Updated 1 October 2026.
The Short Answer
Switching from a paper diary or Google Calendar to a booking app takes six steps: services and prices, working hours, the customer list, upcoming appointments, telling customers, and connecting Google Calendar. You can do them gradually, and you do not have to drop the old calendar on day one. Run both in parallel until the new one matches.
Two things worth knowing in advance in Timing: importing customers does not send them a message, but an appointment you create by hand sends the customer a confirmation like someone who booked alone, so tell customers before you enter their appointments. And in the first week, the default is that every new booking waits for your approval.
Timing appointments appear in Google Calendar on every plan, free included. Importing your personal Google events into Timing's calendar is available from the Professional plan.
The Checklist - Six Steps
1. Services and Prices
List every service you offer: name, duration and price. If some services are always booked together, decide whether to set them up as one service. This is what the customer sees on the booking page, so use names a customer understands.
2. Working Hours and Days Off
Set hours for each day, breaks and days off. One-off blocks (a vacation, a holiday eve) go in as "time blocking". The system offers customers only free hours according to what you set.
3. The Customer List
- From a paper diary: do not type everyone. Start with customers who came back in the last six months. A name and a phone number are enough.
- From Google Calendar or your phone: import from your phone's contacts or from a CSV file. Contact import and CSV import are included on the free plan too.
- Before importing from a file, make sure there is a name column and a phone column, and that numbers are written consistently.
- Timing shows a preview before you confirm. Go through it. Duplicates are matched by phone number, and the import does not message customers.
4. Upcoming Appointments
Move over every appointment already booked, starting with the next two weeks. Create each one by hand: pick a customer, a service, a date and a time. A customer you book by hand gets a confirmation exactly like someone who booked alone, so first send them a message explaining that a message from the system will arrive (see step 5).
5. Tell Your Customers
Send each customer one short message, for example:
Hi [name], we have moved to booking through a link: [link]. Your appointment on [date] is saved, and a confirmation message will arrive from the system. You can book and cancel through the link, or write to us here as always.
Do not add offers or promotions to it: it is an operational message about how to book. On the difference between service and marketing messages, read the WhatsApp message templates. Share the link in your bio and on WhatsApp too, and say it at every visit: "you can book your next appointment through the link". How to do that is in the guide to the bio link.
6. Connect Google Calendar
- In the app, tap the profile icon in the top corner of the home screen.
- Scroll to the Google Calendar card and sign in to the account where your calendar lives.
- Approve the permissions on Google's screen.
- On Professional and above, choose which calendars to import and turn on blocking of booking windows, so a private event in your calendar blocks the hour in Timing too.
What to Expect in the First Week
- Bookings wait for approval. By default every new booking waits for you in the "Bookings" tab. You can turn on auto-approval in the availability settings. Check the tab a few times a day.
- Some customers will keep calling. That is normal. Book them yourself and mention the link for next time.
- Two calendars in parallel. For a week or two after switching, check at the end of each day that the new calendar matches the old one. An appointment missing there is better found right away.
- One place for changes. Do cancellations and moves only in Timing, not in both places.
- Wording. If customers get stuck at the same step on the booking page, a service name is probably unclear. Change it.
How to Keep Google Calendar in Sync
- Timing to Google: every appointment booked in Timing appears in your Google Calendar, on every plan, free included. Per the feature page, sync usually takes seconds.
- Google to Timing: importing personal events so they block time in Timing is available from the Professional plan. On the free plan and Basic, block time by hand in Timing ("time blocking").
- Choosing calendars: in the import you choose which calendars come in. A holiday calendar, for example, usually should not block time.
- Privacy: customers see only free hours. The details of your personal events are not shown to them.
- A rule of thumb: customer appointments are created in Timing, personal events in Google. That way there are not two sources for the same appointment.
- You can disconnect the sync at any point without losing data.
More details: Google Calendar sync in Timing and how to connect your Google Calendar.
Ready to start? Start free: the free plan includes up to 15 appointments a month, customer import and Google Calendar sync. Above 15 appointments, the Basic plan is ₪79 a month with unlimited appointments.