Book Manual Interviews
Last updated: October 22, 2026
In interview studies, you can book an interview for a participant yourself instead of waiting for them to schedule. You might use this feature to:
Manually book an interview for a participant without them needing to schedule it themselves.
Book an interview that bypasses host availability, interview limits, and other scheduling restrictions configured in the study.
Log interviews that have already taken place, or that are taking place outside of Rally, so that a participant’s history stays up to date.
Manual booking requires the Book interviews manually permission. It's turned on automatically wherever Create and modify interviews is on, but a workspace admin can turn it off for a role. Without it, the + New booking button is grayed out.
Book a manual interview
Open an interview study.
Select Participants from the study side panel and verify that the participant you’d like to book an interview with has been added to the study. If they haven’t been added, select Add participants to add them.
Select the + New booking button near the top right. This button isn't available in studies recruiting through an external panel.
Enter the Date and Time of the interview, including the start time and end time. Time slots are available in 15-minute increments. If the interview is in a different timezone than your default, select it under Timezone.
Select the Participant by searching their name or email.
Select the Host. The host owns the calendar event and conferencing link. Then add any Guests who will attend, either Rally users or email addresses.
Select the interview Location. The options depend on your setup:
Google Meet: available when the study uses a Google calendar.
Microsoft Teams: available when the study uses an Office 365 calendar.
Zoom: available when the selected host has Zoom connected.
Custom Location: always available. Enter a link or address.
Leave the location empty for no location.
Select Add booking to confirm the interview.
To reschedule, cancel, or change the host of a booking, see Schedule and manage interviews.
In multi-session studies, you can manually book additional sessions for a participant who already has a booking by following the same steps. In single-session studies, a participant can only have one booking, so reschedule their existing interview instead.
FAQ
Will booking a manual interview create calendar invites automatically?
Yes, calendar invites will automatically be created and sent for all upcoming interviews. When you log a past interview, no calendar invite, confirmation, or reminder email is sent, and the interview is automatically marked as completed.
Will an observer room be created for manual bookings?
Yes, as long as observer rooms are enabled for the study, a corresponding room will be created for the interview that you book manually.
How do I add a manual booking for group interview studies?
You will need to ensure that the time slot you want to book a participant into has already been created for the study. Select the + New booking button, choose the time slot you want to book, and search for the participant you want to add to the slot. Once you've selected them, select Add booking to save.