From Request to Appointment
A request is what the customer asked for. An appointment is what you've committed to do. This article covers the moment in between — the single click that turns one into the other, and everything Driive does around it.
One request produces at most one appointment. Once it exists, the appointment carries the job forward — scheduling, notifications, completion — and the request's gathering work is done.
The one button
Open any request that hasn't produced an appointment yet and the header shows exactly one primary action. Which one depends on whether anything is blocking the request:
| Button | When you see it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule | The request is clean — No issues currently | Creates the appointment. |
| Approve & Schedule | The request has open issues — Needs approval, Failed qualification, Manual review, and so on | Clears the flags and creates the appointment, in one step. |
That's the whole model: if the request is ready, schedule it. If something flagged it, approving and scheduling is one click, not two.
Either way, Driive confirms with a toast — "Ready to schedule" when the new appointment still needs a time, or "Appointment booked" when it was created with one.
What approval actually gates
Approval requirements — an appointment type marked as requiring approval, a lead that failed qualification, a customer outside your service area — only gate public and AI bookings. They stop a website visitor or a Dot phone call from putting a job on your calendar without a human looking first.
They never gate you. Your staff can always override: Approve & Schedule is the human saying "I looked at it, book it." A disqualified lead, an out-of-area address, a type that requires approval — one click commits any of them.
Note: This is why the flagged request sits in your Inbox instead of auto-booking — Driive holds it for judgment, and you supply the judgment.
When Driive commits for you
You don't always have to click at all:
- Manual requests that arrive complete — if a new request is created with the type picked, required questions answered, and an address in place (and nothing flags it), Driive immediately creates the appointment at Needs Scheduled. You'll see the toast "Appointment created — needs scheduling."
- Public bookings that check out — a customer who completes your booking flow and qualifies goes straight to picking a time; the appointment is created Scheduled without the request ever needing you.
Missing details? Driive shows you exactly what
The Schedule button is never disabled — it simply attempts the commitment. If required details are still missing (no appointment type, an unanswered required question, no service address for an in-person job), the attempt comes back with a "Missing required details" toast and the incomplete fields are highlighted inline on the Detail tab.
Fill in the highlighted fields — they autosave — and click the button again. Or share the request link and let the customer supply what's missing.
After the appointment exists
The moment a request produces an appointment, the baton passes:
- The header button becomes the appointment's. It reads Schedule Appointment while the appointment still needs a time, then View appointment once it's booked. On the standalone request page, Driive takes you straight to the appointment after creating it — landing on its scheduling view when a time is still needed.
- Opening the request opens the appointment. Click the request's row in the list and you land on the appointment detail — because that's where all the action (scheduling, rescheduling, canceling, completing) now lives.
- The request's status mirrors the appointment. In the Requests list, the row shows the appointment's own status: Needs Scheduled, Scheduled, Completed, or Canceled.
- The request auto-archives when the appointment is scheduled. Once a time is on the calendar, the request has fully converted — Driive archives it to keep your list focused on open work. It's still there under Show archived any time you need the intake history. See Archiving Requests.
From here, everything continues in Appointments: pick a time with the Find a Time picker, or use Share Booking Link to let the customer choose their own slot.
Next steps
- Scheduling an Appointment — Put the new appointment on the calendar.
- Appointment Statuses Explained — The statuses an appointment moves through.
- Triaging Your Inbox — Work flagged requests efficiently.