Understanding Booking Colors and Status

Why Colors Matter

Every booking on your calendar has colors that tell you two things at a glance:

1. Background color = Job status or booking type
2. Left border = Booking progress

Once you know the system, you can scan your calendar and instantly see what needs attention.

Background Colors (Job Status)

The main background color shows you what stage the job is at. For customer jobs, amber or yellow means you're in the Quote stage - you're still quoting or the customer hasn't accepted yet, so the work isn't approved and can still change without issue.

Blue means it's a Work Order - the customer accepted the quote and the work is approved and ready to go. This is confirmed work you can schedule with confidence. Green shows completed jobs, though you usually won't see many of these since they're in the past. You might spot them when looking back at last week.

Red indicates cancelled jobs. These don't appear often since they're usually removed from the calendar. Purple means the work is on hold temporarily - the customer might be waiting on permits or money, so don't start work yet but don't cancel either.

For Tasks (Non-Customer Work)

Cyan Background = Task

• Not a customer job
• Internal stuff like meetings, admin, breaks
• No job number attached

Left Border Colors (Booking Progress)

Every booking also has a thick colored border on the left side. This shows whether the work has started:

Dark Blue Border = Scheduled

• Booking is confirmed but hasn't started yet
• Default state for new bookings
• Waiting for the start time

Orange Border = In Progress

• Staff member tapped "Start"
• Work is happening right now
• Clock is running

Green Border = Done

• Staff member tapped "Finish"
• Work completed
• Time tracked

Why two colors?
The background tells you WHAT it is (Quote, Work Order, etc)
The border tells you WHERE it's at (Scheduled, In Progress, Done)

Example: Blue background + Orange border = It's a Work Order that's currently in progress

Quick Reference Guide

Here's a quick cheat sheet to keep handy:

Background Colors

• 🟡 Amber = Quote
• 🔵 Blue = Work Order
• 🟢 Green = Completed Job
• 🔴 Red = Cancelled
• 🟣 Purple = On Hold
• 🩵 Cyan = Task

Border Colors

• Dark Blue = Scheduled (not started)
• Orange = In Progress (happening now)
• Green = Done (finished)

What to Focus On

When looking at your calendar, prioritize:

1. Blue bookings (Work Orders) - These are confirmed, approved work. Do these first.
2. Orange borders (In Progress) - Work that's already started. Follow up if taking too long.
3. Amber bookings (Quotes) - These might still change. Customer hasn't committed yet.

Pro tip: Blue bookings with dark blue borders are your "confirmed and ready to start" work. These should be your main focus.

Color Tips for Quick Scanning

Morning check:

• Look for orange borders = What's already started?
• Look for blue backgrounds = What confirmed work is today?

Planning tomorrow:

• Count blue bookings = How much confirmed work?
• Count amber bookings = How many quotes (might reschedule)?

End of day:

• All bookings should be green borders (Done) or dark blue (Scheduled for later)
• Orange borders at 5pm means someone's still working

Colors on Different Views

Day/Week Views:

• Full color blocks with labels
• Easy to see at a glance

Month View:

• Smaller blocks, colors more important
• Rely on background color more than reading text
• Use color to spot busy days

Common Questions

Why is my booking yellow/amber? It's for a job that's still in Quote stage (Open:Quote). Once the customer accepts and it becomes a Work Order, it'll turn blue.

Can I change the colors? No, colors are fixed based on job status. But you CAN change the job status (Quote → Work Order), which changes the color.

What if I don't see a left border? You should always see a border. If you don't, refresh the page - it might be a display glitch.

Why do some bookings look different colors on mobile? They should match! Both portal and mobile app use the same color system. If they don't match, pull to refresh to clear cached data.

What about white or grey bookings? You shouldn't see those. If you do, it's a data error - contact support.

Can I filter the calendar by color? Not by color directly, but you can filter by job status in the sidebar, which gives you the same result.

What Colors Tell You

Use colors to make quick decisions:

Seeing too much amber?

• Lots of quotes, not much confirmed work
• Follow up on quotes to get acceptances
• Or schedule more quote visits

Mostly blue?

• Good! Lots of confirmed work
• Make sure you have staff to cover it all
• Watch for conflicts

Several orange borders?

• Multiple jobs in progress
• Check they're not running over time
• Make sure you have coverage

Today is all green borders?

• Awesome! All today's work is done
• Can start on tomorrow's work
• Or catch up on admin

Related Articles

• Creating Bookings - Schedule work and assign staff
• Using the Calendar - Navigate views and find bookings
• Understanding Jobs - How jobs and bookings connect