# Booking confirmations and appointment reminders > How FullColumn confirms bookings and reminds clients before their appointment by text, email or both, and how to set the timing. Source: https://docs.fullcolumn.com/messages/reminders FullColumn texts or emails your clients when they book, and again before their appointment, so fewer people forget. There's nothing to connect: confirmations and reminders work as soon as your salon is set up, and every message is kept in **Messages** so you can check what a client was told. ## Turning on appointment reminders Reminders are on for a new salon, 24 hours before each appointment. 1. Open **Settings → Reminders & SMS**. 2. Under **Automatic messages**, tick **Send appointment reminders**. 3. In **Send reminders**, choose how long before the appointment: 2, 4, 12, 24, 36, 48 or 72 hours before. 4. Press **Save changes**. Each reminder goes once, about that long before the appointment starts, at whatever time of day that falls. Reminders aren't held back for the sending hours that automatic marketing uses, so a 2-hour reminder for an 8am appointment goes at about 6am. ## Choosing text, email or both for appointment messages **Send by** in **Settings → Reminders & SMS → Automatic messages** decides how confirmations, reminders, cancellations and per-service notes go: | Send by | What clients get | | ------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Text** | A text. A client with no mobile on file gets an email instead. | | **Email** | An email. A client with no email address gets nothing. | | **Text & email** (the default) | Both, or whichever one they have. | When you make an appointment, the hint under **Send booking confirmation** shows exactly where it's going ("By text to 0412 345 678 and email to…"). ## When a booking confirmation is sent - **Online bookings** are always confirmed. If you approve online bookings first, the client gets a "booking request received" message instead, and the confirmation once you approve it ([approving online bookings](https://docs.fullcolumn.com/online-booking/booking-requests)). - **Bookings made by the team** are confirmed when **Confirm bookings made by the team** is ticked in **Settings → Reminders & SMS** (it is to start with). You can untick **Send booking confirmation** on any one booking. - **Repeat appointments**: only the first one in the series gets a confirmation. Each one still gets its own reminder. - **Moving an appointment**: when you change the time in the appointment, tick **Let them know about the new time** to send a new confirmation. Dragging it to a new time on the calendar doesn't tell the client. Either way, the reminder is sent again for the new time. - **A client who reschedules from their booking link** gets a new confirmation straight away. No confirmation is sent for an appointment that's already started or in the past, for a walk-in with no client, or for appointments brought across from your old booking system. > [!TIP] > If a booking is made inside the reminder window (say, tomorrow morning with reminders 24 hours before), the confirmation counts as the reminder, so the client isn't sent two messages. If no confirmation went, the reminder still does. ## When an appointment reminder is sent A reminder goes for each appointment that is **Booked** or **Confirmed** and has a client, once it's inside your reminder window. It isn't sent: - to clients whose **Appointment reminders** is switched off on their client card, or who replied STOP to an appointment text ([STOP replies](https://docs.fullcolumn.com/messages/replies)) - for booking requests that haven't been approved yet - when the appointment has been cancelled, marked as a no-show or moved since the reminder was queued: it shows in **Messages** as _Not sent_, and the change sends its own message if you chose to - while your salon is read-only because the trial or plan has ended If you've turned on **Ask clients to reply Y to confirm**, reminders say "Reply Y to confirm." and a Y reply marks the appointment **Confirmed** ([replying Y](https://docs.fullcolumn.com/messages/replies)). ## Sending a confirmation or reminder by hand Open the appointment on the calendar, then its **⋯** menu (**More actions**), and choose **Send confirmation** or **Send reminder**. It goes straight away, on your **Send by** choice, even if the client's automatic reminders are off. - **Send reminder** is only offered for appointments today or later. - A booking request can't be confirmed by hand: approving it sends the confirmation. - Without **Book and change other team members' appointments**, you can only send these for your own appointments. ## Letting a client know their appointment is cancelled When you cancel an appointment, **Let the client know it's cancelled** sends the cancellation message (it's ticked unless the appointment was on an earlier day). Cancelling the rest of a repeating series sends one message for them all, ending "Also cancelled:" with the other dates. A client who cancels from their booking link is sent the cancellation message too. ## What a confirmation or reminder includes The wording is yours to change ([changing your message wording](https://docs.fullcolumn.com/messages/message-wording)), and FullColumn fills in each client's details. Depending on the booking, it can also carry: - **Their booking link**, to view, confirm, reschedule or cancel, and add it to their calendar ([what clients see](https://docs.fullcolumn.com/online-booking/what-clients-see)). - **A consultation form link**, when a form is waiting to be filled in before the visit. - **Notes for the services booked**, like "come with dry hair" ([messages for particular services](https://docs.fullcolumn.com/messages/service-messages)). - **What they've paid ahead**: "Deposit paid: $20.00", "Paid: …" or "Your card is saved to hold this booking." - In emails only, when your client area is on: "Manage all your bookings:" with its link. ## Who can change reminder settings **Settings → Reminders & SMS** opens for people with **Change salon settings (hours, online booking, messages, branding)** or **Connect Stripe and SMS, and change payment settings**. Reminders, **Send by** and the wording need the first: without it they're shown but greyed out, and each section says which permission it takes. **Ask clients to reply Y to confirm**, **Shorten links**, the country code and **Send a test** need **Connect Stripe and SMS, and change payment settings**: without it they're greyed out, **Send a test** is hidden, and the section says which permission it takes. Owners have every permission. ## Common questions ### Can I send two reminders, say a week before and the day before? Not as reminders: there's one reminder per appointment. A service that needs notice (a long colour, a patch test) can have its own note sent days before ([messages for particular services](https://docs.fullcolumn.com/messages/service-messages)). ### Why didn't a client get a reminder? Look at the appointment's messages or **Messages**. Usually the client has no mobile or email for your **Send by** choice, their **Appointment reminders** is off, the appointment was booked inside the reminder window (the confirmation was the reminder), or the message shows _Not sent_ with the reason ([why a message wasn't sent](https://docs.fullcolumn.com/messages/texts-and-email)). ### Does the reminder go again if I move the appointment? Yes. Moving an appointment to a new time sends the reminder again before the new time. It doesn't send a confirmation unless you tick **Let them know about the new time**, so after dragging an appointment, use **Send confirmation** if you want to tell them now. ### Do reminders use SMS credits? Yes, each text does. Appointment messages keep going even after your monthly limit on extra texts is reached ([SMS credits](https://docs.fullcolumn.com/messages/texts-and-email)).