> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.scribeware.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.scribeware.com/scheduling-services-and-payments/scheduling-services-and-payments/getting-started-with-scheduling.md).

# Getting Started with Scheduling

ScribeWare 7 can run the whole front end of your business: a client books on your website, gets an agreement to sign, pays, and lands on your calendar — with the report already started. This page walks through setting that up.

You don't have to do all of it. Each step works on its own, and they're ordered so that later steps build on earlier ones. If you only want a calendar and manual scheduling, **Step 1** is enough.

{% hint style="info" %}
Set aside an hour or so for the full path. **Step 2** — teaching ScribeWare your pricing — is the longest, and everything after it gets easier once it's done.
{% endhint %}

Everything below lives in **Settings**, under the SCHEDULING and MESSAGING headings:

<figure><img src="/files/y4GwJP1V05st5abrVFIG" alt="The six settings pages used to set up scheduling"><figcaption><p>The pages you'll work through, in order</p></figcaption></figure>

## Step 1 — Set Your Working Hours

Go to **Settings → Scheduling**. This is where ScribeWare learns when you're available.

<figure><img src="/files/bEpOMqk9keUJONn1c9rI" alt="Scheduling settings showing the website portal and working hours"><figcaption><p>Settings → Scheduling — your booking link and each inspector's working hours</p></figcaption></figure>

Under **Working Hours**, the **Company** tab sets your default week. For each day, switch it on and add the times an inspection can *start* — not a span, but actual start times like 8:00 AM and 1:00 PM. The **→ all** chip copies a day's times to every other working day.

Each team member gets their own tab. Anything you change there overrides the company default and shows in amber, with a reset link to put it back.

Then set **Minimum buffer between inspections** — the gap you need after a job before the next can start. Drive time, writing up, lunch. ScribeWare uses inspection durations *and* this buffer to work out which slots are genuinely free.

These settings are exactly what a client sees as bookable slots — start times from your working hours, minus anything already booked, minus your buffer:

<figure><img src="/files/eRIkCDar1B4ZhtbFJ3m7" alt="The booking page showing available times over the next two weeks"><figcaption><p>Working hours on the left become real availability on the right</p></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="success" %}
Even without online booking, working hours are worth setting. They're what makes the availability ScribeWare offers realistic.
{% endhint %}

## Step 2 — Teach ScribeWare What You Sell

Go to **Settings → Services**. This is the step that makes everything else automatic — pricing, invoices, agreements and durations all come from here.

The setup assistant interviews you rather than making you fill in forms. Describe what you charge in plain language, or paste your existing price sheet in and let it do the work:

> *Home inspections start at $400 up to 2,000 square feet, then $50 per additional 500. Add $100 for homes over 50 years old. Radon is $135, sewer scope $200. I cover Whatcom and Skagit counties.*

Work through the six topics across the top until they're all green, then click **Save & Enable on Booking Page**.

The detail — adjustments, add-ons, service areas, surcharges — is covered in full here:

{% content-ref url="/pages/EobKz0NZ2ZDUiprLtzq1" %}
[Services and Pricing](/scheduling-services-and-payments/scheduling-services-and-payments/services-and-pricing.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Step 3 — Get Your Agreements Ready

Go to **Settings → Contracts** and make sure each agreement you use is in the Contract Editor, with placeholders where the client's name, the address, the date and the fee belong.

Then connect them to the work: in **Settings → Services**, edit an inspection type and set its **Contracts**. From then on, choosing that service on a job attaches the right agreement without you thinking about it.

{% content-ref url="/pages/s1p9dY9cFZkBvdKQW36P" %}
[Contracts](/scheduling-services-and-payments/scheduling-services-and-payments/contracts.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Step 4 — Write the Emails

Go to **Settings → Message Templates**. ScribeWare gives you a **Confirmation Email** and a **Publish Email** to start from — read them and make them sound like you.

The confirmation email is the important one here: it carries the link your client uses to sign their agreement and pay. Make sure it uses the **Contracts URL** or **Client Portal URL** placeholder rather than any address you've typed in.

Mark the templates you want reached for automatically with **Default for Confirm** and **Default for Publish**.

{% content-ref url="/pages/Yfkni1X5d2pXt4hCX2y6" %}
[Message Templates](/scheduling-services-and-payments/scheduling-services-and-payments/message-templates.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Step 5 — Set Up Payment

Go to **Settings → Client Invoicing**.

* To take cards, tick **Enable Payfactory payment processing** and work through the application. Approval usually takes a day or two, so start it early.
* Add the other ways you accept payment under **Payment Options**, with instructions for each.
* Decide whether published reports should stay locked until the client has signed and paid, under **Report Access**.

{% content-ref url="/pages/BN1qAEPb1yYrcvsLjvuD" %}
[Client Invoicing and Payments](/scheduling-services-and-payments/scheduling-services-and-payments/client-invoicing-and-payments.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Step 6 — Put Booking on Your Website

Back in **Settings → Scheduling**, the **Website Portal** card holds two things:

* **Scheduler URL** — a link you can email or put behind a button.
* **Website Embed Code** — an iframe that drops the booking page into your own site.

Copy whichever suits you. Clients booking through it work through five steps: their details, the property, an optional agent, the services they want, and a time from your genuine availability.

<figure><img src="/files/6d70dxJ8na4ObK42yRQC" alt="A client working through the five booking steps and receiving confirmation"><figcaption><p>The client's booking experience, start to finish</p></figcaption></figure>

The pricing step is where your Step 2 work pays off — ScribeWare prices the job from the property details the client just entered, with no quoting from you:

<figure><img src="/files/DAcgt82tdUuIRzAvqGfC" alt="The services step showing priced inspection types and add-ons"><figcaption><p>Prices computed from square footage, age and the other details the client gave</p></figcaption></figure>

A booking creates a report in ScribeWare that's **unconfirmed**, with the services, pricing, invoice lines, agreements and report template already applied — including the answers to any custom questions.

<figure><img src="/files/hpPeubWeUssQAXgBhOAe" alt="A report created from an online booking with client and property details filled in"><figcaption><p>What lands in ScribeWare — client, property, custom answers and status, all filled in</p></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="warning" %}
Test your own booking page before you publish the link. Walk through it as a client would and check the prices, durations and available times look right. Booking a real slot creates a real job, so delete the test afterwards.
{% endhint %}

## The Day-to-Day Rhythm

With setup done, a job runs like this:

1. **A request arrives** — from your booking page, or you create it yourself with **Schedule report** or by clicking an empty slot on the calendar.
2. **You confirm it.** Open the report, go to **Client Info**, click **Confirm appointment**, and send the confirmation email. This is the moment the client gets their agreement and invoice, and the job becomes confirmed on your calendar.
3. **The client signs and pays** from their portal.
4. **You inspect**, and publish the report as usual.

An amber banner on the home screen tells you when upcoming jobs are still unconfirmed — click it to filter down to just those.

<figure><img src="/files/liNhSoU8OW0h3aAVAirC" alt="The home screen with an unconfirmed inspections banner"><figcaption><p>New bookings arrive unconfirmed and are flagged at the top of the home screen</p></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="info" %}
Reports appear on the calendar as soon as they're scheduled, but confirming is what tells the client the job is really happening. Make it a habit to clear the unconfirmed banner each morning.
{% endhint %}

## Step 7 — Automate the Follow-Up

Once the rhythm is familiar, the reminders you keep sending by hand can be handed over. **Settings → Message Automations** sends a template on a schedule — the evening before an inspection, or two days out if an agreement is still unsigned.

{% content-ref url="/pages/n0QUP0Hul3nE99SQG30B" %}
[Message Automations](/scheduling-services-and-payments/scheduling-services-and-payments/message-automations.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Step 8 — Connect Your Google Calendar

Optional, and only if it's enabled on your account. **Settings → Integrations** lets each inspector connect their own Google Calendar, so inspections land on the calendar they already carry around — and their own appointments stop clients booking over them.

{% content-ref url="/pages/kVc7j4HDWm8meKIYeTmq" %}
[Google Calendar](/scheduling-services-and-payments/scheduling-services-and-payments/google-calendar.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Working from Your Calendar

Everything above shows up on the home screen calendar — month, week and day views, with services and blocked time alongside inspections.

{% content-ref url="/pages/cA26mYp34dsGshQKRvz7" %}
[The Desktop Calendar](/getting-started/the-desktop-calendar.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}


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