Scheduling an Appointment
Once an appointment is approved and ready to go, the next step is getting it on the calendar. You can let the customer self-schedule through a booking link, or you can pick the time yourself from the scheduling view.
Two ways to schedule
Option 1: Send the customer a booking link
From the appointment detail page, click Send Booking Link. Driive sends the customer an email or SMS with a personalized link. The customer opens the link, sees your available time slots, picks one, and the appointment is confirmed automatically.
This is the fastest path when the customer has internet access and you want them to choose a time that works for them.
Option 2: Schedule manually
From the appointment detail page, click Find Times to open the scheduling view. You will see a calendar with your team's available slots, and you can pick the time yourself.
Using the scheduling view
The scheduling view shows your team's real availability, accounting for business hours, existing appointments, and external calendar blocks (e.g., Google Calendar events).
Navigating the calendar
Week view -- See available time slots for the current week. Each column represents a day, and available slots appear as clickable blocks.
Month view -- See a month-level overview with dots indicating days that have availability. Click a day to see its time slots.
Arrow controls -- Use the left and right arrows to move between weeks or months.
Selecting a time slot
Click an available time slot on the calendar. The slot highlights and a confirmation bar appears at the bottom.
Review the selected date, time, and duration.
Click Confirm Booking to finalize.
The appointment status changes to Scheduled, and the customer receives a confirmation notification.
Availability indicators
The calendar uses visual cues to help you find the best slot:
Available slots — Shown as selectable blocks with the time displayed.
Blocked times — Grayed out. These may be due to existing appointments, external calendar events, or outside business hours.
First available date — Driive automatically navigates to the first date with availability, so you do not have to hunt for an open slot.
Team member assignment
When you schedule an appointment, Driive assigns the appropriate team member(s) based on the appointment type's configuration:
If the appointment type is restricted to specific team members or teams, only those members appear as options.
If multiple members are eligible, Driive factors in each person's availability when showing open slots.
You can add or change the assigned team member(s) from the appointment detail page after scheduling.
Service area and location
If the appointment type requires a service address (common for home-service businesses), the customer's location is checked against your service area. Time slots only appear for team members who can serve that address.
If no location is set on the appointment, the scheduling view will prompt you to enter one before showing availability.
Tip: If you need to schedule an appointment outside your normal service area, an admin can enable a service area override on the appointment detail page.
Auto-book vs. manual scheduling
Auto-book (customer self-schedules): The customer picks a time from the booking link. If the slot is still available when they confirm, the appointment is booked automatically. Customers have a 5-minute window to complete their selection before the slot is released.
Manual scheduling: You pick the time from the scheduling view inside Driive. The appointment is confirmed immediately.
What happens after scheduling
The appointment moves to the Scheduled status.
The customer receives a confirmation notification (email and/or SMS, depending on your notification settings).
The appointment appears on your team's calendar.
An activity entry is recorded in the appointment's feed.