The Appointments Inbox receives appointment requests submitted by clients through your public request form. This is separate from the calendar, requests must be reviewed and manually approved or declined before they become appointments.
New in v4.2 (web): The share-link and embed-code controls for the appointment request form moved out of the old “Settings > Inbox” page and into the unified Settings > Sharing page (Appointment Requests accordion). Bookmarks to /settings/inbox redirect there automatically. The Inbox itself, where requests appear for review, is unchanged.
On mobile, the same share controls live in their own Settings > Inbox screen. Same functionality, just organized as a standalone screen instead of an accordion section.
How It Works
- Share your request form link with clients (website, Instagram bio, Google Business Profile, email, etc.)
- Clients fill out the form, they provide contact info, preferred date/time, notes, and can upload reference photos
- Request appears in your Inbox with status “Pending”
- You review and respond, Book it (converts to an appointment) or Decline it
- If booked, attachments and notes from the request are automatically linked to the new appointment
The public form filters its date picker and time-of-day options based on your studio’s business hours and the selected artist’s availability, so clients only see slots when you’re actually open. Closed days are disabled in the picker with a friendly helper line (“We’re closed on Sunday and Monday”). When the request is converted to an appointment, the same off-hours and artist-availability soft-warn fires from the calendar’s Convert Request modal. See Business Hours for the full walkthrough on how hours flow into the public form.
Getting Your Request Form Link
Go to Settings > Sharing and expand the Appointment Requests accordion (it is open by default). You will find:
Copy Link, your unique form URL: https://app.tattoostudiopro.com/request/[your-studio-id]
Preview, see exactly how clients see your request form
Embed code, an iframe snippet to place the form directly on your site. Embed codes include ?embed=1 so the form renders without your studio header or logo for a clean fit on third-party sites.
Clients can submit requests 24/7 without logging in. The form works on all devices.
What the Form Looks Like to Clients
Clients see a streamlined request form with:
- Contact fields (name, email, phone)
- A date picker with closed days disabled and a helper line listing your closed days
- An artist selector. By default it includes an “Any artist” option at the top (picking it falls back to studio hours only and submits with no artist preference, and you assign someone when converting the request). You can change this behavior, hide “Any artist,” pre-select a default artist, or require clients to pick a real artist, from Settings > Form Editor > Request Form (see Configuring Artist Selection below)
- Service-aware filtering: if a client picks a service first, the artist list narrows to only the staff who offer it; if they pick a specific artist first, the service list narrows to only what that artist offers. Picking “Any artist” or no artist shows all services. This is driven by the per-staff services you set in Staff Management
- Morning, afternoon, and evening time-of-day buckets, filtered to the chosen artist’s working hours (an artist working noon to 6 PM disables the Morning bucket)
- An optional reference-image upload
- A notes field
- An SMS consent disclosure below the phone field, naming your studio and enumerating the message types clients may receive (booking confirmations, reminders, deposit links, check-in forms, receipts), message frequency, rates, STOP/HELP instructions, and links to the Privacy Policy and Terms. This block is required for the Twilio A2P 10DLC compliance carriers now enforce on every public SMS-triggering form. The same disclosure also appears on the walk-in check-in form and appointment-specific check-in forms.
Prefer walk-ins? If a client would rather skip the request form, you can also display a QR code at your front counter (see the Check-In Forms accordion on the same Sharing page). Clients scan the code, fill out their intake on their phone, and land in your queue instead of going through the request-and-review flow.
Configuring Artist Selection
New in v4.2. Go to Settings > Form Editor > Request Form to control how the artist picker behaves on your public form. There are two independent levers:
- Allow “Any artist” (a switch). On (the default) shows the “Any artist” option; off removes it so clients must pick a specific person.
- Default artist (a dropdown). Pre-selects an artist when a client opens the form. Leave it on None for no pre-selection.
Combining the two covers the common setups:
| Allow “Any artist” | Default artist | Result |
|---|---|---|
| On | None | ”Any artist” plus the full list, nothing pre-selected. This is the original behavior, so every studio that never touches this tab is unchanged |
| Off | Set | No “Any artist,” your default is pre-selected. Good for a solo artist who shouldn’t have to ask |
| Off | None | No “Any artist,” nothing pre-selected, and the client must choose an artist before submitting. Good for a multi-artist shop that wants a deliberate pick |
| On | Set | ”Any artist” is available but your default is pre-selected. Funnel toward one artist while letting clients opt out |
Why this matters: picking “Any artist” submits with no artist, so the form can only filter by studio hours, not by a specific artist’s availability. That’s the root of the old “clients booked a time when nobody was in” complaint. Turning “Any artist” off (or pre-selecting a default) means the form checks that artist’s real availability and collisions before offering a slot. If a default artist is later deactivated or hidden, the form quietly falls back to no pre-selection rather than pointing at someone who isn’t bookable.
Viewing Requests (Inbox)
Navigate to Appointments > Inbox (web) or Inbox in the main menu (mobile).
Status Tabs
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Pending | New requests awaiting review |
| Booked | Requests converted to appointments |
| Declined | Requests you’ve declined (archived) |
| All | All requests regardless of status |
The Inbox badge count shows pending requests needing attention.
Request Information
Each request shows:
- Client name, email, phone
- Preferred date and time
- Notes (design ideas, placement, etc.)
- Reference images (if attached)
Tap/click any request to expand and see full details.
Searching
Type in the search bar to find requests by client name, email, or phone number.
Processing a Request
Book a Request
- Open the pending request
- Review client details, preferred date/time, and notes
- Click/tap “Book” (web) or “Convert to Appointment” (mobile)
- The appointment editor opens, pre-filled with the client’s information
- Adjust date, time, artist assignment, and any other details
- Save, appointment is created and request moves to “Booked” status
- Reference photos and notes from the request are attached to the appointment
Decline a Request
- Open the pending request
- Click/tap “Decline”
- Request is archived with status “Declined”
- The record remains in your Inbox for reference
Badge Count
The badge on the Inbox link/icon shows the number of pending requests. It updates automatically when new requests arrive.
Best Practices
- Respond within 24 hours, clients may book elsewhere if they wait too long
- Share your link everywhere, website, social media bios, Google Business Profile, email signature
- Embed on your website, forms embedded directly on your site get more submissions
- Check Inbox regularly, pending requests are time-sensitive
Troubleshooting
Not receiving requests
- Confirm you’re sharing the correct link (check Settings > Sharing > Appointment Requests for your URL)
- Ask clients if they received a confirmation after submitting
- Check all status tabs, request may already be Booked or Declined
- Verify you’re looking at the right inbox view (not filtered)
- Refresh the page
Request form link not working
- Verify your studio has a valid Studio ID (check Settings > Studio Profile)
- Test the link in an incognito/private browser window
- Contact support if the form shows an error
Embed code not working on website
- Verify the code was pasted completely
- Some website builders restrict iframes, check your platform’s settings
- Test the form URL directly in a browser first
Copy button not working
- Check browser clipboard permissions
- Manually select the URL and copy with Ctrl+C / Cmd+C
- Try a different browser
Related Docs
- Appointments, Calendar and appointment management
- Business Hours, studio hours and per-artist availability that drive the public form’s date and time-of-day filtering
- Settings, Settings > Sharing for the link, embed code, and QR code
- Check In Links, Walk-in check-in links and QR code (separate from booking requests)