If you’re building an appointment booking or callback form in WordPress, a plain text field for date and time will cause you headaches.
Users type whatever they want — wrong formats, ambiguous times, dates that don’t exist — and you’re left cleaning up submissions instead of acting on them.
Everest Forms includes a Date / Time picker field that solves this. Users see a calendar, click a date, pick a time slot, and submit. You get clean, consistent data on every entry — no cleanup required.
This guide covers single date and time picker setup: adding the field, configuring date restrictions, setting time intervals, and enabling slot booking to prevent double-bookings.
Need date range or multiple date selection instead? See How to Add Date Range and Multiple Dates in WordPress Forms →
Date / Time Picker at a Glance
| Best for | Appointment forms, booking forms, callback requests |
| Plugin needed | Everest Forms (free) |
| Date styles | Date Picker (calendar) or Date Dropdown |
| Time picker | Optional — 12hr or 24hr, configurable intervals |
| Date restrictions | Disable specific dates, set min/max date range |
| Slot booking | Built in — locks submitted dates/times from reselection |
| Setup time | Under 5 minutes |
| Code required | None |
When to Use a Date Picker on Your WordPress Form
A date time picker isn’t a field you need on every form — but the moment your form involves scheduling, it’s non-negotiable. Here’s when it earns its place:
- Appointment scheduling — medical checkups, consultations, coaching calls
- Table or venue reservations — restaurants, event spaces, co-working rooms
- Callback requests — let users choose exactly when they want to be contacted
- Leave or absence requests — employees or students submitting time-off forms
- Delivery or pickup windows — eCommerce or local service businesses
How to Create a WordPress Form with Date Time Picker?
You can follow the simple instructions given below to create a WordPress date time picker form in no time.
Step 1: Install Everest Forms Plugin
To install the Everest Forms plugin on your site, go to Plugins >> Add New from your WordPress dashboard.
It’ll direct you to the Add Plugins page. Here, you can type the plugin’s name that you want to install in the search bar.
As soon as you type Everest Forms, the plugin is shown right onto your screen. Now, hit the Install Now button.
Finally, click on the Activate button to activate the plugin on to your site.
Step 2: Create a New WordPress Form
After installing and activating the Everest Forms plugin, go to Everest Forms >> Add New.
Now, you can either choose from different pre-built form templates or start from scratch.
This tutorial will show you how to create a WordPress contact form with a date time picker from scratch. So, firstly, click on the Start From Scratch option.
A form builder screen will open up.
Provide a suitable name for your form and start adding the required form fields to your form.
Step 3: Add and Configure the Date / Time Field
You can easily drag the form fields like Name, Email, Phone, etc., from the left and drop them to the blank area on the right-side.
Also, you can use the form fields like Single Line Text and Paragraph Text to retrieve information in a single line and paragraph form.
Similarly, to add a date and time picker calendar to the form, drag the advanced field Date/Time from the left hand and drop it to the required area.
Step 4: Configure Date Selection Restrictions
Scroll to Advanced Options inside the Date / Time field settings. These controls determine which dates users can and cannot select.
Disable Dates — block specific calendar dates from selection. Click the field, navigate to the month, and click the dates to disable. Disabled dates appear greyed out to users and cannot be selected.
Enable Min Max Date — set the earliest and latest selectable dates. Useful for enforcing minimum booking lead times or closing off dates too far in advance.
Enable Custom Input — set dynamic boundaries using relative values. Set minimum to “today” so users can never select a past date, and maximum to “+5 days” to restrict how far ahead they can book.
Date Mode — leave set to Single for appointment and booking forms where one date per submission is needed. If you need users to select a date range or multiple separate dates, see How to Add Date Range and Multiple Dates in WordPress Forms →
Slot Booking: Prevent Double-Bookings
Slot Booking is a separate setting in the same Advanced Options panel. Enable it to lock a submitted date or time from being selected again by other users.
Once a visitor submits the form with a chosen date, that date is marked unavailable. The next visitor sees it blocked in the calendar. If you enable Slot Booking on the time field, a submitted time slot triggers an error message for anyone who selects the same time — the form won’t submit until they pick an available slot.
This works for both date and time fields independently. Enable it on one or both depending on your booking setup.
Configure the Time Field
To add a time picker alongside the date, set Format to Date and Time or Time only.
Under Style, choose:
- Time Picker — clock-style selector
- Time Dropdown — dropdown menus for hour and minute
Under Advanced Options for time:
- Time interval — set slot granularity to 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 1 hour
- Time format — 12-hour or 24-hour display
- Placeholder text — guide users on expected input
Slot Booking applies to the time field independently — enable it to prevent two users from booking the same time slot.
Step 5: Configure the Form Settings
You’ve successfully created a WordPress form with a date time picker calendar, but it’s incomplete unless you configure the necessary form settings. So, below we’ll talk briefly about the general form configuration and email settings.
General Form Settings
To configure the general form setting options, navigate to Settings >> General. Your form name and description can be edited from here.
You can also enter the form disable message and successful form message.
Confirmation Settings
Under the Confirmation setting, you can choose what happens after a successful form submission.
You can choose to display a custom successful message or redirect them to a page or URL of your choice.
Email Notifications
You can configure automatic email notification for each form submission.
Go to Settings >> Email.
Set up an user notification to receive each booking submission, and a user notification to confirm the booking to the person who submitted.
Use the {all_fields} smart tag in the email body to include all submitted values — including the selected date and time — automatically.
Step 7: Add the Form to Your Site
Go to Posts >> Add New or open any page. Click the Add Block (+) button, search for Everest Forms, select the block, and choose your form from the dropdown.
Then, click on the Add block (+) button at the top. Again, search for the Everest Forms block and click it.
Now, press on the dropdown menus to choose the required form.
Finally, provide a title to your form and click the Publish button to see your form in action. Also, you can preview your form to view how your form looks from the frontend before making it live.
Alternatively, you can go to Everest Forms >> All Forms and copy the shortcode of the required form.
Next, paste the shortcode to the Posts or Pages you like.
Lastly, hit the Publish button.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I add a date picker to a WordPress form? Install Everest Forms, open the form builder, and drag the Date / Time field onto your form. Set the style to Date Picker and choose your date mode (single, range, or multiple) from the Advanced Options panel.
How do I add a date range picker to a WordPress form? In the Date / Time field’s Advanced Options, set Date Mode to Range. Users click a start date and an end date on the calendar. Both values are captured in the form submission. No add-on required.
How do I prevent double-bookings in a WordPress form? Yes — Everest Forms includes a Slot Booking option in the Date / Time field’s Advanced Options. Once a user submits a form with a selected date or time, that slot is locked and unavailable to subsequent visitors.
Can I limit which dates users can select? Yes. Use Disable Dates to block specific calendar dates, and Enable Min Max Date to set the earliest and latest selectable dates. The Enable Custom Input option lets you set dynamic limits like “today” as the minimum and “+5 days” as the maximum.
Can I make the time picker optional and show only a date field? Yes. Set Format to Date only. The time picker disappears and users see only the date selection.
Do I need a plugin to add a date picker in WordPress? Yes. WordPress doesn’t include form fields by default. Everest Forms adds a Date / Time field with full date picker, range, multiple, and slot booking support — all in the free version.
Do I need a plugin to add a date picker in WordPress? Yes. WordPress doesn’t include form fields by default. Everest Forms adds a Date / Time field with calendar picker, time selector, date restrictions, and slot booking — all in the free version.
Can users pick a date range or multiple dates? Yes, but that’s a separate configuration. See How to Add Date Range and Multiple Dates in WordPress Forms →
Need to collect location data on the same form? Read How to Add an Address Autocomplete Field in WordPress or explore Everest Forms templates for pre-built booking and appointment forms.