Appointment
This guide explains how to use the Appointment question type in SurveyMars. Appointment questions support flexible selection by date or time slot, capacity limits, and scenarios such as course booking, counseling appointments, and venue reservations.
Feature Overview
The Appointment question type helps you collect bookable services or resources in a survey. You can configure multiple Projects, limit capacity for each date or time slot, and let respondents complete bookings on the response page. You can then View and export appointment data in statistics reports.
Set Appointment
1. Access
Method 1:
When creating a survey, go to "Select Use Case" and choose "Appointment".
Method 2:
In a Survey/Form type survey, go to "Advanced Question Types" and select "Appointment" to add an Appointment question.
Path: Survey/Form survey > Advanced Question Types > Appointment.
2. Settings
When editing an Appointment question, one Project is included by default. To add more, click "Add project". When multiple Projects are available, you can limit how many Projects a respondent may book.
Selection order: The default is "Select project first, then time". If you have many Projects, or your scenario requires locking a time slot first (e.g., meeting room booking), switch to "Select time first, then project".
- Multiple Projects cannot share the same date/time slot: Enable this when respondents may book multiple Projects but cannot choose the same date or time slot.
- Each Project can have multiple dates/time slots: Limit how many dates or time slots a respondent may select under one Project.
- Multiple slots per Project date/time slot: Limit how many booking slots a respondent may select for each date or time slot.
Allow respondents to cancel appointments
Enable "Allow respondents to cancel appointments" on the Appointment question and set the cancellation deadline. By default, cancellation is allowed until X days before the booked date (if multiple dates are booked, the earliest date applies). If all Projects use "By time slot" booking, you can also set cancellation up to X hours before the appointment time.
Once enabled, respondents can cancel through the Details page of a submitted response. After cancellation, the response becomes invalid and respondents can no longer View it.
3. Configure appointment information for each Project
Click "Set Appointment" for each Project to configure it individually.
Appointment information: Enter the Project name (required), description, and image.
4. Book by date
Under "Appointment settings", select "By date" to allow booking by specific dates and set daily capacity or booking limits.
Weekly availability
- Choose any days from Monday through Sunday for booking.
- Capacity limit: Limit daily bookings; leave blank for no limit.
- Show remaining capacity on response page: When a capacity limit is set, respondents see remaining slots while booking.
Bookable date range
- No limit: Open booking as needed; no cycle limit by default.
- Limit date range: Allow booking only within a specified start and end date.
Booking restrictions
- Book X days in advance: For example, if X=1, today only tomorrow and later dates can be booked.
- Bookable within X days: For example, if X=2, today only today and tomorrow can be booked.
- Set unavailable dates: Block specific non-recurring dates (e.g., public holidays).
5. Book by time slot
Under "Appointment settings", select "By time slot" to divide each day into multiple time slots and set a capacity limit for each slot — ideal for venues and similar scenarios.
- Configure different time slots for each day from Monday through Sunday; if slots are the same across days, use "Copy" down to reuse them quickly.
- Bookable date range and booking restrictions (advance booking days, bookable window, unavailable dates, etc.) work the same as Book by date.
6. Respondent booking experience
Book by date example: Set Monday–Friday as bookable, daily capacity limit of 10, bookable date range 2026.06.04–2026.06.14, with no other restrictions.
Book by time slot example: Set Monday–Friday as bookable, daily slots 9:00–17:00 (excluding 12:00–14:00, hourly intervals), capacity limit of 20 per slot; no date range limit; require 1 day advance booking; only dates within the next 7 days are bookable.
After booking, an appointment summary appears at the bottom of the response page.
7. Data statistics
Under "Statistics & Analysis", use the appointment statistics report to Download data or View Appointment details.
- Appointment details show bookings for the next month by default. You can filter results (the range cannot exceed one month).
- Select a specific Project under the Appointment question to View booked dates, time slots, and Appointment details (name, phone number, booking quantity). Click to View individual response Details.
FAQ
Q: How do I choose between "Select project first, then time" and "Select time first, then project"?
A: The default works well when you have fewer Projects or book by service type. Choose "Select time first, then project" when you have many Projects or need to lock an available time slot first (e.g., meeting rooms).
Q: What is the difference between booking by date and by time slot?
A: Booking by date controls capacity by day. Booking by time slot splits a day into multiple slots with separate limits — better for venues, counseling, and other hour-level scheduling.
Q: Why can Appointment details only be filtered within one month?
A: Appointment details default to the next month to focus on upcoming bookings. Each filter range cannot exceed one month.
Important Notes
- Each Project must be configured individually via "Set Appointment"; otherwise booking will not work correctly.
- Cancellation deadlines are based on the earliest booked date; when all Projects use time-slot booking, you can also set an hour-based deadline.
- After cancellation, the response becomes invalid and cannot be viewed — inform respondents in advance.
- Leave capacity blank for no limit; enable "Show remaining capacity on response page" to display available slots.
- For time-slot booking, use "Copy" down to reuse identical slot configurations and reduce repetitive setup.
- Statistics filters cannot exceed one month — confirm your range before exporting data.
