DayTidy settings should make the first booking easier to understand and safer to run—not become a long checklist of features you may never use. Start with the settings that affect every customer-facing date, price, and booking record. Then enable the modules your first real workflow needs, configure any new options they add, and test one complete booking before expanding the system.
If DayTidy is not installed yet, begin with the DayTidy installation guide. This article starts once the plugin is active and you are ready to decide what the site-wide defaults should be.
Choose the first booking flow before changing settings
Write down one result a customer should be able to achieve on the site. It might be booking a 30-minute consultation, reserving a room, or buying a place at one workshop. That small decision gives each setting a purpose.
For example, a free one-time workshop may need an event, a session, one ticket, and a sensible date format. A paid consultation with a staff member may also need resources, appointment services, payment, and notification modules. Neither setup becomes better because every available module is enabled.
The guide to building a WordPress booking system with DayTidy shows how an offering, schedule, booking option, and booking record work together. Use that model to decide which settings genuinely belong in the first release.
Check the WordPress timezone first
Before configuring date displays, confirm that Settings → General → Timezone in WordPress reflects where the business operates. Use a city-based timezone when possible, rather than a fixed UTC offset, so seasonal clock changes are handled by WordPress.
This is especially important when appointments use resources, recurring schedules, or staff availability. A clear date format cannot correct a site clock that represents the wrong business time. Once the WordPress timezone is right, set up the DayTidy formats people will see.
Set the General defaults that customers and staff will read
Open DayTidy → Settings → General. Start with the controls that establish a consistent booking language across the site.
Date and time formats
In Date & Time Formats, choose a date format and time format your customers will immediately recognise. The settings screen previews each choice, including the range formats used when a session starts and ends on the same hour, day, month, year, or across another range.
Choose a convention and keep it consistent. For a local service business, 9 September 2026, 14:00 may be clearer than a format that can be read two ways. For a customer base used to 12-hour time, make the AM/PM marker unambiguous. Then inspect a real public offering after saving; the preview is helpful, but the public page is the actual customer experience.
Currency and sign position
Still in General, set the site-wide Currency and Currency Sign Position before adding paid tickets or services. DayTidy uses these choices as its general price formatting, while offering options and payment workflows use that context unless a related module changes the presentation.
Use the currency your business actually charges in, and make sure it is compatible with any payment gateway you later enable. Do not treat a price display choice as a substitute for testing checkout: a paid booking needs a real end-to-end test in the gateway’s appropriate test or live configuration.
Enable only the modules your first workflow needs
Open DayTidy → Settings → Modules. Choose the relevant category, enable the feature area you need, and save. DayTidy uses modules to keep optional workflows out of the administration area until a site needs them.
The right starting set depends on the booking model:
- A straightforward event: begin with the core event, scheduling, and ticket workflow. Add a payment module only when the event needs paid checkout.
- An appointment tied to a person, room, or asset: enable the resource and booking capabilities needed to model real availability, then configure the appointment service.
- A customer follow-up flow: add notifications or the customer portal only when the team has decided what customers should receive or manage.
- A richer public listing or embedded form: add display views or the Block Editor integration when the generated offering page is no longer the right presentation.
Enabling a module is only the first part. An enabled offering, booking, display, or integration module can add an option panel back in DayTidy → Settings → General. Return there after each module choice and configure only the options that change the workflow you are about to publish.
For the full feature and license reference, see the DayTidy modules and licensing documentation.
Confirm Pro access before troubleshooting a missing feature
DayTidy Pro extends DayTidy Free; it does not replace it. When a Pro capability is unavailable, first confirm that both plugins are active. Then open DayTidy → Webilia Connect. The Connect tab uses an eligible Webilia account; the Licenses tab accepts an independent license code. Confirm that Pro access is authorized, and inspect update authorization separately. Connecting alone does not install Pro or enable its modules.
After that, return to DayTidy → Settings → Modules and verify that the specific feature is enabled. This order matters: changing an offering or rebuilding a schedule cannot make a disabled or unauthorized Pro module appear.
Keep the configuration decision separate from the commercial decision. Install and authorize Pro because the site needs a confirmed workflow—such as an online payment, coupon, report, or other Pro capability—not because it might become useful later.
Configure payment when the booking is ready to collect money
You can publish and test a free booking before you configure payments. That is often the clearest way to validate the offering, schedule, availability, and form fields without introducing checkout variables.
When the site is ready to accept payment, open DayTidy → Settings → Payment and choose the intended path. DayTidy supports offline collection paths such as on-site payment and wire transfer, while the configured Pro workflows can support online payment through Stripe, PayPal Standard, or WooCommerce Cart. WooCommerce is only needed for the Cart approach; it is not a requirement for every DayTidy site.
Check the currency, the selected gateway’s credentials and mode, the offering price, and the resulting booking and payment statuses. Then make a controlled test booking. The DayTidy payment documentation is the detailed reference for the available payment paths and setup controls.
Leave data retention alone unless permanent deletion is intended
At DayTidy → Settings → General → Uninstall Data Retention, DayTidy keeps business data by default when the plugin is uninstalled. That lets the site preserve DayTidy-owned bookings, customers, resources, sessions, options, transients, scheduled events, and metadata for a future reinstall.
Delete data on uninstall is different from ordinary troubleshooting, a temporary deactivation, or an upgrade. It permanently removes that DayTidy-owned data when the plugin is uninstalled. Leave it disabled unless permanent cleanup is the deliberate outcome, and take a reliable backup before enabling it.
Run a short settings check before publishing
Before you announce the first booking page, use this small check:
- Confirm the WordPress timezone represents the business location.
- Check the DayTidy date, time, and currency display on a public offering.
- Verify that each enabled module supports a real part of the workflow.
- Review the new General options added by those modules.
- If Pro is involved, confirm Free, Pro, access authorization, and the required module are all active.
- If payment is involved, complete a safe test through the intended payment path.
- Keep uninstall data deletion disabled unless permanent removal is truly intended.
This is enough for a first release. Once one customer journey works, add the next module or configuration change one at a time and repeat the public test.
Avoid these settings mistakes
- Changing formats without checking WordPress time: start with the site’s timezone, then choose formats that make the result easy to read.
- Using modules as a feature checklist: an enabled module can create more options and decisions. Turn it on when it solves a confirmed workflow need.
- Diagnosing a missing Pro feature in the offering editor: check Free, Pro authorization, and the module state first.
- Turning on a gateway without testing the whole booking: credentials, currency, price, checkout, and booking status all need to agree.
- Enabling deletion to “reset” a site: uninstall data retention is permanent. Use a backup and a deliberate cleanup plan instead.
What to learn next
With the defaults and modules in place, build one real public booking journey. Follow the DayTidy booking system setup guide for the offering, schedule, option, publishing, and test sequence. If your first flow is a staff, room, or equipment booking, use the first appointment booking guide to configure the resource and service relationship.
FAQ
Where do I find DayTidy settings?
Open DayTidy → Settings in the WordPress admin. Use General for site-wide formats, currency, enabled-module options, and data retention; use Modules to enable the feature areas your workflow needs.
Should I enable every DayTidy module?
No. Enable the modules that support the booking flow you are building first. Turning on a module can add its own options under DayTidy → Settings → General, so a smaller configuration is easier to test and maintain.
Why is a DayTidy Pro module missing?
Confirm that DayTidy Free and DayTidy Pro are active, that an eligible Webilia Connect account or independent license code authorizes Pro under DayTidy → Webilia Connect, and that the relevant module is enabled under DayTidy → Settings → Modules.
Does uninstalling DayTidy delete bookings and resources?
Not by default. DayTidy preserves its business data when it is uninstalled. Delete data on uninstall is a separate, permanent setting under DayTidy → Settings → General → Uninstall Data Retention.
