How do I use the timeline?

Run service from the per-table timeline — drag to move, resize to extend, zoom, quick actions, touch gestures and tap-to-place for unassigned bookings.

The timeline shows every table as a row across the day, with each booking as a coloured bar — the fastest place to move bookings and spot gaps. Switch between List, Timeline and Floor plan with the view toggle.

The essentials

• Click a bar to open the booking's detail panel with its status actions.
• Click an empty space on a table's row to start a new booking pre-filled with that table and time (snapped to 5 minutes).
• Drag a bar to a new time or table. Drag its left edge to shift the start, or its right edge to lengthen or shorten the booking. Availability checks include your turnaround (cleaning) time.
• After a drag or resize, you may be asked whether to notify the customer, and moving into the past or extending past closing asks you to confirm first.

Drag can be switched off entirely — the padlock-style toggle's tooltip reads Drag enabled — click to disable (and the reverse). Use the zoom buttons to stretch or compress the day; your zoom level is remembered on that device.

If you have more than one floor plan, tabs above the timeline switch between them, with a Manage floor plans → shortcut.

Placing unassigned bookings (tap, then tap)

If Auto-assign tables is off — or a booking is above your "Don't auto-assign parties larger than" size — bookings can sit without a table, so they don't appear on the grid. When that happens, an Unassigned button with a live count appears in the timeline toolbar:

• Click Unassigned to enter assign mode. The table-less bookings appear as tappable chips in a strip above the grid, with the hint "Tap a booking, then tap a table row to seat it."
• Tap a booking chip, then tap a table's row — free rows are tinted so you can see where it fits. The same availability checks as a drag apply: a table that's busy at that time is refused outright, while one that only clashes with cleaning time — or is undersized, or misses a seating preference — asks you to confirm first.
• A party bigger than any single table can't be placed this way — the message tells you to open the booking and link tables instead.

Leave assign mode with the ✕ on the strip, the toolbar button, the Escape key, or by tapping anywhere else. There's no dragging involved, so it works nicely on tablets and touch screens. (If the day's only bookings are table-less ones, the timeline's empty state says so — "3 bookings awaiting a table" — with an Assign tables button that opens the same mode.)

Keyboard and touch

• Arrow keys move the selection between nearby bookings — left/right along the row, up/down between tables.
• On touch screens, press and hold a bar for a moment to pick it up and drag (a gentle vibration confirms it); a short tap opens the detail panel, and swiping scrolls.

Quick actions (double- and triple-click)

You can give each booking state a double-click and triple-click shortcut — for example, double-click a seated bar to mark it cleared. Set these up in Settings → Display & layout → Quick actions; the section is plan-gated: Available on Complete plan. Actions include options like Mark as seated, Mark as cleared, Unseat customer, Extend by 15 mins, Hold for 15 mins, Mark as no-show and more; everything defaults to No action. Quick actions are desktop-only — they don't fire on touch screens.

Related: How do I change a booking — time, table, party or length? · How do I customise the dashboard display and quick actions? · How do I run service from the floor plan?