Reminders before shoots and appointments

Under Calendar reminders you set what happens before every event, separately for shoots and for appointments. Each reminder is a time before the event — from 15 minutes to a week — sent by email, SMS or both, to your client, to you, or both. Up to five per event.

Changing it for one event

Every new or edited event shows its reminders in words, under Reminders. Press Change to give that one event its own list — say, a week's notice for a wedding — or remove them all. Use my defaults puts it back.

What it gets right on its own

• Move an event and its reminders follow the new time — including ones that already went for the old time.
• Cancel or delete it and nothing more is sent.
• Book something inside the window — a shoot this afternoon booked this morning — and the reminders that would already have gone are skipped, since the client has only just had their confirmation.
• Clients are only reminded of confirmed shoots, and never of an appointment with no client on it. Public and school holidays on your calendar are never reminded.
• Times are worked out in your own time zone, so a 10am shoot's day-before reminder goes at 10am the day before.

Seeing that it went

Open an event on the calendar: under its details, each reminder says when it's due, or that it was sent, or why not — for example, a client with no mobile number on file. A client's reminder email also appears in their conversation in your Inbox. Reminders go straight out; they don't wait in the Outbox for you to confirm, since one held there could miss the shoot.

Texts

A text needs the client's mobile on their profile; both 0412 345 678 and +61 412 345 678 work. For reminders to yourself, add your own mobile under SMS and send a test. Texts are kept to one message (160 characters), name your studio, and stick to the facts of the booking.