CaliDiary is coming soon: a free booking plugin for WordPress, with Solo and Pro plans for payments and teams. See the plans
Product Your data stays on your websiteOnline payments and depositsInvoices and credit notes, built inWorks with the tools you already useBooking forms that ask the right questionsTeam sign-in, no dashboard accessAccessible to every customerSafe, signed updates All features
Booking kinds AppointmentsGroup bookingsRequests you approveFree bookingsSeveral services in one visitClasses and coursesEvents with ticketsRooms, desks and equipmentWaiting list
Industries Professional servicesClinics and healthSalons and beautyTraining, classes and coursesPet careHome and autoPublic sector and educationCreative and eventsCommunity, charities and volunteering All 51 industries
Compare CaliDiary vs AmeliaCaliDiary vs BooklyCaliDiary vs LatePointCaliDiary vs BookneticCaliDiary vs BookingPressCaliDiary vs Simply Schedule Appointments All comparisons
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Forms

File uploads and live photos with every booking

On Solo and Pro, a booking form can ask for documents and photos. On Pro, a live photo question lets customers take a picture with their camera there and then. Files are stored privately on your own website, checked by their contents, stripped of hidden location data, and deleted with the booking.

Available Plans: Solo, Pro
Illustration: documents uploaded with a booking and kept private.
File uploads and live photo

What it does for you

Uploads

Documents before the meeting.

Customers send PDFs, Word files and photos with their booking.

  • You set size, number and kinds
  • Solo and Pro
Live photo

A photo taken there and then.

On Pro, the camera opens inside the booking form, front or back first.

  • Upload instead if allowed
  • Needs a secure website
Private

Files never leave your site.

Stored in a private folder under random names, checked by their contents, and deleted with the booking.

  • Hidden location data removed
  • Signed links for staff
How it works

Set up in minutes

  1. Add an upload question

    Choose size, number and kinds.

  2. Customers attach files

    They send as soon as they are chosen.

  3. Staff open them

    From the booking, signed in.

Plans

What each plan includes

Feature FreeSoloPro
File uploads and live photo
Document and photo uploads
Live photo with the camera
In detail

Everything about file uploads and live photo

Upload questions (Solo and Pro)

Add an Upload documents and photos question to the booking form and choose:

  • the largest file size (never more than your server allows);
  • how many files, from 1 to 10;
  • which kinds: documents (PDF, Word) and photos (JPG, PNG, HEIC, WebP).

Files start sending as soon as they are chosen, photos show a preview, each file has a Remove button, and Book waits for any file still being sent.

Live photo (Pro)

A live photo question opens the camera inside the booking form. You choose the label and help text, whether it is required, whether the front or back camera opens first ("Switch camera" appears where there are two), and up to how many photos. If the device has no camera, or the customer says no to camera access, the form explains this and, if you allow it, offers a normal photo upload instead.

Examples: a garage asking for a photo of a dashboard warning light; a dog groomer asking for a photo of the dog's coat today; a repair shop asking for the damage.

How files are kept safe

  • Stored only on your website, in a private folder that blocks access from the web, under random names.
  • Checked by their contents, not by their names, so a renamed file can't slip through.
  • Hidden details removed from photos: location, camera details, comments and extra pictures, without re-saving the image, so quality is not lost.
  • Opened by signed-in staff only, through signed links from the booking.
  • Deleted with the booking and when a customer's data is erased; files from a booking that was never finished are deleted after a day.

Suggested wording about files is added to the privacy-policy text CaliDiary offers in WordPress.

Who uses it

Who asks for files before the appointment

Dog groomers

Grooms booked with the dog's breed, coat and temperament, and time to dry.

Photographers

Portrait sessions, headshots and mini-session days, with the shoot details asked up front.

Works well with

Questions about file uploads and live photo

Which file types can customers send?
You choose from documents (PDF, Word) and photos (JPG, PNG, HEIC, WebP). Word files containing macros are refused.
How large can files be?
You set the largest file size, which can never be more than your server allows, and how many files (1 to 10) per question.
Who can open the files?
Only your signed-in staff, through signed links from the booking. Customers never get links to files, and the folder they are stored in blocks direct access.
What is a live photo?
A Pro question where the customer takes a photo with their phone's or computer's camera inside the booking form, rather than choosing an existing picture. Cameras need a secure (https) website; the form builder warns you if yours isn't.
Are files ever sent to CaliDiary?
No. They stay on your website's own server.

Try CaliDiary on your own website.

Start on the free plan, with no booking limit. Upgrade only when you need to.