Getting Started
Welcome to TutorSMS
TutorSMS helps you manage your tutoring business in one place. After signing up, you'll land on your Dashboard which shows your upcoming sessions, weekly stats, and students who need follow-up.
First Steps
Start by adding your students. Go to the Students page and click "Add Student". You can enter basic info yourself, or send an onboarding link to parents to fill out detailed information (see Parent Onboarding Links below).
Managing Students
Adding Students
From the Students page, click "Add Student" to create a new student profile. Enter their name, contact info, parent details, school, grade, subject, and your hourly rate for them. You can also set a neighborhood — this allows booking links to show in-person availability slots that match the student's area.
Student Status
Students can be Active, Paused, or Inactive. Use Paused for temporary breaks (summer, holidays). Inactive students are hidden from your main list but their history is preserved.
Viewing Student Details
Click any student to see their full profile, session history, and contact log. From here you can edit their info, schedule sessions, or log communications.
Default Session Rate & Duration
Set a default rate and session length for each student. When you schedule a session for them, these values auto-fill to save time.
Sessions & Calendar
Scheduling Sessions
Click "Add Session" from the Sessions page, or use the + button on any calendar day. Select a student, and their default rate, duration, subject, and address auto-fill.
Recurring Sessions
For regular weekly lessons, enable "Recurring" when creating a session. Choose weekly, every 2 weeks, or monthly. You can set an end date or let it repeat indefinitely.
Session Status
Sessions start as Scheduled. After they happen, mark them as Paid, Cancelled, or No-Show. Paid sessions count toward your income tracking.
Calendar vs List View
Toggle between Calendar view (visual monthly/weekly view) and List view (upcoming sessions for the next 30 days). Use whichever works best for you.
Editing & Deleting
Click any session to edit details or delete it. For recurring sessions, you can edit just that instance or all future instances.
Contact Logs
Why Log Contacts?
Keeping a record of parent and student communications helps you remember what was discussed and ensures consistent follow-up.
Logging a Contact
From a student's detail page, click "Log Contact". Select the type (call, text, email, or other) and add optional notes about what was discussed.
Reach-Out Reminders
Your Dashboard shows students who haven't been contacted in a while. The default interval is 14 days, but you can customize this per student or in Settings.
Snoozing Reminders
If a student shows up in reach-out reminders but you don't need to contact them yet, click Snooze to dismiss the reminder for 7 days.
Google Calendar Sync
Connecting Your Calendar
Go to Settings and find the Google Calendar section. Click "Connect Google Calendar" and authorize TutorSMS to access your calendar.
How It Works
Once connected, sessions you create in TutorSMS automatically appear in your Google Calendar. Sessions booked by students through booking links also sync automatically.
Choosing a Calendar
After connecting, you can select which of your Google Calendars to sync with. You might want to use a dedicated "Tutoring" calendar to keep things organized.
What Gets Synced
Session events include the student name, subject, time, duration, and location (address for in-person, or "Online" for virtual sessions).
Availability Blocks
What Are Availability Blocks?
Availability blocks define when you're available to tutor. They're used by booking links to show students which time slots they can book.
Creating Availability
Go to the Availability page and click "Add Availability". Choose a day of the week, start and end time, and whether it's for in-person, online, or both.
Recurring vs One-Time
Most availability is recurring (e.g., every Monday 3-6pm). You can also create one-time blocks for specific dates when you have extra availability.
In-Person & Neighborhoods
For in-person availability, you can optionally specify which neighborhoods you serve. Students in matching neighborhoods will see those slots; others will only see your online availability.
Travel Time Buffer
For in-person sessions, the system automatically adds a 15-minute buffer after each booking. This gives you travel time between appointments.
Booking Links
What Are Booking Links?
Booking links let students schedule their own sessions based on your availability. Share the link and they can pick a time that works for both of you.
Creating a Booking Link
From the student's detail page, click the dropdown menu and select "Create Booking Link". Or go to Booking Links page to manage all links.
Link Options
Choose whether the link never expires, expires on a specific date, or is single-use (deactivates after one booking). Single-use is great for letting a student book their next session.
How Students Book
Students see a 14-day window of available slots based on your availability blocks. They pick in-person or online (if both available), select a time, and optionally add a message about what they want to work on.
Confirmation
When a student books, you both receive email confirmations. The session appears on your calendar and syncs to Google Calendar if connected.
Prerequisites
Booking links require availability blocks to be set up. If you haven't defined your availability, students won't see any bookable slots.
Parent Onboarding Links
What Are Onboarding Links?
Instead of typing all student details yourself, send a link to parents and let them fill out the information. This saves time and ensures accuracy.
Creating an Onboarding Link
When adding a new student, choose "Send Onboarding Link" from the Add Student dropdown. Enter just the student's name, and you'll get a link to share with the parent.
What Parents Fill Out
Parents provide: their contact info (name, email, phone), student contact details, school and grade, subject and teacher, address, and any notes about the student.
One-Time Use
Each link can only be submitted once. After the parent completes the form, you'll receive an email notification and the student's profile will be updated with all the information.
Link Expiry
Optionally set an expiration date when creating the link. Expired links can no longer be used, but you can always generate a new one if needed.
Income Tracking
Automatic Tracking
TutorSMS calculates your income based on completed sessions and each student's rate. No manual entry needed.
Income Reports
Go to Income to see detailed reports. Filter by this week, this month, this year, or a custom date range. See totals, session counts, hours worked, and average rate.
Per-Student Breakdown
See how much you've earned from each student. This helps you understand which students make up the bulk of your income.
Unpaid Sessions
Your Dashboard highlights sessions that have passed but haven't been marked as paid. This helps you follow up on payments you're owed.
Exporting Data
Download your income report data for record-keeping or tax purposes. The export includes all session details and summary totals.
Settings
Timezone
Set your timezone to ensure all session times display correctly. This is especially important if you or your students are in different time zones.
Default Reach-Out Interval
Set how often you typically want to check in with students. The default is 14 days. You can override this per-student for those who need more or less frequent contact.
Google Calendar
Connect and configure Google Calendar syncing. See the Google Calendar Sync section above for details.
Account Settings
Update your name, email, or password from the Account page (accessible from your profile dropdown).