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Fix Microsoft Bookings Not Showing Quarter-Hour Appointment Times

Natalie Taylor Oct 7, 2026 870 views

Question details

The user needs to make 30-minute appointments starting at quarter-hour marks (e.g., 8:45 AM or 11:45 AM) available for scheduling in Microsoft Bookings.

Fix Microsoft Bookings Not Showing Quarter-Hour Appointment Times

Product: Microsoft Bookings
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Configuring custom business hours and schedules to allow clients to book specific quarter-hour appointment slots.
Observed behavior: Microsoft Bookings fails to display availability for 30-minute appointments at quarter-hour intervals, restricting them to the hour or half-hour despite custom business hours being set.

Before you start

Ensure you have administrative or calendar owner permissions in Microsoft Bookings to modify the global scheduling policies.

Solution 1Recommended

Adjust Time Increments in the Scheduling Policy

Modifying the scheduling policy's time increments enables Bookings to generate available slots at more granular intervals without altering your actual meeting durations.

By default, Microsoft Bookings sets time increments to 30 minutes, which limits starting times to the top and bottom of the hour. Changing this setting to a smaller interval like 5 or 15 minutes allows the system to populate start times like 8:45 AM.

Access your Booking Page settings

Navigate to the Microsoft Bookings dashboard and select 'Booking page' from the left-hand navigation menu.

Locate the Scheduling Policy section

Scroll down the page to find the 'Scheduling policy' heading, where appointment intervals and lead times are managed.

Modify the Time Increments

Click on the 'Time increments' dropdown menu and change it from the default 30 minutes to 5, 10, or 15 minutes.

Save your settings

Keep your meeting duration and custom calendar settings unchanged. Click 'Save' at the top of the page, then preview your booking page to confirm that times like 8:45 AM are now available.

Adjust Time Increments in the Scheduling Policy

Service-Specific Settings: If you only want this to apply to a specific service, you can uncheck 'Use the default scheduling policy' within that individual Service's settings and adjust the time increments there instead.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Microsoft Bookings only show appointments on the hour or half-hour?

By default, the global scheduling policy sets time increments to 30 minutes. This restricts the available start times shown to customers to the hour and half-hour marks, regardless of how your business hours are configured.

Will changing the time increments affect my actual meeting duration?

No, the time increment setting only dictates the frequency of available start times generated on your public calendar. Your actual meeting duration (e.g., 30 minutes or 1 hour) remains exactly as configured in your service details.

What should I do if changing the increments doesn't fix the issue?

Ensure that your staff's individual availability and custom business hours do not conflict with the desired times. If the issue persists after verifying both settings, it is recommended to post in the Microsoft Bookings community for specialized assistance.

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