Session types and studio defaults

Session types are reusable recipes for the work you photograph: Family, Engagement, Wedding, Studio Portraits, Real Estate, and anything else. They keep event creation and public booking consistent across devices.

Where to edit them

Open Booking Setup in the web app to add, edit, delete, or reorder session types. In the Apple and Android apps, you can view your saved types and choose a type when creating or editing an appointment. Use Edit session types on the web to open the web editor and its walkthrough. Return to the app afterward to refresh your list. Your types are saved with your ShootCal account.

Change booking hours without duplicating a session type

If you already have a session type such as Family Portraits, open Booking Setup, find its existing card, and choose Edit. Keep that type rather than adding another one.

Check Timing. For a type already using Studio hours, change Opens and Closes to set its booking hours. Review Session length and Turnover between sessions only if those also need changing. Keep the existing timing mode when it still fits your work: Fixed time uses Start time, Sunset and Sunrise follow the sun, and All day does not offer timed slots. You do not need to switch to Studio hours just to edit a type.

If you mean which weekdays clients can book, open Advanced booking rules and review Limit bookable days and Bookable days. Min. notice controls how soon clients can book; How far ahead controls the booking window. These are separate from opening and closing times.

Choose Save session type to update the existing type. Leave unrelated settings unchanged. Opening Help or the editor does not save changes for you.

Timing modes

• Sunset: the prime session ends at sunset and additional slots cascade earlier.
• Sunrise: the prime session begins at sunrise and additional slots cascade later.
• Studio hours: sessions tile between your open and close times with a turnover gap.
• Fixed time: one session at the clock time you choose.
• All day: for weddings or work that should not offer timed public slots.

Per-type booking rules

Each type can be hidden from public booking, accept requests, or instant-book. Set duration, break or turnover time, price text, maximum sessions per day, lead time, booking horizon, and bookable weekdays. Choose the Primary Business Calendar for new online bookings in the booking settings on the same page. Public submission rechecks availability and capacity before accepting a slot.

Your first session type

A new account starts with no session types. On the web, the first time you open New Event, ShootCal offers a short walkthrough that creates your first type in five steps (name and timing, calendar defaults, booking page, booking rules, review) and then returns you to the event with that type selected. Choose Add personal event instead if you only want a plain calendar entry; that choice is remembered on that device. On the web, Booking Setup shows a faded example of booking cards while your session list is empty. Your saved logo appears above it, or Add logo opens logo settings. Use Add with walkthrough or Add manually beside Your sessions to set up your calendar defaults. Clicking the example cards is another shortcut to guided setup. You can choose whether to offer each type for online booking. The example creates no records and does not publish a booking page. Once you save a session type, your real session cards replace it.

Session cards and booking preview

Each saved session type has a photo above its details. Choose Edit to manage all settings and its Thumbnail photo, or Edit photo on the image for a shortcut. Online booking controls whether clients can choose that type. The booking page must also be active before clients can book.

On the web, drag the grip to reorder the cards; the whole card follows while dragging. The visible move buttons offer another way to change the order. Your booking page shows the saved public page when active; an unpublished page shows a preview of the sessions offered for booking.

In the web event editor, a session type's default location fills a new event until you enter or clear the location yourself. Changing session types preserves that custom location. Existing events keep their saved location.

Email, deposit, and forms

• Review the client invitation setting for one-off appointments on a connected, writable Google or Microsoft calendar. Ordinary business confirmations and add-to-calendar attachments remain available without a calendar connection.
• Set a confirmation or reply message and whether client reminder email is enabled.
• Attach a questionnaire created on the web. It can be sent manually, or go out automatically once the booking's linked ShootCal invoice reaches its deposit amount through confirmed payments; marking a deposit by hand only records status and sends nothing.
• Client galleries are created separately, only when you ask for one: in Galleries, where you select the client. See Getting started with Galleries.

Follow-up task templates

In the web session-type editor, add reusable Follow-up tasks with a title and a number of days after the session. These templates are saved with the session type in your ShootCal account. Manage them on the web alongside the other shared session-type settings.

When creating a web appointment, review its suggested tasks and include, change, remove, or add rows for that appointment. Saving creates the appointment and the selected tasks together. Tasks do not send client messages. Editing the template later affects future appointment drafts; it does not change existing tasks. Moving an existing appointment does not automatically move those tasks' due dates, so review them when rescheduling.

See Tasks and client follow-ups for task editing, recovery, and optional imports of earlier Google lists.

Studio defaults

Open the Studio defaults card below your session cards. Studio defaults supply values a type leaves unset, including reply text, reminder timing, and common booking limits. A type’s explicit value wins. Review inherited values whenever you change the studio default because that change intentionally affects every type still inheriting it.

For the exact slot calculation, read Golden-hour and sunset scheduling. For the public workflow, see Online booking and availability.