Calendar Views, Events & Quick Add
ShootCal is a photography-focused calendar that owns your schedule. Events you create or edit in ShootCal are ShootCal appointments stored in your account, enriched with session type, client, deposit, and scheduling details. In the web app, ordinary new events use the business calendar saved in Booking setup and sync automatically when calendar sync is enabled. After a deliberate provider disconnect, new web events save in ShootCal only.
Choose calendars, Month view, and Agenda #
Use the Calendars control to show or hide calendars you can access. Month view gives the studio overview; Agenda lists upcoming work; Projects gives a compact view of session, invoice and gallery status. On phones, ShootCal combines a compact month with the selected month’s agenda so the calendar remains useful on a tall screen. Search finds sessions across the loaded calendar range.
In the native Android app (1.3.32 or later), choose Show full agenda in the floating toolbar to hide the grid, then Show calendar and agenda to bring it back. On iPhone (1.8.29 or later), the list button beside the month name opens the full agenda and the calendar button restores the grid. Your list position stays in place while the grid slides away. iPad keeps its full month grid in wide windows and the stacked calendar and agenda in taller windows.
In the web app, choose Calendar in the main header, then Month or Agenda at the top of its sidebar. On a phone, open the menu at the top of the screen first. Under Calendars, Show on my calendar is separate from Booking availability. Use the latter to select other connected calendars whose busy events should block booking times. They are off by default; your Primary Business Calendar remains the baseline. A subscribed calendar can be visible for awareness without making you unavailable. See Online booking and availability.
The Calendars section names your Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook calendars and shows Sync on or Sync off for their current connection status. When you have saved provider calendars, there is no separate ShootCal calendar in the list, including while sync is off; appointments saved before a calendar name applied remain visible. Without a calendar connection, your ShootCal calendar is listed under the Studio / business name saved in Booking setup, or My calendar if none is set, with Sync off. Showing or hiding a calendar is a display choice; change the new-event destination in Booking setup.
Web events always show their saved locations, and the event editor displays start and end times with AM/PM.
In the web calendar and the Mac app’s main calendar window, open Calendars → Calendar time zone to choose Device time zone or Studio time zone. The calendar names the active zone below its toolbar. Device time remains the default until you choose otherwise; your choice is saved for your account in that browser or app. Studio time uses the studio zone saved in Account settings. If it is missing, set it in Account before choosing it here.
This choice applies to calendar days, event details, manual event entry, and Quick Add. All-day dates stay unchanged. Changing this display choice does not move existing appointments or change the studio’s online booking rules. An event editor already open keeps the time zone in which you reviewed its fields.
On iPhone and iPad app versions that offer Calendar time zone, open the Calendar’s + menu to choose Device or Studio on that device. Availability follows the app’s App Store update. The web choice does not change your phone or tablet’s system time zone.
Create a session #
In the web app:
- Choose New Event or select a day.
- Pick a session type. Its duration, timing mode, reminders, booking rules, and invite default fill automatically. On the web, its default location also fills until you enter or clear the location yourself.
- Choose the client and location, then review the calculated start and end time.
- Review the destination from Booking setup. With sync enabled and the connection available, ShootCal uses that calendar automatically. After a deliberate disconnect, the event saves in ShootCal and is listed under that same calendar name with Sync off. It is not copied to Google or Microsoft until you choose to sync it.
- Save. ShootCal stores the appointment in your account. The connected calendar copy updates in the background.
Calendar invitations are available for one-off appointments on an exact connected, writable Google or Microsoft calendar. A ShootCal-only appointment can still receive ordinary business confirmations and add-to-calendar attachments; those do not request an attendee response.
To create a session type while entering an event, choose + Add Session Type at the bottom of the type list. A guided setup opens, then returns you to your event draft. The event is saved only when you choose Create event.
A session you schedule yourself counts toward that day’s public booking capacity once its deposit is marked received, just like an online booking, so the booking page never offers more slots than the day really has left.
Use Start date and End date for trips or appointments spanning several days. All-day sessions display an inclusive end date in ShootCal: a one-day wedding shows the same start and end day, and a trip covers every day you picked.
New Personal Events allow website bookings by default. Turn on Block booking availability to make their dates and times unavailable, including all-day trips. Your private title and details stay private. Paid and accepted bookings remain reserved. Older Personal Events keep their saved behavior until you choose Allow bookings or Block bookings; Existing booking rules leaves that behavior unchanged. Imported recurring schedules keep this setting read-only.
Appointment details #
Open a session to review its client, time, location, and calendar status. Edit stays at the top of the web detail sheet while you scroll. Use Deposit received to change the saved deposit marker; the switch changes only after ShootCal confirms the saved appointment. It records a scheduling marker, not a payment amount.
Invoice and deposit controls sit together. Invoiced means an invoice is already linked to this exact appointment; it is a status, not a manual checkbox. Otherwise, eligible sessions offer Send invoice. The calendar invitation row shows the saved response or delivery state with its available send or resend action. Outlook invitations that already include the client direct you to Outlook to resend.
If a calendar update is delayed, ShootCal keeps trying in the background. A short message below the calendar details explains when you need to reconnect or choose another calendar. To create a photo gallery, open Galleries and select the client there. Existing gallery links remain available in the scheduling client view.
Sync an event created while disconnected #
Reconnecting a provider does not automatically copy locally created events to it. Open the saved event on the web. Only eligible events created while disconnected show Sync this event to Google Calendar or Sync this event to Microsoft Outlook. Review the named destination and choose the action to sync that event to your current Booking setup calendar. Ordinary calendar updates happen automatically.
In the iPhone, iPad, and Android apps, an eligible event created while disconnected shows Review event on ShootCal. It opens the same event on the website, where you choose the sync action; the app does not copy the event to Google or Microsoft by itself. For native app compatibility and update availability, see app update guidance.
Add an appointment by typing a sentence (Quick Add) #
Quick Add can turn a line such as “Family session for the Smiths Saturday at sunset at Folly Beach jane@example.com” into a filled event for review. The iPhone and iPad apps parse locally on the device. The web app and current Mac app send the entered line, current time, your time zone, and your configured session-type names through ShootCal’s backend to Anthropic (Claude) to prepare a draft. Review the suggested fields; nothing becomes an appointment until you approve and save it. See AI data handling for provider storage and data-use details.
Sunrise, sunset, weather, and tides #
Sunrise and sunset power ShootCal’s scheduling on the web and in the native apps. In the web calendar, select a day to see the full day details for your saved Sun Location: forecast high and low, weather icon and description, precipitation chance, wind, sunrise and sunset, and all available high and low tide times. Weather, sunrise, sunset, and tides have icons alongside their text. U.S. weather forecasts come from the National Weather Service and cover about seven days. Wind shows the forecast maximum; forecasts for today may cover only the remaining part of the day.
Tides come from the nearest supported NOAA station, with times shown in that station’s local time. Inland locations may have no nearby station. Weather and tides can be unavailable outside coverage or during a service interruption. The Apple apps continue to use WeatherKit for weather forecasts.
Edit, delete, and recover safely #
Edits save to your ShootCal appointment first, then update the connected calendar in the background. ShootCal handles temporary delays automatically. If you edit the schedule in both places, the newer change wins.
Create, edit, move, cancel, and send invitations for recurring schedules in Google Calendar or Outlook. ShootCal continues to show imported recurring appointments and include their busy times in availability. Saved history and recovery checks remain available; ShootCal does not author recurring schedule changes in this release. On owned imported appointments, the web editor can still save client, session-type, and deposit details; the recurring date, time, location, and calendar description remain read-only.
If a create request is interrupted after the server may have accepted it, ShootCal retains that exact attempt for recovery. Recover the original request before creating another appointment. Earlier saved follow-up plans remain part of their original recovery attempt.
Trash and Restore #
Canceling or deleting a one-off appointment removes it from your calendar and puts it in Trash for 30 days. Open Trash can in the Calendar sidebar, or open the menu at the top of the screen on a phone, find the appointment, and choose Restore to return it to your calendar with its previous status. ShootCal adds its connected Google Calendar or Outlook copy again in the background.
After 30 days, the appointment can no longer be restored. Its canceled history, including linked invoices and client records, stays in ShootCal. Manage recurring cancellations in Google Calendar or Outlook.
For storage and sync details, see Calendar sync: connecting Google or Microsoft.
Daylight saving time: when a clock time happens twice #
When the clocks fall back, a time such as 1:30 AM can happen twice. The event editor asks you to choose the first or second occurrence for a start or end time in that repeated hour. The choices show the time-zone abbreviation. When the clocks move forward, some times do not exist; choose a later valid time before saving. Quick Add fills a draft for you to review and never saves automatically.
