Setting up Booking variable configuration in Q-Cal

Booking variables let you add custom fields to the booking form — for example a text field, a number, a dropdown, or a checkbox — so that extra information can be collected whenever someone creates a booking.

1. Open a location's or calendar's settings

Hover over a Location (or an individual calendar within a location) in the calendar view, and click the small gear icon that appears.

This opens the Edit location (or Edit calendar) screen, on the Settings tab.

2. Create or select a configuration

The Booking variable configuration dropdown lets you either pick an existing configuration or create a new one. The same configuration can be reused across multiple locations and calendars — you don't need to build a separate one for each.

• To create a new one, leave the dropdown on "(Create New Configuration)" and click Edit.
• To use one that already exists, select it from the dropdown.

3. Add variables

Clicking Edit opens the Edit booking variable configuration screen. Give the configuration a Name, then click + Add to add a variable.

Each variable has a type, chosen from a dropdown:

• Text field
• Integer field
• Decimal field
• Drop down field
• Yes/No field
• Date/Time field
• Color field

You can add as many variables as you like within the same configuration.

4. Configure a variable

Every variable type shares the same base settings:

• Field name: hidden from regular users, but this is the identifier that design templates use to reference the variable's value — so if you want a variable to show up on a meeting room display or other design, this is the name that gets referenced in that design's code. Limited to alpha-numeric characters. Important: don't change this once the variable is already in use, as that will break the reference in any design already using it.
• Label: shown to users to explain what the field is for. Keep it short — ideally under 20 characters, e.g. "Name," "Address," "Postal code," or "Phone."
• Opt In, Out or Required: controls how a booking-user is expected to respond.
  • Opt-In: the field can be left blank.
  • Required: the field must be filled in.
  • Opt-out: only relevant for synchronizations where the field already has a value — that value won't be overwritten. (Synchronization via API is an exception.)
• Inheritance (in repetitions): controls how the value is carried across repeated bookings. The default, Flexible, means the original booking's value is used as the preferred value for the rest of the series.
• Time frame: optionally limits when this field applies, within a fixed time window. Leave empty if not needed.
• Visible (or hidden): controls whether the field is shown to users at all. Useful if a value is only needed for synchronization, or only used technically within a design, without needing to be shown to anyone filling in a booking.
• Start value: a pre-filled value shown when the field is first presented. Can be left empty.

Type-specific settings

• Integer field and Decimal field: also have Min- and Maximum, to restrict the allowed range. Decimal field additionally has Number of decimals, to control how many decimal places are allowed.
• Drop down field:
  • Drop down (toggle): determines whether multiple choices can be selected at once. Note: changing this after the fact carries some risk — for example, switching from allowing multiple selections to allowing only one, after values with multiple selections already exist.
  • Product binding: optionally link a product to this field, so that selecting a specific option automatically adds that product to the booking order.
  • Below that, add each dropdown option one at a time using the two fields and the + Add button: an internal field value (must be unique within the same list) and a user-facing label for that option.
• Date/Time field: has Time/Date selection (e.g. date only, or date and time) and Time/Date format, to control how the value is displayed.
• Color field: has Use color in the overview, which — if enabled — uses this variable's value to color the booking event on the front page/overview.

5. Save

Once you've added and configured your variables, click Save or Save & Close on the configuration screen, then Save & Close on the location/calendar screen to apply it.

Where this shows up

Once a configuration is attached to a location, every calendar within that location will show the variable when a new booking is created. If you'd rather apply it to only one specific calendar instead of the whole location, follow the same steps (hover over that calendar > gear icon > Booking variable configuration) and select or edit the configuration there instead.

Note: adding a variable here only makes it available in the booking form itself. If you also want the variable's value to appear on a meeting room display or in another overview, that has to be added into the design's code separately, referencing the variable's Field name — it doesn't show up there automatically.