Setup & Manage Appointment Book Templates in Dental4Windows

Setup & Manage Appointment Book Templates in Dental4Windows

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Listed below is how to Add a new Appointment Book, design a new or existing Appointment book template, setup Team Books, create fortnightly / alternating weeks or odd / even day sensitive appointment book templates, add pre-book slots to template, create and apply an Appointment Book stencil and make an Appointment book inactive or reactivate an Appointment book. 

Add New Appointment Book

Feature Flash Steps: Add New Appointment Book


  1. Go to Appointment Book > Options menu
  2. Select Setup all Books
  3. Click Add new
    1. Location: Select if applicable
    2. Description: Enter the name of the book
    3. Recurrence: Select <None>, Fortnightly - Alternating Weeks or Even/Odd Days Sensitive
    4. Optional Settings:
      1. Start At / Finish At: Enter basic start and finish times
      2. Interval: Set the appointment slot duration, minimum of 5
      3. Copy: Select an existing book to copy settings and template

    5. Click OK 
  4. Select the book in the Books list
  5. Click Templates
    1. Edit Start/Finish Times, Add Lunch Breaks, Add Regular Breaks/Meetings
    2. When finished, select Whole Template > Apply to the Book's Days
    3. Click Exit

Update / Design Appointment Book Template

Templates in the appointment book cater to
  1. Start and Finish Times
  2. Weekly Meetings / Breaks
  3. Lunch Breaks
  4. Days Off / Not Working Each Week
  5. Pre-Set Slots
  1. Go to Appointment Book > Options menu > Setup all Books
  2. Select the Book > Click Templates...
    1. Click the Add icon to enter the date the template becomes effective
      1. Enter the Start date of the template

    2. Use the right mouse click to view options to design the template
      1. Preset Slot: Use to enter predetermined Preset Slots, such as Emergency Work Only
      2. Break: Use to add Lunch, Meetings and to prevent bookings at the start / end of a day
      3. Nonstandard slot: Use to enter anything less than the standard slot duration, e.g. 4mins
      4. Template Parameters: Use to change the start/finish times and slot duration. Also select if a day is a Holiday, which is then removed from view when working in the Appointment Book



      5. When finished, select Whole Template > Then Apply to the Book's Days to apply changes to appointment book 
      6. Click Exit

Setup Fortnightly / Alternating Weeks Appointment Book Templates

The Fortnightly/Alternating Weeks feature allows the user to customise the book setup for a Week 1 and Week 2 template.
  1. Go to Appointment Book
  2. Options menu > Setup All Books
  3. Select the Book
  4. Click Modify
  5. Select: Fortnightly - Alternating Weeks from the Recurrence drop list
  6. Click OK
  7. The Book name is still highlighted, click Templates

  8. Add a New Period Start date, this helps facilitate a clean start to your template
    AlertWeek 1 is determined by the week number according to what the official week of the year is. For example if the template is to start next week and its week 3 of the year, in the template it will be week 1. 
Info
Here is more information about determining the official week number
  1. Click Add
  2. Enter start date
  3. Click OK

  4. Select Week 1 radio button

  5. Commence setup of each day as required. See Instructions Update / Design Appointment Book Template in section above
  6. Whole template radio button
  7. Click Apply to Book Days
  8. Select Week 2 radio button

  9. Commence setup of each day as required. See Instructions Update / Design Appointment Book Template in section above
  10. Whole template radio button
  11. Click Apply to Book Days
  12. Click Exit when completed

Setup Odd and Even Days Appointment Book Templates

The Even/Odd Days feature allows the user to customise the book setup for an even day and odd day of the month. Even and odd days are determined by the date it is in that month, NOT on the principle that the dentist works every alternate day/weekend.  
  1. Go to Appointment Book
  2. Options menu > Setup All Books
    1. Select the Book
    2. Click Modify
      1. Tick Even/Odd Days Sensitive
      2. Click OK
    3. Click Templates
      1. Select Even Days
      2. Enter template details for even days
      3. Select Odd Days
      4. Enter template details for odd days
      5. Select Whole Template
      6. Click Apply to the Book's Days
      7. Click Exit

Add Pre-Booked Slots to Templates

Pre-booked slots can be added to a template or on an individual day. The below instructions are for a template.
  1. Go to the Appointment Book > Options menu > Setup all books
  2. Select the book 
  3. Click Templates

    1. Click the Add icon to enter the date to start this new template> click OK

    2. Right click on the time to add the slot to
    3. Insert New... > Preset Slot

      1. Enter the Start and End time / enter a Duration
      2. Select the Slot Type
      3. Click OK
    4. When finished, select Whole Template > Apply to the Book's Days
    5. Click Exit

Create Appointment Book Stencils / Preset Book Templates

A predefined template created/applied against an Appointment Book, is called a Stencil. Stencils are used to minimise the time taken to set up Appointment Books. The Stencil must be setup initially, but then can be used multiple times against any appointment book.

For example: A Stencil could be created for new Providers; meaning whenever a new Provider starts, the ‘New Provider’ Stencil is applied to their appointment book.

  1. Go to Appointment Book
  2. Options menu > Setup all Books / Click icon 
    1. Select Stencil
    2. Click Add New 

      1. Location: Select the location if applicable
      2. Description: Enter the name of the stencil
      3. Is Active: Used to make a stencil inactive
      4. Is Shared: Tick to make this stencil available on all computers
      5. Start at / Finish at: Enter the default start and finish times
      6. Interval: Enter the minutes per slot
      7. Copy from Stencil: Tick to copy an existing stencils' details
      8. Click OK

  3. Select the Stencil > Click Templates

    1. Design the template for this stencil, following the same steps as instructed in Update /Design Appointment Book Template section above
    2. Click Exit
  4. Next, apply the stencil to the book(s) as instruction in Apply an Appointment Book Stencil to an Appointment Book Template in section below 

Apply an Appointment Book Stencil to an Appointment Book Template

Once a Stencil has been created as instructed in Create Appointment Book Stencils /Preset Book Templates section above, it can then be applied to appointment book templates. Stencils can be applied to an individual or multiple books at once. 

Apply to an Individual Book

  1. Go to Appointment Book
  2. Options menu > Setup all Books / Click icon 
    1. Select Linear Book
    2. Select the Book to apply the stencil to > Click Templates
      1. Set a start date for the changes by clicking Add
        1. Enter the date

        2. Click OK
      2. Select the template to apply from the Stencil list > Click Apply

      3. Select Whole Template > Click Apply to Book's Days
      4. Click Exit

Apply to Multiple Books

  1. Go to Appointment Book
  2. Options menu > Setup all Books / Click icon 
    1. Select Stencil
    2. Click Books
      1. Location: Select the location if applicable
      2. Stencil: Select the stencil to be applied
      3. Click Add
        1. Book: Select the book
        2. Period: Select the period to make the change based on the books' current period
        3. Repeat for all books to apply the stencil to
        4. Click Apply to the Book's Days
        5. Click Exit

Change Appointment Book Slot Duration

Standard/Linear appointment books can be setup with a slot duration of as little as 5 minutes. Follow the below steps to change the duration either on a template or on one appointment day.

 Change Slot Duration on Template

  1. Go to Appointment Book > Options menu > Setup All Books
  2. Highlight the book to make changes on
  3. Click Templates
    1. Click the Add New Start Date icon

      1. Enter the date the change is to take effect
      2. Click OK
    2. Right click anywhere on the template day > Select Template Parameters

    3. Enter the Slot Duration

    4. Click OK
  4. Repeat for all other days if applicable
  5. Select Whole Template radio button
  6. Click Apply to the Book's days

  7. Click Exit

Setup Team Books

Team Books is an alternate Appointment Book setup in Dental4Windows / Practice Studio, allowing appointments to be made in 'Rooms' rather than 'Providers/Books'. There are limitations of Team Books, particularly with regards to reporting and therefore must be discussed in detail if suitable to the practice. 

A practice either has access to the Standard Appointment Book or Team Books from the initial installation. Team Books cannot be activated by the user. 

  1. Go to Appointment Book 
  2. Options menu > Setup All Books
    1. Location: Select the location, if applicable 
    2. Type: Linear Book
    3. Click Add New
      1. Add three new books/rooms with the following identical details
        1. Identical Start Time
        2. Identical Finish Time
        3. Identical Interval Times of 10mins   

    4. Type: Team Book   

    5. Click Add New                            
      1. Team: Select the Provider for this Team
      2. Start at and Finish at: Enter the start and finish times
      3. Select and drag and drop relevant Books to Books that belong to team 
         

Inactivate (remove)/Reactivate an Appointment Book

When an Appointment Book is no longer needed, after moving all upcoming appointments to the relevant replacement / other book, make it inactive. 

Inactivate an Appointment Book

  1. Go to the Appointment Book > Options menu > Setup All Books
  2. Select the Book 
  3. Click Modify
    1. Remove tick from Is Active
      1. If the book is included in an Appointment Book Group, select Yes to remove it from the Group automatically.

      2. If this message does not appear and the Appointment Book is included in a Group, manually remove it from the Group. 
    2. Click OK
  4. Click Exit

Reactivate an Appointment Book 

An appointment booked can be marked as active again after being marked as inactive.
  1. Go to the Appointment Book > Options menu > Setup All Books
  2. Tick Show inactive books as well
  3. Select inactive book from list in Books > Modify

  4. Tick Is active 

  5. Select OK > Exit