--- title: "Booking dates" description: "Pick the pickup and the return on the Add booking calendar: availability colors, selecting a range in either direction, and booking outside working hours with the matching permission." canonical_url: "https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/bookings/add-booking/booking-dates" --- # Booking dates > Pick the pickup and the return on the Add booking calendar: availability colors, selecting a range in either direction, and booking outside working hours with the matching permission. The **Booking dates** picker on [Add booking](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/bookings/add-booking) sets the pickup and the return. What it offers depends on the items you picked, your working hours and holidays, and the member's permissions. ## Picking booking dates In **Start from items** mode the date picker shows availability against the currently selected items and is **disabled until at least one item is selected**. In **Start from dates** mode it comes first and is always enabled. Two layouts exist (controlled by org settings, see below). The **Clear all** button next to the heading clears both pickup and return values. By default the picker only offers the working hours from [Date & time settings](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/organization/date-and-time): closed days cannot be picked, and the server rejects pickup or return times outside working hours. **Holidays and closed days.** Dates listed under [Holidays and closed days](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/organization/date-and-time#holidays-and-closed-days) are greyed out like a closed weekday. Hover one to see its name, for example *Christmas Day*. A holiday cannot be the pickup day or the return day, but a booking can run through it: pick December 23 and December 27 and the range covers the 25th. Members allowed to book outside working hours see holidays like any other day and can pick them, with orange time pills and a confirmation on **Create booking**.
![The Add booking form in dark mode with Rode Procaster picked and the two-month booking calendar showing December 2026 and January 2027. December 23 to 28 is selected as a green range. Box 1 marks December 25, greyed out inside the range, with the tooltip Christmas Day above it. The closed Sundays and January 1 are greyed out too. On the right, the booking preview shows pickup 12/23/2026 09:00, return 12/28/2026 18:00 and a chargeable period of 6 days, with Total to pay $90.00](https://requiply.com/docs/assets/booking/add/holiday-in-calendar.png)
**1** A holiday inside the selected range: it cannot be the pickup or return day, and the tooltip names it.
### Selecting the dates on the calendar The calendar marks fully booked days struck through in red and partly booked days in orange. Picking a range works in either direction: - **First click** sets one end of the booking. - **Second click** completes the range, on either side of the first day: click a later day for the return, or an earlier day to make it the pickup. - **Hovering** shows the range a click would give, in a lighter green, before you commit to it. - **With a full range selected**, clicking a day moves the nearer end to it: a day before the pickup or closer to it moves the pickup, a day after the return or closer to it moves the return. Clicking the pickup or the return day itself starts a new selection from that day. - **A range never runs through a fully booked day**, and it can end on a partly booked day but not continue past it. Days that cannot join the current range are dimmed; clicking one starts a new selection there.
![The two-month booking calendar for September and October 2026. October 7 is selected in solid green, October 8 and 9 are shaded a lighter green, and October 10, under the mouse, is solid green again, showing the range a click would select. Today, September 26, is outlined](https://requiply.com/docs/assets/booking/add/calendar-range-preview.png)
October 7 is picked and the mouse rests on the 10th: the lighter days show the range the second click will select.
When you change the pickup day, only the pickup time is reset; the return time stays as long as it still fits. The same calendar is used on [Edit booking dates](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/bookings/changing/dates) and in the [settings preview](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/bookings/booking-creation). In the mobile app, press and hold a day to see the range before you tap. ## Booking outside working hours Members whose [permission group](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/organization/accounts/permission-groups) has **Allow booking outside of working hours** get a wider picker: - Closed days can be picked. - Time pills cover the whole day, 00:00 to 23:59. - Pills outside the working schedule are light orange, with the tooltip *Outside of working hours*. A selected outside-hours pill is solid orange instead of green. - The pickup time is still preselected at the opening time and the return time at the closing time. When you click **Create booking** with a pickup or return outside working hours, an **Outside of working hours** dialog asks: *Are you sure you want to create a booking that has pickup or return outside of working hours?* Click **Create booking** in the dialog to go ahead, or **Cancel** to go back and change the times. The permission sits in the **Booking creation** section of the group. It is on for **Administrators** by default and can be switched off for them; new groups start with it off. If a request claims the exception for a member without the permission, the server refuses it with *Your permission group does not allow booking outside of working hours*. The customer-facing [client portal](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/online-booking) and the website AI chat widget always keep to working hours, whatever permissions your staff have. See [Date & time settings](https://requiply.com/docs/en/guides/settings/organization/date-and-time#booking-outside-working-hours). ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](https://requiply.com/docs/sitemap.md) for all pages.