Queue Management

The Queue is your studio’s operational hub. It’s where artists and managers spend most of their day: checking clients in, tracking active sessions, processing checkouts, and managing the floor. Every client who walks through the door passes through here, whether they booked online or showed up unannounced.

It’s more than a waiting list. The Queue combines real-time client tracking, session timers, form status, health alerts, and checkout into one screen. Think of it as your digital front desk, waiting room, and register rolled into one.

How Clients Get Into the Queue

Clients reach the queue through a few paths:

1. New Client form - after a first-time client’s intake form is saved, an “Add to Queue” button appears for team members to push them into the queue.
2. Return Client → Add to Queue - from the Home/kiosk screen, searching a returning client and choosing “Add to Queue”.
3. Appointment check-in - when a client uses an appointment-specific check-in link from their reminder SMS and completes the form, a queue item is created or updated automatically.
4. Walk-in check-in via the public link or QR code - clients who self-check-in using your walk-in URL land in the Waiting to be checked in list at the bottom of the queue page, NOT directly in the active queue. Team members admit them into the active queue from there when they’re ready.
5. Quick actions on the queue page - Quick Sale, Check In, Client Lookup, and New Client buttons let team members move people through quickly. Available on both web and mobile.

See Check-In Links for setting up online and walk-in check-in.

Waiting to Be Checked In

Below the active queue is the Waiting to be checked in list. It gathers everyone waiting to be admitted into one place, color-coded by type:

• Appointments (purple) - clients with a scheduled appointment today. They appear on the day of their booking, ready to check in when they arrive.
• Walk-ins (blue) - clients who self-checked-in via your public walk-in link or QR code.

Tap or click a waiting row to reveal its actions, then Check in to admit the client. They move straight up into the active queue above, ready for their form and checkout. Walk-ins run through a quick client match first: the system searches for an existing client by phone and lets you pick the match or create a new client.

Check In button: The Check In button at the top of the queue page carries a live count pill showing how many people are still waiting (today’s not-yet-arrived appointments plus un-checked-in walk-ins). It’s hidden when the count is zero and caps at “99+”. Tapping it opens a short explainer of how the Waiting list works and jumps you straight to it.

Changed in v4.2: the Check In button used to open a separate pop-up window that hid the waiting clients inside it. That window is gone. The waiting list now lives inline at the bottom of the queue page, so nobody is hidden behind a click.

No-show appointments are protected: If an appointment is marked as no-show, it can’t be checked in from the Waiting list. To check them in anyway, clear the no-show status from the appointment popover in the calendar first.

QR code for walk-ins: You can print a QR code for your public walk-in check-in URL from Settings > Sharing. Display it at your front counter so clients can scan and check themselves in from their phone. See Check-In Links for details.

Queue Stats and Status Filters (New in v4.2)

The queue gives you live counts and one-tap filtering by status. The layout differs slightly by platform, but the meaning is the same, and the colors match the badges used everywhere else: purple for appointments, blue for walk-ins, amber for incomplete, green for ready.

On web, a row of color-filled stat cards sits above the queue, with counts that update in real time (a tablet finishing an intake form flips Incomplete to Ready with no refresh):

On mobile, the same status filters appear as compact chips in the queue header next to the sort button: All, Incomplete (amber), and Ready (green), each with its live count. Tap a chip to filter the queue; tap it again, or All, to clear. The appointment and walk-in counts live on the Check In button pill and the Waiting list header rather than separate cards, to keep the phone screen uncluttered.

Either way, the status filters thread through the underlying query, so pagination and totals stay correct while a filter is active.

Artist and Service Filters (Web, New in v4.2)

On web, two dropdowns sit at the right of the queue table header (next to the sort toggle):

• Artist filter - narrow the queue to a single artist’s clients
• Service filter - narrow the queue to a single service type

Filtering is form-aware: appointments match by exact service name, walk-ins match via the linked form. Clear either filter by selecting All to return to the full queue. Filter state is local to the page session.

Queue Display

Each client in the queue shows:

Form Status Badges

• Complete (green) - intake form is finished; checkout button is available
• Incomplete (orange/yellow) - form not yet complete; client needs to finish before checkout
• No Form (red) - client has no intake form; they may need to complete one before service

Important: Status updates automatically when a client completes their form. You don’t need to manually change it. If it looks stale, refresh the page.

Health Alert Badge

A red Health Alert badge appears when a client has documented allergies or health conditions. Always review this before starting work.

Sorting and Searching

Sort: Click the sort button in the table header to toggle between “Newest First” (default) and “Oldest First.” Use “Oldest First” to prioritize clients who have been waiting longest. Sort order is local to the page session.

Search: Type in the search bar to filter by client name. Results update as you type.

Processing Checkout

Checkout is only available when a client’s status is Complete.

1. Find the client in the queue
2. Ensure status badge shows “Complete”
3. Click/tap the Checkout button
4. Review client info and services
5. Add line items (services and products from your catalog)
6. Apply a tip if needed
7. Select a payment method
8. Complete the transaction
9. Client is automatically removed from queue; visit is recorded

See Payments and Checkout for full checkout details.

Quick Sale (Cash Only)

For small cash transactions where you don’t need client records:

1. Click “Checkout” (or “Quick Sale” button)
2. Click “Quick Sale (Cash Only)”
3. A generic “Quick Sale” customer is loaded automatically
4. Add items and services
5. Payment method is set to cash - cannot be changed
6. Complete the transaction; it’s recorded in reports

Use for: Walk-in cash sales, small merchandise purchases, situations where no client file is needed.

Not for: Card payments - use “Quick Add Client” instead.

Quick Add Client

Add a new client without leaving the checkout flow:

1. Click “Checkout”
2. Click “Quick Add Client”
3. Enter first name (required), last name (required), phone (optional)
4. Click “Add Client”
5. Client is created and automatically selected for checkout
6. Continue with the checkout normally

Viewing Client Forms from Queue

1. Find client in queue
2. Click the Form (clipboard) icon
3. Completed form: Opens as a PDF in a viewer modal - no new tab needed
4. Incomplete form: Opens the form editor to complete it
5. Review consent forms, health info, signatures, and notes

Finishing a Client’s Form

When a team member completes the studio’s portion of a client’s form and saves it, the signed PDF is generated and stored permanently on the client’s record. A confirmation then offers three clearly labeled choices:

• Return to Queue - put the client back in the active queue if they aren’t ready to check out yet (for example, they’re still in the chair).
• Remove from Queue - the client is done and you want to remove them from the queue without checkout. The signed form stays on the client’s record; only the queue entry is cleared.
• Checkout - open this client’s checkout and remove them from the queue once payment is recorded.

Why finalizing matters: until a form is finalized (its PDF generated and saved), the client’s signature lives only on the temporary queue entry. Finalizing saves the signed consent form permanently to the client’s record. A form left unfinished in the queue is not yet a complete consent record, so finish it before the client leaves.

Overdue Queue Items

Items in the queue more than 24 hours show red text in the “Time In” column.

How to handle:

• If the client completed service but wasn’t checked out → process checkout
• If the client left without service → click Remove to clean up the queue

Removing a Client from Queue

1. Open the actions dropdown for the client
2. Click Delete
3. Confirm in the dialog

Note: Deleting does not process payment or record a visit. Only delete clients who won’t be completing service. If they paid, use Checkout instead.

You can’t remove an unfinished signed form. If a client signed but the form was never finalized (no saved PDF), that signature is the only record of their consent, so Delete is blocked. Open the form, finalize it (which saves the PDF to the client’s record), then remove it if you need to. This protects you from accidentally losing a consent record. Forms with no signature, or fully finalized forms, can be removed normally.

Mobile Notes

The web and mobile queue screens share the same model (active queue on top, Waiting list below) with a few platform-appropriate differences:

• Status filters as chips: mobile shows All / Incomplete / Ready chips in the header next to the sort button, rather than web’s row of stat cards. The artist and service filters are web-only for now.
• Tap to reveal actions: tapping a row, in both the active queue and the Waiting list, reveals its action buttons, instead of web’s always-visible icons.
• Sort label reads “Newest” / “Oldest” (web spells out “Newest First” / “Oldest First”).
• Red triangle warning for queue items over 24 hours old (same idea as red text on web).

The Quick Sale, Check In, Client Lookup, and New Client buttons exist on both web and mobile.

Troubleshooting

Client not showing in queue

• Refresh the page - queue updates in real-time but may need a refresh
• Check if they were already checked out and removed
• Check pagination - they may be on another page

Checkout button disabled

• Status must be “Complete” to enable checkout
• If status shows Incomplete or No Form, client needs to complete their intake form
• Refresh after form completion to see updated status
• For cash-only transactions, use “Quick Sale (Cash Only)” instead

Status not updating after form completion

• Refresh the page - status updates automatically but display may lag
• Verify the form was actually submitted/saved
• Try refreshing again after a few seconds

Walk-in client checked in but not in the queue

• Walk-in clients first appear in the Waiting to be checked in list at the bottom of the queue page, not directly in the active queue. Scroll down to find them.
• Tap their row and choose Check in, and they move up into the active queue.

Appointment client checked in but not appearing in queue

• Refresh the page
• Check that the client completed the full check-in process
• Verify they used the correct link
• Check pagination - they may not be on page 1

Can’t remove a client

• Confirm you clicked Remove and confirmed the dialog
• Check your permissions (some actions require manager access)
• Refresh and try again

Related Docs

• Payments and Checkout - Detailed checkout and payment info
• Check-In Links - Online check-in setup
• Forms - Intake form details
• Clients - Client profiles