FAQs

Our platform can help you automate many time consuming tasks, most notably communications with your clients. Colib offers drastic time savings.

Appointment Types: New Patient Consultation, Follow-up visit, 30-minute session, 60-minute appointment, 15-minute phone call... You name It! You can have multiple types of appointments and define each notification sent to your client for each type of appointment  :

1. Custom appointment reminders, with relevant information.
2. Online Forms attached so that patients can fill them out ahead of their appointment.
3. Billing information, so that an invoice can be easily generated with the right $ amount and info.
   
   

Automated Reminders (SMS & emails): Reduce no-shows with the right notifications!

1. Creation Reminder: When you create an appointment, a message will go out to your patient soon after so that they have all the relevant information, and can check later in time. This is especially useful if the appointment is scheduled ahead of time. They know they have it, but can't remember when and where.
2. Confirmation Reminder: By default, reminders are sent 24 hours before the appointment. Your patient receives this reminder so that they don't forget to come. On top of that, they can click on the "Confirm" button, and you'll know on the appointment card they have confirmed. That's a good opportunity to check in with them if you're unsure they're going to remember the date of their appointment.
3. Follow-up: This notification can be sent after an appointment to collect feedback from your clients.
4. Recall : Recalls are a fantastic tool to make sure your calendar is always full. For certain types of appointments, you can decide to send a notification (sms or email) to your clients if they have not booked an appointment after a defined number of days.

Furthermore, we recommend you to take a look at the following features to improve the efficiency of your practice :

    - Speech recognition tool for note taking

    - Note templates

    - Invoicing/payment automation

Please read the following article : Top Jane App Alternative in 2025: Why Clinics Are Switching to Colib for Practice Management

Appointment types play a crucial role in customizing and organizing your practice's service offerings within the software. They are essential for efficient invoicing, allowing you to set specific prices and taxes for each type.

Appointment types also facilitate the automation of client communications through customizable reminders and notifications tailored to each specific appointment type. This feature ensures timely and personalized engagement with clients, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency and effectiveness of your practice.

Additionally, you can specify whether the appointment is in-person or online. For telehealth appointments, the system seamlessly provides an online link through our telehealth tool, further contributing to the overall efficiency and effectiveness of your practice.

This comprehensive approach not only streamlines your scheduling process but also ensures a more organized and tailored experience for both your practice and your clients.

To view and edit your appointment types, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the Settings tab
   
   
2. Select 'Appointments' from the left vertical menu.
   
   
   
3. There, you will find your appointment types.
   
   
   
   
4. You'll have three options for managing your appointment types:
   • to duplicate: 
   • to edit: 
   • to delete: 

Categories can be used to help organize your appointments. For instance, you could use them to differentiate between online and in-person appointments or, if you're a clinic, to distinguish between different specialties.

You need to have at least one appointment category to create appointment types. If you prefer not to customize, you can simply use the default "General" category and create appointment types within it.

However, as soon as you start adding new categories, they will appear in the online booking process, allowing clients to choose from different categories, provided there are appointment types available for booking inside.

For even more organizational depth, you can utilize sub-categories. While not mandatory by default, once you begin using sub-categories, remember to add the appointment type to the corresponding sub-categories for them to appear in the booking process.

Descriptions are displayed during the online booking process, only when opting for direct booking. They offer additional details about specific categories or sub-categories, which can be particularly helpful if potential clients are not familiar with your services.

When creating a new category, you'll have the opportunity to add a description. For existing categories, you can directly edit them and include a description.

For instance, suppose you have two categories: in-person and online. You could include the following descriptions:

1. For in-person: "All appointments will take place exclusively at the clinic."
2. For online: "All appointments will take place exclusively online."
   
   

These descriptions will be visible to clients during the booking process:


Feel free to tailor the descriptions to reflect the unique aspects of your services and enhance the overall client experience.

Yes, the category or sub-category will still appear in the online booking process even if there are appointment types inside that are not available for online booking.

However, it's important to note that if there are no appointment types available for booking within that category or sub-category, the category or sub-category will not be shown to clients during the online booking process.

Clients will only see the categories and sub-categories that contain bookable appointment types. This ensures a streamlined and relevant experience for clients making online bookings.

Colib provides practitioners with diverse methods for clients to schedule appointments:

1. Online Booking: Use our user-friendly online booking portal. Clients can independently view your availability and book appointments directly, streamlining the process.
2. Appointment Request Forms: Clients can submit appointment requests through forms. While more manual, this option allows practitioners to review requests and schedule appointments accordingly within our platform.

Practitioners have the flexibility to choose between these two main options, ensuring a tailored approach to appointment management. When using either of these methods, you'll benefit from the automatic creation and/or update of client files. When a client books with you, our system will attempt to match their profile with an existing client profile and update it. If no profile exists, a new profile will be created.

No, a client portal is not currently available. We understand the challenges of managing multiple passwords and accounts when booking appointments with different practitioners. Therefore, we are committed to making the booking process as easy as possible for your clients. We do not require the creation of a client account to ensure a hassle-free experience.

To configure your booking process, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the Settings tab.
   
   
   
2. Select Booking Page from the left vertical menu.
   
   
   
3. Under Booking Type, click on the modal under "Client booking type" and select your preferred method.
   
   
   
4. In the case of an appointment request form, scroll down to 'Booking Request' and select the form to be used by clients.
   
   
   
5. In the case of online booking, scroll down to the 'Direct Booking' section and fill in additional information to customize your online booking page according to your preferences.
   
   
   
6. Afterward, scroll down and click on the 'Update' button to save the changes.
   

While you can also select "None," we recommend using one of the two main methods to automate the creation and updating of client files.

If the "Direct booking" option is selected, it is also important that each practitioner updates their personal availability options.

Url to access personal availability options :  https://www.colib.io/Settings?show=personalscheduler

The following options can be changed on this pagee :

Cluster online booking : If you have a really flexible schedule with lots of openings, but you’d like clients to only book around existing appointments, you can use this setting so that Colib will offer appointments just before or after whatever is booked on your schedule.

Make me look busy : Often when you’re brand new to practicing, or to a clinic, or to a city you might not yet have a full caseload. People are a bit wary of booking on a fully open schedule, so Colib can limit the number of appointments that are displayed per day.
Even if you are completely empty, Colib can display just a few spots to make it look a little busier.

Use the practice opening hours : You can define your availabilities for appointments booking in this section. You can either decide to follow your practice's opening hours or define your own schedule.

With Colib, you have the flexibility to precisely control the timing of client bookings. Follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the Settings tab.
   
   
   
2. Select 'Booking Page' from the left vertical menu.
   
   
   
3. Scroll down to the Direct Booking section and locate the option: "Only accept reservations made between 1 hour(s) and 365 day(s) before the start of the appointment".
   
   
   
4. To restrict the minimum numberof hours ahead that clients can book, simply change the '1' to any number that best fits your practice.
   
   
   
5. To restrict the maximum number of hours ahead that clients can book, simply change the '365' to the number of days that best suits your practice.
   
   
   
6. Scroll down and click on 'Update' to save the changes.
   
   

For example, if you want your clients to only be able to book 1 day ahead while allowing them to book up to 1 month in advance, you would choose to only accept reservations made between 24 hours and 30 days in advance.

On your scheduler:

1.  Click on any suitable time to add an appointment
2. Select the patient
3. Select an appointment type
4. Save

It's that simple!

You can manage your availability on the scheduler, by booking a time slot and selecting the appointment type "Busy" or "Personal"

1. Select a time slot on the scheduler
2. Select the appointment type "Busy" or "Personal"
3. Add a Title
4. Select the appropriate start and end time
5. Optional: If this is recurring, you can click on "Recurring Event?", then select the frequency (Daily, Weekly, Bi-weekly), and the end date: for example, December 31st to maintain it until the end of the year.
6. Save.

Yes! By default, the color code is set to have one color per different practitioner, but you can use it to reflect different appointment types.

To do so, you will find a setting under Settings > Scheduler > Use Color Code by appointment type

Once this setting is on, you will be able to select a color for each appointment type.

That will be in Settings > Appointments > Click on 🖊 to modify the selected appointment type > scroll down to find the color code.

You can customize the emails sent to your clients before and after an appointment on the settings section (Appointments tab).

Url : https://www.colib.io/businesssettings?show=appointments

For every new or existing type of appointment, you can personalize the notifications you want to send to your clients.

3 different types of notifications are possible :

- Initial notification sent when the booking occurs

- Reminder sent prior to the appointment

- Follow up email sent after the appointment

Text messages can also be sent for the initial notification and the reminder.

Colib offers complete and customizable management of your rooms.

2) The first step is to create your rooms in your settings page.  https://www.colib.io/settings?show=rooms

You will thus be able to define each room by adjusting its order of priority as well as the types of appointments assigned to the room. 

2) Once the creation of your rooms is complete, you can then define which types of meetings must necessarily have a room to be created. https://www.colib.io/settings?show=appointments

If this option is selected for an appointment type, this implies that:

- On your schedule, it will not be possible to create or modify an appointment for this type without an available room being associated.

- Regarding the direct booking of appointments by customers, only time slots with a room available for this type of appointment will be presented.

A room is available if it is not used by another event during the entire appointment.

3) After having configured the elements mentioned above, all you have to do is use the rooms on your appointments in your schedule.

3) A new "Room" field now appears in the edit mode of an appointment.

The "Find an available room" link below the field allows you to automatically find an available room for the type of appointment and the dates selected.

Migrating data from your old customer management system to Colib is very easy with our batch loading system.

Please follow the following steps:

1) Go to https://www.colib.io/UploadClients

2) Download the Excel template provided by our platform

3) Fill in the Excel file with the customers you want to add/update. Notes and appointments can also be migrated via this Excel file.

4) Rename the file into clients.xlsx and fill the diffrent tabs of the file

5). Add the excel file to an empty folder

6) Compress the folder to create a zip file

7) Upload the zip file on the webpage

8) Wait for the end of the file processing to check for any errors reported by the application

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any difficulty filling out the file.

No, you have three options to automate client account creation:

1. Migrating your existing client database with our batch upload tool. If you run into any difficulties, ask our team who will be happy to help you. Notes and appointments can also be uploaded via this method.
2. New clients booking online will automatically create a new account. If they are returning clients, the information will be attached to their existing account. 
3. New clients filling out an online form on Colib will also generate an automated account creation. 

Pro tip: with your intake form, or any form that has general and contact information, the information will be updated automatically in your client's account. No need to rewrite everything manually!

Yes, in case of duplicate accounts, you can merge an account with an existing one.

The account you merge will disappear and transfer into the destination account you choose.

Everything in the merged account will be transferred to the destination account: Appointment history, notes, documents, invoices, etc.

In the client account, you will find the " Merge account" icon and button in the top right corner.

After clicking on it, simply select the destination account.

Colib allows you to add personalized fields to your customer pages via the “Clients” tab of your settings page.

Several types of fields are available (text, date etc …) to suit the needs of your business.

In Colib, you have the flexibility to charge and invoice clients the way you want.

Thanks to Colib's automation, you can "1-click" the following actions:

• Create & send an invoice: If you want them to pay by Interac E-Transfer, pay online by credit card, or any other payment type you choose.
• (Re)Send a receipt: When your clients have already paid, whatever the method. You are free to resend receipts later if needed
• Charge a client & send a receipt: Make your life simpler by accepting online payments, and asking your client's credit card detail when they book. That way, you can collect payments yourself, and the system automatically sends out a receipt to your clients so that they can process their claims.

Pro Tip: You can collect credit card information and detail your cancellation policy, but not actually charge them. This won't cost you a dime and can be very efficient to reduce no-shows, or even charge only when a client hasn't had the chance to pay by themselves!

You can create an invoice directly from the scheduler:

Scheduler > Click on the appointment > Scroll down and click on "More actions" > "Create invoice"

From there you can also decide to "Charge client" if you have their credit card information saved in the system.

You could also start from the client file: Client List > Select Client > Scroll down to the Appointment section > "Create Invoice".

From there, you will only have to review the information and click "Save" to generate your invoice.

Depending on the status of the payment you can either send an invoice or receipt directly to your client.

Although Colib isn’t integrated with Quickbooks, we’ve created this guide to help you take invoices from Colib and bring them over to Quickbooks.

1) Export your invoices on Colib.io

Url : https://www.colib.io/Invoices

Select the date range you need and click the QuickBooks icon.  We recommend that you only export invoices with a "Paid" status.

2) Go to your QuickBooks account to complete the import process

Url : https://app.qbo.intuit.com/app/dataimport/invoices

You will need to select the file you just exportd on Colib and check the 2 checboxes at the bottom of the page. Click the "next" button.

Select the correct date format and choose the "Exclusive of tax" option for the amount.

Then, verify that the taxes are correct. Click the "Next" button if it is the case.

At this point, you can continue and click the "Start import" button.

Yes, our platform allows you to configure sliding scale fees and assign them to your clients effortlessly.

Once set, the invoice amounts for your clients will automatically adjust based on the fee modification you've selected for the client.

You have the option to create  3 types of fee adjustments:

To set up these modifications, simply navigate to the Invoice tab in your Settings page

https://www.colib.io/Settings?show=invoices

And define the pricing change applied to each customer:

To activate our online payment system, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to the Settings tab.
   
   
   
2. In the left vertical menu, select 'Payments'.
   
   
   
3. Turn on the toggle to use the payment system provided by Colib.
   
   
   
4. Fill in all the required information, upload a copy of your ID, and then click on 'Update' to save the changes.
   
   

Afterward, we will review your ID and the information you provided to prevent fraud. This final step is typically fast, and once we verify your information, you'll be able to use our online payment system.

Yes, Colib supports multi-currency payments and invoicing.

For each type of appointment, you can specify a currency to prepare billing for the client.

The invoice will be sent to the client in the selected currency. The funds will then be converted into CAD by our payment provider (Stripe) and transferred to your bank account at the conversion rate set by Stripe. Colib will not charge extra fees for payments made in a foreign currency.

If the currency you need is not currently supported by our platform, please contact us, and we will add it for your business.

The verification of ID is a necessary step for any Colib user who will receive payments.

It serves to prevent fraud by linking an account to a legitimate person and ID. Additionally, this practice aligns with 'Know Your Customer' guidelines, ensuring the protection of all platform users, including your clients and yourself as a client.

We are committed to providing the safest and fairest experience for all our users, and ID verification is a common practice in payment processing systems. Rest assured, your document will be securely stored and encrypted.

It is only possible to collect credit card information through direct online booking. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to 'Settings' in the top menu.
   
   
   
2. Select 'Booking Page' in the left vertical menu.
   
   
   
3. In the Booking Type section, ensure that 'Online booking by client' is selected. If already chosen, you can skip this step.
   
   
   
4. Scroll down to the 'Direct Booking' section and enable the toggle for 'Collect the client's payment information during the booking process'.
   
   
   
5. Scroll down further and click on the 'Update' button to save the changes.
   
   
   

Please be aware that before collecting credit card information during the booking, you need to activate Colib's online payment system. It's important to note that these details are not automatically used to charge the client, unless you have configured cancellation and no-show policies. In the absence of such policies, you will need to manually charge the client or let them pay through our online system.

Yes, you can collect and enter your client's credit card information yourself.

To do so, navigate to the Client tab, select the client for which you'd like to add the information, and scroll down to the very bottom of the page to the "Payment Cards" section. Click on the "Add Payment Card" button.

Then, enter the credit card number, expiration month, year, CVV number, and the cardholder's name.

To view the payouts and associated fees for your practice, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the 'Settings' tab in the top menu
   
   
   
2. Select 'Payments' in the left vertical menu.
   
   
   
3. Here, you can view all the payouts and their associated fees.
   
   
   

Note that you'll have to set up our online payments system first, which can be done in the same section.

Yes.

Colib provides a library of forms ready to be used for your business.

To add a form to your library, please follow these steps :

1. Go to this url :https://www.colib.io/Forms?ShowFormCreationModal=true

2. Select "Browse forms library" option

3. Select your form

It is possible to perform this transformation easily and automatically with Colib by following these steps:

1) Go to https://www.colib.io/Forms

2) Click the "Create form" button

3) Select the second option on the modal and upload your file

Your new online form will be automatically created within a few seconds. The generated form will be editable once the process is completed.

Once your account is created, you will be able to view your own form links.

Tip: Before even sending it, posting it on your website or social media can be a good idea if some of your visitors follow you!

To send the forms:

1. Click on "Forms"
2. Make sure "My Forms" is selected
3. Copy your form link.
   From there, you can send the link to your visitors by email 📧 or Sms 📲.
4. New Feature: You can also select "Send via email" and see below for more

If you want to send your forms directly from Colib via email, you can follow the next steps:

1. Select the list of recipients
2. Select the date and time of sending
3. Prepare your email subject and content
4. Send 📩

Feel free to display it on your website or social media if that's where you are in contact with your community as well.

It is possible to set up a filter for each location..

We recommend that you contact us so we can ensure Colib works best for your particular situation.

Send us an email at support@colib.io or use the contact form:

https://www.colib.io/Contact

Please follow the example in the following video :

https://youtu.be/PK5lWFprWfc

With Colib, synchronizing your Google Calendar with your scheduler is easy.
Just follow these steps:

1. Hover over your name in the upper right corner to display the profile menu.
   
   
   
2. Click on 'Profile.'
   
   
   
3. Navigate to the left vertical menu and select 'Calendar Sync'.
   
   
   
4. Scroll down to 'Synchronization' and sign in with Google.
   
   
   

If you only want Colib appointments to appear on your Google Calendar, make sure to turn on the toggle for 'One-way synchronization only'.

1. Go to your admin page : https://www.colib.io/Settings?show=bookingpage

2. After following the instructions, the reservation method will be available on your website:

3. After enabling the direct booking option, you will be presented with instructions to add a widget to your website:

In order to use the voice recognition tool to create a note, you need to follow these steps :

1) Go to a client file

2) Click on the microphone icon above the note editor and start speaking

3) Once you have finished speaking, click on the icon again and wait for the text to be generated in the text editor.

4) Finish the note by clicking the "Save " button

You can use template of notes to standardize and speed up the note taking by following these steps :

1) Go to the settings section https://www.colib.io/BusinessSettings?show=notes

2) Click the "Create template" button

3) Enter your information and click the "Save" button. You can also add images to the template body.

4) Go to the note section of a client record and select your template in the selection list. The content previously saved will be automatically added to the text edtor.

It is possible to securely share a note with a customer if you wish.

Click on the share note icon on the client page.

A notification will be sent via email to the client. He will just have to access his client portal dashboard to view the note.

There is no limit. Video sessions can hold as many participants as you want.

Yes, it is possible to record online appointments. Simply activate the option in your settings:

https://www.colib.io/settings?show=video

The recording will be available in the files attached to the appointment.

Colib offers a wide selection of features ready to be used for video conferencing:

- Ability to choose a background image (Default images provided or possibility of importing your own images).

- Ability to blur your background.

- Screen sharing.

- Waiting room (Optional) allowing the practitioner to accept or refuse requests to join the video conference.

- Ability to record meeting audio and automatically store recording files in client folder.

Options can be enabled on your video settings page : https://www.colib.io/settings?show=video

You can create as many team members as you want in the admin settings section (url : https://www.colib.io/settings?show=team ).

When you create or edit a team member, you need to define the rights of the team member in the practice.

The following picture describes the different options you can set :

When you subscribe to Colib, you will be invited to fill out your credit card information via our secured payment platform - Stripe. It's very simple, then you will be billed for your plan every month.

The Starter plan allows you to enjoy a pay-as-you-go model, each appointment is priced at $2.

We require you to enter a credit card for the Starter plan so that you can be charge for your usage

There will be no charge for months with no appointments

It's quite simple—just locate the 'Plan' tab in the top menu. Once you're on the 'Plan' tab, you'll find the count of appointments created and forms completed. You can refer to the example below for clarification.

No, these events can be freely used as often as necessary. They are commonly employed to block off recurring time slots. When synchronizing your scheduler with Google Calendar, you'll observe that events from your calendar will appear on the scheduler as busy event types.

Colib's security features protect your data at every level and meet your PHIPA, PIPEDA, LPRPSP, PIPA and La loi 25 (Québec) requirements.

Colib is compliant with PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act), specifically in regard to the protection of Personal Health Information (PHI). In other words, we have implemented a series of technical and human security protocols, which include:

• Hosting of all Data on Canadian Territory: All data is hosted within Canadian borders.
• Encryption of Our Servers: Our servers are encrypted to ensure data security.
• Website Encryption: Our website is encrypted, and all Personal Health Information is protected by practitioner user logins and passwords. It is decrypted with each page load for authorized access.
• Annual Employee Training: We conduct annual training sessions for all company employees.
• Clear Incident Handling Procedures: We have clear procedures in place to handle and report any suspicious or doubtful situations to our Chief Privacy Officer.
• Multi factor authentication : Colib empowers both practitioners and clients with the added security of Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), ensuring safer and more secure access to the platform.

Visit our security page if you need more information:

https://www.colib.io/Security

Colib is compliant with :

• PIPEDA (Canada)
• LPRPSP (Québec)
• PHIPA (Ontario)
• La loi 25 (Québec)
• PIPA (British Columbia)
  

The client portal is a separate web platform designed to help your clients manage their appointments, forms and invoices.

You can also share documents and notes with your clients securely through the client portal.

Clients can see, book, modify and cancel appointments from this portal.

Invoices can be viewed, downloaded and paid from this platform. You can also share documents with your clients securely through the client portal.

Your clients will be invited to create an account on this platform after booking an appointment with your practice.

The creation of the account on the client portal is optional. Your clients can decide to manage their appointments via the emails and SMS they receive.