Time off, holidays and blocks

Most time off is not a change to how you work, it is one day behaving differently. Maelo keeps those two things apart on purpose, so a late start next Tuesday never quietly rewrites every Tuesday.

Click the date on your calendar. The day panel shows Working hours for that date, and editing the start or end time there applies to that date alone. A Reset link appears once you have changed something, which puts the day back on your usual hours.

If the day is normally closed, the panel offers Open just this date instead. That is how you take a booking on a day you are usually off, without opening every one of them.

A block is a stretch of time nobody can book. Lunch, a dentist appointment, a school run, a whole week in July. Open the + button on your calendar and choose Block Time, or right-click the day you want.

1. 1

   Pick the days

   Switch between Single day and Multiple days at the top. Multiple days lets you tap out a run of dates on the calendar.
2. 2

   Set the hours

   Turn on All day to block the whole thing, or leave it off and set From and To.
3. 3

   Add a reason if you want one

   The Reason field is optional and private. Only you see it, and clients just see the time as unavailable.

If you have more than one studio, or a guest spot in the same week, the Block Time window shows an Applies to dropdown. It decides how wide the block reaches:

• •All calendars makes you unavailable everywhere for that time.
• •All studios blocks every studio and leaves you bookable at events.
• •Picking one studio blocks that studio only. Your other studios stay bookable.
• •Picking an event blocks that event only, and your studios stay bookable.

This matters more than it sounds. A dentist appointment is genuinely All calendars, because you cannot be at the dentist and at a convention. Being closed on Saturdays at one studio is not, and blocking everywhere would quietly close your other studio too.

For a holiday, use Multiple days with All day switched on and select the whole run. Your calendar shows the block, and nobody can book into any of it.

There is also a shortcut for a single date. Turn on Show Availability from the three dots menu, click the day, and press Block day in the day panel. Give it a name if you like (Holiday, Admin day) and confirm. That closes whatever is still free on that date, and the name is what you see when you wonder why.

A day you have blocked out reads Blocked on the calendar, with its name underneath, and sits slightly greyed on the month. A day that is full of bookings reads Fully booked instead, so the two never get confused.

Blocks are not permanent. Click one on the calendar to reopen it, change the day, the hours or the reason, and press Save Changes. The bin icon in the same window removes it, and Maelo asks you to confirm first.

You can also remove a block from the day panel while Show Availability is on. The moment a block goes, that time is bookable again, with no other step needed.

These two look similar and do different jobs. Blocking time closes specific hours while the rest of your diary carries on as normal. Closing your books stops new enquiries arriving at all.

If you are simply full, or want a breather from new work, turn off Taking requests under Settings, Scheduling, Home Locations. Your page stays live, you can leave a short message for clients, and you can schedule a re-open date so the books come back on by themselves. Nothing already booked is touched.

For the rules that govern how soon and how far ahead clients can book, see Booking rules.