Appointments and booking errors¶
Messages you may see in Appointments, on your online booking page, and in Patient messages — what they mean, what to try, and when to email help@perfect.ventures.
General advice for every error: Errors and getting help. Open Dental error codes: Open Dental errors.
Opening the Appointments page¶
| Message | Usually means | Try | Contact Ordo? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Appointments isn't enabled for this clinic | Ordo has not turned the module on for your practice. | — | Yes, to turn it on. |
| Connect Open Dental to see appointments | This location has no working Open Dental connection. | Owner or Admin: Clinic settings → PMS Integrations → Test. | If Test fails. |
| We couldn't load the schedule | Open Dental did not answer in time, or the connection dropped. | Try again, then Refresh schedule. | If it keeps happening. |
| We couldn't load the Appointments module | Ordo could not read your clinic's module settings. | Reload the page. | If it keeps happening. |
| Choose a range of 31 days or less. | The schedule can show at most a month at a time. | Use Day, Week, or List. | No. |
| {N} patient names could not be loaded from Open Dental… | Some names timed out; those rows show Patient #1234. | Refresh schedule. | No. |
| Open Dental is busy. Try again shortly. | Open Dental is rate-limiting requests. | Wait a minute and refresh. | If it lasts more than an hour. |
| Open Dental rejected the request | The customer key was rejected or does not allow this. | Owner or Admin: re-test the connection. | If the key is correct. |
Reschedule, cancel, and book¶
| Message | Usually means | Try | Contact Ordo? |
|---|---|---|---|
| That time is no longer open. Pick another time. | Someone booked that time a moment ago. | Pick another time. | No. |
| No open times for this provider on {day}. Try another day or provider. | Open Dental shows no openings for that provider that day. | Another day or provider; check the provider's schedule in Open Dental. | No. |
| Only scheduled appointments can be rescheduled. / …cancelled. | The visit is already complete or broken. | Change it in Open Dental if needed. | No. |
| Rescheduling isn't enabled for this clinic. / Cancelling isn't enabled… | Your clinic does not allow it (set by Ordo). | Do it in Open Dental. | Yes, if your clinic should allow it. |
| You do not have permission to do that | Your role lacks Reschedule and cancel or Edit details. | Ask an Owner or Admin. | No. |
| A patient with this name and date of birth is already in Open Dental… | The “new” patient already has a chart. | Book under Existing patient. | No. |
| The patient was added to Open Dental, but the appointment could not be booked… | The chart was created; the visit was not. | Search under Existing patient and book again. Do not re-add them. | If it fails again. |
| Appointment not found in Open Dental. | The visit was deleted in Open Dental. | Refresh schedule. | No. |
| You need access to Patients to see patient details. | Your role lacks View patients. | Ask an Owner or Admin. | No. |
Colour, comments, and files¶
| Message | Usually means | Try |
|---|---|---|
| Open Dental didn't save the colour. Try again. | Open Dental accepted the request but did not keep the colour. | Try again; if it persists, set it in Open Dental. |
| Comment saved in Ordo, but Open Dental didn't accept the note. | The comment is in Ordo; copying it into the note failed. | Add it to the note in Open Dental if it matters there. |
| You can only remove your own comments. | Someone else wrote it. | Ask them, or an Owner. |
| {file} is larger than 10 MB. | Files are limited to 10 MB each. | Compress or split the file. |
| {file} isn't an allowed file type… / …doesn't match its extension | Not an accepted type, or the file was renamed. | Save it as PDF or an image. |
| Attach up to 10 files at a time. | Too many at once. | Attach in batches. |
| File storage isn't set up for Ordo yet. | File storage is not configured in this environment. | Email help@perfect.ventures. |
What patients may see on the booking page¶
If a patient calls about one of these, this is what it means.
| Patient sees | Usually means | What the office can do |
|---|---|---|
| Online booking isn't available here | The page is switched off, the web address changed, or the link is wrong. | Check Accept online bookings and the Booking URL in Clinic settings → Appointments. |
| We couldn't load online booking | A temporary problem. | Ask the patient to try again; book by phone meanwhile. |
| We're having trouble checking appointment availability. | Ordo could not reach Open Dental for this location. | Check PMS Integrations. Email Ordo if Test passes but patients still see this. |
| Online booking isn't available for this visit type. Please call the office to schedule. | No visit type is set up for this kind of patient (new or existing). | Email Ordo to add or change visit types. |
| No appointments are available on these dates. | No openings in Open Dental within your booking window. | Check provider schedules in Open Dental. |
| That time was just booked. Please select another appointment. | Someone else took the time. | Nothing — the patient picks another. |
| Your session expired. Please confirm your details again to continue. | The patient took more than about 45 minutes. | Nothing — they re-enter their details. |
| We couldn't find your record… | Name or birthday does not match Open Dental exactly. | Check spelling and birthday in Open Dental; or the patient continues as new (Ordo will flag a possible duplicate in the note). |
| We couldn't find an upcoming appointment with those details… (manage) | Name, birthday, or phone does not match, or there is no upcoming visit. | Check the phone numbers on the chart in Open Dental. |
| Changes must be made at least {N} hours before your visit. | Inside your clinic's patient change cutoff. | Staff can still change it in Ordo or Open Dental. |
| This appointment is too soon to change online. | Same as above, checked again at the last moment. | As above. |
| This appointment was changed since you looked it up. | Staff changed the visit while the patient was looking. | The patient looks it up again. |
| Online changes are not available. Please call the office. | Your clinic does not allow online rescheduling or cancelling. | Email Ordo if it should. |
| Too many attempts. Please wait a few minutes and try again. | Many tries from the same connection in a short time (a safety limit). | Wait about 10 minutes, or book by phone. |
| Uploads aren't available right now. Please bring the files to your visit. | File upload is temporarily unavailable. | Ask the patient to bring the card. |
Patient messages¶
| Message | Usually means | Try |
|---|---|---|
| Add your forms link first. / Add your forms link before turning on the forms reminder. | The forms reminder needs a link. | Save a Forms link starting with https://. |
| Add a test email or phone before turning on testing mode. | Testing mode needs somewhere to send. | Save a test contact first. |
| Save a test email/phone under Testing mode first. | Send test has nowhere to send. | Save a test contact. |
| Set up your booking page first, then send a test. | No booking page exists for this location yet. | Create the page under Online booking page. |
| Too many test messages. Wait a few minutes and try again. | More than 10 tests in 10 minutes. | Wait. |
| {{x}} isn't a variable Ordo knows. | A placeholder is misspelled. | Use the insert buttons instead of typing. |
| Status Skipped — Email isn't set up yet / Text messages aren't set up yet | The channel is not connected for your clinic. Skipped messages are not sent later. | Email help@perfect.ventures. |
| Status Failed | The provider refused it (bad address, number not a mobile). | Check the patient's contact details in Open Dental. |
When you email Ordo¶
Include the location, the page (Appointments, booking page, or Patient messages), the exact message, and roughly when it happened. For a booking problem, include the booking page address. Do not include patient birthdays, member IDs, or screenshots of charts.