Microsoft Bookings

Microsoft Bookings is a web-based appointment solution offered through Microsoft o365. Bookings offers an easy to configure website with a calendar of bookable services. Bookings integrates seamlessly with your Exchange Calendar and is available to all Faculty/Staff with an A3 Microsoft 365 license.

• An A3 Microsoft o365 license is required to set up a Bookings Calendar.
• Only UD Faculty and Staff can set up a Bookings calendar.
• A UD Microsoft Exchange account is needed only for those who want to integrate their personal calendars with Microsoft Bookings, or for those who need to administer a Bookings calendar.
• There is no o365 license or Exchange account requirement for people who need to schedule an appointment through a Bookings calendar.

Creating a Bookings Calendar

Bookings calendars can be created and managed by logging in to Office 365 Bookings with your UD credentials and by following these steps. When a Bookings instance is created, an @udel.edu email address is also created. This email address is used to send out Bookings calendar notifications.

UD Bookings Naming Conventions

When creating a Bookings calendar, you need to prepend “Book-“ in front of the name of your Bookings calendar (for example, Book-CSS Office Hours). The business name can be revised if needed, to reflect the unit/business that is offering appointments. Microsoft Bookings is a University wide solution, so we recommend that you include specifics in the business name that will differentiate your Bookings calendars from other units' Bookings calendars. For example, in the Book-CSS Office Hours Bookings calendar, a shortened version of a department name (CSS) has been included in the Bookings calendar name.

Example Use Cases

• Offices that want to schedule in-person or virtual appointments with faculty, staff or students.
• Faculty who want to schedule appointments during office hours.

Learn More

• Microsoft Bookings Essential Training - at Linked in Learning, available through UD
• Microsoft's Bookings FAQ
• Click here for a PDF file that shows differences between Microsoft Bookings and WaitWhile, a commonly used, non-UD supported scheduling app.

Helpful Tips

• If your UD email and calendar are on GMail, remember to set your business hours in Microsoft Bookings. Doing so will prevent someone from creating an appointment that conflicts with your Google calendar.
• Shared mailboxes are useful to assign as the only staff member in Bookings when you have student employees who work shifts. The employee who is on-shift can check the shared mailbox calendar for upcoming appointments. The only caveat is that some appointment details are available only through the Bookings app, especially when you allow multiple people to book the same appointment time.
• Zoom is UD’s centrally supported video conferencing platform. To include a Zoom link in your Bookings appointments, you will need to set up a persistent Zoom meeting that has no end date. Then, edit your Bookings service. Copy your Zoom link in to the Additional information for email confirmation section of Reminders and Notifications. You must use the same Zoom link for all Bookings notifications for a particular service.