Turning individual automatic messages off

Messages with a Send automatically switch on the Messaging page can be switched off individually. Messages with both channels can send by email, text or both. Some messages are email only.

Switching a message off

1. Go to Settings > Messaging. Only clinic owners can change messaging.
2. Scroll to the message you want to stop. Messages are grouped by lifecycle stage: Booking, Reminders and aftercare, Cancellations and no-shows, Rebooking, and Marketing.
3. Untick Send automatically on that message's card and press Save.

For most cards, Off stops the message on every supported channel. Appointment moved is the exception: its email and Appointment moved (SMS) switches work independently, so turn both off to stop both. A red Off badge appears next to the message name so you can see disabled automations at a glance.

Keeping one channel and dropping the other

Inside each message are separate cards for email and sms. Open a card with Edit and you will find a tick box, Send this message by email or Send this message by sms. Untick it, press the card's save button, and that channel stops for this message altogether; the other channel is unaffected. A common setup is a reminder by email two days before and by text the day before, with the text switched off on the two-day reminder so nobody gets four messages for one appointment. A card that is switched off shows an Off badge, the same as a stopped automation.

Until 18 August 2026 this tick box only chose between your own wording and the built-in default, and unticking it still sent the message. It now means exactly what it says. If you set channels up before then, it is worth a quick look at each reminder to check the cards read the way you intend.

Three switches, three jobs

• Send automatically on the message: whether it sends at all.
• Send this message by email or by sms on each card: whether it sends on that channel.
• Your wording in the card's editor: what it says. Use Reset to default to restore the built-in wording and re-enable that channel; to keep it off, untick the channel box and save it again afterwards.

Good to know

• The review request, aftercare advice, booking recovery and cancellation notice are email only, so they have a single email card.
• Appointment moved has a second switch of its own, Appointment moved (SMS), for the text version. Both are off until you switch them on.
• Switching off the Booking confirmation stops the patient's confirmation email only. Any pre-appointment forms are still created against the booking, and your own new-booking notification to staff still goes out, because those are operational rather than a courtesy message.

You can switch any automation or channel back on at any time; it resumes for eligible messages. Switching it on can also pick up a past visit that is still within that message's sending window.