# Create an Appointment

Book an appointment in Veterian — the fields on the form, how the visit type and staff member narrow each other, the availability warnings and reminders.

An appointment puts a client and their pet on the calendar. Once the patient is checked in, that appointment becomes the starting point of a visit record.

## Where to Find This Section

1. Open **Appointments** from the left menu.
2. Click **New Appointment**.

You can also drag a range directly on the calendar, which fills in the start time and duration for you. A client's own record has a **New Appointment** action as well, and it pre-fills the client.

## How to Add an Appointment

1. Open **Appointments** → **New Appointment**.
2. Fill in the form.
3. Click **Create Appointment**.

## Form Fields

Only four fields are required: **Customer**, **Visit/Appointment Type**, **Appointment Date and Time** and **Duration (min)**.

### Customer

Required. If the client is not in the system yet, use **Add Quick Customer** on the form itself instead of leaving to create them first.

### Pet

Optional. You can book an appointment against the client alone. Selecting a pet also fills in its owner and opens a summary of the pet and client beside the form.

### Visit/Appointment Type

Required. This field is not only a label: it decides which staff can take the appointment and sets the default duration.

### Veterinarian / Staff

Optional. The staff list and the visit type list narrow each other:

- Pick a **staff member** first and the visit type list shrinks to the types that staff member provides.
- Pick a **visit type** first and the staff list shrinks to the staff who provide it.

Only staff with **Visible in Calendar** enabled appear here at all. Both settings live on the staff member's own record. See [Users and roles](/settings/users-and-roles).

### Appointment Date and Time, Duration

Both are required. Choosing a visit type fills **Duration (min)** with that type's default, and you can change it if this appointment needs longer. The maximum is 1440 minutes.

Once both are set, Veterian shows the slot it will book on the **Appointment Hours** line, with the start and end time, so you can check the end time before saving.

### Notes

Optional, and marked **Private**: visible only to staff, never to the client.

### Reminders

**On by default.** With it on, the client receives notifications about this appointment according to your notification settings.

> **Info**
> The client's own notification preferences still apply on top of this. If a channel is switched off on the client record, no automated message goes out on that channel, including appointment reminders.

## Availability Warnings

Once you have selected a staff member, a date and a duration, Veterian checks that slot and tells you if anything conflicts:

| Warning | What it means |
|---|---|
| **Clinic Closed** | The slot falls outside the clinic's working hours |
| **Staff Not Working** | The staff member is not on shift at that time |
| **Staff Has Appointment** | The staff member already has an appointment in that slot |

None of these warnings block you, and you can still create the appointment. If you would rather move it, **Show available slots** lists the staff member's next open times day by day. Click one and the form takes that time.

> **Note**
> The check only runs once a staff member is selected. An appointment with nobody assigned is never flagged.

## Booking a Past Date

You can create an appointment for a time that has already passed, which is how you record a walk-in afterwards. Two things happen:

- Veterian warns you that the client will receive no appointment notification for it.
- **Mark the appointment as no show.** appears, already ticked. Untick it and the appointment is created as arrived instead.

## After the Appointment Is Created

Open it from the calendar to see the available actions: **Mark as Arrived**, **Mark as No Show**, **Undo Arrived**, **Edit**, **Cancel**, **Delete**. Which of those you see depends on the current status; see [Appointment statuses](/appointments/appointment-statuses).