How do I run the Orders screen?

The one Orders screen and its Counter, Pass and Wall layouts — ticking items off, later orders, sounds, sign-in and bar and kitchen screens.

Part of How do I set up and run Order & Pay?. This part covers the Orders screen your team runs service from: its three layouts, pre-orders, ticking items off, orders for a later time, sign-in, sounds, bar and kitchen screens, and collection and delivery on the same board.

The Orders screen — one screen, three layouts

Open Orders (in Front of house) on the dashboard or the staff portal. There is ONE orders screen; each device picks how it shows it from the footer picker This screen is (on a phone it is in the ⋯ at the top of the Orders screen instead, so it doesn't sit under your thumb):

The Pass and Wall layouts

The Wall screens page also has an Orders (kitchen and bar) card whose Open on this device sets that device to the Wall layout, and a Signed-in screens list showing which device is showing what (see How do I put a wall screen up on a TV?).

New orders appear the moment they come in (a cash collection or delivery order before the guest pays) — where a guest took the same option several times on one dish (a choice step that allows repeats), the card shows it once with a count, "Hash brown ×3", never three identical lines — and by default a Counter or Pass screen rings continuously until someone acknowledges the order (a Wall screen chimes once per new order instead — it cannot acknowledge, so a ring there would never stop). Each card carries one big button that moves the order on, and it follows the order's channel on every layout: Start preparing on a new order (this is what acknowledges it — it records who started it and when), then Delivered for a table order, Ready to collect then Collected for a collection order, Ready then Out for delivery then Delivered for a delivery order. Where your team ticks items off on the Pass layout, the Counter and Wall show each item's live progress read-only ("Made" — or "2 of 3 made" where identical items are listed one per line), and an order whose making is finished moves into Ready until someone finishes it. Every other staff screen also gets a centred pop-up, a bell entry and a ding for each new order (each account can switch its own alerts off in notification preferences).

Pre-orders on the same screen

Where a venue has switched on Show pre-orders on the kitchen screens (Settings → Pre-orders), each of today's submitted or paid pre-orders appears on this screen as its own ticket beside the orders — headed Pre-order, with the table, the guest's name, the party size and the booking time, every dish and who it's for, each dish's own note for the kitchen, and the allergy or notes text typed on that booking. It goes live (and rings like a new order) Start cooking before the booking minutes before the booking, or the moment the party is seated; Start preparing acknowledges it, each station marks its part done (or one Done where you don't split stations), and it leaves the screen once every station has. Nothing is charged or refunded from a ticket — the money stays on the booking. A venue with pre-orders but no Order & Pay gets this screen for those tickets alone, with the Order & Pay controls hidden — there, its gear opens Settings → Pre-orders. See How does my team run pre-orders?.

Ticking items off

Tick items off as they're made (the Screens section of Settings → Order & Pay, on unless you switch it off) makes each item on the Pass layout a tick target: tap it as it's plated and the tick shows live on every screen — the Counter and the Wall mark the item "Made" moments later. Ticking a station's last item marks that station's part done (any Pass screen can do it, including one showing Everything), and where you don't split kitchen from bar, ticking the last item marks the whole order prepared — it moves to Ready. Switch it off and cards carry buttons only; nothing is ticked. Group identical items (on by default) shows two of the same dish as one line with a count; off, each is listed separately so your team tick them off one at a time. The Wall layout never ticks — it has no taps.

Orders placed for a later time

A collection or delivery order booked for a later time waits in Upcoming and drops onto the live lane — ringing like a brand-new order — at its start-cooking moment: the promised time minus that channel's wait (the "about N minutes" figure). Each upcoming card says when it starts cooking and how long until then, and the kitchen printer prints its docket then, not when the order was placed — the printer collects it from our server itself, so it prints with every screen off. The Pass and Wall layouts show one line with the countdown ("Upcoming · 3 — next starts cooking 18:15, in 12 min"); on the Counter the strip opens to the cards, each with Start now (staff with the orders permission — it drops onto the board and prints at once) and Print now — a heads-up copy to your kitchen printer, split by station like the drop docket and headed HEADS-UP COPY — COOKS AT with the start-cooking time; the cooking docket still prints at the drop, so the kitchen never loses its cue. With no printer paired, the button opens the docket in your browser instead. Changing a channel's wait on the board's Wait control moves when today's scheduled orders start — a longer wait starts them earlier — and the dialog says so.

How long is each screen signed in?

Printing never depends on any screen. Beyond that: a Counter or Pass screen on a dashboard sign-in stays signed in for 24 hours from sign-in (checked when the page loads or the tab comes back into view) and its taps work for 24 hours — past that new orders stop arriving too and a red strip says "Session expired — sign in again"; on a staff-portal sign-in (a PIN) the screen stays signed in for 12 hours and its taps keep working for up to 7 days, with a PIN to get back in. A Wall screen on a staff-portal sign-in is never signed out for age — it cannot act, so there is nothing a stale session could do; it reconnects and carries on when the iPad wakes, and says "Board offline" if the connection drops rather than looking healthy. On a dashboard sign-in a Wall stops receiving orders 24 hours after sign-in, like any dashboard sign-in, and says "Signed out after 24 hours — sign in again or run this screen from the staff portal" with a Sign in again button — so run walls from the staff portal. "Keep service screens signed in" (Settings → Security policy, on by default) keeps every layout free of the idle sign-out. The same table sits under How long is each screen signed in? in the Screens section.

Sounds

The bell button on the board's top bar opens Sound on this screen — each physical screen chooses how new orders sound there: Repeat (ring every few seconds until seen), Once (a single ring per new order) or Off, plus a Ready alerts switch (one ping when an order becomes ready, and one reminder ring if nobody has collected it after a set delay). The venue-wide defaults every screen starts from live in the Sounds section on Settings → Order & Pay: the new-order sound, whether wall pass screens chime once per new order, whether ready alerts are on, and the Remind after delay (1–30 minutes, 2 by default). A screen's own choice always wins on that screen, and it is the only thing that does: a person's own sound settings, including Mute on this device, never silence the Orders screen.

Splitting orders between the bar and the kitchen

If drinks are made at the bar and food in the kitchen, turn on Split orders by station (the Screens section of Settings → Order & Pay, off by default — with it off, nothing changes anywhere). Each menu category then goes to one screen — set its Station on the category's form on the Menu page (categories start on the kitchen screen), with a per-dish Station override for the odd exception like a dessert wine. An order with both shows as two tickets, one per screen, each listing only its own items, and each screen marks its own part done — once every screen has finished, the order shows as Ready everywhere (the Counter's Ready lane and the Pass and Wall layouts' Ready column) and waits for someone to finish it with the channel's own button; a part-done order says so honestly on the combined view ("Bar done · Kitchen preparing").

Give a device its screen with the This screen is picker in the Orders screen's footer (on a phone, in its ⋯) — Everything, Kitchen or Bar, beside the Counter · Pass · Wall layout choice. It's a per-device choice you set deliberately: a device with no screen set shows every order exactly as before, and a bar device only rings when an order carries bar items. A screen showing Everything can mark a collection order Ready to collect — or a delivery order Ready, before Out for delivery — itself even when orders are split by station — one tap marks every station's part done, so the guest's order page shows it ready. The waiting timer on every ticket runs from the moment the guest paid, whichever screen is slower. If station splitting is later switched off, a device still set to one screen shows a loud notice (and every order) rather than quietly hiding half your tickets.

Tap the card itself to open the order's panel (a full-screen view on a phone) — the full order with everything else your team can do:

Orders containing alcohol require the guest to confirm they're 18+ before paying, and your team checks photo ID at the table — choose what happens if they can't show ID in Settings → Order & Pay → Receipts and age checks: pick a ready-made policy ("No refund on alcohol if ID can't be shown", "Alcohol refunded — the rest of the order stands" or "Please ask our team") or write your own wording (guests see it before they pay).

Collection and delivery on the same board

With collection and delivery switched on (see Collection and delivery for the full set-up), remote orders join the same Orders screen — no second screen:

Related: How do I set up and run Order & Pay? · How do I set up ordering at the table? · How do I take and change orders at the venue? · How do I print order tickets in the kitchen? · How do I set up wall screens?