Insights on scheduling, productivity, and building open software

Taking time away from work is essential, whether it’s for a vacation, a medical appointment, or simply a personal day. But if your calendar isn’t managed correctly, that time off can quickly become chaotic, with clients or colleagues still booking meetings in your absence. The Out of Office feature in Cal.com solves this problem by ensuring your schedule accurately reflects when you’re away. It prevents double bookings, creates clarity across teams, and helps organizations run smoothly even when people step away.

SMS workflows have emerged as a game-changer. By automating text message notifications and reminders, businesses can keep their clients and teams informed and engaged without manual effort. This article explores what SMS workflows are, how they can be integrated into scheduling apps, and offers practical tips on using them effectively.

With the rise of mobile-first users and the increasing demand for simpler workflows, many people are looking for ways to book events using just their phone number. Phone-based event types and bookings are becoming an essential part of the scheduling process, and they offer a number of advantages over traditional email-based bookings. Cal.com allows all users to choose between phone-based or email-based bookings!

Framer just got a whole lot more powerful for anyone looking to offer online bookings. Thanks to a new partnership with Cal.com, you can now embed a fully functional scheduling experience into your Framer site, no plugins, no coding, no friction.

Managing team schedules gets messy fast. You know the drill: trying to coordinate the right people for every meeting while keeping workloads fair across your team. Traditional round robin scheduling handles the basics, but what happens when you need multiple roles in every session?

Enter round robin groups, the smarter scheduling approach that's transforming how teams coordinate multi-person meetings.

Managing team availability can be a challenge, especially when you need to ensure bookings happen within specific timeframes. The restriction schedule feature in Cal.com lets you control when your team members are available, hiding slots outside of your defined hours, whether those are business hours, shift schedules, or any other custom windows. It’s a simple way to prevent double-booking and keep your scheduling streamlined. Let’s dive into how restriction schedules can optimize your team’s availability and improve your booking flow.

No-shows and last-minute cancellations can drain time, revenue, and trust from your business. For teams running client-facing meetings, protecting your calendar app is just as important as filling it. A no-show fee is a first layer of defense, but what about cancellations that come in minutes or hours before the meeting?

That's where time-based cancellation fees step in. By combining your appointment system with Stripe-powered payments, you can automatically charge fees for cancellations made too close to the start time, resulting in saving revenue, protecting your team's time, and encouraging clients to respect your booking app schedule.

Event types in Cal.com offer a flexible, customizable solution for managing different types of appointments, meetings, and bookings. Whether you're a solopreneur, part of a small team, or managing a large enterprise, Cal.com helps streamline scheduling to meet the specific needs of each user. In this guide, we'll explore how event types work in Cal.com, how to create them, and how they can benefit your scheduling workflow. Let's dive in and find out how you can make the most of Cal.com for seamless scheduling.