# Bot Availability Schedule

The availability schedule controls when your AI bot is active and responding to messages. You can set specific hours for each day of the week so the bot only operates when you want it to - during business hours, extended hours, or around the clock.

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## How It Works

When a message comes in from a contact, DM Champ checks whether the current time is within the bot's active hours for that day:

* **If yes:** The bot processes the message and responds.
* **If no:** The bot stays silent. The message is saved and will be handled when the bot becomes active again.

**Default behavior:** If you do not set an availability schedule, the bot is available **24/7** and will respond at any time of day or night.

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## Setting Your Bot's Active Hours

### During Onboarding

If you use the guided onboarding wizard and select a booking-related use case, you can set up your availability schedule as part of the onboarding process. This gets your bot's active hours configured before you even finish setting up your first campaign.

### Step by Step

1. Open your campaign
2. Go to the **Bot** configuration tab
3. Find the **Availability** section
4. For each day of the week, set the start time and end time
5. Leave a day blank to keep the bot off that day entirely

### Example: Standard Business Hours

| Day       | Active From | Active Until   |
| --------- | ----------- | -------------- |
| Monday    | 09:00       | 18:00          |
| Tuesday   | 09:00       | 18:00          |
| Wednesday | 09:00       | 18:00          |
| Thursday  | 09:00       | 18:00          |
| Friday    | 09:00       | 17:00          |
| Saturday  | 10:00       | 14:00          |
| Sunday    | -           | - (bot is off) |

In this example, the bot is active Monday through Friday during business hours, with shorter hours on Saturday, and completely off on Sunday.

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## Split Schedules (Multiple Time Slots Per Day)

You can set more than one active window per day. This is useful if you want the bot on during certain periods but off during others.

**Example: Morning and evening, off in the afternoon**

| Day     | Morning Slot  | Evening Slot  |
| ------- | ------------- | ------------- |
| Monday  | 08:00 - 12:00 | 16:00 - 20:00 |
| Tuesday | 08:00 - 12:00 | 16:00 - 20:00 |

The bot responds during both time windows but stays silent from 12:00 to 16:00.

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## Timezone Settings

Your availability schedule runs on the timezone set in your account.

**To set your timezone:**

1. Go to **Settings > Account**
2. Under **Business Details**, select your timezone
3. All availability times will use this timezone

**What if your contacts are in different timezones?** The schedule always uses YOUR timezone. For example, if you set the bot to be active 09:00-18:00 in Central European Time, a contact messaging from New York at 10:00 AM Eastern (which is 16:00 CET) will get a response because 16:00 falls within your active hours.

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## What Happens Outside Active Hours

When a message arrives while the bot is off:

* **The message is saved.** Nothing is lost.
* **The bot responds later.** When the bot becomes active again, it processes and replies to any pending messages.
* **You can always reply manually.** Regardless of the bot's schedule, you can message contacts yourself at any time.

**Good to know:** Follow-up messages also respect the bot's schedule. If you enable "Respect Business Hours" in your [follow-up settings](https://help.dmchamp.com/campaigns/follow-ups), scheduled follow-ups will only be sent during the bot's active hours.

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## Common Schedules

### Always On (24/7)

Leave the availability section empty or unconfigured. The bot responds at any time.

**Best for:** Support bots, international audiences, campaigns where you want the fastest possible response.

### Business Hours Only

Set Monday-Friday, 09:00-18:00 (or your actual business hours).

**Best for:** B2B campaigns, professional services, situations where after-hours messages would seem unusual.

### Extended Hours

Set longer windows (e.g., 07:00-22:00) including evenings and weekends.

**Best for:** E-commerce, consumer brands, campaigns targeting people who browse outside normal business hours.

### Event-Based Windows

Set narrow time windows around specific events or promotions.

**Best for:** Webinar follow-ups, product launches, limited-time offers where the bot only needs to be active for a few hours.

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## Tips

1. **Match your audience's expectations.** If your customers expect quick replies at 10 PM, keep the bot active. If messaging at midnight would seem off-brand, restrict the hours.
2. **Consider your team's availability.** If the bot alerts a human team member and nobody is around to respond, the contact waits. Align bot hours with team availability when possible.
3. **Use "always on" for incoming campaigns.** If contacts can message you at any time (e.g., via a website chat widget), having the bot available 24/7 ensures nobody is left waiting.
4. **Test your schedule.** After setting your hours, send a test message outside active hours to confirm the bot stays silent, then send one during active hours to confirm it responds.