Setting up

Settings

Settings is where the owner sets up how the business looks to customers and how its day runs. This page walks through every section, what each control does, and what changes when you save.

What Settings is for#

Settings holds the things about your business that change rarely but matter everywhere: its name and the link customers open, where it is, what time zone its day runs in, when it is open, the QR poster for your door, a few choices about how customers are called back and told their turn is near, and — for the business as a whole — its plan, its invoices and the systems you connect to it.

Only the owner can open Settings. Managers and staff do not see it in the sidebar, and the server refuses a change from anyone else. Everyone, whatever their role, can still manage their own name, password and language from Your account.

Open Settings and move between its sections#

1. Sign in to the staff app and choose Settings in the sidebar.
2. On a computer or tablet, the list of sections sits on the left and the chosen section opens beside it. With nothing chosen, Settings opens on Opening hours.
3. On a phone, you see the list first. Tap a section to open it, and tap All settings to go back to the list.

The list has eight sections, each with a short line under its name saying what is inside:

Below the eight sections is a ninth row, Your account, which takes you to your own account page (your name, sign-in and password). On a phone, a line at the top of the list also says whether you are Open today or Closed today, your hours for today, and the next date with different hours.

Save your changes#

Settings has one Save for the whole page. You can change the business name, switch to Opening hours, change Tuesday, switch to Customers and change a choice there, and save it all at once.

1. Make a change anywhere. A bar appears at the foot of the window saying what is not saved yet — for example Your details are not saved yet. or Your business details and hours are not saved yet.
2. In the list of sections, any section with an unsaved change is marked Unsaved.
3. Press Save changes to keep everything, or Discard to put the page back the way it was saved.

If you try to leave Settings — another screen in the sidebar, the browser's Back button, or your account — while something is unsaved, the bar asks Leave without saving your changes? Press Stay to go back and save, or Leave without saving to drop the changes. Closing the browser tab asks the browser's own question instead.

If the server refuses something — a link that is already taken, say — the message appears under the field itself, and Settings switches to the section that field is in so you can see it.

Change your business name and link#

The Your business card starts with the two things customers see first: your name, and Your link — the web address of your business page, the same page your QR code opens.

To rename the business:

1. Open Settings, then Business.
2. Type the new name in Name (between 2 and 80 characters).
3. Press Save changes.

To change your link:

1. In Your link, the start of the address is shown greyed inside the box; you edit only the last part, after it.
2. Type the new ending. Use lowercase letters, numbers and single hyphens, with no hyphen at either end, between 3 and 60 characters — for example riverside-salon.
3. The line under the box shows the full address customers will open. Press Save changes.

Choose what kind of place you are#

What kind of place is the answer you gave when you first set up. The choices are Clinic or hospital, Salon or spa, Car wash or garage, Café or restaurant and Something else.

1. Open Business and pick from What kind of place.
2. Press Save changes.

Customers can filter the directory by it, and it chooses a few words on screen — a clinic, for example, sees Emergency where other places see Above everyone. Your lines, services and desks stay exactly as they are. The words that change are listed in Languages and the words on screen.

Set the language your team starts in#

Language on the Business card is the business's language: what your team's screens are in until each person chooses their own on their account. Each language is listed in its own script, so whoever is reading can find theirs.

1. Open Business and pick from Language.
2. Press Save changes. If you have not chosen a language of your own, the page reloads in the new one once it has saved.

It is also the language a new TV page starts in, and the language your QR poster is printed in. How each person's language is chosen is explained in Languages and the words on screen.

Tell customers where you are#

Under Where you are there are four things. Each one helps a customer find you in a different way.

City and phone#

City is how customers narrow the directory to their own town. Phone is your business's number. Type them and press Save changes.

Google Maps link#

With a Google Maps link, customers get a Directions button on your business page.

1. In Google Maps, open your place and press Share.
2. Copy the link and paste it into Google Maps link.
3. Press Save changes.

Only an https link from Google Maps is accepted. Anything else is refused with Paste the https link Google Maps gives you when you press Share. Empty the box and save to remove it.

Your location on the map#

The pin is what lets a customer searching for places near them see how far away you are. They see the distance, not the point itself. Without it, the panel says Not set. Customers looking for a place near them will find you last.

To set it from where you are standing:

1. Stand in your business with your phone or laptop.
2. Press Use my current location and allow the browser to share your location. The button reads Finding you… while it works.
3. The panel says it is set, and to within how many metres. Press Open in Maps to check the pin is on your door.
4. Press Save changes.

To set it from your Maps link:

1. Paste a long Google Maps link into Google Maps link — one with the place's coordinates in it.
2. Press Use the location in this link, check it with Open in Maps, then press Save changes.

To remove the pin, press Clear and save.

Set your timezone#

Timezone decides when your day starts and ends. Your token numbers, your opening hours and your reports all use it, whatever clock the device in someone's hand is set to. The list names each zone the way you would say it, followed by its code — for example India Standard Time · Asia/Kolkata. You can type the first letters to jump through the list.

1. Open Business and pick from Timezone.
2. Press Save changes.

Choose a 12-hour or 24-hour clock#

Clock sets how every time reads: on your team's screens, your customers' phones and your TV displays. The two choices show an example, 12-hour · 1:30 pm and 24-hour · 13:30. Pick one and press Save changes.

List your business in the directory#

Line Me Up has a public directory where customers can find a place by name, category and city. Being in it is your choice, and it starts switched off. Your own link and QR code work either way.

1. Open Business and tick Show us in the Line Me Up directory.
2. Make sure City is filled in.
3. Press Save changes.
4. Press See your listing in the directory to open the directory in a new tab.

The label at the top of the card always shows where the listing stands:

• Listed since and a date — you are in the directory.
• Not listed — you are not.
• Not saved yet — press Save changes to apply this — you ticked or unticked the box but have not saved.
• Line Me Up has taken this listing down — contact us to have it restored. — the box is locked; only Line Me Up can restore it.

Unticking the box takes you out of the directory. It does not switch off your business page or your poster.

Set your opening hours#

Opening hours are when people can join from their phone and book a time. The week is shown Monday first, each day with its opening and closing time, a bar drawing the hours, and a Closed box. Today is marked Today, and a day you changed but have not saved is marked Not saved.

1. Open Opening hours.
2. Set Monday's times. If every day is the same, press Copy Monday to every day (on a phone, Copy Monday to all) — this copies Closed too.
3. Change any day that differs, and tick Closed on days you do not open.
4. Press Save changes.

A closing time earlier than the opening time means the day runs past midnight. For a single date that is different — a holiday, a half day — use Closed days and special hours: a date there beats the week. The button at the foot of Opening hours, See dates (or how many dates are coming up), takes you there. Both are explained step by step in Opening hours, closures and special days.

Close a date or give it other hours#

Closed days and special hours lists the dates coming up that are closed or keep different hours, and lets you add one. Unlike the rest of Settings, a date is saved on its own, from its own sheet — not with Save changes. What happens to customers already booked on a date you close is covered in Opening hours, closures and special days.

Download your QR code and poster#

Your QR code opens your business page and its lines, so somebody can join from their phone instead of standing at the desk. It points at your business, not at one line, so a printed poster keeps working when your lines change.

1. Open QR code and poster. You see the code, its address and a preview of the poster.
2. Press Download poster (PDF, A5). The poster has your name, "Scan to join the line", the code and your link, in your business's language.
3. Print it on A5, or on A4 at full size, and put it where people arrive.
4. If you are making your own design, press QR code only (SVG) to download just the code.

More ideas for where to put the code and how to share your link are in Posters, links and QR codes.

Decide when people coming back are called#

A desk can send somebody on — to pay, or to another desk — and have them come back to it afterwards. Coming back to their desk decides where they stand when they return. They only ever go back to the desk that sent them, and anyone marked priority is still called first.

1. Open Customers.
2. In When somebody comes back, choose Call them before anyone new (the default), or After every 1 new person up to After every 10 new people if returns are crowding out new arrivals.
3. If they wait behind new people, set Longest they wait once back (minutes) — between 5 and 120. After that long they are called next at their desk anyway.
4. Press Save changes.

A minutes figure outside 5 to 120, or an empty box, is refused with Between 5 and 120 minutes under the field. How a visit with several steps is built is in Processes: visits with several steps.

Tell customers their turn is near#

Telling customers their turn is near lets a waiting customer step out and be back in time. When the number of people ahead of them falls to the number you choose, an "almost your turn" message appears once in their app's inbox, and as a phone alert where they have turned alerts on and their phone supports it.

1. Open Customers.
2. In Tell them it's almost their turn, choose When 1 person is ahead up to When 10 people are ahead, or Don't tell them.
3. Press Save changes.

It is sent once per visit, and not to somebody who joins with that few ahead already — they can see it as they join. A fast counter with a two-minute service may prefer Don't tell them. What the customer sees is described in Waiting, your ticket and alerts.

See your plan and this month's visits#

Plan and visits is read-only. It shows the name of your plan, how many visits the business has had this month against what the plan includes, how they came (Joined from a phone, Added at the desk, Booked ahead), the months before, and whether you are in the directory. In the list of sections, its line shows this month's count at a glance.

A visit is anyone who gets a place — a join, a desk add or a booking. Cancelled and missed visits count; a visit with several steps counts once. Only Line Me Up changes a plan, so the card says To change your plan, contact Line Me Up. Plans and what each includes are explained in Plans, visits and billing.

Keep your billing details up to date#

Billing is about what your business pays Line Me Up — customers never pay anything. It has two cards.

To set who your invoices are made out to:

1. Open Billing. The first card is Billing details.
2. Fill in Legal name, Address (and Address, second line if you need it), City, State, PIN code and Billing email.
3. GSTIN is optional — leave it empty if the business is not registered for GST. If you type one while State is still empty, its first two digits choose the state for you.
4. Press Save billing details. You see Billing details saved.

Billing details have their own button: they are not part of Save changes at the foot of the page.

To read or print an invoice:

1. The second card, Invoices, lists your invoices with their month, total and state — Unpaid, Overdue, Paid or Cancelled. It says No invoices yet until the first one.
2. Press an invoice to open it in a panel with its lines, tax and total.
3. Press Print or save as PDF to open a printable copy. The invoice itself says how to pay it.

More about invoices is in Plans, visits and billing.

Connect your own software#

Integrations lets software your business already uses work with Line Me Up. It has three cards:

• API keys — each key lets one of your systems read or change your lines, with only the permissions you tick (Read, Add and change visits, Run desks, Manage lines) and only on the lines and desks you choose. Press New key to make one; it is shown once, so copy it before you press I have copied it.
• Webhooks — addresses Line Me Up posts to when a visit, a line or a desk changes. Press Add webhook to add one.
• Usage — requests and deliveries over the last 30 days.

Every step — making and revoking keys, choosing events, the delivery log, test events and signing secrets — is in Connecting your own systems. The technical reference for your developer is the developer documentation.

Manage your own account#

Your own name, phone, password, language and theme are not part of the business's settings — they belong to you. Press Your account at the foot of the Settings list, or open the round badge with your initials in the staff app's header and press Your account. Managers and staff, who cannot open Settings, use the badge.

If you were given a temporary password, Settings shows a reminder above Your account until you choose your own. The account page is covered in Finding your way around the staff app.

Settings in the live demo#

The demo businesses are shared by everyone who tries them, so anything that would change the business for the next visitor — its name, link, category, location, timezone, directory listing, opening hours, closed days and billing details — is shown but locked, with the note Not in the demo — this would change it for everyone. Sign up to try it on your own business. Integrations can be looked at but not changed. See Trying the live demos.

When something goes wrong#

• A section shows "Unsaved" and you are not sure what changed. Press Discard to return everything to what is saved, then make your change again.
• Customers say the hours are wrong. Check for a date in Closed days and special hours — it beats the week — and that your Timezone is right.
• You are listed but customers cannot find you. Check that City is filled in, and whether the card says Waiting for verification.
• "We could not load your code. Please try again." on the QR section means the code did not arrive; reload the page. If the poster itself fails, the message under the buttons says why.