The Desk: bookings on a tablet

The Desk is a separate, simple app for running your bookings at the counter on an iPad or tablet (or your phone). It has no website settings: only today, the week, the month and what is booked. It lives at app.fwdia.com/desk.

Included in Pro (2 devices) and Business (10 devices). The Desk and the Showroom (the tablet app for the catalogue) share these devices.

Connect a tablet

1. In Fwdia, open Account > Devices > Desk and choose Connect a tablet. Give the device a name ("iPad at the counter"), tick its website(s) and what it may do.
2. Fwdia shows a code (and a QR code), valid for 10 minutes.
3. On the tablet, open app.fwdia.com/desk. On an iPad or iPhone, first tap Share > Add to Home Screen and open the Desk from the home screen: it then works like an app and keeps its own sign-in.
4. Enter the code (or scan the QR code). Done.

The tablet stays signed in as long as it is used at least once every 30 days. You can also sign in on the Desk with your own Fwdia login: that device sees all your websites with bookings (and does not count towards the number of devices).

What a device may do

Per device and per website you choose: see phone numbers and email addresses, add bookings, edit / move / cancel, accept and decline requests, close and open slots, delete bookings. Change it any time under Account > Devices > Desk > Change; the device picks it up right away.

Using the Desk

• Day: what is on today (slots, events, periods) with a bar showing how full each one is. Tap one to see its bookings.
• Arrived: the big check button on a booking. A mistake? Tap Undo in the message at the bottom.
• Swipe a booking to the left for No-show, Cancel or Delete.
• Walk-in: two taps on the current slot, only the number of people (the name is optional).
• + Booking: a phone booking for any day. When a slot is full the Desk tells you, and lets you book anyway if you want.
• Week and Month: how full each day is. The week shows names (switch it off with Names).
• The bell: new online bookings and requests to accept. Opening one marks it as seen; Mark all as seen asks first.
• Numbers: today, this week compared with last week, the next 7 days.
• Search: by name, reference, phone or email.

Closing a slot ("Full", holidays)

Tap the ... on a slot: close it for that date with a reason (Full, Closed, Holiday, Private event or your own words), change the number of places for that date, add an extra slot, or close the whole day. Bookings already made stay. Visitors see the slot as full, with your reason if you choose to show it.

Several websites

A device with more than one website shows the website's name at the top left: tap it to switch. The Desk remembers which website you looked at last.

Notifications for new bookings

Open ... (top right) > Notifications > Turn on. On an iPad or iPhone this works in the Desk opened from the home screen (iOS 16.4 or later). You can set quiet hours, and send a test.

A PIN for a shared tablet

Under Account > Devices > Desk > Change you can give a device a PIN and a lock time (for example 5 minutes without a tap). The Desk then locks itself; staff unlock it with the PIN.

Names on screen

If customers can see the screen: Account > Devices > Desk > Names on the Desk > Initials only. Connected devices then show "L. V." instead of names, and no phone numbers or email addresses.

Signing a device out

Account > Devices > Desk > Sign out (or Sign out all devices). The device goes back to the connect screen. Bookings are not touched.