Configuration

Company Name
The name of your company, displayed in the e-mail contents and subjects, in SMS notifications, in the invoices and during the ICS sync.

Company Logo
The image logo of your company. To upload a new image you can use the Media Manager. The logo will be displayed only in the header of the e-mail for the customers. If you don't specify a logo image, it won't be used.

Enable Multilanguage
This option should be enabled when the contents of your website (services, employees, options, groups and so on) should be translated in different languages. When this option is enabled, you will find a toolbar with the available languages in the edit page of all the contents that can be translated. If you don't want to translate the contents, but only the texts of the program, you can leve this option disabled and use the translated language files of the extension.

Date Format
The format of the date to display in the back-end and in the front-end. The available formats are:
Y/m/d, m/d/Y, d/m/Y, Y-m-d, m-d-Y, d-m-Y, Y.m.d, m.d.Y, d.m.Y
where Y is the year, m is the month and d is the day.

Time Format
The format of the time to display in the back-end and in the front-end. The time can be formatted in 12 hours (am/pm) or 24 hours.

Format Service Duration
The duration of the services will be formatted to the closest unit (e.g. 150 minutes will be displayed as 2 hours & 30 min).

Minutes Intervals
The default intervals (in minutes) of the selectable time slots. When this value is set to 15 min. customers will be able to select a time every 15 minutes, like 10:00, 10:15, 10:30 and so on. When this value is set to 60 min. customers will be able to select a time every hour, like 10:00, 11:00, 12:00 and so on. This setting can be overwritten from the details of each service.

Opening Time
The opening time of your company. This value is used to define the minimum time during the working days creation. If your company works 24 hours per day, set this option to 0:00.

Closing Time
The closing time of your company. This value is used to define the maximum time during the working days creation. If your company works 24 hours per day, set this option to 24:00.

Booking Minutes Restrictions
How much time (in minutes) the customers have to book in advance. In case this value was set to 120 minutes and the current time is 10:00, the first time slot available (for the current day) would be @ 12:00.

Show Phones Prefix
Enable this option if you want to force your customers to select a phone prefix in the confirmation page. When this option is enabled, it will be displayed a dropdown with all the phone prefixes next to the phone number custom field. This option is recommended if you have configured the SMS APIs framework. You can change the selected default prefix from the settings of your Phone Number custom field.

Keep Appointments Locked For
This setting defines the number of minutes for which the system should keep the employee of a Pending Reservation, as "locked" so that nobody can choose an employee that is being reserved by another client. When a customer searches for an appointment, will be removed all the PENDING and EXPIRED reservations.
Set an high value to ignore this parameter (like 99999999), otherwise all the customers will be able to confirm an appointment only within X minutes.

Default View
The default view when you open VikAppointments from the back-end. The possible views are Dashboard and Calendars. By selecting the Calendars view, the dashboard will be no more accessible.

Dashboard Refresh Time
Set the seconds to auto-refresh the details in the dashboard view. In this way every X seconds, the system will be automatically refreshed. This value shouldn't be lower than 15 seconds.

Always Confirm On Delete
Disable this value if you don't want to confirm the dialog before to delete something from the system.

Enable Router
When this setting is enabled, the URLs of VikAppointments bill be routed in a way to be SEO friendly. This option can work only when there is a .htaccess (on Apache) or a web.config file in the root of your server.

Load jQuery
jQuery is required to the system to perform certain actions via javascript. If your template already loads jQuery, you can disable this setting.

Display Footer
Disable this option if you don't want to show the e4j credits on the bottom of each page in the administrator.

Google API Key
Enter here your Google API Key to let the system using Google Maps without errors. In order to avoid typing errors, it is possible to use the padlock icon to start/stop editing this field.

Template Theme
Select the theme style used by your template. If you are using a template with a dark theme, you should select that option (dark) in order to force the component to use a lighter layout.

Enable Conversion Code
Turn on this option in case you want to manage and include javascript snippets to track the actions performed by your customers (e.g. Google Tracking Code).

Number of Visible Months
Specify the number of calendars that you want to display in the employee/service details page. You can display 1, 2, 3, 6, or 12 months.

Selectable Months
Specify the number of the selectable months in the dropdown. By selecting 12 months, customers could check 11 months in advance (the first month is the current). By selecting 1 month, the dropdown won't be displayed.

Display Calendars From
If your business starts in a different month than the current, you can use this setting to specify the first available month of a certain year. This value will be considered only if it is not in the past, otherwise it will be used the current month.

Display Colors Legend
Enable this option if you want to display a legend about the colors of the day in the calendars. The legend will be displayed above the calendars.

First Week Day
Specify the first day of the week to display in your calendars. Usually this value is set to Monday, Saturday or Sunday.

Enable GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union.
Turn on this setting to be compliant with GDPR requirements. When this option is turned on, the system will force the customers to accept the privacy policy before the storage of personal data.

Privacy Policy Link
Specify here a link to display the privacy policy that the customers could see next to the checkbox used to accept your terms.

Enable Multiple Time Zones
Enable this value only if your employees come from different areas of the world. The administrator will use the timezone set on your server. In the front-end the system will automatically switch the timezone depending on the employee selected. The time blocks will be the same, but it will be possible to adapt the times to the local area of the employee, so that customers can book for the current day.

Current Default Time Zone
The default timezone set on the php.ini configuration of your server. If this value doesn't correspond to the local area of your business, you should contact your hosting provider.

Sync URL
You can use this link to automatically synchronize the appointments on VikAppointments into your favourite calendar provider. You have only to specify this link into the apposite page of your provider and it will download automatically an ICS file to sync each day the appointments stored.
You can also filter the appointments to export by employee simply adding the &employee=[EMP_ID] parameter in the query string of the url.

Sync Password
Specify a password to make sure someone else won't be able to download the appointments from the Sync URL. When you change the password, the Sync URL will change too.

Zip Code Field
If your services are performed out of your business base and you want to restrict the available areas, you have to select the ZIP field from the custom fields created. This field will be used to validate the entered zip with all the available zip codes.

Zip Codes
Put here all the available zip codes for your services. You can put intervals of zip (like EG34X - EH67F or 68000 - 68999) or unique ZIP (98700-98700).

Try Zip Code Validation
Try to test if a zip code is able to receive your services. Before to test, save the configuration, otherwise the new zip codes won't be found.

Load Zips From File
You can insert all the available zip codes by uploading file containing all the available zip codes. The structure of the file must contain one zip code per line and it is not necessary they are ordered. You should use the .txt file extension. Before to use this tool you should save the configuration to don't lose your changes.

You can specify from this setting all the columns that you want to display/hide in the reservations list page in the administrator. The available columns are: Order Number, Order Key, Payment, Begin, End, Employee, Service, People, Info, Coupon, Nominative, Purchaser E-mail, Purchaser Phone, Total Cost, Already Paid, Invoice, Status.

It is possible to display within the list also the custom fields specified by the users during the purchase of an appointment.

Admin e-Mail
The e-mail addresses of the administrator(s). All the notifications, including the reservations received, will be sent to these addresses.
If you want to notify multiple addresses, you have just to specify the e-mails separated by a comma: Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo., Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo., Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo..

Sender e-Mail
The e-mail address used to send all the notifications via mail. If you don't specify this e-mail address, will be used the first address specified in the Admin e-Mail parameter.

Mail Attachment
If you want to include an attachment (like a .pdf or a .doc) in the confirmation e-mail for the customers, you can upload a file from this setting.

Send to Customers with Order
Set the value to "Only Confirmed" if you want to send the confirmation e-mail to customers only when the status of the order is confirmed.

Send to Employees with Order
Set the value to "Only Confirmed" if you want to send the notification e-mail to the employees only when the status of the order is confirmed.

Send to Admin with Order
Set the value to "Only Confirmed" if you want to send the notification e-mail to the administrator(s) only when the status of the order is confirmed.

Customer E-Mail Template
You can change the HTML content of the appointment notification e-mail for the customers by clicking the Edit button next to the dropdown. It is possible to use only one template per time. You can save the template as copy to avoid losing your changes after an update of the software. The e-mail template files are located in the folder /wp-content/uploads/vikappointments/mail/tmpl/

The eye button can be used to immediately see how the e-mail looks. In order to use this tool, you have to create at least an appointment.

The Manage Custom Text button is used to insert dynamic content on the e-mail depending on the status of the order.

Admin E-Mail Template
You can change the HTML content of the appointment notification e-mail for the administrators by clicking the Edit button next to the dropdown. It is possible to use only one template per time. You can save the template as copy to avoid losing your changes after an update of the software. The e-mail template files are located in the folder /wp-content/uploads/vikappointments/mail/tmpl/

The eye button can be used to immediately see how the e-mail looks. In order to use this tool, you have to create at least an appointment.

Employee E-Mail Template
You can change the HTML content of the appointment notification e-mail for the employees by clicking the Edit button next to the dropdown. It is possible to use only one template per time. You can save the template as copy to avoid losing your changes after an update of the software. The e-mail template files are located in the folder/wp-content/uploads/vikappointments/mail/tmpl/

The eye button can be used to immediately see how the e-mail looks. In order to use this tool, you have to create at least an appointment.

Cancellation E-Mail Template
You can change the HTML content of the appointment cancellation e-mail for the employees and administrators by clicking the Edit button next to the dropdown. It is possible to use only one template per time. You can save the template as copy to avoid losing your changes after an update of the software. The e-mail template files are located in the folder /wp-content/uploads/vikappointments/mail/tmpl/

The eye button can be used to immediately see how the e-mail looks. In order to use this tool, you have to create at least an appointment.

Attach ICS to
From this setting you can automatically include the .ics file of the appointment in the attachments of the e-mail for customers and/or employees and/or administrator(s).

Attach CSV to
From this setting you can automatically include the .csv file of the appointment in the attachments of the e-mail for customers and/or employees and/or administrator(s).

Currency Symbol
Insert here the symbol (or some characters) of the currency used in your system (like €, $, £ and so on). This value will be displayed near each price on your website.

Currency Name
Insert here the standard 3 letters code of the currency used in your system (like EUR, USD, GBP and so on). The value specified must be a standard of the ISO 4217. When a payment gateway doesn't have the currency selection, it will be used this value as currency of the transaction.

Symb Position
Choose from this setting the position of your currency symbol: after the price (12.50 €) or before the price (€ 12.50).

Decimal Separator
The symbol used to separate the integer part from the fractional part of a price, like € 120.00 or € 120,00.

Thousands Separator
The symbol used for the digit grouping, like € 1.000,00 or € 1,000.00.

Number of Decimals
The number of decimals to display for the fractional part of a price, like € 280.0 or € 280.00.

Default Status
The default status for the appointments without payment gateway. If your services are free or you don't want to collect payments online, you can set this value to PENDING to confirm the orders manually from the back-end or from the notification e-mail.

Enable Cart
This option must be enabled it you want to receive multiple appointments in the same order.

Maximum Cart Appointments
The maximum number of appointments that customers can book in a single order. If you don't want to use this restriction, you have to check the "Unlimited" checkbox. This value is 1 by default when the "Enable Cart" setting is disabled.

Same Checkin in Cart
When this setting is enabled, the customers will be able to add into the cart different services at the same date and time.

Shop Button Filter
The default link to use when customers click on the "Continue Shopping" button below the summary order in the confirmation page. You can disable this button by selecting the "Hide Button" option. With the "Custom Link" option you are able to specify the direct link to use.

Cart Auto Expanded
Enable this option if you want to automatically collapse the summary order in the confirmation page.

Show Checkout Time
Turn on this setting to display the checkout time within the timeline blocks, next to the checkin (e.g. 10:00 - 11:00 instead of 10:00).

Use Deposit
Select whether the deposit feature could be used or not.

• No - the customers have to pay always the full amount.
• Optional - the customers can choose to pay the deposit or the full amount.
• Always - the customers must leave always the deposit, only if the deposit condition is verified.

Use Deposit After
When the total cost of an order is higher than the value specified for this setting, customers have to pay online a Deposit Amount instead of the total cost of the order.

Deposit Amount
The deposit amount to use can be a fixed value (like 100 €) or a percentage value of the total cost (like 20% of the order). This value is considered only when the total cost of the order is higher than the Use Deposit After option.

Login Requirements
Set this value to "Required" if you want to force your customers to login/register before to proceed with the checkout. The custom fields of customers will be stored (only when logged-in) and automatically filled-in starting from the second purchase. The information specified in the registration fields won't be used for custom fields. This setting accepts the following options: Never, Optional, Required on Confirmation Page, Required on Service/Employee Details.

By selecting the Never value, customers won't be able to register new accounts during the booking process of VikAppointments.

By selecting the Optional value, customers will be able to login/register before the purchase or to complete the purchase as guests.

By Selecting the Required on Service/Employee Details value, customers won't be able to see the availability calendars as guest users. While, by selecting the Required on Confirmation Page value, the customers won't be able to proceed with the purchase as guest users.

Enable Order Cancellation
Enable this value if you want to allow your customers to cancel their CONFIRMED orders by themselves from the order details page. When a customer cancels an order, the administrator, the employee and the customer will receive a notification e-mail.

Accept Cancellation Before
Restrict the order cancellation by setting a minimum number of days. In this way customers can cancel their orders only X days in advance.

Enable User Credit
Every time an appointment is cancelled, the amount paid will be kept within the user credit. In this way, the customer will be able to purchase a new appointment by using its credit. This feature can be used only if the purchase was made as registered user.

Printable Orders
When this option is enabled, customers will be able to print their orders from the order details view.

Auto Generate Invoice
Enable this option to automatically generate the Invoice of an order after a successful payment transaction. The customers can download the invoice PDF file from the order details view.

Notice: even if this setting is disabled, customers will be able to download the invoice from the order details view (only if the pdf has been already generated from the administrator).

Enable Waiting List
Enable this option if you want to allow customers to register into a waiting list of a certain service and with a certain employee. If you don't want to use the waiting list features, you can skip the following parameters.

E-Mail Template
You can change the HTML content of the waiting list notification e-mail for the customers by clicking the Edit button next to the dropdown. It is possible to use only one template per time. You can save the template as copy to avoid losing your changes after an update of the software. The e-mail template files are located in the folder /wp-content/uploads/vikappointments/mail/tmpl/

The eye button can be used to immediately see how the e-mail looks. In order to use this tool, you have to create at least an appointment.

Every time a customer cancels an appointment, all the customers registered for that service and/or employee will receive a notification e-mail about one or more free slots.

SMS Content
You can change the plain text content of the SMS of the waiting list notification for the customers from the apposite textarea. It is possible to specify a different text for each language in your system and also for single orders (the cancellation affected a single service) and multiple order (the cancellation affected multiple services).

Every time a customer cancels an appointment, all the customers registered for that service and/or employee, will receive a notification SMS about one or more new free slots.

Enable Recurrence
Enable this option if you want to allow customers to book an appointment with recurrence through an apposite form. If you don't want to use the recurrence, you can skip the following parameters.

This feature can work only when the cart setting is enabled.

Repeat Every
The appointments can be repeated with the following types of recurrence: daily, weekly, fortnightly (every 2 weeks), monthly or bi-monthly (every 2 months). From this setting you can set the available values to insert in the first dropdown of the form.

For the next
The appointments can be repeated for the next TOT days, weeks or months. From this setting you can set the available values to insert in the third dropdown of the form.

Min. Amount
The minimum amount to use for the setting "For the next". It will be the minimum selectable value in the second dropdown.

Max. Amount
The maximum amount to use for the setting "For the next". It will be the maximum selectable value in the second dropdown.

By changing something from these parameters you will see a preview of the recurrence form displayed in the front-end.

Enable Reviews
Enable this option if you want to use the reviews framework. If you disable this option you can skip the following parameters.

Services Reviews
Enable this option if you want to receive reviews for your services.

Employees Reviews
Enable this option if you want to receive reviews for your employees.

Comment Required
Enable this option if you want to force your customers to submit reviews with comments. Otherwise only the rating and the title will be required.

Comment Min. Length
The minimum characters allowed for the comments of the reviews during the submission.

Comment Max. Length
The maximum characters allowed for the comments of the reviews during the submission.

List Limit
The maximum number of reviews to display in the list.

Reviews Load Mode
When the total number of reviews exceeds the list limit, it will be used one of the following ways to load the next reviews: on scroll down (when the page scroll reaches the last loaded review) or on button press (when customers click on the load button below the last loaded review).

New Auto-Published
Disable this option if you want to approve manually the reviews from the back-end.

Filter By Language
When this option is enabled, a review will be displayed only if its language tag is the same of the language selected from the customer.

Enable Packages
Enable this option if you want to sell packages on your system. If you don't want to use the packages, you can skip the following parameters.

Packages per Row
The number of packages to display in a single row of your marketplace. It i possible to display 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 packages per row.

Max Packages in Cart
The maximum number of packages that can be purchased in a single order. If you don't want to limit this feature, you have just to select the Unlimited option from the dropdown.

Allow User Registration
Enable this setting to allow customers to create a new account directly from the confirmation page during the purchase. If this setting is disabled, customers will be able to register an account only through the Login WordPress widget or from the back-end.

E-Mail Template
You can change the HTML content of the package notification e-mail for the customers and administrators by clicking the Edit button next to the dropdown. It is possible to use only one template per time. You can save the template as copy to avoid losing your changes after an update of the software. The e-mail template files are located in the folder /wp-content/uploads/vikappointments/mail/tmpl/

The eye button can be used to immediately see how the e-mail looks. In order to use this tool, you have to create at least a package order.

Employees Listing Mode
The first published type of ordering found in the list of this setting will be used as default ordering for the employees list page. These are the possible types of ordering:

• Alphabetically a..Z (ascending)
• Alphabetically Z..a (descending)
• Newest Employees (descending creation)
• Oldest Employees (ascending creation)
• Most Popular (descending number of confirmed appointments)
• Highest Rating (descending average value of the reviews)
• Price: low to high (ascending)
• Price: high to low (descending)

You can change the ordering of these options by dragging the 3-dots icon. You can disable an option by selecting the NO value from the dropdown.

In the front-end, the ordering can be changed from the apposite Ordering Filter tool.

List Limit
Set the maximum number of employees to display in the employees list page. When the number of total employees exceeds this value, it will be used a pagination.

Description Length
The maximum number of characters of the employees description to display in the employees list page.

Image Link Action
Define the action to perform when customers click on the image of the employees. by clicking on the image customers can enter directly on the details of the employee or can see a popup with the original image.

Enable Groups Filter
Disable this option if you are not categorizing your employees or if you don't want to allow your customers to filter them by group.

Enable Ordering Filter
Disable this option if don't want to allow customers to change the default ordering of the employees. When this option is disabled, the default ordering used will be the first published value found in the Employees Listing Mode setting.

AJAX Search
The AJAX search tool is used to display an availability table of the employees within the list. A different layout will be used when this tool is active, in which it is possible to immediately see an availability overview of the employees in the list.

Description Length
The maximum number of characters of the services description to display in the services list page.

Image Link Action
Define the action to perform when customers click on the image of the services. by clicking on the image customers can enter directly on the details of the service or can see a popup with the original image. It is also possible to display the description of the service by hovering the mouse on the image. In this case, the image cannot be clicked.

Enable Employee Sign-Up
Enable this option if you want to allow new users to create a new employee account through the Employees Area page. This option should be disabled if your website doesn't host a portal of employees.

Default Status
The status of the account after the registration. The possible values are: PENDING (the employee must be approved from the back-end or need to purchase a subscription) or CONFIRMED (the employee is ready to work on your website).

Default User Group
The user group of the WordPress user account assigned to the employee after the registration (Author by default).

Services Auto-Assignment
In this field you can insert one or more services so that employees will have them already assigned to their accounts.

Create Services
Enable this option if you want to allow the employees to create new services in the Employees Area.

Max Number of Services
The maximum number of services that an employee can host. This value won't be considered when employees are not allowed to create services.

Assign Services
Enable this option to allow the employees to auto-assign themselves to the existing services in the Employees Area.

Manage Services
Enable this option if you want to allow the employees to edit their services in the Employees Area. The default price, duration and sleep time of the service will never change.

Manage Services Overrides
Enable this option if you want to allow the employees to update only the price, the duration and the sleep time of their services in the Employees Area. This option is selectable only when the employees are not able to manage their services.

Remove Services
Enable this option if you want to allow the employees to remove their services in the Employees Area.

Manage Profile
Enable this option if you want to allow the employees to change their details.

Manage Working Days
Enable this option if you want to allow the employees to create and remove their working days and closing days.

Manage Coupons
Enable this option if you want to allow the employees to manage their coupons. A coupon created from the Employees Area will be available only for the services of its owner.

Manage Payments
Enable this option if you want to allow the employees to use customized payment processors to receive money directly on their accounts.

Manage Custom Fields
Enable this option if you want to allow the employees to manage their custom fields. The custom fields of an employee will be used with the global custom fields. This fields are selectable only when the customer is going to purchase an appointment with that employee.

Manage Locations
Enable this option if you want to allow the employees to create, edit and remove their locations.

Create
Enable this option if you want to allow the employees to create new reservations in the Employees Area.

Manage
Enable this option if you want to allow the employees to edit their existing reservations in the Employees Area.

Confirm
When this option is disabled, the employees won't be able to change the status of a reservation to CONFIRMED in the Employees Area.

Remove
Enable this option if you want to allow the employees to remove their existing reservations in the Employees Area.

Notify Admin
Enable this option if you want to send a notification e-mail to the administrator(s) every time an employee removes a reservation. This option can be selected only when the employees can remove reservations.

Define the days in which your Company is closed. These dates won't be available for the creation of new reservations and they will affect all the working days of the employees. You can define, in example, to close your company every Monday, on Christmas, the first day of all months and so on.

A closing day can be defined as Single Day or can be repeated Weekly, Monthly or Yearly.

Closing days can be also configured for being applied for certain services only. When creating a new closing day, it is possible to pick one ore more services for which the closure will be applied. It is possible to leave the dropdown empty to apply the closing day for all the services.

Define the periods in which your Company is closed. These dates won't be available for the creation of new reservations and they will affect all the working days of the employees. You can define, in example, to close your company the whole month of August, the first week of January and so on.

A closing period must be defined within a range of 2 dates.

SMS API File
Select the .php file of the SMS provider you want to use. When you change a file will be loaded some parameters to set up the gateway. All the loaded parameters should be filled in.

Enable Auto-Send
Enable this option if you want to send automatically a SMS when an appointment becomes CONFIRMED. You can also send SMS manually from the reservations and customers pages in the administrator.

Send SMS to
The program can send automatically the SMS to the customer and/or to the administrator and/or to the employee of the appointment.

Phone Number
Specify here the phone number of the administrator to receive the SMS. Remember to include the phone prefix before the phone number (like +1).

From this form you can compose the content of the SMS to send to the customers. If you want to insert some details about the appointment you can click on the buttons above the textarea (it will be inserted a code which will be replaced with the relative value of the appointment).

It is possible to create a content for the SMS relative to the orders with multiple appointments and for orders with single appointments. The orders with multiple appointments shouldn't contain {service}, {employee} and {checkin} codes. To switch the content of the sms you have to press the button on the left side below the textarea.

All the SMS contents can be translated in different languages by clicking on the apposite language buttons on the right side below the textarea. These buttons will be available only when the "Multilanguage" option is enabled. The available languages will be retrieved from the Language Manager of your WordPress.

From this form you can compose the content of the SMS to send to the administrator and to the employees. If you want to insert some details about the appointment you can click on the buttons above the textarea (it will be inserted a code which will be replaced with the relative value of the appointment).

It is possible to create a content for the SMS relative to the orders with multiple appointments and for orders with single appointments. The orders with multiple appointments shouldn't contain {service}, {employee} and {checkin} codes. To switch the content of the sms you have to press the button on the left side below the textarea.

Secure Key
Specify a secure key to make sure someone else won't be able to execute the cron jobs manually. When you change this secure key, the code of all the running cron jobs files must be updated.

It is suggested to specify a secure key (or to leave the random generated one) only once, before the installation of the cron job files.

Register Log
It is possible to register the log of the cron jobs always or only in case of errors.
The logs are accessible from the Logs section into the list of the Cron Jobs.

Installed Cron
Click on the See Cron Jobs List button to see the list of the installed cron jobs and also to manage them.

To configure properly a cron job you have to follow the instructions below:

• 1. Create a cron job from the "Cron Jobs List" in the settings tab.
• 2. Access your server control panel (e.g. CPanel or Siteworx) in order to schedule a job.
• 3. Visit the cron job section and click the button that will be used to create a new schedule.
• 4. Select an interval that should be suitable to your needs (e.g. every 30 minutes).
• 5. Assign the cron job to the wp-cron.php file located in the root of your website (an absolute path should be used here).

The steps to create a Cron Job are strictly related to the control panel of your hosting provider and may not match the steps above.

If you have no idea how to create a new cron job from your control panel, you should contact your hosting provider.

Note that, even if you don't schedule a server cron, the jobs that you created from VikAppointments are still periodically executed, but only in case your website is visited by some users. A server cron job is indeed used to prevent this limitation, as the server periodically invokes itself, just to simulate a user ping/visit.