Scheduling, Confirming, Canceling, and Rescheduling Group Sessions

In this article:

• Before You Begin
• Scheduling Group Sessions
  • Selecting an Availability Placeholder
• Creating a Private Group Session
• Removing a Group Session Placeholder
• Canceling a Group Session
• Rescheduling a Group Session

Before You Begin

• This article assumes you already have a Group Service and, in most cases, availability set up for it. If you haven't done that yet, start with Setting Up Group Services with Practice Better →
   
• A group availability slot only creates a placeholder, a tentative, unconfirmed session. Confirming that placeholder, or a client registering for it, is what turns it into a real, active session. Understanding this distinction matters for what happens when you cancel later in this article.

Scheduling Group Sessions

Selecting an Availability Placeholder

If you've set up availability for your group service, session placeholders appear on your My Practice > My Calendar page. Placeholders are identified by a light-shaded bar to the left of the event details.

Group Session Placeholder (unconfirmed)	Group Session (confirmed)

To confirm a group session placeholder:

1. Go to My Practice > My Calendar and click a placeholder to see two options:
   
   • View session details: Review and confirm your session details. Once confirmed, you can register attendees and manage other details.
   • Delete placeholder: Removes the availability you've set up for this service at this specific day and time.
      
2. Select View session details to continue, or click Cancel to leave the placeholder as-is.
    
3. After you click View session details, a pop-up appears where you can adjust the attendee limit, buffer time, and other session details.
   
    
4. Click Confirm to save your session and convert the placeholder into a confirmed session.

Once confirmed, the session behaves like a normal booking: reminders go out, and you can register attendees.

Creating a Private Group Session

You can also schedule a group session directly, without relying on a pre-set availability placeholder.

1. Go to My Schedule > My Calendar.
    
2. Click the Fast Action Button in the bottom-right corner and select Schedule a group session.
   
    
3. Choose your service from the list in the pop-up.
    
4. If the service you selected already has availability slots, you’ll be prompted to select one from the list. Click an existing slot, or click the New session button at the bottom of the pop-up. 
    
5. You can also schedule a session this way from your My Practice > My Services page, by clicking Schedule a session next to your Group Service.
    
6. Configure your session details and save or confirm the session. 

📍 Note: A session created this way won't be available for client self-registration unless you share the registration link. See Registering and Managing Group Session Attendees → for details on registering clients and sharing links.

Removing a Group Session Placeholder

If a group session is still an unconfirmed placeholder, you haven't clicked Confirm yet, you don't cancel it the same way you'd cancel a confirmed session. Instead, you delete the placeholder directly.

1. From My Practice > My Calendar, click the placeholder.
    
2. Select Delete placeholder in the pop-up.
    
3. This will immediately delete the group session placeholder on that date. 
    
4. If you need to add it back again, toggle to your Availability view, open the group service availability, and scroll down to locate Excluded Dates. 
    
5. Click the trash icon to remove that date from exclusion, and include it in the recurring availability again. 
   

📍 Note: Deleting a placeholder removes the availability itself, no session was ever confirmed, so there's nothing to cancel and no notification to send. This is different from canceling a confirmed session, covered next, which does notify any registered clients.

Canceling a Group Session

This section covers canceling a session that's already been confirmed. If the session is still an unconfirmed placeholder, see Removing a Group Session Placeholder above instead.

1. From the Session Details page, click Cancel session.
   
    
2. In the Cancel Session dialog, choose whether to notify clients of this cancellation, this checkbox is selected by default. Clients will receive an email with your cancellation note, if applicable.
   
    
3. Optionally, add a note to clients explaining the cancellation.
    
4. Click Confirm. 

📍 Note: If the session was confirmed from an availability placeholder, canceling it removes both the confirmed session and the availability on that date. Registered attendees are cleared from the session as part of the cancellation.

Canceling and notifying clients is different from deleting a placeholder outright. Canceling a session notifies anyone already registered; deleting a group session placeholder that was never confirmed sends no notification, since there was nothing to notify anyone about.

Rescheduling a Group Session

1. From the Session preview on your calendar, click Edit.  
   • Or, from the Session Details page, click Update / Reschedule.
      
2. In the Update Session dialog, edit the date, start time, and duration fields directly.
    
3. Choose whether to send a notification about this update; this checkbox is selected by default.
    
4. Click Update.

Registered attendees automatically carry over to the new date and time; they don't need to re-register.

📍 Note: Rescheduling moves only that individual session. It doesn't move your underlying recurring availability.