How to Switch from Doodle to Schedly
Doodle is a group availability poll tool — great for coordinating meeting times among multiple participants, but not designed for professional appointment scheduling with clients. Schedly replaces Doodle's manual coordination with real self-scheduling, automated reminders, and payment collection. The switch takes about 20 minutes.
Complete migration guide
Follow these steps in order. Each takes 2–5 minutes.
Create your Schedly account
Go to schedly.io and create your free account. No credit card required.
If you're moving from Doodle group polls to one-on-one scheduling, the Schedly free plan handles everything you need.
Connect your calendar
Connect Google Calendar or Outlook. Schedly reads your real availability in real-time — no manual block-out or availability entry like Doodle requires.
This is the fundamental upgrade: your availability is always accurate without any maintenance.
Create your event types
Set up event types for each type of meeting you book: consultations, check-ins, strategy sessions. Set the duration, location, and buffer time for each.
Create one event type first, test it, then add the rest.
Configure your intake questions
Add intake form questions to collect information before each booking. Unlike Doodle, Schedly collects everything you need from clients at booking time.
Ask the 2–3 questions that currently require a follow-up email before meetings.
Enable reminders
Configure email reminders at 24 hours and 2 hours before each appointment. This replaces the reminder overhead you manage manually with Doodle follow-up.
Upgrade to Pro for SMS reminders — far more effective than email for no-show prevention.
Test and share your link
Book a test appointment, confirm the experience, then share your Schedly link wherever you currently share Doodle polls — email, LinkedIn, website.
Your Schedly link is permanent. Unlike Doodle polls, you share it once and it works forever.
What transfers — and what doesn't
A clear-eyed look at what moves to Schedly and what you'll need to handle manually.
What you gain by switching to Schedly
Self-scheduling replaces back-and-forth
Doodle requires you to create a poll, share it, wait for responses, then confirm a time. Schedly lets clients book directly from your real availability — zero back-and-forth.
Automated reminders prevent no-shows
Doodle has no reminder system. Schedly sends automatic email (and SMS on Pro) reminders before every appointment.
Payment collection locks in commitment
Schedly Pro lets you collect deposits or full payment at booking. Doodle has no payment functionality.
Permanent booking link vs disposable polls
Your Schedly booking link works permanently. Doodle polls expire and must be recreated for each scheduling need.
Watch out for these migration gotchas
Doodle and Schedly serve different use cases
Doodle is a group availability tool for finding shared times among multiple participants. Schedly is client-facing appointment scheduling. If you genuinely need group availability polling, you may want to keep Doodle for that specific use case.
Update email templates with your new link
If you include Doodle poll links in email templates or automated sequences, update those with your permanent Schedly booking link.
Why Doodle Users Switch to Schedly: Self-Scheduling vs Poll-Scheduling
Doodle pioneered the group availability poll — a genuinely useful tool for scheduling meetings among multiple participants who all need to find a shared time. But for professional client scheduling, the poll model is fundamentally inefficient: you create a poll, clients vote, you confirm, you repeat this for every scheduling need.
The Self-Scheduling Upgrade
Schedly eliminates the poll entirely. Clients see your real availability and book the time that works for them — instantly, without you involved. The booking confirmation, intake form, and reminder emails all happen automatically. You go from active scheduling coordinator to passive calendar manager.
What You Gain by Switching
Every Doodle poll you've created is a manual scheduling task. Every confirmation email is manual. Every reminder is manual. Schedly automates all of it: self-booking, confirmations, reminders, and optionally payment collection. The time savings alone typically justify the switch in the first week.
Common migration questions
Stop Losing Bookings to
Scheduling Friction.
Schedly puts your calendar to work around the clock. Every lead, every client, and every meeting lands exactly where it should, automatically.