Order Settings

Use Order Settings to control how bookings are created in Fotello.

Open Order Settings

Go to Order Form option under Storefront in the left navigation panel → Order Settings.

Scheduling

Choose how appointments work on your order form. Under Scheduling, pick one of three options:

• Required — Customers must choose an appointment time during booking. This is the default and the best choice when every order needs a confirmed time before you accept it.

• Optional — Customers can pick an appointment time or choose Not ready yet to skip scheduling. This is useful when customers want to get a booking in quickly but haven't finalized the property access or timing yet. You or your team can schedule the appointment later from the order.

• Not required — Customers are never asked to pick an appointment. The scheduling step is removed from the booking flow entirely. Use this if you prefer to coordinate scheduling outside of Fotello or handle it after the order is placed.

When scheduling is set to Not required, the scheduling-related settings below (buffer time, minimum notice, etc.) are disabled since they no longer apply.

Start time slot display

This setting controls how available appointment times appear to your customers during booking. You'll find it under Scheduling Settings on the same page.

• Exact time (default) — Customers see a list of specific start times (e.g., 9:00 AM, 9:30 AM, 10:00 AM). This is the standard slot-based experience.

• Time of day — Customers choose a general time window instead of an exact start time (e.g., Morning, Afternoon, Evening). This is useful when you want flexibility in your schedule and don't need the customer to commit to a precise time.

When you select Time of day, you can fully customize the windows:

• Label — Give each window a name your customers will see, like "Morning" or "Early Afternoon."

• Start and end time — Define the time range for each window.

• Add or remove windows — You can create up to 5 windows. At least one must remain.

Three default windows are created for you: Morning (8:00 AM – 12:00 PM), Afternoon (12:00 PM – 4:00 PM), and Evening (4:00 PM – 8:00 PM). Edit them to match your preferred schedule.

Fotello checks that your time windows cover your availability. If a window doesn't overlap with any team member's working hours, you'll see a warning — customers won't see that window even if it's configured.

How it works on your side

When a customer books using a time window, you'll see a banner on the order showing which window they requested (e.g., "Customer requested a Morning appointment on Apr 10"). If no specific appointment has been scheduled yet, Fotello suggests the first available slot within that window. You can accept the suggestion or pick a different time.

Take property size in booking

This setting controls whether customers are asked for the property's interior area (square footage) during booking.

• On (default) — Customers enter the property size along with the address. Services, packages, and add-ons are filtered to show only the tiers that match the entered area, and pricing is calculated based on the property size.

• Off — The area input is removed from the booking flow. Customers only enter the property address. All products are shown regardless of area, and pricing defaults to the base tier.

Turning this off removes area-based tiers from your existing services and packages. You'll need to re-create tiers manually if you turn it back on.

Auto-accept orders

By default, customers can only request to book an order. You (or your team: for more information visit Teams) must confirm it before it’s accepted and converted to a listing.

If you’ve set everything up and want to automate this process, toggle Auto-approve orders on.

Incoming orders will be accepted instantly without needing manual intervention. This means that each order will create a new listing in your dashboard and you can simply upload your photos to it post-shoot for editing - no manual steps needed.

Guest bookings

Turn on Allow guest bookings to let customers book in a simple 2-step flow without logging in.

Even with guest booking:

• They’re still added to your customer list.

• They can create an account afterwards if they need it.

If you receive any bookings offline, you can use the guest booking option to create the order in Fotello on behalf of your customers.