Set up event notifications and reminders

Use notifications and reminders to keep customers informed before and during an appointment.

Clear messages reduce phone calls, missed appointments, and confusion. They also help customers feel confident that their booking is confirmed and your team is prepared.

This guide explains two related settings:

Notification settings decide which messages can be sent when an event is scheduled, rescheduled, started, completed, or cancelled.
Reminder settings decide when reminders are sent before the appointment time.

Before you start

Make sure the event type already exists. If not, start with Configure event types.
Decide whether the event should use your team defaults or its own custom settings.
Confirm your team has email or text messaging set up in Settings > Communications if you plan to send those messages.
Think about what customers truly need. Too many messages can feel noisy.

Understand team defaults and event overrides

Team defaults are the starting message settings for new event types.

Event overrides are custom settings for one specific event type.

Example:

Your team may want all events to send an email when they are scheduled. That belongs in the team default.

But you may want Vehicle Pickup to send an extra reminder one day before the appointment. That can be set on the Vehicle Pickup event type.

Review default texts and emails for new services

Open Events & schedule
Go to Settings > Events & schedule.
Find Default texts & emails for new services
Scroll to Default texts & emails for new services.
This section controls the starting on/off settings for new event types.
Review each row
Rows such as Scheduled, Rescheduled, In Progress, Completed, and Cancelled describe what happened to the event.
Review each message channel
Channels may include Email, SMS, and Push.
If a channel is unavailable, your team may need to finish communications setup before that message can send.

Events and schedule settings page showing Default texts and emails for new services with notification rows and channels — Default texts and emails are the starting message settings for new event types.

Set default reminders before appointments

Default reminders are the reminder times new event types use unless you override them later.

Find Default reminders before appointments
On Settings > Events & schedule, scroll to Default reminders before appointments.
Review existing reminders
Look at the reminder type and timing.
Example: an email reminder 1 day before the event.
Click Add Reminder if you need another reminder
Add another reminder only when it helps the customer or your team.
Common choices are 1 day before and 1 hour before.
Remove reminders that create noise
If customers receive too many messages, remove the reminders that are not helpful.

Events and schedule settings page showing Default reminders before appointments with reminder type and timing — Default reminders control when new event types remind customers before an appointment.

Customize messages for one event type

Use this when one event type needs different message behavior than your team default.

Open the event type
Go to Settings > Events & schedule, find the event type, and click Edit.
Scroll to Notification Settings
Find Notification Settings.
Choose whether to use team defaults
If Use team defaults is on, the event type follows your team default settings.
Turn it off only when this event type needs its own message rules.
Choose the events that should send messages
Review the rows:
- Scheduled - when the appointment is booked.
- Rescheduled - when the appointment time changes.
- In Progress - when the event starts.
- Completed - when the event finishes.
- Cancelled - when the event is cancelled.
Choose the message channels
Turn on only the channels your team wants to use for this event type.
If text messaging is not set up, keep SMS off until your team finishes setup.

Edit Event Type page showing Notification Settings with Use team defaults and rows for scheduled, rescheduled, in progress, completed, and cancelled — Notification Settings let one event type use team defaults or its own customer message rules.

Customize reminders for one event type

Scroll to Reminder Settings
On the same event type edit page, find Reminder Settings.
Use team defaults unless this event needs different timing
Keep Use team defaults on when the regular reminder timing works.
Turn it off when this event needs more or fewer reminders.
Click Add Reminder if needed
Choose the reminder type and timing.
Good examples are Email - 1 day before or Email - 1 hour before.
Save the event type
Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.

Edit Event Type page showing Reminder Settings with Use team defaults, reminder type, time before event, and enabled controls — Reminder Settings control when customers are reminded before this specific event type.

Message choices that work well

Send a confirmation when customers book an appointment.
Send a reschedule notice when the appointment time changes.
Use one reminder the day before for appointments customers must attend.
Use a second reminder closer to the appointment only when missed appointments are common.
Keep internal-only events quieter so customers do not receive messages they do not need.

What success looks like

After setup:

Customers receive the messages your team expects.
Reminder timing gives customers enough notice to arrive or respond.
Event types that should be quiet do not send unnecessary messages.
Staff understand whether an event type uses team defaults or custom settings.

Troubleshooting

What to do next

After messages and reminders are set, use Test an event setup to create a test appointment and confirm the customer experience.