Daily operations guide for practice staff using the Your Booking dashboard.
Go to https://yourpractice.yourbooking.au/staff and log in with the credentials provided by your practice manager.
You'll see a row of tabs across the top: Appointments, Recalls, Sent History, Collections, Call Queue, Print Queue, and Chat. If reminders or recalls ran today, a stats summary also appears at the top showing counts like messages sent, confirmed, and failed.
Note: Which tabs you see depends on what your practice has switched on. Appointments and Sent History are always there. Recalls, Collections, Call Queue, and Print Queue appear only with the Recalls & Reminders module. The Chat tab appears whenever web chat or SMS chat is enabled.
This tab shows appointments created on the selected date, sorted by time booked (newest first). Use the arrows or Today link to change the date. The list refreshes automatically every 60 seconds.
Each row shows when the appointment was booked, the patient's name, the scheduled date and time, appointment type, optometrist, and current status.
Reminders, manage links and pre-visit emails go to the mobile and email recorded on the appointment where there is one, and to the patient record otherwise.
Sunix walk-ins. An appointment made in Sunix without a patient record shows with a Walk-in badge and the name typed on the appointment. Reminders and pre-visit emails use the mobile or email on the appointment. Send Link and the bulk-billing link aren't available, because both need a patient record.
After a patient books (or is booked in), you can send them a manage link — a message with the appointment details and a link where they can reschedule or cancel. The channel (SMS or email) is picked automatically from the patient's contact preference; if there's no mobile, the email path is used.
If you've already sent a link, the button changes to Resend.
Click Remind next to an appointment to send the reminder message. It uses the same template the automated reminder would have used. Handy when an appointment was booked after the day's reminders ran, or to nudge a patient who hasn't replied.
For appointment types with a pre-visit email configured, a Send button appears in the pre-visit column. Mainly useful for manually-booked appointments — online bookings auto-send the pre-visit email. The button changes to Send again once it's been sent.
Use this tab to preview what an upcoming recall run will send, and to send recalls on demand when needed.
If recall automation is off, an amber notice at the top says so. Nothing listed sends on its own until automation is switched on in the Admin Dashboard.
Initial recalls — patients due for the first contact in this rule's chain. The preview shows everyone whose due date is on or before the selected run date and who hasn't been processed yet. A rule set to send recalls early reaches that many days further ahead, shown above the totals as "Patients due up to …". Picking a future date doesn't filter to "newly due in that period" — it includes the whole backlog up to that date, so a run that hasn't fired in a while will catch up the next time it runs.
Pending follow-ups — follow-up sends scheduled to fire in this specific run's window (between the previous scheduled run and the selected one). These don't accumulate the same way; only the follow-ups timed to this run appear.
Each row shows the patient's name, recall type, due date, which channel would be used (SMS, Email, Letter, or Phone), and the template name. Follow-up rows also show the step number and its delay (e.g. "follow-up #2 (90d)").
Badges at the top show totals: N total, N initial, follow-ups broken down by step, and N skipped if any rows are being skipped. The reason for each skipped row appears next to the patient's name in the list.
The pending follow-ups section is read-only — those send automatically by the system on schedule. The initial recalls section is the actionable part:
Rows that can't be sent show a Ban icon instead of a checkbox, with the skip reason (e.g. "opt out", "no channel") next to the patient's name.
This tab shows everything that's been sent — reminders, recalls, and manage links. Closed chat conversations show up here too, as a single row (labelled SMS Chat or Web Chat) with the patient, the date it closed, and the message count; expand it to read the full transcript.
Use the search box in the top right to find a specific patient's message history. You can search by:
@)When searching, the view switches to a flat timeline showing all reminders and recalls for that patient across all dates. You can stop or resume recall follow-ups directly from the search results.
Clear the search (click the X) to return to the normal batch view.
Use the type buttons to show only Reminders, Recalls, or Manage links. Use the date buttons for quick presets (Today, Yesterday, Last 7 days) or pick a custom date range.
Each row is a batch — a group of messages sent at the same time. You can see the type, when it was sent, and summary counts (sent, delivered, failed, replies, opt-outs).
Click a batch to expand it and see individual messages. Within each batch:
Recall SMS reply or Feedback SMS reply. You also received the full body by email at the moment the reply arrived.If you need to stop a patient's recall follow-ups for any reason (for example, they have moved away and no longer want recalls):
The easiest way is to search for the patient by name, then click Stop on their recall row.
Alternatively, from the batch view:
All future follow-ups for that patient's recall are cancelled. If you need to undo this later, find the stopped item and click Stopped.
If Collections is turned on for your practice, a Collections tab (glasses icon) lists patients whose order is ready — spectacles, contact lenses, or both — so you can text or email them. Your practice manager / administrator turns it on and decides which item types you see.
Running both item types adds Spectacles / Contact lenses / All buttons to the top; with only one turned on there's nothing to choose and the buttons stay out of the way.
The tab opens on today's ready orders. Along the top:
Each row is one patient's order of one kind: their name, and a job number with a short lens code for each ready pair. A patient with spectacles and contact lenses waiting has a row for each. If some of that order isn't ready yet, you'll see "Not ready 1" — worth knowing before you send, so they don't come in for one pair while the rest is still coming.
Click the arrow on the left of a row to expand it and see the full detail of each job — frame, lenses, and the ready and due dates. This detail is read-only; it comes straight from your practice software.
Contact lens rows show each eye on its own terms, because the two eyes can be different products in different quantities: right and left are listed separately, with how many boxes and — where your catalogue gives a pack size — how many months that is. A trial pair is never given a supply length. You'll also see a trial marker, the prescription expiry where the order carries one, and your own order comment, because those are what decide whether the patient needs an appointment.
Each row carries a choice of what to send, which you can change per patient:
Your Booking suggests one and you change it where it doesn't fit. Nothing about "collect over the counter" or "needs an appointment" is recorded on a contact-lens order, so this stays a judgement call — the row shows you what there is to judge by.
Any one of three things on the order tips the suggestion to Book appt:
With none of the three on the order the suggestion is No link. Where a booking is suggested, the row tells you which of the three did it: rest your pointer on the choice and it reads "Suggested because ...".
Two things worth knowing about the suggestion:
Picking Book appt shows two more choices: which appointment type the link books, and who it offers times with. Any offers whoever your booking page would.
Click Send on a patient's row. A window opens so you can check the message before it goes:
Click Send. The patient gets the message on the channel shown, and what you sent is written onto the order in your practice software.
Your Booking uses the patient's preferred channel:
To clear a batch quickly:
When the patient books, the appointment appears in your normal appointment book — against a dispenser for a collection link, or against whoever the link named — and they drop off the Collections list for good. If a patient rings and you book them in by hand instead, that's fine too — Your Booking sees the appointment and won't send them a duplicate.
A message sent with No link is recorded the same way: the patient drops off the list as sent, and the text goes onto the order.
When a recall rule schedules a telephone call, it appears here. This is your list of patients to call.
The outcome buttons are split into two groups based on whether the patient picked up.
Patient answered — terminal outcomes; the row leaves the queue:
| Button | When to use | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Booked | You booked them an appointment | Recall is marked as sent; row leaves the queue |
| Didn't book | You spoke but they didn't book | Row leaves the queue; the recall chain may continue with a later step if the rule has one |
| Reschedule | They asked to be re-contacted later | Row leaves the queue; staff manually creates a new recall |
| Don't contact again | They asked never to be contacted again | Row leaves the queue; the recall chain stops for this patient |
Patient didn't answer — no resolution; the row stays in the queue (except for the channel switch):
| Button | When to use | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Left message | You left a voicemail | Appends a timestamped "Left message" note; row stays for retry |
| No answer | The phone rang out | Appends a timestamped "No answer" note; row stays for retry |
| Send via SMS / Email / Letter | Switch channel — patient has a usable non-phone preference | Sends the recall via the patient's next-preferred channel (or queues for letter print) and removes from the call queue |
| Give up | Shown when no alternate channel is available | Recall is closed; row leaves the queue |
The switch-channel button label depends on the patient's settings: it shows the channel name when one's available ("Send via SMS"), or Give up when there's no usable alternate.
If you see an Attempt 2 or Attempt 3 badge next to the patient's name, the row has previously been marked Left message or No answer without a final outcome.
When a recall rule schedules a letter, it appears here for printing. From this one tab you print the personalised letters and, if you post them, the matching envelope address labels.
Marking as printed is what records the recall as sent — it's tied to the letter, not the labels. So print your labels (below) before you mark the batch as printed if you want them to match the same selection.
The letter already prints the patient's name and address at the top. If you use window envelopes, choose a window page size so that address lines up with the window and you don't need labels at all:
Pick the matching page size in Print Settings, print one, and slip it into an envelope to check the address shows through the window. If it sits slightly off, use the Window Address Position nudge (X moves it right, Y moves it down) until it's centred — you only need to do this once.
On a window page size the address block and the letter text are positioned separately, because they answer to different things: the address has to line up with the envelope window, while the text has to start below whatever your letterhead prints at the top of the page.
Changing one never moves the other, so you can set each one for its own reason. The starting values are 115 mm on A4 and 78 mm on A5, measured from the top of the page.
If you post in plain envelopes, print address labels instead. Labels carry the same name and address as the letters, in the same order, so the first label goes on the envelope for the first letter, and so on.
If labels print slightly off the cells even at 100%, calibrate once for your printer:
The offset is remembered for your practice, so it's a one-time setup per printer.
Expand Print Settings to change the letter layout and label options. Changes save automatically and are remembered for next time (except Start at, which you set per print run).
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Page size | A5 (plus A4, and window-envelope variants of each) |
| Font / size / line spacing | Montserrat, 11 pt, 1.4× |
| Margins (top / sides / bottom) | 35 / 15 / 15 mm — the top margin applies to plain page sizes |
| Text starts (window sizes only) | 115 mm on A4, 78 mm on A5 |
| Window Address Position (window sizes only) | nudge X / Y, 0 mm |
| Label sheet | Avery L7160 (also L7159, L7163, L7165) |
| Label offset X / Y | 0 mm (printer calibration) |
The Chat tab is where you read and reply to messages from patients. It covers two channels:
A number on the Chat tab shows how many unread messages are waiting.
Down the left are two groups:
Click any conversation to open it on the right. A blue dot marks a thread with unread messages from the patient. It's a shared signal — opening the conversation clears the dot on every workstation, and a new reply re-flags it everywhere. If several workstations are open, the chime stops on all of them once anyone opens the chat.
Top-right is an Available / Away button that controls what visitors see on the web chat box:
Click it to switch to Away for the rest of the day when reception is busy, then back to Available when you're free again.
When a new message arrives while you're on another tab — or the dashboard is minimised — a few things flag it so you don't miss it:
Installing the dashboard as an app and switching these on is a one-time job per workstation — see the Patient Chat guide.
For SMS, a small counter shows how many message parts your reply will use — longer messages split into more parts and cost more.
Three shortcuts sit below the reply box to save typing:
The first time you open Manage quick replies the list is empty. Add the phrases your front desk types most often — a greeting, a "running late" note, directions to the practice — and they'll be one click away in every conversation from then on. Editing or deleting a snippet changes it for everyone at the practice.
A snippet can carry placeholders so one phrase works for every patient. Click a chip above the box to drop one in:
| Placeholder | Becomes |
|---|---|
{PATIENT_FIRST_NAME} | The patient's first name |
{PRACTICE_NAME} | Your practice name |
{PRACTICE_PHONE} | Your practice phone number |
{BOOKING_LINK} | Your online booking link |
They fill in as the snippet lands in the reply box, so you see the finished wording before you send — nothing is guessed at send time. A placeholder with nothing behind it stays as typed ({PATIENT_FIRST_NAME} on a conversation with no linked patient, for instance), so check the box before sending. Chips your practice has no value for aren't offered.
Use this when you'd otherwise arrange the appointment over the phone — a contact-lens collection, a visual field, a repair, a follow-up with a particular person. The patient opens the link and picks a time. There is no sign-in and nothing for them to choose: the appointment type is already set.
A few things worth knowing:
{DIRECT_LINK} placeholder while you're typing, and the real link is made at the moment it sends — so an abandoned draft never leaves a live link behind.{DIRECT_LINK} and you only need to pick the appointment before sending.Which appointment types the picker offers is set by your practice manager / administrator. Until someone has chosen them, the button opens a short explanation instead of the picker.
This uses the mobile number on the patient's record, so they'll need a mobile number on file. (You can't start a web chat from here — those begin when a visitor messages you.)
When a conversation is linked to a patient record, a green ✓ Verified badge confirms their identity has been matched against your practice records. Web chat visitors start out anonymous — you can ask them to identify themselves during the conversation by clicking Request patient details, which sends them a short name + date-of-birth form.
Patients can also be automatically verified if they've already been identified during appointment booking. Either way, once the system runs the check a staff-only note appears in the conversation — "Matched to existing patient #…", or a "no match" note prompting you to re-check the name and date of birth. Patients never see these notes.
When a conversation started from a reminder or recall reply, the header shows one-tap action buttons so you can handle the patient's request without leaving the chat. Which buttons appear depends on what the patient was originally messaged about:
Each button confirms once it's done (e.g. "Confirmed", "Recalls stopped") so you can see at a glance that the action went through. These buttons act on the patient's record straight away — they're not undone by archiving the chat.
After each reminder or recall batch runs, the practice receives a summary email. This email is delayed (default: 24 hours) to give time for delivery confirmations and patient replies to come in before the summary is generated.
The summary includes:
The delay can be adjusted per rule in the admin settings. A shorter delay (e.g. 4 hours) gets you the summary sooner but may miss late replies.