Some meetings can go straight into your week. Others you want to look at first: a new client, a long session, anything where the answer might be "not this time".
Turn approval on for a meeting type and its bookings stop confirming themselves. The time is held so nobody else can take it, you get asked, and only your answer confirms it.
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What the person booking sees
They always know where they stand: approval is visible at every step, from the first page to their inbox.
On your profile page:
if they land on your list of meeting types, the one requiring approval is marked "Needs approval" before they pick anything. A link straight to that meeting type skips this step, but the form itself still tells them before they submit.
On the form:
the button says Request meeting, and a note explains that submitting sends a request.
After they submit:
the screen says the request was sent. Nothing claims the meeting is confirmed.
In their inbox:
a "request received" email that states the latest time you will reply by and includes a link to withdraw. It has no calendar attachment: the invite arrives with the confirmation, once you have approved.
The details step for a meeting type that needs approval: the notice and the
Request meeting
button make it clear this is a request.
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Answering a request
You get an email with Approve and Decline buttons. Both open a page where you confirm the decision with one more click. Opening the link answers nothing, so a mail scanner that follows it cannot accept a meeting for you.
Approving
confirms the booking exactly as an ordinary one: the confirmation email, the calendar invite, the video link, the reminders. From that moment it is a normal meeting.
Declining
releases the slot immediately and emails the person who booked. You can add an optional reason, which is quoted in that email.
From the dashboard instead:
a Requests
tab appears on your meetings page whenever something is waiting, with a count. Requests are kept out of Upcoming, because they are not meetings yet.
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If you do not answer
Silence never confirms a booking. Each meeting type has an answer window, 24 hours by default and anything from one hour to two weeks.
Halfway through
you get one reminder, and only one: a request you are ignoring on purpose should not keep nagging.
At the deadline
the request lapses, the slot is released, and the person who booked is told. The email says the request expired; it does not say you refused. An answer that arrives after the deadline cannot revive the request.
Never past the meeting itself:
a request for a slot two hours away cannot have a 24-hour window. The deadline is capped at the meeting's own start time.
The held time is on your calendar
A held request appears in your connected calendar straight away, marked tentative. (One exception: in Outlook, a meeting type set to show you as free appears as free instead.) It blocks the slot, so nothing else can be booked over it, but it reads as provisional to you and to anyone checking your availability. Approving turns it into a confirmed event; declining removes it.
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Turning it on
Approval is set per meeting type, so you can require it for new-client calls and let your regular catch-ups book instantly. It cannot be combined with group bookings: turn group bookings off first.
Open the meeting type and go to Booking Rules.
Tick Confirm each booking myself.
Set how long you want to answer within, or leave it blank for 24 hours.
Approval on the Booking Rules tab.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to a paid meeting type?
The payment is taken first and the request is raised once it clears, so you are only asked about bookings that have been paid for. If you decline, the request expires or the person who booked withdraws it, the payment is refunded in full, automatically. While it is still only a request, there is no meeting to weigh a partial refund against. Your meeting type's own cancellation and refund policy only starts applying once you approve.
The one exception is a booking you had already approved and that a reschedule sent back to you. There the person did have a confirmed meeting, so your cancellation and refund policy is the one that applies: nothing is refunded automatically, and you decide how much to return from the payments screen.
Can somebody reschedule around the approval?
No. Moving a booking on a meeting type that requires approval sends it back for your approval at the new time, with a fresh window. Your approval covers the time you agreed to, and only that time.
What if I answer twice, or from two places at once?
The first answer wins and the second is told what already happened, rather than overwriting it. That covers the ordinary cases: the emailed link and the dashboard open in different tabs, or a colleague answering from a forwarded email.
Can the person who booked withdraw the request?
Yes, with the same link they would use to cancel a booking. The slot is released and you stop being asked about it. If the meeting type is paid, withdrawing refunds them in full, the same as a decline or an expiry. The same exception applies if the booking had already been approved once before being rescheduled.
Do reminders go out while a request is waiting?
No. Reminding somebody about a meeting nobody has agreed to would contradict the email they just received. Reminders are scheduled in full once you approve.
Keep several named sets of working hours (weekday office hours, evening consults, weekend intensives), each with its own breaks and booking rules, and give every meeting type the one it belongs to.
Propose several candidate times, let every guest mark each one Yes, If need be or No, then confirm the winner and Tymeslot books it as a real meeting with everyone invited.
Ask bookers what you need to know before the meeting: short text, choices, yes/no, dates, acknowledgements and more. The answers appear in confirmations, emails and your calendar.
