A booking event runs through three phases — being set up, open for bookings, and closed. PortalHQ gives you a few different ways to control when parents see it and when bookings can come in. This article covers the toggles, and how to copy an event when you’re running the same thing again.
The visibility toggles
Three settings on the event control what parents see:
Hide
- Hide = on — the event is invisible to parents entirely, regardless of any other setting.
- Hide = off — the event is visible to eligible parents.
Use Hide while you’re setting an event up, or when you want to take an event off the dashboard without deleting it.
Hide time (hours before start)
- A number — the event auto-hides this many hours before its start time.
- Blank — no auto-hide.
Use this to stop late bookings. Setting Hide time to 2 means the event disappears from the parent dashboard two hours before it starts.
Full
- Full = on — parents see the event marked as full and can’t book.
- Full = off — parents can book if there’s capacity.
The full flag is set automatically when bookings reach capacity. You can also tick it manually to close bookings early.
How they combine
The event is bookable when Hide = off, the hide time hasn’t elapsed, Full = off, and there’s capacity. Any one of these blocks bookings.
Closing bookings before the event runs
A few options depending on what you want:
- Close immediately, hide from the dashboard — tick Hide. Parents who haven’t booked won’t see it. Existing bookings are unaffected.
- Close immediately, leave it visible — tick Full. Parents see the event marked as full. Good when you want them to know the event is still happening but bookings are closed.
- Close automatically at a set time before — set Hide time. Parents lose the ability to book Hide time hours before the event.
Cancelling an event entirely
If the event isn’t going to run at all:
- Open the event detail page.
- Tick Hide so no new bookings can come in.
- Cancel each active submission. See Viewing, managing and exporting submissions.
- Email affected parents separately — submission cancellation doesn’t auto-notify.
- Optionally delete the event if you don’t need the record. Past cancelled events are usually worth keeping for audit.
Copying an event
The Copy action duplicates an event with most of its settings. Useful when:
- You ran an event last term and want to run the same one this term.
- You’re setting up multiple similar events (e.g. PTI for several year levels).
- You want to test a setup without affecting the original.
To copy:
- Find the event in the Current or Past list.
- Choose Copy on that event.
- PortalHQ creates a new event with the original’s name, capacity, description, form, group and student list.
- Edit the new event — at minimum, change the date and times.
- Generate fresh sessions if the original had them. (Sessions don’t copy across.)
- Save and unhide when you’re ready.
What gets copied vs. what doesn’t
Copied:
- Name, description, capacity.
- Time range (you’ll need to change the date).
- Linked custom form.
- Event group membership.
- Slip prerequisite.
- Eligible student list.
Not copied:
- Sessions — you regenerate these on the new event.
- Submissions — bookings stay with the original event.
- Reminder configuration — set this up fresh.
A safe rollout pattern
- Create the event with Hide = on.
- Set up sessions, form, eligibility and reminders.
- Test by booking from a parent account.
- When everything looks right, untick Hide and announce the event.
- Set Hide time if you want late bookings to close automatically.
This avoids the situation where parents see a half-finished event and try to book before the form or sessions are ready.