Buffer time setting On Booking with me page does not work

Question

Buffer time setting On Booking with me page does not work

Judit Imre 0

Hello,

I set up 1 hr meetings with 30 minutes intervals and with 30 mins buffer time after each meeting. Students can book it via my book time with me page. However I keep receiving bookings back to back, for example a student booked 9:30 and then next day or later another student is able to book their meeting from 10:30. With my setting if a student books a meeting at 9:30 the next available appointment should be at 11:00. I'm unable to fix the issue. Can you please help? Thank you

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2 answers

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Answer 1

Hendrix 2,690 Independent Advisor

Hi Judit,

Based on your settings, it's correct that for a 60-minute meeting starting at 9:30 AM with a 30-minute post-meeting buffer, the next available start time should be 11:00 AM, not 10:30 AM.

To help investigate further, could you please verify the following details:

Open the exact meeting type used by the students and check the settings: Duration: 1 hour, Start-time increments: 30 minutes, and Buffer time after: 30 minutes
Save the meeting type again, then open its sharing link in a private or incognito browser window and check whether 10:30 AM is still offered after a 9:30 AM booking
Do you have multiple meeting types or older booking links? If so, make sure students are using the link for the meeting type where the buffer is configured
Check your Outlook calendar for the 9:30 AM booking and confirm that it appears from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM and is marked as Busy.
Does the problem affect every booking or only particular dates, students, or meeting types? Also, please provide a screenshot of the affected meeting type’s scheduling settings with personal information hidden

I greatly appreciate your cooperation and understanding. Hope to hear from you soon.

Judit Imre 0 Reputation points

2026-11-04T17:25:18.5833333+00:00
Judit Imre 0 Reputation points

2026-11-04T17:27:58.6266667+00:00

Hello, please see screenshots above and below. I did what you've suggested and the buffer time is not applied to my own calendar, and it still shows the next appointment free when it should be the buffer time. For example 9:30 is booked and my booking page shows next availability at 10:30. And yes the students are booking the correct type of meeting as I named it and categorized it.
Judit Imre 0 Reputation points

2026-11-04T17:33:22.0733333+00:00
Hendrix 2,690 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-04T18:34:02.0966667+00:00

Hi Judit,

Greatly appreciate your detailed sharing.

All of your configurations are appropriate, with the meeting type configured correctly with a 60-minute duration, a 30-minute buffer after the meeting, and 30-minute start intervals. With this setup, after a 9:30–10:30 AM booking, the next available start time should be 11:00 AM. This is likely an unexpected availability-calculation problem.

Can you try creating a new temporary meeting type with the same settings and check whether the issue also occurs there?

Also, you can test setting a 30-minute buffer before the meeting instead of after it. This may prevent a new 10:30 AM meeting because its 10:00-10:30 AM pre-meeting buffer would overlap the existing booking.
Judit Imre 0 Reputation points

2026-11-05T10:27:35.3133333+00:00

Hi Hendrix,

If I set up a new meeting type, the same happens. I also tried to change the buffer time to prior the meeting, and I booked an appointment at 9:30, the next available appointment showing on my booking page is still 10:30 and not 11:00.
Hendrix 2,690 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-11-05T18:55:36.5333333+00:00
Hi Judit,

If that's the case, this issue needs to be escalated as a reproducible Bookings with me's availability-calculation issue.

Please contact your school's IT team and ask them to raise a support ticket with Microsoft Support through the Microsoft 365 Admin Center for deeper investigation. The support agent has access to backend configurations and can perform a more in-depth investigation. At the very least, they can provide the most effective workaround to ensure your experience remains smooth and secure.  

For detailed guidance on how to open a support ticket with Microsoft Support, please refer to: Get support - Microsoft 365 admin | Microsoft Learn

In case you do not know who your IT admin is, kindly refer to this article: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin? - Microsoft Support

As a temporary workaround while the issue is being investigated, you can change the appointment duration to 90 minutes. Students will see a 90-minute appointment, but you can clearly state in the title or description that the meeting itself lasts 60 minutes and the remaining 30 minutes are reserved as buffer time.

Answer 2

For Personal Bookings, buffer time is configured on the meeting type itself.

Check this path:

Open Bookings.
On the home page, go to the Personal booking page section.
Select the affected meeting type.
In More settings, review Buffers and make sure time is added after the meeting.
Save the meeting type.

Important behavior:

Buffer time blocks extra time on the calendar before or after a meeting.
Customers do not see the buffer directly, but availability is calculated using the meeting duration plus the buffer.
A 1-hour meeting with a 30-minute buffer after it requires a 90-minute block.

Based on the behavior described, also verify the meeting type duration and interval settings. A similar Bookings issue where unexpected times appeared was tied to the service Duration or buffer configuration. If the meeting is intended to prevent a 10:30 booking after a 9:30–10:30 appointment, the effective blocked time must cover 9:30–11:00.

If the buffer is already set correctly and 10:30 still appears, recheck these items in the same meeting type:

Duration = 1 hour
Buffers = 30 minutes after
Schedule customization and availability do not override the expected blocked time

With those settings, the next available slot after a 9:30 booking should only appear when there is enough time for both the appointment and its buffer.

References: