# Setup Appointment Notifications for Staffs
## **1. How can I customize my default appointment notification settings?**
Whautomate sends default notifications for Confirmations, Reminders, Rescheduling, and Cancellations through WhatsApp, email, or SMS to clients and staff. You can enable or deactivate your preferred notifications
1. Go to the **Whautomate** app and click the **Settings** menu option.
2. **Access Notifications:** Under the **Schedule** section, select the "**Notification"** option. 👇
3. **Choose Notification Channels:** On this screen, select your preferred channels (WhatsApp, Email, or SMS) for sending appointment notifications to clients and staff.
4. **Save Changes:** After making your selections, click the **"Update"** button to apply the changes.
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## 2. How to Create a Custom Appointment Notifications and Disable the Default Notifications
#### **Disable Default Notifications:**
{% hint style="warning" %}
**Important:** If the default notifications are not unchecked, customers will receive both the default and custom notifications, leading to duplication. Make sure to disable the default ones to avoid this issue. 👇
{% endhint %}
* Uncheck all default notification options (Confirmations, Reminders, Rescheduling, and Cancellations).
* Click the **"Update"** button to save changes.
#### Appointment Confirmation Notification for Staff
1. Go to the **Whautomate** app then click the **Automation** menu and select the **Add Rule** button as shown below picture 👇
2. Select the **Create Rules from Scratch** option to continue
3. Choose the **"Appointment Updates"** as a **Trigger**
{% hint style="info" %}
This rule gets triggered when an appointment is created or updated.
{% endhint %}
4. Click the **Add Condition** button to continue.
5. **Setup Conditions:**
* **Set the Field Option:** Select **"Appointment Status"** as the field.
* **Set the Operator:** Choose the **"equals"** operator.
* **Set the Status Option:** Select **"Booked"** as the status.
{% hint style="info" %}
This rule gets executed only when all of the following conditions are met.
{% endhint %}
6. Select an **Action** you want to notify your client of their appointment booked such as **WhatsApp** and **Email.**
For example, I select a **Notify Associated Staff via WhatsApp** and fill in the required details. 👇
7. Select a WhatsApp template message you want to notify your staff for their appointment booked confirmation.
(a). Select the message template in the **Message Template** field and enter all the Parameters.
I used the Whautomate **whauto\_appointment\_confirmation\_practitioner(en)** WhatsApp default message template which was already created and approved by Meta. If you want to use your own custom WhatsApp message template, So first you need to create a new **WhatsApp Message Template**, you can select the **Create New Template** link. This will take us to the template page where we can submit our new template.
However, please note that any custom notification settings will be discarded, and we will need to set them up again after our new template is approved.
(b). When you enter **(#)** in the Parameter field, a list will pop up. You can choose from the options provided to fill out the parameter details.
**Available Personalisation Variables:**
**Client Variables**
> {{client.name}}, {{client.preferredName}}, {{client.age}}, {{client.gender}}, {{client.email}}, {{client.phone}}, {{client.calendarSyncURL}}, {{client.photoURL}}, {{client.address}}, {{client.emergencyRelationType}}, {{client.emergencyContactName}}, {{client.emergencyContactPhone}}
**Business Variables**
> {{business.name}}, {{business.address}}, {{business.phone}}, {{business.mapDirectionUrl}}, {{business.operatingHours}}
**Appointment Variables**
> {{appointment.practitioner}}, {{appointment.date}}, {{appointment.time}}, {{appointment.previousDate}}, {{appointment.previousTime}}, {{appointment.clientName}}, {{appointment.addToCalendarURL}}, {{appointment.partialAddToCalendarURL}}, {{appointment.location}}, {{appointment.service}}, {{appointment.addons}}, {{appointment.detailsURL}}, {{appointment.partialdetailsURL}}, {{appointment.cancelURL}}, {{appointment.partialcancelURL}}, {{appointment.rescheduleURL}}, {{appointment.partialrescheduleURL}}, {{appointment.practitionerRole}}, {{appointment.price}}, {{appointment.timezone}}, {{appointment.businessTimezone}}, {{appointment.dateInBusinessTZ}}, {{appointment.timeInBusinessTZ}}, {{appointment.previousDateInBusinessTZ}}, {{appointment.previousTimeInBusinessTZ}}
8. After filling in the details Click the **Save** button.
