# The client area: clients sign in to manage their bookings > Let clients sign in with a code texted or emailed to them to see, change and rebook appointments, update their details and book for their family. Source: https://docs.fullcolumn.com/online-booking/client-area The client area is a private page where your clients sign in, with a code sent to their mobile or email and no password, to see all their appointments, book again, keep their details up to date and remove a saved card. Signed in, your booking page books them as themselves, so a returning client is never mistaken for a new one. It's off until you turn it on. ## Turning on the client area 1. Open **Settings → Online booking** and find **Client sign-in**. 2. Turn on **Let clients sign in to manage their bookings**. 3. Press **Save changes**. The client area is at **book.fullcolumn.com/your-salon/my**: **Copy** and **Open** are beside it. Once it's on, **Manage your bookings** shows on your booking page, and booking emails end with a "Manage all your bookings" link. Texts don't include it, to keep them short. Sign-in codes go by text when your salon can send texts, and by email otherwise or when the client chooses. Each code sent by text uses an SMS credit ([texts and email](https://docs.fullcolumn.com/messages/texts-and-email)). ## How clients sign in to the client area 1. Your client opens **Manage your bookings** on your booking page (or the link in their email). 2. They type the mobile number you have for them and press **Text me a code**, or choose **No mobile with us? Use your email instead** and press **Email me a code**. 3. A 6-digit code arrives. It works for 10 minutes, and many phones offer to fill it in from the text. 4. They type the code and they're in. If more than one person has that mobile or email with you, they choose whose bookings to see. They stay signed in on that phone or computer for 90 days, kept going while they use it. **Sign out** signs them out on that device, and **Sign out on all devices** signs out everyone using that mobile or email, anywhere. ## When a client's sign-in code doesn't arrive Codes only go to a mobile number or email address already on the client's card, and the page never says whether a number is on file, so nobody can check who's a client of yours. It says "We've texted a 6-digit code to 0412 345 678, if it's the mobile number we have for you." After 30 seconds, clients can press **Send a new code**, and a **No code?** box suggests: - **Try your email address instead** (or their mobile) - **First time with us? Book an appointment**: new clients book first, then sign in to manage it - **Call us on** your number If a client rings because no code came, check the mobile and email on their card. If they've changed numbers, update their card and they can sign in with the new one. A client whose card is archived can't sign in. To prevent misuse, one mobile or email can be sent 3 codes in 15 minutes and 8 a day ("We've sent a few codes already. Please wait 15 minutes and try again, or give us a call."), and 5 wrong codes stop sign-in for that mobile or email for 15 minutes. ## What clients can do in the client area Signed in, a client sees: - **Account credit**, if they have any: "You have $30 credit with us. It comes off your bill next time you visit." - **Coming up**: their upcoming appointments and booking requests, with their status. Each opens the appointment's booking link, to add it to their calendar, change the time or cancel, under your usual [changes and cancellations cutoff](https://docs.fullcolumn.com/online-booking/booking-rules#setting-a-cutoff-for-changes-and-cancellations). **Book** starts a new booking. - **Forms to fill in**: consultation forms waiting for them ("Before your visit on…"), and feedback forms about a visit while their link is still open ("About your visit on…"), each with **Fill in**. - **Past visits**: their completed visits with the services and who did them, and **Book again**, which opens your booking page with the same services (and the same stylist, when clients can choose and that stylist still does them). Services no longer bookable online are left out. - **Your details**: to update their name, mobile, email, marketing choices and whether they're asked for feedback. - **Saved card**: the card you have on file, to remove. - **Gift vouchers you bought**: vouchers bought in your [gift voucher shop](https://docs.fullcolumn.com/online-booking/gift-voucher-shop) with an email address they've signed in with (or checked with a code), to open or print again. They never see prices for past visits, your team's notes, colour formulas or client alerts. ## Families sharing one mobile or email in the client area A family often shares one mobile or email: a parent books for their kids, say. Everyone on your client list with that mobile or email can be seen by whoever signs in with it. - After signing in, the client chooses **Whose bookings would you like to see?**, and **Switch person** changes it any time. - On your booking page, they choose **Who's this booking for?**, and the booking goes on that person's card with the details you have for them. A mobile or email on more than 8 clients (a placeholder number, say) can't be used to sign in, so nobody sees a crowd of strangers' bookings. ## Booking while signed in to the client area When a client is signed in, the details step on your booking page shows who the booking is for instead of the boxes to type in: "You're signed in, so we'll use the details we have for you." **Not you?** signs them out so someone else can type their details. Clients who aren't signed in see **Booked with us before?** on the details step, with **Sign in**, so they can sign in right there without losing their booking. **First time with us? Fill in your details instead** takes them back. Booking signed in follows all your usual rules, deposits and approval. Because FullColumn knows exactly who it is, a returning client who has been in is never treated as a new client, even if their details have changed since. ## Changing details in the client area Under **Your details**, clients can: - Change their first and last name and press **Save changes**. - Change or add their mobile with **Change**: a code goes to the new number to check it's theirs before it's saved. If your salon can't send texts, it says "Call us to change it". - Change or add their email the same way, with a code to the new address. - Choose **Offers and news** from you **By email** and **By text**, and press **Save changes**. They always get messages about their own appointments. - Tick or untick **Ask me how my visit went**, under its own heading **After a visit**, and press **Save changes**: it's whether you send them feedback requests after a visit, and it's on unless they've said no ([a client's choice about feedback requests](https://docs.fullcolumn.com/clients/contact-details-and-privacy#a-clients-choice-about-feedback-requests)). Every change is saved straight onto their client card, and their history says what they changed, for example "Changed their mobile number (checked with a texted code)". ## Removing a saved card in the client area Clients can press **Remove** on their saved card. They're asked to confirm, and told they can add a card again when they next book. A card can't be removed online while it's still needed for a possible fee: while it's holding an upcoming booking it was saved for, while an appointment that has started or passed hasn't been checked out, or for two weeks after a missed or cancelled appointment that hasn't been settled. The client area then explains which appointment it's linked to and asks them to call you. Your team can remove a card from the client's card ([card payments](https://docs.fullcolumn.com/checkout/card-payments)). ## Who can turn on the client area The client area is in **Settings → Online booking**, which needs the permission **Change salon settings (hours, online booking, messages, branding)**. Owners have every permission, and managers have this one unless you've changed it. ## Common questions ### Do clients need a password for the client area? No. They sign in with a 6-digit code sent to their mobile or email each time they're signed out. ### Can a new client sign in before their first booking? No. Codes only go to details already on your client list, so new clients book first, then sign in to manage it. ### Can clients cancel from the client area inside my cutoff? No. Each appointment opens its own booking link, with the same rules as always: inside your cutoff they can ask you to change or cancel, but not do it themselves. ### What happens to the client area if I pause online booking? The client area keeps working: clients can sign in, see their appointments, cancel outside your cutoff and update their details. The **Book** and **Book again** buttons go until you take online bookings again. ### What happens when I turn the client area off? **Manage your bookings** disappears from your booking page and emails, and the client area says clients can't sign in to see their bookings online at the moment, with your phone number. Their booking links keep working as usual.