Virtual Appointments

Overview

Virtual Appointments are special types of Meetings, useful for any organization that runs appointment-based services since it delivers an easy way for their customers to book, for example, a financial consultation or medical appointment.

Microsoft recommend using the Microsoft Bookings app, from the website or within Outlook/Teams, to schedule and manage these appointments:

An organizer uses Microsoft Bookings to manage calendars and availability, create booking pages, assign appointments to staff, and handle rescheduling and cancelations. As far as the customers experience goes, they use a booking page to choose an appointment time, get a booking confirmation and any forms they need to complete in advance, as well as the link to join the Teams meeting.

Licensing

Users licensed with any of the following licenses have access to Microsoft Bookings:

• Teams Essentials/Enterprise
• Microsoft 365 Business Basic/Standard/Premium
• Office 365 E1/E3/E5 or F3
• Microsoft 365 E3/E5/E7 or F1/F3

As far as licensing the use of Virtual Appointments goes, organizers can access the core functionality to set up Virtual Appointments if they’re licensed with any paid-for Office 365/Microsoft 365 plan. There are more advanced features available including branded waiting rooms, SMS appointment notifications, flexible queuing options, and analytics, if the Virtual Appointment organizer is licensed with a Teams Premium license too.

As you might expect, customers attending a Virtual Appointment don’t need to be licensed.

History

There was once a Virtual Appointments app, but that’s no longer available. Microsoft recommend that any existing users move to using Microsoft Bookings with a Teams Premium license.