How to set working hours and breaks for online booking

In Desk, open Business Settings → Working Hours in the mobile app. Set which weekdays are open, choose Opens and Closes times, and use Add Break for a regular break. These settings define the working hours used by your calendar and online booking.

Then check your public booking page with a real service from your menu. An appointment needs enough room for its full duration, including when it would finish near a break or closing time.

Plan the week you can actually offer

Write down your usual open days, opening and closing times, and regular breaks. Set the pattern for each weekday instead of assuming that every day follows Monday's hours.

Choose hours when you can serve clients. If you are still setting up at the start of the day, account for that before offering your first appointment. At the other end, allow the last visit to finish within the time you can work.

A fixed lunch break belongs in the weekday schedule. Cleanup that happens after every appointment is a different timing need; use our guide to setting a realistic service duration when reviewing that reserved time.

Set open days, hours, and breaks in Desk

1. Select the business you want to change, then open Business Settings → Working Hours.
2. Review each weekday. Turn Open on for a day you work and off for a day you do not offer appointments.
3. For an open day, set Opens and Closes to match the hours you intend to offer.
4. Use Add Break to enter the period you want to keep free during that day, such as your regular lunch break.
5. Finish editing, reopen the weekday, and confirm the hours and break were retained. Repeat for the other days you work.

The controls above follow Desk's working-hours documentation. If Business Settings is missing, check that one business is selected. Ask the business owner or manager to review your access if needed.

Look at the matching day in the calendar too. Desk shades non-working periods, including breaks. That is a useful visual check; continue to the public-page check before relying on what clients can book.

Test the whole appointment, not just its start

Here is a hypothetical planning example: a business works from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with a break from noon to 12:30 PM. The selected service takes 45 minutes. These times illustrate the check; they are not recommended hours or a live Desk test.

The 11:30 AM start is the easy one to overlook. It begins before lunch but leaves only 30 minutes for a 45-minute service. Check appointments that would extend into the break as well as those that start during it.

Compare the plan with your public booking page

Open Business Settings → Online booking, use Copy link, then paste the URL into a browser. Select the service and team member you want to check. Confirm the service duration for that team member; it can differ between members.

Choose a date comfortably beyond your minimum booking notice, so that notice does not hide the times you are trying to inspect. Compare a time before the break, one that would overlap it, and one after it. Also check near closing and on a weekday you set as closed.

You can inspect available times without submitting a booking or entering a client's details. Use the start times the page actually offers; a planning example does not mean every example start will appear in your booking grid.

Times that overlap the break or finish after closing should be unavailable for the schedule you intend to offer. If one is offered, recheck the selected business, weekday, saved hours and break, and service duration. Resolve the mismatch before relying on the link.

If a time that fits is missing, other rules may explain it. Check existing appointments, the selected team member, required equipment, and booking notice. For a shared chair or room, review equipment capacity too. Being inside working hours does not by itself make a time available.

Review existing appointments and one-time changes separately

After changing your weekly hours, look at appointments already booked outside the new pattern. A settings change is not confirmation that those visits were moved or canceled. Check the affected bookings and agree on any changes with those clients.

These controls are organized by weekday. For a one-time closure, confirm the appropriate date-specific method with Desk support rather than assuming a weekday change affects only one date.

Recheck the public page when your regular schedule changes. Once the offered times match the work you can deliver, use our guide to sharing your booking link on Instagram and Google.