What is Calendar Search & Next Available Slot?
Calendar Search and Next Available Slot (NAS) are two tools in the Calendar's right-side toolbar that help you find appointments faster and book them without manually scanning schedules.
Calendar Search lets you look up appointments and tasks by patient, staff member, or visit type - across both upcoming and past dates. Results are grouped by date, and clicking one jumps the calendar directly to that day.
Next Available Slot (NAS) automatically finds the earliest open time for a specific visit type and shows you a grid of available slots across staff. Click a slot and the appointment form opens pre-filled and ready to save.
How This Helps Your Daily Work
Role | How it helps |
Receptionists / Front desk | Find a patient's upcoming or past appointment in seconds without scrolling. Use NAS to book the next available slot for a specific vet or any eligible staff member - no guesswork. |
Vets & nurses | When adding a follow-up during a SOAP, use NAS directly in the Plan section to pick the next open slot without leaving the patient record. |
Practice managers | Search appointments by visit type or staff to get a quick picture of upcoming workload. |
Where to Find It
Both tools live on the right side of the Calendar.
Click the magnifying glass icon to open Calendar Search
Click the calendar icon to open the Next Available Slot picker
NAS is also available inside any appointment form. Once you've selected a Visit Type, an NAS icon appears above the From (start time) field. This works in:
Add Appointment
Edit / Reschedule
SOAP - Plan - Follow-ups
Add Client / Add Patient workflows
Patient Timeline - open booking
The NAS icon only activates after a Visit Type is selected because NAS uses that duration and staff-visit type eligibility to find openings.
How to Use Calendar Search
Click the magnifying glass icon in the right-side toolbar to open the search drawer. It has two tabs: Appointments and Tasks.
Next Available Slot fields explained
Visit Type (Required)
Specifies the type of visit, which determines its duration and which staff members are eligible to take it.Patient (Optional)
You can enter a patient name to help prevent duplicate records or provide additional context, but it's not required to view available times.Staff (Optional)
Select a specific staff member to see their availability. Leave this set to Any Staff to view the earliest available times across all eligible staff.
Appointments tab
The Appointments tab helps you search, filter, and review upcoming or past visits efficiently. Use the filters at the top to narrow your search:
Clinic: Choose a location to search within. (Available for multi-clinic accounts only.)
Search by patient: Type a client name, pet name, email, phone number, microchip, or patient ID. Select one or more results - they appear as chips.
Search by staff: Limit results to specific staff members. (Multi-select supported)
Search by visit type: Filter by one or more visit types.
Toggle Upcoming / Past to switch the sort order of results.
Each result shows the visit name, date and time, patient, staff member, and status.
Click a result to open the appointment or jump to that day on the calendar.
Tasks tab
The Tasks tab helps you manage, search, and filter tasks efficiently.
Use the filters to narrow your search:
Pet (Patient): Type to match a patient or client name. (Multi-select supported)
Staff: Display tasks assigned to specific staff members.
Task Name or Notes: Search by keywords in the task title or notes (minimum 3 characters).
Toggle between Due and Overdue tasks in the results.
Click a task to view or edit its details.
Filters are additive - combine multiple filters to narrow results, or clear a chip to broaden the search. The drawer stays open as you navigate the calendar, so you can use it alongside the calendar view without closing it.
How to Use Next Available Slot (NAS)
NAS automatically finds the earliest open times based on the selected Visit Type's duration and eligible staff availability. This helps you book appointments faster and more accurately without manually checking schedules.
‼️ To unlock accurate Next Available Slot results, visit types must be correctly mapped to staff in clinic settings.
From the Calendar toolbar
Click the calendar icon in the right-side toolbar to open the NAS panel.
Select a Visit Type (required) - this determines the slot duration and which staff members are eligible.
Optionally select a Patient and/or a specific Staff member. Leave Staff set to Any Staff to see the earliest available slot across all eligible providers.
Browse the slot grid - staff appear as chips across the top, days as columns, and available times as clickable buttons. Each day shows a slot count (e.g. "12 slots"). If a column shows No slots, that staff member has no availability for that visit type on that day.
Click a time slot to open the Add Appointment form, pre-filled with the date, time, staff member, and patient (if selected).
From inside an appointment form
In the Add Appointment, Edit, or Reschedule modal, select a Visit Type first.
Click the NAS icon that appears above the From field.
The NAS picker opens with the visit type already selected.
Click a time slot - the date and time are automatically filled into the form.
Complete any remaining fields and click Save.
From SOAP - Plan - Follow-ups
When adding a follow‑up booking in the Plan > Follow-up section, select a Visit Type, then tap the NAS icon above the From field.
From Add Client / Add Patient workflows
When creating an appointment, once a Visit Type is chosen, the NAS icon appears above the From field.Timeline, open booking; after selecting a Visit Type in the appointment modal, use the NAS icon above the From field.
From Patient Timeline - open booking
Inside the Patient Timeline, open booking; after selecting a Visit Type in the appointment modal, use the NAS icon above the From field.
Tips & Best Practices
Use Any Staff in NAS when the client doesn't have a preferred provider - it surfaces the earliest available slot across your whole team.
When rescheduling, open the appointment's Edit / Reschedule form and use the NAS icon inside it rather than going back to the Calendar toolbar. The visit type is already filled in and NAS picks up the assigned vet by default.
In Calendar Search, filtering by visit type is a quick way to see how many of a specific procedure type are coming up - useful before a busy day or for workload planning.
If a staff member isn't showing in the NAS grid, check two things: (1) they must be linked to the visit type under Administration - Team Settings, and (2) they must have active working hours with no conflicting blocks.
The search drawer stays open as you navigate the calendar - use it alongside the calendar view to scan results and jump to specific dates without closing it.
Workflow example - find and reschedule using Calendar Search + NAS
Open Calendar Search and search for the patient by name.
Find the appointment in the results and click ... - Edit / Reschedule.
In the edit form, click the NAS icon above the From field.
The picker opens with the assigned vet pre-selected - pick a new slot or switch to a different staff member.
The new time fills into the form automatically - review the remaining fields and click Edit Appointment to save.
Common Questions
Why is the Next Available Slot icon grayed out in the appointment form?
The NAS icon only activates after a Visit Type is selected. NAS uses the visit type's duration and staff eligibility to calculate available slots - without it, there's nothing to search for.
A staff member I expect to see isn't showing in the Next Available Slot grid.
Two things to check: first, confirm they're linked to the selected visit type under Administration - Team Settings. Second, make sure they have working hours (shifts) configured with no conflicting bookings or blocks for that period.
Next Available Slot shows "No slots" for every day - what does that mean?
No eligible staff member has an opening for the selected visit type during that date range. Try clicking Next to look further ahead, switching to Any Staff if you had a specific person selected, or checking that staff shifts and visit type assignments are correctly configured.
Can I search for past appointments in Calendar Search?
Yes - toggle Past in the Appointments tab to switch from upcoming to past appointments. The same filters (patient, staff, visit type) apply to both views.
Does Calendar Search only work from the Calendar page?
Yes - Calendar Search is specific to the Calendar view. To search for patients and appointments from anywhere in Digitail, use the Quick Search bar at the top of the screen instead.
Will Next Available Slot show slots outside my clinic's working hours?
No - Next Available Slot only surfaces slots that fall within a staff member's active shifts. If working hours aren't configured for a staff member, they won't appear in the Next Available Slot grid.