Frequently asked questions

Is Schedopia really free?

Yes. Everything documented on this site is in the free plugin, published in the WordPress.org directory under GPLv2. There are no per-booking fees, no usage caps, and nothing that stops working after a trial period.

Does it work with my theme and page builder?

The booking form goes in with a shortcode, so it works in the block editor, Elementor, the classic editor, and any builder that renders shortcodes. It sizes itself to its container rather than the window, so it fits narrow columns as well as full-width pages. The services, events, categories, staff and venues lists also come as Gutenberg blocks, in their own Schedopia group, and as Elementor widgets. See Adding the booking form.

Can two customers book the same slot?

No. Every booking passes a double-booking guard that runs as a single database transaction, so two people clicking at the same instant cannot both take the last slot. This applies to admin bookings too.

Can I take payment online?

Not yet. Schedopia records offline payments, such as cash or bank transfer, against each booking and derives each booking’s payment status from what you have recorded. See Payments.

Does Schedopia send my data anywhere?

No. It is fully self-hosted: bookings, customers and payments live in your own database, fonts and assets are served from your own server, and there are no analytics or phone-home requests.

There are two opt-in exceptions, both off by default. If you enable reCAPTCHA, the booking form then loads Google’s script and sends each submission’s token and IP to Google for a spam score; no booking or customer data is sent. And if you switch on Connect your AI, whatever a connected assistant reads is seen by the company that makes it, limited by the permission switches you set.

Why can’t customers see any available times?

Almost always one of five things. Work through the checklist — the most common cause by far is a service with no staff assigned to it.

Why aren’t emails arriving?

Schedopia uses the standard WordPress mail function, and many hosts deliver it poorly. Install any reputable SMTP plugin pointed at a real mail service and Schedopia will use it automatically. See Email notifications.

Can customers cancel or reschedule themselves?

They can cancel, from a secure link in their email or, with customer accounts on, from My bookings, within a cut-off window you control. Customers cannot reschedule themselves, and the admin has no reschedule button in this release either, so cancel the booking and make a new one. See Customer self-service cancellation.

Can I put my bookings in Google Calendar?

Yes — subscribe to the read-only calendar feed. It is one-way: Schedopia appears in your calendar, but events in your calendar do not block Schedopia slots.

Does it handle more than one location?

For appointments, not as a first-class concept today — businesses with two sites usually model it with staff and services per location, since a booking attaches to a staff member. For events, yes: venues are real locations, each with its own halls and seat maps.

Can I run classes or group sessions?

Yes, two ways. For a group appointment, set a service’s capacity above 1 and that many customers can hold the same slot — see Buffers & capacity. For a dated session where people reserve specific seats — a class, a workshop, a talk, a show — use Events: build a hall with a seat map, create the event, and customers pick their seats on the map.

What happens to my data if I uninstall?

Nothing is deleted. Your bookings, customers and catalog survive both deactivating and deleting the plugin. There is no switch in the Schedopia admin for removing that data on uninstall.

Does it use custom post types?

No — Schedopia uses its own database tables, so bookings, customers and payments are stored relationally and your posts table stays clean.

Where do I report a bug or ask for help?

Through the support forum on the WordPress.org plugin page. Including your WordPress and PHP versions, and the steps that reproduce the problem, gets you a faster answer.