# How time slots work

Updated 2026-10-12 by the TicketPa team. Source: https://ticketpa.com/help/how-time-slots-work

A time slot is one run of an activity at a set time, with a number of places. Guests book time slots. Most come from schedules, and you can add one-off time slots or change single ones by hand in the calendar.

## Where time slots come from

- **Schedules**: when you save a schedule, TicketPa creates its time slots for the next 120 days. Every night it adds the next day, so you always have about four months ahead. See [Set a schedule for an activity](https://ticketpa.com/help/set-a-schedule).
- **One-off time slots**: single times you add in the **Calendar**.

Drafts get their time slots too, so they are ready when you publish. Times that have already started are never created, and time slots that have started are never changed by a schedule.

## What changes do to existing time slots

TicketPa brings the upcoming time slots in line whenever you change a schedule, the activity's length or location, a location's timezone or your closed dates, and again every night.

| Time slot                      | What happens                                                                |
| ------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| From a schedule, never booked  | Follows every change, and goes when no schedule wants it                    |
| From a schedule, with bookings | Never removed. Takes a new length and new places, never below what's booked |
| Changed by hand, or a one-off  | Left alone, and never removed by a schedule                                 |

"Changed by hand" means any time slot you saved in the calendar. A time slot you moved stays where you put it, and the schedule doesn't create a new one at its old time. A booking that was later cancelled still counts as a booking here. Changes to schedules never cancel bookings.

Closed dates remove the empty scheduled time slots in them and close the others. See [Close dates for holidays and days off](https://ticketpa.com/help/close-dates).

## Timezones

- Every time slot runs in its activity's timezone: its location's, or your business's when it has no fixed location. The calendar shows each one in that local time.
- Changing a location's timezone moves the empty scheduled time slots of its activities to the same local times in the new timezone. Booked and hand-changed ones keep their time.
- Only our support team can change your business's timezone.

## Daylight saving

Start times stay the same on the local clock all year: a 10:00 time slot starts at 10:00 before and after the clocks change.

- A start time that doesn't exist on the night the clocks go forward moves on with the clock, so 02:30 becomes 03:30.
- A start time that happens twice when the clocks go back uses the later one.
- An activity that lasts a day or more counts whole days on the local clock, so a two-day trip that starts at 09:00 ends at 09:00. A shorter one lasts exactly as long as you set, even over a clock change.

## Frequently asked questions

### Why is a time slot missing?

It may be in the past, more than 120 days ahead, on closed dates, or from a paused schedule. Equipment and spaces never leave a time slot out: while what the activity uses is taken, the time slot shows as full instead. See [Manage equipment and spaces](https://ticketpa.com/help/resources).

### Will editing a time slot stop the schedule from changing it?

Yes. Once you save a time slot in the calendar, the schedule leaves it alone. See [Edit a time slot](https://ticketpa.com/help/edit-a-time-slot).