Why a service isn't showing online

A service shows up in online booking only when its entire chain is active:

Collection → Category → Service → an assigned stylist.

If any link is inactive or missing, the customer never sees the service. This is deliberate — JustBook won’t advertise a booking a customer can’t actually complete. So if a service you created isn’t appearing, one of the links above is broken. This page explains the rule and how to fix it.

The activation rule

An item is only active if it has a usable child:

• A service needs at least one assigned stylist.
• A category needs at least one active service.
• A collection needs at least one active category.

Because of this, you can’t turn something on before it has a usable child. If you try to activate a category with no active service (or a service with no stylist), JustBook blocks it and tells you what’s missing. Create or activate the child first, then activate the parent.

Deactivation cascades upward

The rule also runs in reverse. When an item loses its last usable child, its parent is automatically switched off too, so you never have an “active” category that leads nowhere:

• Remove or unassign the last stylist from a service → the service goes inactive.
• Deactivate or delete the last active service in a category → the category goes inactive.
• Deactivate the last active category in a collection → the collection goes inactive.

JustBook tells you when a change cascades like this, so a deactivation is never silent. If you meant to keep the parent live, add or activate a replacement child.

How to spot the problem in the admin

On the Services, Categories, and Collections pages, any item that won’t appear in online booking shows an amber Hidden from booking chip. Hover it (or tap it on a phone) to read exactly why. Common messages:

• “No stylists are assigned, so this service can’t be activated or shown in online booking. Assign a stylist to fix it.”
• “This category has no active services, so it can’t be activated or shown in online booking. Add or activate a service to fix it.”
• “This collection has no active categories, so it can’t be activated or shown in online booking. Activate a category to fix it.”

The Active / Inactive status shown on each row tells you whether that specific item is switched on.

Fix it: work the chain

Start at the service and walk up the chain until every link is active.

1. Open the service under Menu → Services. Confirm it has at least one Assigned Stylist. If not, add one and make sure the service is Active.
2. Open its category under Menu → Categories. Confirm the category is Active and that this service is linked to it.
3. Open its collection under Menu → Collections. Confirm the collection is Active and that the category belongs to it.
4. Reload your public booking page. The service should now appear.

If every link is active but the service is still missing at one specific branch, the problem is branch scoping, not activation — see Branch menus.

Common causes at a glance

What you see	Why	Fix
Service created but marked Inactive	No assigned stylist	Assign a stylist, then activate the service
Service is active but hidden	Its category or collection is inactive	Activate the parent category and collection
A whole category vanished from booking	Its last active service was deactivated or deleted	Add or reactivate a service in it
A collection disappeared	Its last active category went inactive	Reactivate a category in it
Service shows everywhere except one branch	No assigned stylist works at that branch	See Branch menus

Still stuck?

Walk through the full diagnosis on My service isn’t showing on the booking page.