Lock Past Bookings
By default, resources can add, edit, and delete calendar bookings for past and future dates. The functionality of Lock Past Bookings allows you to lock these actions. And now it has expanded so you can even choose which of the three actions to combine and apply.
Article structure:
1. Set Up the Functionality
The functionality is to be found as shown in the screenshot below (Settings > Booking > Calendar) and is by default disabled. To enable it, simply click on the edit icon in the top right corner.
In the screenshot below, you will notice that you can adopt the global settings by enabling the first switch button. This will make all your local companies - part of a Branch Manager - adopt its set-up.
If you do not have a Branch Manager, you can simply ignore this notice.
Also, looking at the other 3 switch buttons, notice that now there is an option to choose whether to lock bookings in the past to be added, or to lock just their editing, or their deleting only. You can combine those in any way you want, as well as have them activated all at once.
When it comes to editing, you can see in the screenshot below that there is great flexibility too regarding each of the elements of a booking event.
2. How It Works and What You Should Pay Attention to
The functionality is quite straightforward - if you leave it disabled, then this means that you can add, edit and delete bookings both in the past and in the future. This is the default state. If you enable it - or some parts of it, as described above - then you lock the adding, editing, and deleting of bookings in the past, which means you allow those actions for bookings in the future only.
Along with the general rule, there are a few things to remember.
2.1. The 6 booking fields that go together
Mind that when you enable any one of the following, then Service/Title will be automatically enabled with it (screenshot below):
End time/duration
Resources
Prep and Follow Up Time
Custom Booking Data Fields
Price
The reason for this is that these 6 elements of a booking always go together. Change even one, and you will not have the same service any more but, the calendar considers this as a new service, hence a new booking a.k.a. title booking. That is why with Lock Past Bookings functionality, if you lock any of the above 5 booking fields, the Service/Title field is automatically enabled (i.e. locked for editing) in order to avoid accidentally creating a new booking by simply editing the old.
2.2. Using Start time to manipulate
Lock adding & deleting events in the past, and lock editing for most fields BUT Start time - when you do so, you can send the event into the future and then delete it.
The same way you can add a future event and thanks to the unlocked editing of Start time you can send it in the past even though you have locked adding events in the past.
These manipulations are something to mind, and come from the flexibility that this functionality gives by allowing the enabling/disabling for each element of a booking.
2.3. Mind Split bookings and Repeated bookings
Both of these types of bookings consist of 2 or more entities. This means that the functionality of Lock Past Bookings will apply only to those entities of the bookings which are in the past and those that are in the future will not be affected even though this is considered to be one and the same booking.