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Full Service Appointment entry
How-to guide

How to create a Service Appointment in Salesforce

Service Appointments are the scheduled visits in Field Service — when a technician is going to a customer site. They link a Work Order (or Work Order Line Item) to a Service Resource for a specific time window. Most are auto-created by the scheduler, not manually.

By Dipojjal Chakrabarti · Founder & Editor, Salesforce DictionaryLast updated Apr 20, 2026

Service Appointments are the scheduled visits in Field Service — when a technician is going to a customer site. They link a Work Order (or Work Order Line Item) to a Service Resource for a specific time window. Most are auto-created by the scheduler, not manually.

  1. Make sure Field Service is enabled

    Setup → Field Service Settings. Field Service is a paid add-on.

  2. Open the parent Work Order

    Service Appointments are usually created from a Work Order.

  3. Click New on the Service Appointments related list

    Or use the Field Service Dispatcher Console for auto-scheduling at scale.

  4. Set Subject and Status

    Subject: brief description. Status: None / Scheduled / Dispatched / In Progress / Cannot Complete / Completed / Cancelled.

  5. Set Earliest Start Permitted and Due Date

    Drives the scheduling engine: appointment must start between these times.

  6. Set Service Resource and Service Territory

    Resource: who's assigned (a tech). Territory: geographic / functional grouping that gates which resources can be assigned.

  7. Set Scheduled Start and End

    Specific time window. Auto-populated by the scheduler if you use the Dispatcher Console.

  8. Save

    Appointment is created. Mobile workers see it in Field Service Mobile App; dispatchers see it on the Dispatcher Console gantt.

Mandatory fields
Subjectrequired

Required. Brief description of the appointment.

Statusrequired

Required. None is the default for new appointments.

Earliest Start Permittedrequired

Required. Cannot schedule before this time.

Due Daterequired

Required. Must complete by this time.

Gotchas
  • Field Service is a paid add-on. Service Cloud alone doesn't include Service Appointments. Check licensing before scoping.
  • Service Resource must be in a Service Territory that can serve this appointment. A West Coast tech can't be auto-scheduled to an East Coast appointment without a territory override.
  • Auto-scheduling via the Dispatcher Console requires Field Service Lightning Scheduling. Manual scheduling works without it but doesn't optimize for travel time / skills / capacity.

See the full Service Appointment entry

Service Appointment includes the definition, worked example, deep dive, related terms, and a quiz.