August 2023

Update Summary

• The “Terms & Conditions” feature, as well as several other booking form settings that impact the Booking Summary, Pricing Summary, Job Notes & Key Message, and the Customer Details/Address sections, have been updated and moved to the “Advanced Website & Theme Builder”.  
• One long-anticipated feature is 3DS2, which helps businesses process transactions with cards that require this type of authentication.  
• A new and improved module: the “Checklist Module”. The Checklist Module updates and expands upon the original “Checklist” features, including the ability to add/send checklist notes, send on-demand customer and provider emails and/or SMS, and monitor live checklist progress.
• Booking drafts & quotes have been updated to save and prefill data related to the booking’s date/time, assigned provider(s)/team, and address.  

Note: Please download the latest version (Version 10.6.2) of the BookingKoala for Providers app for iPhone or Android devices to take advantage of our newest features.  

More about each new feature/module:

Several booking form settings, including the “Terms & Conditions” feature, have been moved to the Website & Theme Builder:

These settings were earlier found in the “Form Settings” section under Settings > Industries > [Industry Name] > Settings > Form Settings. They can now be edited in the “Advanced Theme Builder” under Settings > Design Forms & Website > Website Builder & Themes > “Customize Theme” button. The following lists each setting that moved with instructions on how to edit it in the Advanced Theme Builder.

Extended Terms & Conditions Options

• Go to the booking form/“Book Now” page in the Advanced Theme Builder.
• Scroll down to the “Terms and Conditions” checkbox.
• Click the “Terms and Conditions” checkbox to reveal the “Edit” button
• Click “Edit” to open the “Terms and Conditions” menu from the left side of the page.
• There is an option to “Show/Hide” the “Terms and Conditions” checkbox.
• There is also an option to “Edit” the text that appears by the checkbox if it is set to “Show”.
• Select which user(s) should see the “Terms & Conditions” checkbox feature (just customers, just admin/staff only, or both).
• Select which user(s) are required to accept the “Terms & Conditions” checkbox feature prior to booking (Customers, Admin/staff only, or Both).
• There is an option to “Edit” the “Error Message” text which will display if the user forgets to accept the “Terms and Conditions” prior to submitting the booking. The message will only be displayed to the user(s) who are required to accept the “Terms & Conditions” via this feature. 
• There are options to select which form(s) to apply the “Terms and Conditions” settings. (For this, the options are “Just this form” or “All forms in the system”.)

• If the “Terms & Conditions” feature is not required for customers and/or admin, you can verify if the box was checked by going to Logs > System Logs and locating the "New Booking" log for a job. The final line in the "Log Details" will show if the Terms & Conditions checkbox was "Checked" or "Not Checked".

For more details on how to implement and customize the "Terms & Conditions" feature, click here.

“Do you want your customers to see how long the service will take during bookings?”

• Go to the booking form/“Book Now” page in the Advanced Theme Builder.
• Click “Edit” in the top left corner of the “Booking Summary” section.
• Scroll down to "Length label".
• Click "Control visibility" to open the “Control Visibility” pop-up window. 
• Select which user(s) should see the “Length” section.

Do you want to enable the “Notify me if it takes more time” option under the booking form?

• Go to the booking form/“Book Now” page in the Advanced Theme Builder.
• Click “Edit” near the top left corner of the "Notify Me" checkbox under the “Service Category” section to open the “Settings” pop-up window.
• There is an option to “Show/Hide” the text.
• There is also an option to “Edit” the text if it is set to “Show”.
• Select which user(s) should see the “Notify Me” checkbox feature. 

Do you want to enable the “Reminder” option under the booking form?

• Go to the booking form/“Book Now” page in the Advanced Theme Builder.
• Scroll down to the “Reminder” section just above the “Payment Information” section
• There are two types of reminders that can be enabled (checked) or disabled (unchecked) from this section: The “Alert before charge” reminder and the email “Reminder to admin”

How do you want the total pricing to show when the customer is looking at the summary box?

• This option has been removed.

 How would you like to handle $0 total before tax?

• Go to the booking form/“Book Now” page in the Advanced Theme Builder.
• Click “Edit” in the top left corner of the “Booking Summary” section.
• Scroll down to the "Total before tax” label.
• There is an option to “Show/Hide” the “Total before tax” label.
• Select “Leave as is” or “Show both total after tax and before tax”.

Would you like to display the price of each extra inside the summary box?

• Go to the booking form/“Book Now” page in the Advanced Theme Builder.
• Click “Edit” in the top left corner of the “Booking Summary” section.
• Scroll down to the “Extras” label.
• There is an option to “Show/Hide” the “Extras” label.
• There is also an option to choose the layout for “Extras without price” or “Extras with price”.

Would you like to display the price of each exclude inside the summary box?

• Go to the booking form/“Book Now” page in the Advanced Theme Builder.
• Click “Edit” in the top left corner of the “Booking Summary” section.
• Scroll down to the “Excludes” label.
• There is an option to “Show/Hide” the “Excludes” label.
• You can also choose the Layout from “Exclude without price” or “Exclude with price”.

Would you like to split the customer details into two sections as contact info and address?  

Would you like to split the address into multiple fields such as city, state, and zip code, or show them as a single address field?

• Go to the booking form/“Book Now” page in the Advanced Theme Builder.
• Scroll down to the “Customer Details” section.
• Click the “Customer Details” section to reveal the “Design” option.
• Click the “Design” button.
• There are four layouts available to choose from: 1) Customer details and the short address format as a single section 2) Customer details and the long address format as a single section 3) Customer details and the short address format as separate sections 4) Customer details and the long address format as separate sections

Key Message

• Go to the booking form/“Book Now” page in the Advanced Theme Builder.
• Scroll down to the “Key Information & Job Notes” section.
• There is an option to “Enable/Disable” the “Key Information & Job Notes” sections.
• There are options to “Edit” the “Key Information & Job Notes” section text, title, and buttons/options.

Special Notes

• Go to the booking form/“Book Now” page in the Advanced Theme Builder.
• Scroll down to the “Special Notes or Instructions” section.
• There is an option to “Enable/Disable” the “Special Notes or Instructions” sections.
• There are options to “Edit” the “Key Information & Job Notes” section text, title, and buttons/options.

NOTE: Previously, only the “Key Message” section OR the “Special Notes” section could be visible on a single booking form. As of this update, BOTH sections can be enabled for a booking form.

Show "How It Works" on a form?

• Go to the booking form/“Book Now” page in the Advanced Theme Builder.
• Go to the “How It Works” section.
• There is an option to “Show/Hide” the “How It Works” section.
• There is also an option to “Edit” the text if it is set to “Show”. 
• There is also an option to upload a video by entering the video’s URL.  

IMPORTANT: As always, please remember to click the “Save” button and/or “Save and Publish” button, as required, to save the changes you have made in the website builder or to display them live on your form(s) or website.

3DS2 Feature:

3DS2 SCA (Secure Customer Authentication) is an authentication and security protocol designed to help merchants and banks meet the “Strong Customer Authentication” (SCA) requirements of the EU’s Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The protocol is designed to help ensure secure online payments and protect customers against fraud. 3DS2 SCA works by using a combination of two-factor authentication (2FA) and 3D Secure 2 (3DS2) technology to verify a cardholder's identity.

In BookingKoala, this update allows businesses that use a 3DS2-compliant payment processor (Stripe, Square, or PayPal via Braintree) to save, charge, and place holds on credit cards that require this type of authentication.  

For more information on how to implement and use the 3DS2 feature, click here

New & Improved Checklist Module:

A comprehensive Checklist Module has been designed with new or updated sections, including the Checklist Builder, multiple dependencies settings, conditions and logic for checklists, checklist translation feature, the “Checklist Progress” dashboard, and checklist booking features like checklist notes, on-demand messages, and the ability to update, complete, or reset the checklist or checklist tasks.  

• Starter and Growing Subscriptions will see a new Checklist Builder and improved checklist settings and options. 
• Premium Subscriptions will have access to brand-new features like checklist notes (chat-like messages sent between the merchant and the customer or provider/team), the “Checklist Progress” dashboard (view live checklist progress, send on-demand emails and SMS to the customer or provider(s)), and the “Multiple Dependencies” option (checklist settings that allow you to create multiple checklists for different combinations of services or job types).  

For a detailed overview of the new Checklist Module and how to get started, click here.

Booking Drafts & Quotes: Save and prefill the date, time, and provider assignment for any draft or quote:

• Previously, any drafts and quotes saved in the system did not save data related to the booking’s date and time or if provider(s) were assigned.
• As of this update, it is now possible to save the booking date and time as well as the assigned provider(s) or team to any draft or quote. 
• As long as the data has been added before the draft/quote is saved or sent, it will be retrieved when viewing or scheduling the booking from the Bookings > Draft/Quote section.  

Booking Drafts & Quotes: Save and prefill new and existing addresses for any draft or quote:

• Previously, any drafts and quotes saved in the system did not save data related to the booking’s address (new or existing addresses in the case of existing customers).  
• As of this update, it is possible to save a new or existing address to any draft or quote.  
• As long as the data has been added before the draft/quote is saved or sent, it will be retrieved when viewing or scheduling the booking from the Bookings > Draft/Quote section.  

“None” Pricing Parameter(s):

• We have now introduced the “None” option for forms that use pricing parameters.
• For example: If you have two pricing parameter categories, such as "Bedrooms" and "Bathrooms", and you would like to have a “no bedroom/bathroom” option for the booking form, you can select “None” from the "Bathroom" pricing parameter dropdown menu.
• You can edit the “None” pricing parameter under Settings > Industries > Home Cleaning > Form 1 > Pricing Parameters under each variable category section.

Change frequencies in the middle of a recurring service:

• Many of our clients wanted a feature that allowed them to change the frequency of a recurring service partially through the recurring schedule. This is now possible without any restrictions by going to the “Reschedule Booking” page for any upcoming service and selecting a new recurring frequency on the booking form.  
• The frequency will be updated for all future bookings from the appointment in which the frequency change was saved.  

Show recurring total(s) for duplicated bookings and on the “Reschedule Booking” page if the frequency has changed: 

• Previously, the recurring total was only visible on the “Add Booking” page, not on the “Reschedule Booking” page when you duplicated a past booking and schedule a new booking from it.
• As of this update, the recurring total will be displayed in these cases. 
• In addition, the recurring total will be visible if you change the booking’s frequency on the “Reschedule Booking” page.

December 2022:

Multiple cancellation fees based on time

• Many of our customers wanted a feature in the cancellation section where they wanted to charge cancellation fees to their customers based on various time frame options. You can now charge a fixed amount or a percentage of the booking amount as a cancellation fee.
• Examples: If you want to charge a 25% cancellation fee if the booking is canceled 4 days prior to the booking date. 50% cancellation fee is charged if the booking is canceled 1 day prior to the booking date. 75% cancellation fee is charged if the booking is canceled 6 hours prior to the booking time. 100% cancellation fee is charged if the booking is canceled 1 hour prior to the booking time.
• You can setup these multiple cancellation fees under Settings -> General -> Store Options -> General (Cancellation Section), by adding different fees depending on various time frames, as shown in the screenshot https://nimb.ws/xWnrlI.

Pay Providers out of cancellation fee

• A long-awaited and one of the most requested features from customers was the ability that allows them to pay their Providers a share of the cancellation fee. You can now decide to pay a share (in fixed amount of a percentage share) of Cancellation Fees to the Providers.
• Example: If you want to pay 25% of the cancellation fees to the Providers
• While adding multiple cancellation fees, “Enable” the option for “Is some or all of the cancellation fee paid to the Provider?” and put the value of the fixed amount or a percentage share of cancellation fees which you want to pay to Providers, as shown in the screenshot https://nimb.ws/JkF976. 

Booking reschedules from the Calendar

• Earlier the admin was able to reschedule the bookings from the calendar however it was not possible if the Provider is not available or the booking is already assigned to a not-available Provider. In these cases, the admin had to reschedule the booking from inside the booking. We have now extended the feature and the admin can now reschedule even if the Provider is not available or overlapping with other bookings directly from the calendar. The system will show a popup with details and the admin can proceed as shown in this screenshot https://nimb.ws/wp9yMa. 

Form parameters and locations revamp

• Many of our customers requested that it was a tedious and time consuming process to assign locations and other parameters to each Provider, as they have to go to the Provider’s settings, and there they need to do the changes and save. We are still working on this but as of right now you can exclude and include various things directly under each location as shows in these screenshots: https://nimb.ws/HdAvjb, https://nimb.ws/TJyPmx and https://nimb.ws/rE7fPv.
• If you already have existing locations some of this may not be available and will be only visible for those who create new locations going forward. Not to worry we have this noted and we will be adding this to users that already have existing locations so you do not have to re-create your locations. That part will be released in a future update.

Option to change time to 24-hour format

• Many of our customers had shared their feedback that they follow a 24-hours time format and our system had a 12-hour time format. We are happy to share that we have added an option of time format which allows the customers to choose a time format of 12-hour or 24-hour.
• You can setup time format under Settings -> General -> Store Options -> General, as shown in the screenshot https://nimb.ws/6GqpTh.

10 DLC updates for Twilio SMS notifications

• In recent updates Twilio made it mandatory to integrate 10DLC if the system is sending the sms notifications to customer phone numbers https://www.twilio.com/en-us/a2p-10dlc. We have added the opt-in option with the phone number field on the booking form and other places and customers can opt out if they do not want to get SMS notifications. To show this option admin first needs to enable the field from the theme builder with the option shown in this screenshot https://nimb.ws/VbwPHr. Once the option is enabled on the form it will show with the phone number field https://nimb.ws/rMhywW. 

Sales tax in booking export file

• We have added the option of “Sales Tax” in the export file.
• You can access “Sales Tax” under Bookings -> Download CSV, as shown in the screenshot https://nimb.ws/ApBSdV.

Location filter in Providers listing

• You can now filter the Providers based on their different locations.
• Go to Providers -> Providers and you will see “All Location” Filter on this Providers Listing Page, as shown in the screenshot https://nimb.ws/cn0D4s.

Filter Providers on the dashboard based on selected industry

• We have made the changes in the system and now the admin can filter the bookings and Providers based on industry on the dashboard. Earlier only the bookings were filtered based on industry and the Providers which are not applicable for the industry were showing on the calendar. Now the Providers who are available for the selected industry will show on the calendar.

Enable the “Apply to all” option when resuming a cancelled booking 

• Earlier while a canceled booking was resumed the option to apply changes to all or specific bookings was not showing. We have now allowed this option on canceled bookings and admin can decide whether the changes should be applied on all bookings or on a specific booking https://nimb.ws/bG43ik.

July 2022:

• Increased the image upload limit in job photos to ten: Earlier, providers could upload up to 4 images in job pictures. We have now increased the limit to 10.
• New option to control providers' path tracking: A new option has been added to control whether the app should track the path or only the time when the provider clicks on the way https://nimb.ws/yrAw34. If the option “Only track time stamps” is selected then the app will not ask for the location's permission and providers will not have to share the locations with the system. The location permissions will be required only if the admin has enabled “Keep track of both time stamps and path (GPS)”
• Option to control clock out: We have added a new option for admin which will allow controlling whether all providers that clocked in for the booking should be clocked out if one of the providers in pair/team clocks out from the booking or if all providers should be clocked out individually. https://nimb.ws/LXs7Yh.
• Option to control customer notifications: As of now system sends “On the way” and “Reached location” notifications to customers for each provider assigned on the booking, we have now added an option to control it and the admin can choose whether only one notification should be sent for all providers or it should send it per provider https://nimb.ws/reEFah.
• Safety feature: We have added a new feature in the system which will prevent the system from tracking the providers continuously in the following cases.

• If a provider has clicked “On the way” or “Clock in” and forgot to clock out, in this case, the system will send a notification to providers asking if they are still working so that providers can choose to continue or clock out from the booking.
• If the provider has forgotten to respond to the “Still working” notification, then the system will automatically clock out the provider after 1 hour.
• If the provider has clocked out from a location that is far away from the booking location, then the system will show the booking location as a clock-out location so that the last location of the provider is not disclosed.

• Option to update lunch break: Many of our customers requested an option to update the lunch break. We have now added the option to update lunch break on the booking time logs https://nimb.ws/JrtTO8.
• Option for scheduling: Many times admin/customer has to make changes in the booking and the earlier system was showing the same provider/team as available even if they are no longer available because of the changes on booking or because of increased job length. We have now added an option under the scheduling store option and the admin will be able to choose what should happen in this case. https://nimb.ws/RtKTuZ.
• Global search option in campaigns module: Earlier it was difficult to find the contact or campaign and the admin had to go to the campaigns list to find the campaign and on their subscribers list to find the contacts. We have now added an option to find contacts and campaigns from global search https://nimb.ws/j10yXY.
• Send a test campaign email with the subject: We have made the changes and the test emails from the campaigns will be sent with the same subject as the campaign. Earlier, these test emails were sent with the campaign name or test subject.
  

Hiring updates

• Option to view prospect details from onboarding page: Earlier, the admin had to go to the prospect detail page to see the details and then back to the onboarding page to check other prospects. We have now simplified the flow and the admin can see the prospect details right from the onboarding page. https://nimb.ws/2fuWRT.
• Show all activities in one list: Earlier, the activities and email/SMS logs were shown in different lists. We have now merged the list and shown all activities in one list. https://nimb.ws/HSC9oP.
• Line breaks in SMS: Earlier the system was removing the line breaks from the SMS notifications sent from hiring and campaign modules; we have made the changes and the SMS will be sent with line breaks from now.

December 2021:

December 23

Campaign module upgrades:

• Block email/sms for the customers who already have bookings: Many of our customers requested an option so that they can choose whether the campaign will be sent to customers who already have booking(s) or not. We have now added an option that controls if a campaign will go out to someone with active bookings (active includes todays bookings). This is extremely helpful because if you are sending out discounts you don’t want to necessarily send out a discount to someone who already has a booking scheduled. You can sent this up for one-time campaigns or any campaign within an automation. Screenshot: https://nimb.ws/YHc4OI. By default this option will be enabled for new or existing scheduled campaigns and you can disable it if you want to send the emails to those customers also.
• Option to control contact removal from the audience: You can now set up more rules to decide what the system should do with a contact if they are deactivated, deleted or blocked inside the software. For example if you don’t want deactivated or blocked customers to receive your emails and texts the system will automatically remove them from all lists inside Campaigns when they are deactivated or blocked. To control this we have now released the options under Settings->General inside the campaign module: https://nimb.ws/RuvGie.
• Unsubscribe contact from admin side: We have added a new button on customer/provider/staff profiles to directly unsubscribe the user from the Campaigns. This can be used to quickly unsubscribe someone from all lists: https://nimb.ws/J3reP4.

December 30

• Hiring module: The hiring module is designed to help you onboard your providers and staff members more efficiently. To learn more you can watch this entire overview of the hiring module: https://help.bookingkoala.com/help/hiring-module-overview

September 2021:

Allow booking charge even if it is unassigned :

• Earlier it was not possible to charge unassigned booking as they were not showing in the pending charges list. Many of our customers requested for this feature, now we have added an option to enable unassigned booking charged in the payment settings under “Settings > General > Store Options” https://nimb.ws/Z92yEI

Split referral discount for referral and referrer :

• Many of our customers requested for an option so that they can set different amounts for referred customer and referrer. We have added a new option for this in the admin store option Settings > General > Store Options (Admin tab) as shown in screenshot https://nimb.ws/dJNlDP.

Allow providers to see unassigned booking even if they are not applicable :

• In our previous updates we added an option for admin to assign a provider even if the provider is not applicable for the booking. We have extended the feature and added an option in “Settings > General > Store Options (Scheduling tab)” to allow providers to see unassigned bookings and grab them even if they are not applicable for it https://nimb.ws/mD2GRq. For eg : If a provider is not enabled for an industry or for parameters and there is an unassigned booking for the industry then the provider will be able to see it and grab it from the unassigned folder.

Add time with service category :

• In our last update we released an option to set a price for service category, we have now added option to set a time for it which will work as base time for the service category https://nimb.ws/I8sQam

Option to move bookings to unassigned or keep assigned with providers if settings are changed and there are active bookings :

• Many of our customers find it difficult to update the provider settings and there were restrictions if the provider has active bookings, admin had to move the bookings to unassigned folder or assign to any other provider before making changes. We have now added option so that admin can decide whether booking should stay with provider or move to unassigned folder while updating the settings https://nimb.ws/agqlEC

Option to choose whether the new booking in recurring schedule should be added based on the recently completed job or based on last booking in the recurring schedule :

• As you all know that system adds a new booking at the end of the recurring schedule and booking completion to continue the schedule. Earlier system was adding a new booking based on the last booking in the schedule and some of our customers requested to add this based on the recently completed job. We have now added an option under the admin store option so that admin can decide as per requirement https://nimb.ws/lvdWm0

Option is disable spots limit based scheduling :

• On request of many customers we recently extended the feature of max limit for spots. Earlier it was only applicable for manual spot based scheduling but not available for the provider's availability based scheduling. After releasing the update, some of our customers reached out and asked if they can disable this somehow so that they don't have to manage the limits. We have now added an option in “Settings > General > Store Options (Scheduling tab)” https://nimb.ws/uE2X4K

Remove dependency of cash/check booking notification from store options : 

• In our previous updates we added a new notification for admin about cash/check bookings, this notification was dependent on the cash/check option which allows users to add bookings with cash/check. Customers requested to remove this dependency so that they don't have to allow cash/check for customers just to get notifications. We have removed this and now notification is independent, admin can schedule this notification with its setting shown in screenshot https://nimb.ws/Nmgrwl

July 2021:

Show total without tax on customer end :

• Video : https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cri6eCVifVJ
• We have added an option in the form settings from where you can control the price display on the customer end. Earlier the price was showing including tax and many of our customers requested us to show the total price excluding tax and some of them asked to show both including and excluding tax. With the newly added option admin can select the price display option as per their requirement https://nimb.ws/KXdAxr.

Base price for service category :

• Video: https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cri6eKVifn1
• Many of our customers requested us to add an option so that they can define a price for the service category, we have now added the option with service category to set a price for it as shown in screenshot https://nimb.ws/38qvAw. You can set a base price for the service category. For example, if a customer selects the service category and you enter $40 in the box as your base price, the price will start or be increased by $40.

Gift card refund :

• Video: http://somup.com/cri6ePY6pe
• Many of our customers are using gift cards actively and we often get requests to add a gift card refund feature. In our last update we extended the gift cards and allowed admin to edit them and now we have added the option to refund the gift card https://nimb.ws/gR9oP7, admin can fill the amount to refund from the gift card from the refund popup.
• Note : Refund option will be available only on the gift cards sent after 9 July 2021

Split the customer details section on form :

• Video 1: http://somup.com/cri6f3Y6p5
• Video 2: http://somup.com/cri6fOY6pd
• We have added an option in the form settings which can be used to divide the customer details section on form in two different sections https://nimb.ws/ur0XB2, one section contains name, email and phone number field and address section will be shown in another section. This was requested by some customers who want to collect basic details in one section and then address in another section.

Show the country code in front of phone number :

• Video: http://somup.com/cri6fwY6pS
• Admin can now enable the country code with phone numbers from the general store options https://nimb.ws/SmZ0fa. This option will resolve the issue where customers are filling their phone numbers with country code on the form however country code is not required with phone number.

Send notification to the admin if provider did not click “On the Way”

• Video: http://somup.com/cri6f4Y6Cf
• We have added a new notification for admin which will be sent to admin if the provider has not clicked on “On the way” button https://nimb.ws/pqOnTJ. Admin can set a time limit for this notification under provider store options https://nimb.ws/cqPxtK.

Service Fee Customization :

• Video: http://somup.com/cri6fcY6pi
• Earlier the service fee label was not customizable and some of our customers who are using this for different purposes or for additional fee on the booking requested to add an option so that they can change its name in the system. We have added an option in the general store options to change the service fee name https://nimb.ws/y8mGxH.

Customer reports :

• Video: http://somup.com/cri6f1Y6po
• We are happy to update that we have added a new report section “Customer Report”. Admin can use this report to see customers for different frequencies and revenue https://nimb.ws/FDhfr0.

Search by Address :

• We have extended the search functionality and now admin can search bookings and customers by address also.

Validation on forms optional :

• Video: https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cri6fIVifeO
• Earlier the forms were functional with validation and some of our customers requested to remove the validation so that they can add booking without parameters like bedroom, bathroom etc. We have added an option in the form settings from where admin can enable or disable the validation on booking form https://nimb.ws/xvkZMY.

Show timezone in booking time log :

• Video: http://somup.com/cri6f6Y6pZ
• In the booking time logs, we show the clock in/out time. Many of our customers have staff members in different cities or countries having different time zones from the account and the time on time logs were showing based on their timezone which was causing some issues. We are now showing time in the account's timezone and in the staff member’s system timezone.

Show extras with price in summary :

• We have improved the summary box on booking form, now extras will show with their prices as shown in screenshot https://nimb.ws/HY4NOR. Admin can enable this from the form settings https://nimb.ws/Dj7qeu

Show excludes with price in summary :

• We have improved the summary box on booking form, now extras will show with their prices as shown in screenshot https://nimb.ws/QED5Xw. Admin can enable this from the form settings https://nimb.ws/Ef1uwp.

Exclude provider’s non working hours on calendar(Grey area) :

• We have added an option in the general store option from where admin can exclude the provider’s non working hours from the calendar https://nimb.ws/L9m2Np. Once you have disabled it, the grey area will not be showing on the calendar.

Enable/disable day for all locations :

• Under the Booking Spots->Maximum Settings, we have an option to disable the day, earlier the disable option was working for the specific location only and if the admin wanted to disable it for all locations then it had to be disabled for each separately. We have improved this feature and added an option in the confirmation popup to decide whether the admin wants to disable/enable the day only for selected locations or for all locations https://nimb.ws/lKpR4F.

Resend verification email

• Many of our new customers faced the issue with email when their sender email id was not verified and they had to reach out to us to send the verification email again. We have now added a “Resend verification email” in the notification settings along with sender email id field so that admin can resend the verification email if the previous one is expired https://nimb.ws/y9DO6u.

May 2021:

May 7:

Improvements in booking time logs :

• Couple of weeks ago we launched the comprehensive booking time logs feature covering most of the use cases, however one such use case was not covered i.e if let's say the provider forgot to clock in or a provider was changed on a booking then the time log was not created and this created a lot of inconsistency. We are glad to announce that today we have covered this scenario and now a booking time log will be added automatically upon completion of the booking. So lets say if a provider didn't log in the app or you assigned a different provider to the booking, a corresponding log would be added. Please note this log would be red in color and a tag "Needs attention" would be added along with it: https://nimb.ws/YmfSGi. The values on this would be the estimated booking start and end time, you can edit the time log and update the values as per your requirement.
• Help center article: https://help.bookingkoala.com/help/booking-time-logs...

Send Schedule Automatically :

• Many have requested for a feature, where a system should automatically send schedules to respective teams on a scheduled time. We have today released this feature which not only allows you to choose on what day you would like to do so but also whether you would like to send it daily or weekly. Please see the following screenshot for better clarity https://nimb.ws/649FKy.
• Please note this feature is available only for Growing $57, Premium $197.

Option to control time for 2 days before reminder:

• Many of you have requested to allow you to customize the time of booking reminders unlike 48 hours to suit custom business requirements. We have today extended the functionality and now you can easily choose at what time the reminder would go. You can schedule it under Settings->Notifications->Emails (Customer) with the options shown in screenshot https://nimb.ws/4OfQJ8 https://nimb.ws/GrBsZM. Please note once you set the time, you still need to change the subject and mention the time by going inside the template, as setting the time does not change the text in the subject.

Zapier improvements:

• Many of you are actively using Zapier for different purposes and requested to have provider’s email ids in the submitted data so that they can used on third party apps, we have made changes and now you will get provider’s email ids in the submitted date, if only one provider is assigned then you can get it’s email id in “provider_email” field, if there are more than one providers assigned then they all will be available comma separated in “provider_emails” field.

May 22:

Horizontal calendar view:

• We are happy to announce that we have released the much awaited horizontal calendar view feature, which many of our customers requested. Earlier, we had only the vertical view, which shows providers at the top of the calendar, and the admin had to scroll to the right to see all providers. In the horizontal view, the admin can now see them on the left side and bookings on the calendars, as shown in the screenshot.
• https://nimb.ws/WYaFCS

Change provider from the calendar:

• Earlier, the admin could change the date and time for the booking but only for the same provider, and we did not have the feature to change the provider from the calendar. We have now released this feature, and the admin can now drag and drop a booking to another provider to reschedule the booking. You can even decide when you want to reschedule the single booking or whole schedule if it is recurring.
• Please note that if the booking is with a pair, the provider can only be changed from the booking edit page.

Calendar improvements:

• List view to show bookings grouped in dates on mobile just like google calendar: https://nimb.ws/E0t3f4
• The scrollbar at the bottom will show as sticky at the bottom so that you don't have to scroll to the bottom first to scroll to the right side of the calendar.
• We will further improve and try to provide rescheduling features in all use cases in the coming months.

Add time log:

• The admin can now add a time log for a booking if the time log was not added or deleted for some reason.
• Admins can do it from the "Booking Time Logs" page with the option shown in the screenshot: https://nimb.ws/XG2cai
• This option will open a popup where the admin can search for customers or providers to select the booking to add the time log: https://nimb.ws/SeHUAz

Update time logs before clock out:

• We already have a feature for admins to update a time log; however, it was impossible to edit it until the booking was clocked out from the provider app. We have now extended the feature, and the admin will be able to update even if the provider has clicked “On the way” or “Clocked In,” this feature will be helpful in cases where the provider is on the way and not able to clock in/out for some reason.

Enable/Disable all notifications:

• Many of our customers requested an option so that they can disable all notifications for customers and providers. We have now added this option in the customer and provider notification, as shown in the screenshot: https://nimb.ws/MjxQJP
• The admin can disable email and SMS notifications.
• Enable/Disable notifications for specific customer and providers:
• An option to disable notifications for a specific customer and provider has been added under the notifications settings, as shown in the screenshot: https://nimb.ws/TJV0Pf
• This feature was requested by many users who wanted to disable these notifications for their customers who do not want to get regular emails or SMS.

New review/rating admin email notification:

• A new notification for admins has been added for a new review/rating: https://nimb.ws/xRhKEj
• If enabled, you will get a notification every time a job is rated.

New fields added on in Zapier:

• We have added the following field in the Zapier triggers. These were requested by some customers who use Zapier actively with third-party tools.
• estimated_job_length
• Coupon_code
• cancellation_fee
  

March 2021:

Tags feature for customer and providers:

• We have added a tags feature that allows you to add tags in the system on the Settings->Tags page https://nimb.ws/rzAe6y. Tags can be attached to customers and providers from their profile https://nimb.ws/FeB5Hl. Once you have added the tags with the customer or provider, they will show in the listing, calendar, or other sections with names https://nimb.ws/SGvF35.

Download bookings CSV file:

• Many of our customers requested a feature where they can download the booking records in a CSV file. We have added a new page for this from where the admin can select the industry, date range, or tag to filter the bookings to export. You can even choose the fields you want in the CSV file. https://nimb.ws/bBMDmw. 

Disable customers from making changes in quotes:

• As soon as we released the quote feature, we received requests to disable the customers from making changes in quotes. We have now added an option in general store options from where you can control whether customers can make changes or not https://nimb.ws/LxsEz2. If customers are not allowed to change the quote, they will not change service, frequency, parameters, extras, items/packages, and other elements that control the price. Customers will be able to select the date/time, add the personal information card, and further details.

Improved calendar on mobile devices:

• Some of the customers find it challenging to use the calendar on their mobile devices. We have improved the calendar view for mobile devices https://nimb.ws/4bon2t. We are working to enhance the week and day view further soon. We would also like to request if you can send us a list of sections that you find have issues so that we can cover them first.

Added options to choose whether you want the names on dots on the calendar:

• We recently released the calendar improvements by displaying customer names, which many of our customers requested. Some of our customers missed the dots on the calendar, so we have now added an option so that the admin can decide where to show names or dots https://nimb.ws/UboHN6.

Added option to allow all providers for pairing:

• As of now, many of our customers are using the pairing feature actively, and some of them find it challenging to manage the pairing as the providers are required to be enabled for pairing individually. We have now added an option to allow all providers for pairing so that admin does not have to allow them individually https://nimb.ws/xH4CBd.

Add option to apply reschedule fee globally:

• Earlier, the reschedule fee was dependent on the service category. Many customers did not notice that reschedule fee will be applied only if enabled from the service category. We have now added the option to override the service category conditions and enabled it globally https://nimb.ws/N8w4ZM.

Added option to apply reschedule fee on booking postpone:

• We released the reschedule fee recently, which did not cover the postponed booking case. We have now added the option to apply the reschedule fee on the postponed booking as well; you can enable it from the reschedule fee settings. https://nimb.ws/N8w4ZM

Add option to apply cancellation fee globally:

• Earlier the cancellation fee was dependent on the service category and applied only if enabled from the service category. We have now added the option to override the service category conditions and enable it globally https://nimb.ws/JXAx8M.
  

February 2021:

Checking the schedule for pairs and automatic pairing

• Check available spots for pairs: We recently added an option in the scheduling store options to set how much time a provider can work on a booking. Using this option, we have now integrated the spot check for pairs feature. For example, if you have set the time for 4 hours and your booking is for 6 hours then the system will decide that 2 providers are required to complete the job and will show the available spots if there are at least 2 providers available.
• Automatic pairing: Earlier, only the admin was able to pair providers on the booking manually. We have now integrated automatic pairing features. Now, if you have set the maximum time for a provider under the scheduling options and enabled automatic provider selection, then the system will check if the providers are available to do the job and select the pair automatically. You as admin can further change providers or add more as per you requirements.
• Pair multiple providers: Earlier, we had a restriction of a maximum of 3 providers for pairing on bookings. We have now removed this restriction and you can add as many providers as you want for your bookings. Here is a screenshot with 9 providers on a single booking https://nimb.ws/30OQlM We further improved the section so that you can add multiple providers together with a single click. You can now add them all at once rather than adding them one by one. Simply select the checkboxes and click pair.
• https://nimb.ws/lw8Sqe

Booking/time log updates

• Export time logs: Most of our customers requested to have an option so that they can export the time logs data for further usage like payments, taxes or time tracking. We have added this and you can now export all logs for a date range as per your requirement in a CSV file. https://nimb.ws/lt6Sw5 You can even decide whether you want to export the details as provider based and also only select the fields you want to export. 
• https://nimb.ws/tK6hdb
• Lunch breaks: We have added a lunch break feature in the system and now providers will be able to take their breaks without clocking out from the booking. The system will track all lunch breaks and will show in the time logs table. On the mobile app, providers will be able to do the following with the buttons shown in these screenshots: 
• On the way: Providers can click the “On the way” button to start tracking the travel time when they start to travel for booking locations. https://nimb.ws/g8CZeL
• Clock In: Providers can click on this to start the time spent on the booking.
•  https://nimb.ws/7UhcYe 
• Lunch Break & Resume: Once a provider has clocked in, they will see “Lunch Break” to take their break and then the “Resume” button to stop the lunch break time.
• https://nimb.ws/Lmhcb0
• https://nimb.ws/Prv5Cc

Clock Out: Providers can click on this button after completing the job to stop the time tracking. https://nimb.ws/s54phH 

• Improved booking/time logs section: Earlier, you as the admin were able to update the time logs with fields like travel time, now we have added the options so that you can make the changes if required and approve the time log with different options like, approve with lunch break, approve without lunch break.
• Prevent providers from updating time logs: Earlier, providers were able to update the time logs after clocking out of a booking. We have now added an option under the provider store options to disable the adjustment popup if you don't want the adjustments from a provider and track the actual logs with GPS. https://nimb.ws/cdwqKX

New Zapier trigger added

• As requested by many, we have split the draft/quote button on the booking form and now when you create a new quote, a zap “New Quote” is triggered. https://nimb.ws/srA570

Provider permissions for payments and prices

• Hide payments from providers: Previously, providers were allowed to see their payments for bookings until now. Now we have added an option under the providers/teams settings to decide whether they can see their payments or not. https://nimb.ws/qX2QMU
• Show booking payments to providers: We have added the option in the providers settings to decide whether they can see the booking prices or not. Now you can decide which payment methods they can see payments for. https://nimb.ws/E5RrIU

Price for hourly services based on parameters

• For hourly services, you as admin and customers had to fill out the hours required for the job and then the system was calculating the prices based on the filled time. We have now added an option in the service category settings to decide whether the system should ask for the time in hours and minutes for hourly bookings or calculate the time based on the parameters selected. https://nimb.ws/vG0qze
• If you enable the "parameter based" time, then the system will calculate the time and then prices based on the total time.

Sticky booking summary on mobile

• Many of our customers asked to make it easy to see the booking summary on mobile. Before, it was at the end of the page and users had to scroll to the bottom to check the details. We have made the changes to show the summary sticky at the bottom and made it accessible all the time on booking form.

Short form customization

• We have added the option to change the label colors on the booking short forms. Earlier it was not possible to change these colors which made it difficult to match with your websites color scheme. https://nimb.ws/OIAUnQ

Support contact number short code

• We have added a new short code for notifications for your support phone number {{.SupportPhone}}. You can now use this short code in emails and sms notifications. You can set the support phone number from your general store options. https://nimb.ws/3QtDPs

Notifications

• We have grouped the notification section for better understanding based on the section/activity they belong to. Hopefully, this will help you understand and control which notifications go when and control the flow as per your requirements. https://nimb.ws/gBqnK2

Other improvements and fixes

• Show the customers email id in the booking listing table. Earlier, only the customers name was showing in the listing and you as the admin had to go to their profile to get the email id. https://nimb.ws/LjEyeY
• "Price Adjustment" section has been renamed to "Booking Adjustments" to be more inclusive of the time adjustment option. https://nimb.ws/4lR7JG
• Improved the date filter on the calendar to show the date range highlighted, along with predefined options to select ranges like "Next 7 days", "Next 30 days", etc. https://nimb.ws/g4UNvH
• “Block From Booking” button added on the customer dashboard so that you don't have to go to their profile to do it. https://nimb.ws/E8QYLp
• Added a “Select all” option to send invitations to the provider for unassigned bookings. https://nimb.ws/FdMnCo
• Issue fixed on the "Send reminder" popup for unassigned booking invitations. Earlier, the SMS option was not selectable to send the messages. https://nimb.ws/jkJnGB
• Added notes in the booking sidebar on the calendar. Earlier, you as the admin had to open the booking details page to see the notes on bookings. https://nimb.ws/do9EFN

November/December 2020:

• Complete UX/UI Redesign: The entire system has a new a vastly improved UX/UI that can be seen by the admin, providers, customers, and staff.
• Single Step Form: You now have the option to have a one step booking form for customers.
• Multi Step Form: You now have the option to have a multi-step booking form for customers.
• No Location: You now have the option to remove the zip/postal code field and run the system without locations.
• Name Based Location (No zip/postal code): You now have the option to have locations based off of names.
• Remove Dependency: You now have the option to remove options that are dependent on others like frequencies, service categories and more.
• Daily Discount: You now have the option to set up discounts for certain days that fewer customers book for enticing others to sign up. For example, if you have less appointments on Tuesday's you can set up a 10% discount for Tuesday's only so you can push customers to book for that day.
• Scrollable Sidebar: The booking form summary box can now be enabled to scroll with the user.
• Drag and drop form elements: You can edit the booking form sections by simply dragging and dropping them in the order you want them to be in.
• Scroll to specific element and specific validation error: You will now be automatically taken to the specific part of the booking form you are working on when trying to save and an error comes up. This will show you what is wrong and why it is wrong.
• Calendar Sidebar Feature.
• Map view for booking listing: You can now see on a map view of where the booking is located.
• Hide/show provider sidebar.
• Parameters dependency: You can now turn off parts of your booking form being dependent on others or not like frequencies service categories and more.
• Accept terms and conditions based on condition: You can now have a terms and conditions added to your booking form that customers will have to accept in order to book.
• Form dynamic on web builder.
• Improved System Logs.
• Thank you page: You can now add a "Thank You" page so one your customer finishes their booking they are redirected to this page. This makes it easier to track conversions.
• On the way button added in app for clock in/out.
• Job pictures uploaded by admin: You can now upload job pictures as an admin.
• Check availability: This option will now appear whenever there is an issue in the system when you are trying to add a provider to a booking.
• Email tracking: You can now track whether an email was sent, opened and any links clicked.

September 2020: Part 1

• Email Logs: We have added the email logs page under "Logs" admin menu where admin can see all the actual emails sent to customers and providers from the system.
• Wildcard Zip Code/Postal Code: we have integrated a wildcard zip codes(postal codes) feature which can be enabled from general store options. Once this option is enabled, you will see a wildcard and exclude zip codes(postal codes) option in the locations.
• Rating/Review Without Login: Customers do not have to log in to leave ratings/reviews anymore.
• Re-Clock In/Out: We have integrated the Re-Clock In feature in the system, this feature will allow providers to clock in again on a completed booking if they need to work on a job again in multiple shifts.
• Update Adjustments On The Booking: We have now added an option so that if the admin makes some changes in the time log then the system will automatically update the time and price on booking, price will be updated only if booking is hourly.
• Email Master Template: We have added the master template feature which will allow you to change the common content on all emails at once like header or footer.

June 2020 and July 2020: Part 2

• Card Hold For Square: We have integrated card pre-authorization for Square payment gateway.
• Release and Re-hold Card: We have also introduced "Card Release" and "Re-hold Card" options.
• Resend Welcome And Reset Password Emails: We have introduced two buttons from where Admin/Staff can resend the emails.
• System logs: We have added a type filter to make it easier to access and categorize the system logs.

April 2020 and May 2020  

• Manage availability page with calendar: a new page “Manage Availability” under the providers admin menu to manage provider scheduling using a calendar.
• Option to control availability for per location or same for all locations: a feature so that you can have the same working hours and spots for all locations added in the system.
• Option to allow providers to make schedule changes: there were some restrictions when a provider has active bookings. We have now removed those restrictions from the new manage availability page and added the options to take action with active bookings.
• Options to perform an action on active bookings while making schedule changes: Change Availability Options, Default Availability, Specific Date, Request Time Off.
• Switch calendar top and side view.
• Different email option for admin emails: We have now added option in notification general settings to setup a different email address for admin mails and for reply to email address.
• Send customer fields to Zapier: Earlier, the system was sending customers full name and full address string to Zapier and some customers requested to send different field values like first name, last name, city, country, etc so that they can use these fields in other platforms like CRM. We have now added these fields and you can get those on Zapier to reuse.
• Theme updates.
• Customize reset password page.
• Change footer on themes: Added the option to change the footer and choose a footer from different a theme.
• Option to change mobile menu icon color: Mobile menu color on themes were fixed and could not be changed, many customers requested to add the option so that they can change it to suit theme and header background-color
• Change extras border and buttons color: Extras on the booking form were showing with fixed borders and button colors which were not showing well for custom color schemes, we have now added the option to change these colors.

December 2019 and January 2020  

• Quickbooks Integration: You can now sync all booking revenues into Quickbooks automatically.
• Booking Confirmation: We added a booking confirmation text on reset password page when users redirect to this page after adding a booking.
• New Zapier Trigger: Zapier trigger on booking completion
• Price and Time Adjustment Note: You can now add a note why a price or time of a booking was adjusted.
• Duplicate Booking: A customer can now easily duplicate a booking and schedule a new appointment.

August and September 2019 (Major Release):  

• Advanced Theme Builder: We released an advanced theme builder allowing you to build out a complete website using BookingKoala.  

June 2019 

• Square and PayPal: You are now able to connect Paypal and Square in order to charge and refund clients. Plus you can use PayPal to pay out your providers as well.
• SalesHangry: We’ve built SalesHangry to help you increase your conversions and sales.
• Affiliate Program: Affiliates can now promote and recommend BookingKoala.
• Referral Program: If you're a BookingKoala user you can earn credits towards your subscription by referring BookingKoala.
• Clear Schedule: You can easily reset a providers/teams schedule.
• Auto/Manual Clock Out: You can now decide if providers are clocked out automatically or manually.
• Re-Order Industry Menu: You can re-order your industries on a booking form.

April 2019

• Display 2 Prices: If you charge a different price on your first visit you can display it to customers along with the price of future visits.  
• Flexible Custom Sections: You can now move custom sections to step 1 of your booking forms.
• Price Adjustment: We moved the price and time adjustment fields to the first step of the form.

February 2019

• Waiting List: You can add bookings without assigning anyone to them and you can also allow customers to join a waiting list.
• Reviews Update: You can now display reviews on your website to increase conversions.
• Leads/Contact Us Form: You can now capture leads through a custom form made by you.
• Modify/Disable Menus Items: You can now disable and modify header and footer menus.

December 2018

• Automatic Charges: You can now charge bookings automatically after they have been completed.
• Time Zones: If you have multiple locations in multiple time zones, it is now easier for users and yourself to book services that are in different time zones.
• Live Chat: You can now talk to your providers from inside your account and your providers can message you and your office employees from their accounts (web version only - app version coming in soon).

October 2018

• Automatic Reviews: You can now automatically gather more external reviews and/or share internal reviews via Facebook or Twitter.
• Admin Mobile Dashboard: You can now login and set up your entire account from a mobile device.
• Customize Your Login Page: You can make changes to your login and sign up pages.
• Customer My Drive Options: You can now keep files under a customer's profile.
• Changing The Tax Tag: If you live outside of the US, you can change the sales tax tag.

August 2018

• Conversion Tracking: You can track conversions that come from Adwords and Facebook ads.
• Merchant Location Versus Service Area: You can accept bookings whether you have a store, perform online services or if you travel to someone's location.
• Remove Job Lengths From Summary: You no longer need to show the job length in the summary box of the booking.