Importing bookings from another system

Switching from another booking system? You don't have to start from scratch. Settings > Import Data brings your existing appointments into TimeToBook from a CSV file, so there's no re-typing your diary.

What can be imported

Services can't be imported. Add them yourself in Staff & Services, or if you have a long list, contact support and we can load your service list for you.

Before you start

The bookings importer needs somewhere to put each booking, so set these up first:

1. Your staff, in Staff & Services.
2. Your services, on the Services tab of Staff & Services.

If a service in your CSV doesn't exist yet, the wizard stops and lists the missing ones. The message says to create them in "Settings > Services", but services actually live in Staff & Services > Services. Add them there, then come back.

You don't need clients set up in advance. The bookings importer matches existing clients and creates new ones as it goes.

Exporting from your old system

Most booking systems have an appointments report or export you can download as a CSV. Look in their reports or export section, or ask their support team where to find it.

Any CSV with columns for the date, start time, end time, client name, staff member and service will work, including a spreadsheet you've saved as CSV.

The bookings wizard, step by step

Open Settings > Import Data and click Bookings. The wizard has six steps: Upload, Map columns, Map staff, Map services, Review and Done.

1. Upload

Choose your CSV file. TimeToBook reads the column headings and a few sample rows.

2. Map columns

The importer suggests a match for each field based on common heading names, but check them. Six fields are required:

• Date
• Start time
• End time
• Customer name
• Staff name
• Service name

These are optional but recommended:

• Phone (so text reminders work, and so returning clients are matched)
• Email (so confirmation emails work)
• Status, price and notes

You also pick the Date format and Time format here. Check these carefully: 09/04/2026 means 9 April in some systems and 4 September in others.

3. Map staff

Every staff name in your CSV needs to point at a staff member in TimeToBook. Names that match exactly are filled in for you. You must map every name before you can continue.

4. Map services

The same for services: every service name in your CSV must point at a service in TimeToBook.

On this step you also choose what happens if an imported booking overlaps one that's already on the calendar:

• Import anyway (the default): the booking is imported and you can sort out the overlap on the calendar.
• Skip overlapping rows: anything that overlaps is left out.

Click Preview import when you're ready.

5. Review

Nothing has been saved yet. You'll see how many bookings Will create and Will skip, how many New clients will be created and how many Matched clients were found, plus any conflicts or rows that couldn't be read.

Existing clients are matched by phone or email, so you won't get duplicates of people already in TimeToBook.

If it all looks right, click the Import button (it shows how many bookings will be created). You'll see progress as it runs.

6. Done

You'll get a summary of what was created and skipped, and the bookings appear on your Calendar.

Undoing an import

If something looks wrong, click Undo this import on the summary, or Undo last import on the first step of the wizard. This deletes every booking that import created. It does not remove or change clients: any new clients stay in your client list.

Then fix the problem (usually a column mapping or the date format) and run the wizard again.

Importing clients and notes from Timely

If you're moving from Timely, the Import from Timely card has two more options:

• Clients: upload your Timely client export to bring across your client list. Existing clients are updated rather than duplicated.
• Client Notes: upload Timely's notes export to bring across customer and booking notes.

These two only understand Timely's export format. If you're coming from another system, import your bookings instead, which creates clients as it goes.

Tips

• Start with a small test. Export one week of bookings first, import it, check the calendar, then do the rest.
• Match names before exporting. Renaming staff or services in TimeToBook to match your CSV is quicker than mapping lots of names by hand.
• Think twice about past bookings. Importing old appointments fills your reports with history from your old system. Filter the export to future dates if you only need upcoming bookings.
• Phone numbers matter. A booking with a phone number can get a text reminder.