What are offset times?

What Makes Cal.com Different

Cal.com is a product designed with our user's needs at its core. Our ethos is rooted in receptivity, adaptability, and an unwavering commitment to improving the user experience based on community feedback. We understand that to offer the best open-source calendar scheduling infrastructure, there must be a culture of continuous learning and iterative improvements. These characteristics allow us to gain valuable insights from our users and team, enabling us to adjust our product offerings in an agile and substantial manner.

If you're a loyal follower of our newsletters or an avid reader of our blog posts, you undoubtedly have observed the continual evolution of our product features. New additions and enhancements are regularly rolled out to provide an improved user experience tailored to your needs. However, if you prefer a hands-on approach and like to discover new features through exploration and practical use, you may notice further modifications in our event-level settings.

In our quest to continually innovate and improve, we recently introduced the offset times feature within the booking limits area. This enhancement is a testament to our commitment to giving users more control and precision over their calendar scheduling environment.

Understanding Offset Times

What exactly are offset times? Offset start times are a simple yet powerful setting that augments the precision of your booking interface. Upon activation, this feature lets you designate the precise number of minutes you want appointments to be offset. The beauty of this functionality lies in its compatibility with other settings, such as minimum notice and time slot intervals.

With this feature, you can configure a custom time slot interval (select the event duration or a specific number of minutes) and then add an offset time on top. For instance, if you retain the default event length as your time slot interval, a 30-minute event would typically be scheduled every 30 minutes starting on the hour. However, the offset feature adds a new dimension to this scheduling. Adjusting the offset to, let's say 15 minutes, appointments would shift from being offered at 9:00 a.m. and 9:30 to 9:15 and 9:45. Want to learn more? Let's look at how to enable this feature.

Step-by-step Guide to Enabling Offset Times

1. Start by logging in to your Cal.com account. Your Cal.com account is the control center for all your calendar scheduling needs.

2. Once logged in, select an existing event that you wish to modify or create a brand new one. This will allow you to apply the feature to a current appointment or test it on a new one.

3. Navigate to your event-level settings. Here, select the 'Limits' tab to access the settings related to booking limits.

4. Scroll through the options until you find 'Offset Start Times'. This feature is the key to introducing that extra customization to your scheduling.

5. Click on the 'Offset Start Times' toggle switch so that it's switched to the 'On' position. This action activates the feature, setting the stage for the next step.

6. At this point, you'll input the desired number of minutes you want the event to be offset into the 'Minutes' field. The number you input here determines the precise offset for your appointments.

7. Once you've entered the desired offset, scroll back to the top of the page and hit the 'Save' button. This crucial step ensures that all your changes are saved and applied to your calendar scheduling.

Setting up offset times on Cal.com is a breeze and takes only a few moments. Yet, it brings a valuable additional layer of customization to your online appointment management infrastructure. This enhancement allows you to manage your time more efficiently, aligning with your specific requirements and providing a superior user experience.

Check out this feature and explore other ways Cal.com can revolutionize your calendar management with a free Cal.com account at Cal.com/signup. As we continually innovate and adapt based on user feedback, we promise that your scheduling experience will improve.

Cal.com isn't just a product. It's a testament to our commitment to empowering users with the best open-source calendar scheduling infrastructure. We remain excited about the journey ahead and invite you to be a part of it.

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