How to create an event manually in Google Calendar¶

Not every appointment starts on WhatsApp. Some you write by hand in your calendar, after a phone call or at the end of a session. Others come from your online booking page, if you use one.

These appointments can get the automatic reminders too. The event just has to hold what's needed.

Google Calendar appointment reminders: you need the phone number¶

The reminder arrives on WhatsApp. So you need the client's phone number. Without a number nothing goes out, however well everything else is written.

Wably looks for the number in the event notes (some calendars call it description). Any way of writing it works:

+1 555 123 4567
555 123 4567
555-123-4567
5551234567

If you write the number without the international prefix, Wably first checks whether that number belongs to a client you already have: in that case it uses their full number. If it's a new person, it uses your practice's country, the one you set in Profile.

If you write more than one number, put the mobile first: Wably only uses the first one it finds.

How to write an event in Google Calendar: two ways that always work¶

You don't need to remember every rule. Pick one of these two ways and always use it.

Method 1: the name in the title¶

Write the first and last name at the start of the title. If you also want to note the type of appointment, put it after a dash. The phone number goes in the notes.

Title: Mark Evans - first visit
Notes: +1 555 123 4567

Mark Evans, Mark Evans | session and Mark Evans - knee check work too. What matters is that the name comes before the dash.

Method 2: the name in the notes¶

Use the title to describe the appointment and write the name in the notes, after Name:. Client: and Patient: work too.

Title: First visit right knee
Notes: Name: Mark Evans
       +1 555 123 4567

With this method the title can hold anything, even notes to yourself: you've written the name yourself, so Wably has nothing to interpret.

The three things to avoid¶

• The number in the title. It always goes in the notes.
• The name after the dash, as in Check - Mark Evans. Wably only reads the part before the dash: put the name there, or use method 2.
• No name at all, neither in the title nor in the notes. The number on its own isn't enough: without a name your client doesn't get the reminder.

When you write the appointment by hand¶

The number is what makes the reminder go out. The name is what tells Wably who the appointment belongs to.

Wably looks for the name in this order, and stops as soon as it finds one.

1. The person invited to the event. If one single person besides you is invited to the event, Wably takes the name and email from there.

2. A label in the notes, written at the start of a line. Name:, Full name:, Client:, Customer:, Patient:, Contact:, Guest: and Booked by: all work, as do the same labels in Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese. You can write them with or without accents, and you can use a dash instead of the colon.

Patient: Julia Reed
555 123 4567
second session, right knee

3. The name in the title, matched against your contacts. If the title holds someone you already have in your contacts, Wably recognises them. It works even if the title holds something else too, even with the name reversed, even in all lowercase:

Mark Evans - ankle check
Evans Mark
mark evans

4. The title as the name of a new person. This only works if the title is two or three words with no digits, and none of those words describes the appointment.

Sarah Mac Donald is fine. First visit is not: two words, but they're about the appointment, not about a person. Post-op check new patient is not either: too many words, and it isn't a name.

Wably knows the words that describe an appointment in the languages it works in: visit, session, check, treatment, massage, training, quote, meeting, break and many others. If the title holds one of them, it isn't used as a name.

When a new contact is created¶

A new contact is created only when the event holds both the name and the phone number, and none of your contacts match. The name is taken with the rules above.

If the name is missing, Wably doesn't save the appointment and your client doesn't get the reminder. That's deliberate: a contact with only a number and no name would be no use to you, and it would stay that way in your address book too.

When it recognises someone you already have¶

Wably recognises an existing client by phone number, by email or by the name in the title.

Recognition by name only happens when the result is certain. If you have two different people with the same name and different numbers, Wably doesn't guess and doesn't attach either one. That's deliberate: a reminder sent to the wrong person is worse than a reminder not sent.

The note asking you to check the name¶

When the name comes from the event title (case 4), Wably has no way to know whether it really is a name. So it saves the contact with a note inviting you to check it.

If you've turned on saving contacts to Google Contacts, you'll find the contact and the note right in your phone's address book, and you can correct the name there. The correction comes back to Wably on its own.

If you use an online booking page¶

Google Calendar Appointment Schedules, Calendly and Cal.com always ask for name and email, and add the client as a guest on the event. So the name is recognised on its own, with nothing for you to set up.

The phone number is different: they don't ask for it automatically.

When Wably looks at your calendar¶

Wably checks the calendar every 30 minutes and reads the next two months.

The first reminder goes out the day before the appointment, at the time you picked in Home between 9:00, 11:00 and 17:00, your practice's time. If you've also switched on the second reminder, that one goes out on the day itself, 2, 3 or 4 hours before the appointment.

An appointment added after the previous day's send time no longer makes it in time for that reminder. With the second reminder switched on, though, it still gets the one on the day itself.

Every case at a glance¶

The reminder didn't go out, why?¶

Open the event again and check in this order.

• There's no phone number in the notes. This is the most frequent reason.
• The client's name is missing. The number on its own isn't enough: the name goes in the title, or in the notes after Name:.
• The event is "all-day". Give it a time.
• There's no number, no email, and no name Wably can find in your contacts. A title like "First visit" isn't enough.
• The title is too long to be a name, or you have two people with the same name.
• You added the appointment after the previous day's send time. That reminder had already gone out. If you've switched on the second reminder, the client still gets the one on the day itself, unless the appointment is less than an hour away.
• You book online and the form doesn't ask for the phone number. This is the most common case among people using a booking page.
• You wrote more than one number in the notes and the first one isn't the mobile. Wably only uses the first one it finds.
• The number has no prefix and it's the same as two different clients'. Here Wably doesn't choose: write the full number, with the international prefix.

To choose between alert-only reminders and reminders with a confirmation request, to change the send time and to switch on the second reminder on the day itself, see the Home screen. To connect your calendar, see Google Calendar.