Microsoft Bookings Page: How to Create, Share and Delete

Are you looking to streamline appointment scheduling for your business? Microsoft Bookings offers a powerful solution for managing appointments and creating booking pages that customers can use to schedule time with you or your team. In this comprehensive guide, we'll walk through everything you need to know about creating, sharing, and deleting Microsoft Bookings pages.

Whether you need a personal booking page for individual appointments or a shared booking page for your team, we'll cover all the essential steps. We'll also explore advanced features like service configuration, notification management, and integrations with other Microsoft tools. By the end, you'll have a complete understanding of how to maximize Microsoft Bookings for your scheduling needs.

And - allow me - we'll also cover Zeeg, an advanced scheduling tool that integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Bookings and can give you better lead generation through appointment booking, as well as better calendar organization. But let's get to Microsoft Bookings first.

What is Microsoft Bookings page? Personal vs Shared

Microsoft Bookings is a scheduling tool included in Microsoft 365 that allows businesses and individuals to create booking pages for appointment management. There are two main types of booking pages in Microsoft Bookings:

1. Personal booking page: Designed for individual use, allowing you to share your availability for one-on-one appointments
2. Shared booking page: Created for teams or businesses, enabling multiple staff members to manage appointments collectively

The Microsoft Bookings page serves as the central hub where clients can view available times, select services, and book appointments without the back-and-forth emails typically associated with scheduling.

Read more:

• What is Microsoft Bookings and how does it work?
• Microsoft Bookings vs Calendly
• Best alternatives to Microsoft Bookings

How to create a personal booking page in Microsoft Bookings

Personal booking pages are ideal for individual professionals who want to offer easy scheduling options to clients. Here's how to create one:

1. Navigate to the Microsoft Bookings home page
2. In the Personal booking page section, select "Create meeting type"
3. Configure your meeting type with these essential details:
   • Name (what you're offering, like "Consultation" or "Check-in")
   • Color category for easy identification on your calendar
   • Description explaining what the meeting entails
   • Meeting mode (online or in-person)
   • Duration (how long the appointment will last)
   • Public or private meeting tag
4. Set your availability using the schedule customization option
5. Select "Save" when you're finished

After creating your meeting type, it will appear on your personal booking page, which clients can access through a shareable link.

Setting up meeting types with advanced options

When creating your meeting types, you can also configure various advanced settings:

• Buffer times: Add preparation time before or after appointments
• Minimum lead time: Set how far in advance appointments can be booked
• Maximum lead time: Determine how far into the future clients can schedule
• Notification options: Choose between email confirmations, calendar invitations, or no confirmation
• Color categories: Assign different colors to distinguish between meeting types
• Schedule customization: Define specific availability for each meeting type that may differ from your overall availability

To edit a meeting type after creation:

1. Select the meeting type tile on the home page
2. Update any of the settings as needed
3. Save your changes to apply them immediately

You can also duplicate existing meeting types to create similar offerings without starting from scratch. This feature is helpful when setting up a series of related services with minor variations.

These settings help you maintain control over your calendar while still providing flexible booking options for clients.

How to create a shared Microsoft Bookings page

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Shared booking pages are perfect for businesses where multiple team members need to manage appointments. Here's how to set one up:

1. On the Bookings home page, go to the Shared Bookings section
2. Select "Create booking page" and then "Create from scratch"
3. Enter your business information:
   • Business name (required)
   • Upload a business logo (optional)
   • Set business hours (optional, can be configured later)
4. Add team members who will handle appointments
5. Configure services you'll offer
6. Choose appointment booking permissions
7. Select "Create" to finish setting up your booking page

After creation, you can further customize your shared booking page through the business information settings.

Setting up services for your shared booking page

Services are the core offerings that clients can book on your shared Microsoft Bookings page. To configure services:

1. From your shared booking page, select "Services" in the left navigation
2. Click "Add a service" to create a new service offering
3. Configure these essential service details:
   • Name and description of the service
   • Default duration for appointments
   • Price (if applicable)
   • Default location (online, specific address, or phone)
   • Required staff members or specific skills
   • Buffer time before and after appointments
   • Maximum number of attendees (for group services)
   • Cancellation policy and booking window
4. Save your service to make it available on your booking page

You can create multiple services with different durations, staff requirements, and availability settings. This versatility allows you to offer various appointment types through a single booking page.

For recurring services, you can also set up scheduling options that allow clients to book regular appointments (weekly, monthly, etc.) in a single booking action.

Configuring business information for shared booking pages

To complete your shared booking page setup:

1. Select "Business information" in the left navigation panel
2. In the Basic details section, enter:
   • Business address
   • Phone number
   • Email for customer replies
   • Website URL
   • Privacy policy and terms & conditions URLs
3. Upload your business logo if you haven't already
4. Set business hours to define when appointments can be booked

For businesses with split shifts or meeting blocks, you can create multiple time slots for each day:

1. Select start and end times for the first shift
2. Click "+" to add another row for the same day
3. Select start and end times for the second shift
4. Save your settings

Adding staff to a shared Microsoft Bookings page

For shared booking pages, you'll need to add team members who will be bookable for appointments:

1. From the shared booking page, select "Staff" in the left panel
2. Click "Add new staff"
3. For staff within your organization:
   • Type their name in the search field
   • Select them when they appear in results
   • Their information will automatically populate
4. For external staff:
   • Manually enter their email and other details
   • Note that external staff can't share free/busy information
5. Assign appropriate roles to each staff member
6. Configure notification and calendar settings:
   • Enable email notifications for booking changes
   • Choose whether events on their Microsoft 365 calendar affect availability
   • Set whether to use business hours or custom availability

Managing staff availability

To customize when staff members are available for bookings:

1. From the Staff page, select the staff member
2. Uncheck "Use business hours" to create custom availability
3. Set specific working hours for each day of the week
4. For split shifts, add multiple time ranges per day
5. Save your changes

This allows for flexible scheduling around team meetings, lunch breaks, or part-time staff availability.

Understanding staff roles in Microsoft Bookings

When adding staff to your shared booking page, you can assign different roles that determine their permissions:

• Team member: Can be booked for appointments and manage their own bookings
• Scheduler: Can schedule and manage bookings for all staff members
• Viewer: Can view the booking calendar but cannot make changes
• Guest: Can only be booked for appointments but cannot access the booking calendar

Assigning appropriate roles ensures that staff members have the right level of access while maintaining control over your booking system.

Sharing your Microsoft Bookings page

After creating your booking page, the next step is sharing it with clients:

Sharing a personal booking page

1. Select the "Personal booking page" heading
2. Click the copy button to copy the link
3. Share this link via:
   • Email
   • Social media
   • Teams chat
   • Email signature
   • Your website

Remember that only meeting types tagged as "Public" will appear on your personal booking page.

Sharing a shared booking page

1. Navigate to the booking page you want to share
2. From the booking page options, select share
3. Choose your preferred sharing method:
   • Copy the link to share manually
   • Share directly via email
   • Share on social media
   • Embed in your website using the provided iframe code

Sharing your booking page effectively increases visibility and makes it easier for clients to book appointments without phone calls or email exchanges.

Customizing the booking form for clients

When clients access your Microsoft Bookings page, they'll see a booking form that collects their information. You can customize this form to gather specific details relevant to your business:

For personal booking pages

1. From the Bookings home page, select the meeting type you want to customize
2. Navigate to the "Event Questions" tab
3. Toggle options for standard fields like name, email, and phone number
4. Add custom questions by selecting "Add a question"
5. Choose from question types like text, multiple choice, or yes/no
6. Set questions as required or optional
7. Save your changes

For shared booking pages

1. From your shared booking page, select "Booking page" in the left navigation
2. Navigate to the "Customer information" section
3. Configure which standard fields are visible and required
4. Add custom fields to collect additional information
5. Set field visibility and requirement settings
6. Save your configuration

Custom questions can help you gather important information before appointments, such as client goals, specific issues to address, or preparation requirements. This information is attached to the booking and visible to staff before the appointment.

How to delete a Microsoft Bookings page

There may be times when you need to remove a booking page, whether it's outdated or no longer needed. The deletion process differs between personal and shared booking pages.

How to delete a Microsoft Bookings personal booking page

To delete a meeting type from your personal booking page:

1. From the Bookings home page, locate the meeting type you want to remove
2. Select the "See More" option (usually three dots)
3. Choose "Delete" from the options
4. Confirm the deletion when prompted

This removes the meeting type from your personal booking page without affecting your other meeting types.

How to delete a shared Microsoft Bookings page

Only Microsoft 365 administrators can delete shared booking pages. There are two methods:

Method 1: Using the Microsoft 365 admin center

1. Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center
2. Select "Users" > "Active Users"
3. Find and select the name of the shared booking page you want to delete
4. Click "Delete user"
5. Confirm the deletion when prompted

Method 2: Using Exchange Online PowerShell

1. Connect to Exchange Online PowerShell
2. Run this command to list all booking mailboxes:Get-EXOMailbox -RecipientTypeDetails SchedulingMailbox

3. Delete the specific booking page with:Remove-Mailbox -Identity <BookingCalendarToDelete>

4. Verify deletion by running the list command again

Important warning: When you delete a shared booking page, all associated information is permanently deleted, including:

• Business information and logo
• Staff and service configurations
• All existing bookings and appointments

Advanced Microsoft Bookings capabilities for organizations

For organizations using Microsoft Bookings at scale, several advanced capabilities can enhance your scheduling ecosystem:

Multi-calendar management

Large organizations can create multiple booking pages for different departments, locations, or service categories:

1. Create separate shared booking pages for each business unit
2. Assign appropriate staff members to each booking page
3. Customize each page with relevant services and availability
4. Use different sharing links for each booking page

This approach allows for specialized booking experiences while maintaining centralized administrative control.

Security and compliance settings

Microsoft 365 administrators can control Bookings usage across the organization:

1. Enable or disable Bookings for specific users or departments
2. Configure data retention policies for booking information
3. Set up audit logging for booking activities
4. Apply conditional access policies to Bookings

These controls help ensure that Bookings usage complies with organizational security requirements.

Reporting and analytics

While Microsoft Bookings doesn't include built-in analytics, you can extract insights using these methods:

1. Export booking data to Excel for custom analysis
2. Create Power BI reports using the Bookings Graph API
3. Set up Power Automate flows to log booking statistics
4. Use Microsoft 365 admin reports to track usage patterns

These approaches provide visibility into important metrics like booking volume, staff utilization, and service popularity.

Microsoft Bookings page best practices

To get the most from your Microsoft Bookings pages, follow these recommendations:

1. Use a custom domain for shared booking pages instead of the default "@.onmicrosoft.com" domain to create a more professional appearance and improve email deliverability
2. Configure granular admin controls to define exactly how Shared Bookings can be used in your organization
3. Utilize Power Automate connectors to build workflows that automate tasks, such as posting Teams messages when appointments are created or syncing data with other applications
4. Consider bulk creation and reporting using the Bookings Graph API for larger organizations that need to manage multiple booking pages
5. Set buffer times between appointments to give yourself preparation time before meetings and avoid back-to-back scheduling stress
6. Customize notification emails to maintain consistent branding and provide clear information to clients
7. Regularly review and update your availability to ensure your booking page accurately reflects when you can take appointments

Zeeg: Better scheduling pages that integrate with Microsoft calendars

While Microsoft Bookings offers useful scheduling features for Microsoft 365 users, Zeeg provides an even more robust scheduling solution with additional benefits:

• Enhanced customization options for booking pages that better align with your brand
• More flexible scheduling rules including round-robin allocation, capacity limits, and advanced routing
• Comprehensive calendar integrations with Microsoft 365/Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar
• Powerful automation capabilities for reminders, follow-ups, and workflow integration
• GDPR-compliant data handling with European server hosting for privacy-conscious businesses
• Affordable pricing plans starting at just $10/user/month
• Pay per meeting thanks to its seamless integration with Stripe and Paypal

Zeeg makes it easy to create, share, and manage booking pages with an intuitive interface that doesn't require administrative privileges to set up or delete. For businesses looking beyond Microsoft Bookings' capabilities, Zeeg offers a seamless scheduling experience that integrates with your existing tools.

Conclusion

Creating, sharing, and managing a Microsoft Bookings page can significantly streamline your appointment scheduling process. Whether you're setting up a personal booking page for individual meetings or a shared booking page for your team, the platform offers useful features for managing your calendar and client appointments.

With the comprehensive guidance in this article, you can now:

• Create both personal and shared Microsoft Bookings pages
• Configure services, staff availability, and booking forms
• Manage notifications and calendar integration
• Troubleshoot common issues with your booking pages
• Utilize advanced features for organizational requirements

Microsoft Bookings comes included with Microsoft 365 subscriptions, making it a convenient option for businesses already in that ecosystem. By implementing the best practices outlined in this guide, you can maximize the effectiveness of your booking pages and create a smooth scheduling experience for both you and your clients.

For businesses with requirements beyond what Microsoft Bookings provides, alternative solutions like Zeeg offer enhanced capabilities, better integrations, and more user-friendly management. Whichever platform you choose, effective appointment scheduling is a valuable asset for any business looking to streamline client interactions and manage time efficiently.