---
key: set-up-a-public-booking-page
title: Set up a public booking page
audience: staff
section: settings
routes: ["/settings/org/public-booking", "/settings/org/public-booking/surfaces/:surfaceUid/:workspace?"]
permissions: ["org.settings.public_booking.read"]
features: ["settings.org.public-booking"]
since: 0.0.1
updated: 0.0.1
status: published
summary: Create a booking surface, name it, choose which services customers can book on it, write the headline they see, then publish it so customers can book online.
keywords: [online booking, book online, booking page, customer self booking, booking surface, publish booking, website booking, appointment page]
related: [put-the-booking-page-on-your-website, create-an-offering, set-up-schedule-policies, approve-a-public-booking]
---

In the sidebar, open **Settings**, then choose **Online Booking** under **Website & Forms**. The page address is `/settings/org/public-booking`.

Nova calls each public booking page a surface. Most companies need one. You might add a second for another branch, another brand, or a campaign with its own look.

## Before you start

- Your role needs permission to read public booking settings to open the page, and permission to write them to save. A yellow banner tells you when you can only read.
- Customers can only book the services you have set up as offerings with public booking allowed. See [[create-an-offering]].
- Booking hours, lead time and blackout dates for online booking are set on the **Availability** tab, for the whole organization, a branch or one service. They are shared by every surface and do not limit your own Schedule.

## Steps

1. Under **Managed public surfaces**, press the surface you want to change, or press **Create surface** to add one (Nova names it something like Booking Surface 1).
2. On the **Details** tab, under **Identity, scope, and presentation**, type a **Surface title** (customers do not see this). The **Surface key** is a short name that tells surfaces apart in reports; it is not part of the web address.
3. Pick a **Branch scope** if the page should only book work for one branch. Leave **All branches** otherwise.
4. Under **Allowed services**, the box shows how many services are picked, or that all active services are allowed. To change it, press **Manage services**, pick services on the **Services** tab, press **Save service selection**, then come back to **Details**.
5. Turn on **Default Booking surface** if this is your main page.
6. Type a **Hero title** and **Hero subtitle** (the headline and line under it on the customer page) and a **Success message** for after they book. Booking times are always shown in your business's local time with no time zone. When you leave the subtitle empty, a visitor whose device is set to another time zone sees which one the times are in, for example "Times are in Eastern time."
7. Under **Legal policy links**, each policy starts on **Use canonical default**. Pick **Use policy page** to link one of your published pages, or **Use external URL** for a page on your own site.
8. Under **Surface access policy**, keep **Hosted page** on.
9. Press **Save surface**.
10. When you are ready, press **Publish** in the surface header, and the hosted page goes live. Turning on **Enable public booking** and pressing **Save surface** does the same.

## What you see

- Each tab beside the surface (**Details**, **Services**, **Flow**, **Availability**, **Delivery** and the rest) has its own save button. Save one tab before moving to the next.
- The header shows **Publish** while a surface is offline and **Disable** once it is live. **Archive** takes it out of use; **Restore** brings it back offline.
- The default surface answers your main booking address; other surfaces get their own. Copy it from the **Delivery** tab.
- If your booking flow asks customers to upload files, customers can remove an unused upload before booking. It moves to Trash. Files already attached to a booking stay with that booking.
- **Open operations** takes you to the waitlist, identity reviews and payment approvals for bookings that came in. See [[approve-a-public-booking]].

## If something looks different

- **Create surface** is missing: your role cannot write public booking settings.
- A tab is greyed out: that tab needs a permission your role does not have.
- Your edits vanished after you pressed a header button: those buttons reload the surface and drop unsaved changes. Press **Save surface** first.
- The hosted page shows nothing after you publish: check that **Enable public booking** is on and **Hosted page** is on under **Surface access policy**.
- A note says the surface is scoped to an inactive branch: pick a different **Branch scope** or reactivate the branch.
- You want the page inside your own website rather than on Nova's address: see [[put-the-booking-page-on-your-website]].

[[route:/settings/org/public-booking|Open Public Booking]]