to complete the booking.
The appointment will automatically be added to the calendar. The finder window will stay open so you can continue to book more appointments if you wish. You will see a success message confirming that appointment has been booked.
From here you can:
'View in calendar' - The appointment finder tool will close and it will jump to the appropriate day in the calendar and show the appointment.
'Send SMS or email' - It will display a window allowing you to choose between SMS and email and select a template from your existing correspondence templates (which will automatically populate in the box - for SMS you can then edit this), or write a message from scratch in the box. When you are finished, click send (check you are happy before clicking, as this action cannot be undone). Note that if the patient has a preferred contact method, you cannot send the other communication type - a message will appear stating their preferred method, and this cannot be overridden within the tool.
'Print' - The printing option will open in a new window, allowing you to print an appointment card.