> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ontimebookings.com.au/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Create a booking > Book a customer in — on a voucher they already hold, or as a new sale you take payment for. Booking someone in takes a minute once you know the shape of it. The form is one scrolling panel, not a wizard, so you can jump back and change anything at any point. ## Two ways to start Make sure you're in **booking mode**, then drag out a slot on the provider's column. The form opens with the time and provider already filled in. Open a customer in the CRM and start a booking from there. The form opens with the customer already chosen, and you pick the time afterwards. Either way, you land on the same form. ## The form, in order ### 1. Customer Search for an existing customer, or create one on the spot if they're new. Nothing else on the form appears until you've picked someone — the booking type depends on what vouchers they hold, so the platform needs to know who they are first. ### 2. Booking type — voucher or new sale This is the fork in the road, and it decides whether you take payment at the end. **Use existing voucher** — the customer has already bought and paid for a [package](/set-up/service-packages/service-packages). You're spending some of what they hold. There's no payment step; the booking is created the moment you're done. **New purchase** — the customer is buying this session now. The form continues to a payment step. You'll see both options, with a count of how many vouchers the customer has. **Vouchers are tied to the branch they were bought at.** You'll only see vouchers for the location the calendar is on. If they hold vouchers elsewhere, a warning tells you so — switch the calendar to that location to use them. If they have no vouchers here at all, the form picks new purchase for you and says why. Picking **use existing voucher** shows their vouchers as cards. Choose one, then choose which service and length to spend it on — you'll only be offered what that voucher covers. Each card can also show you the bookings already made against it. Picking **new purchase** shows your services and packages. Choose a service and a length, or a whole package if they're buying one now and booking their first session at the same time. ### 3. Time and provider The time and provider are already filled in if you started from the calendar. Change either here if you need to. * **Service provider** — swap to a different member of staff. * **Date** and **start time** — set them directly rather than dragging. * **Buffer time** — see below. Two things happen automatically once a service is chosen: * **The calendar snaps to the right length.** Drag anywhere and the selection becomes exactly as long as the service needs, including buffers. You can't accidentally book 45 minutes for a 60-minute service. * **The calendar follows what you type.** Change the date in the form and the calendar jumps to that week and moves the highlight. Use the **minimise** button to shrink the form to a bar at the bottom while you look around the calendar. Nothing you've entered is lost. ### Buffer time Buffer is the padding held around the booking — travel, setup, cleanup. It comes from the [service's booking settings](/set-up/services/booking-settings) and applies without you doing anything. To change it for this one booking, choose the edit icon next to **Buffer time** and adjust before and after in 5-minute steps. There's a reset button to go back to the service defaults. The buffer isn't part of the session the customer books — they see a 60-minute lesson — but your calendar holds the full block, so nothing else can land on top. A provider running late across town is usually a buffer problem, not a scheduling one. Adding 15 minutes here is quicker than moving three bookings later. ### 4. Pickup address Where the provider meets the customer, for services that travel. Start typing and pick from the suggestions. The address is checked against your [catchment areas](/set-up/locations/catchment-areas) as soon as you choose it, and you'll get one of three answers: * **Serviceable by this branch** — good to go. * **Serviced by another branch** — the address falls in a different branch's area. It names which one. * **Not within any of our service areas** — nowhere covers it. ### 5. Student information For businesses where the person attending isn't the person paying — a parent booking for a learner, say. Fill it in and the session's details are kept against the student, not only the account holder. Leave it alone if the customer and the attendee are the same person. ### 6. Notes Two kinds, and the difference matters: * **Customer notes** — travel with the booking and can reach the customer. Anything they should know. * **Internal notes** — for your team only. Never shown to the customer. ## Finishing The button at the bottom tells you which path you're on: * **Create Booking** — the voucher path. Done, and the session comes off their balance. * **Continue to Payment** — the new-sale path. Takes you to [taking payment](/take-bookings/payment). If anything about the booking is unusual, a message appears before you continue. That's covered in [Warnings and overrides](/take-bookings/warnings) — none of them stop you, but they're all worth reading. Closing the form after you've chosen a customer asks what you want to do: **Discard changes**, **Minimise** to keep it for later, or **Cancel** to go back to it. ## If you can't create a booking Two likely reasons. Either the calendar is in **unavailability mode** — check the switch at the top — or the provider isn't rostered to work at that time. The calendar refuses selections outside a provider's working hours. To book outside their hours anyway, open the form from the **Add new booking** button and set the time inside it. Vouchers belong to the branch where they were bought. Switch the calendar to that branch and they'll appear. The form tells you when a customer has vouchers at other locations. Check the service is [active and not staff-only](/set-up/services/create-a-service), and that the length you want has **individual purchase** switched on — a variant reserved for packages won't appear as something to sell on its own. Fixed-site and online branches don't take bookings by dragging the calendar. Use the **Add new booking** button instead.