Dentrix Appointment Book Flip Tabs Tutorial
If you’ve ever found yourself clicking day by day in the Dentrix appointment book trying to find availability, flip tabs are about to become one of your favorite features.
Flip tabs are a quick, easy scheduling tool in Dentrix that let you jump to future dates with a single click. They’re fully customizable and can be set up based on what your office actually needs — whether that’s one week out, two weeks, three months, or six months.
What Are Flip Tabs in Dentrix?
Flip tabs are the tabs located on the right side of the Dentrix Appointment Book. When clicked, they automatically move your schedule forward (or backward) by a preset amount of time.
Instead of manually scrolling through the calendar, flip tabs allow you to instantly jump ahead — making scheduling faster and less frustrating.
Common examples include:
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1 week out
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2 weeks out
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3 months out
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6 months out
Each tab can be customized with its own label, color, and time frame.
Where Flip Tabs Appear
Flip tabs live on the right side of your Appointment Book, and they are view-specific:
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Day View
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Week View
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Month View
Most offices primarily use the Day View, but if your office schedules using week or month views, you can create separate flip tabs for those as well.
How to Set Up Flip Tabs in Dentrix
Setting up flip tabs only takes a minute.
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In the Appointment Book, click Setup on the top toolbar
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Select Flip Tabs Setup
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You’ll see up to four tabs available per view (Day, Week, or Month)
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Choose a tab and begin customizing
Each tab includes:
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Description – the label shown on the tab (ex: “1 Week”)
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Text Color – optional, helps visually differentiate tabs
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Absolute vs Relative date settings
Relative vs Absolute Flip Tabs (Important Difference)
This is one of the most important settings.
Absolute
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Takes you to one specific calendar date
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Example: always jumps to July 1st
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Rarely useful for everyday scheduling
Relative (Most Offices Use This)
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Moves the schedule forward or backward by a set number of days
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Example: 7 days, 14 days, 90 days
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This is the most practical option for nearly every office
For most workflows, relative flip tabs are the way to go.
Displayed Date vs Today’s Date
When using relative tabs, you’ll also choose what the tab is relative to:
Today’s Date
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Always jumps forward from today
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Clicking multiple times doesn’t continue moving forward
Displayed Date (Recommended)
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Jumps forward from the currently displayed date
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Every click continues moving the schedule further out
This setting is especially helpful when a patient says something like:
“I can only come in on Mondays.”
You can start on a Monday and then click your 1-week flip tab repeatedly until you find a date that works — without resetting back to today every time.
Real-World Scheduling Examples
Different computers in the office often need different flip tabs.
Examples:
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Front desk / assistants:
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2 weeks out for appliance or night guard deliveries
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Hygiene scheduling:
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3 months or 6 months for recare
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Clinical scheduling:
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1 week jumps to quickly find specific weekdays
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The best part? Flip tabs are computer-specific, so each workstation can be customized to match the role of the person using it.
Why Flip Tabs Save So Much Time
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Fewer clicks in the appointment book
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Faster scheduling conversations
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Easier weekday-specific scheduling
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Less frustration when booking far out
It’s a small setup that makes a big difference.
Final Thoughts
Flip tabs are quick to set up and incredibly flexible, but they’re often overlooked. Once you customize them for your office, you’ll wonder how you ever scheduled without them.
If you want more Dentrix tips like this, I share weekly Dentrix tutorials and dental tech workflows on YouTube to help make your day easier.