HelpGetting startedGetting around the app
Getting around the app
turnda keeps a steady frame around every page — a grouped menu down the left, a top bar across the top, and one search shortcut that reaches everything. Learn these once and you'll never hunt for anything.
The sidebar
The left menu groups pages by the job you're doing:
| Group | What's in it |
|---|---|
| Overview | The all-locations Dashboard, and Blueprint just under it — one picture of how your business is set up (owners and managers). |
| Operations | The Queue (with a live waiting-count badge) and Appointments. |
| Setup & design | Guided setup (the question-by-question wizard, owners — it stays in the sidebar always, because it is how an owner adds a second location), Locations, Schedule, Journeys (owners), Visitor pages, Questions, Displays, Devices and Integrations (owners). |
| Team & messaging | Team, Messaging (WhatsApp), Email. (Team chat is the chat icon in the top bar, not a sidebar row.) |
| Insights | Analytics, Reports, Activity. |
| You | Your personal tools: My Metrics, My calendar (only when staff scheduling is on) and Support. Changing your own PIN and signing your devices out are rows in the account menu at the top right (only for people who sign in with a PIN). |
- Settings (owner & manager) and Billing (owner only) both live in the top-right account menu, not the sidebar — the sidebar's own footer instead shows a small dot and a sentence for whether your currently-selected line is live or paused.
- You only see the groups your role can use — staff, for example, land straight on the Queue.
- On a narrow screen, such as a tablet held upright, the sidebar collapses to a menu button.
- turnda's business pages open on a computer or a tablet. On a phone they show “turnda works on a computer or tablet”. Your visitors can still join and track on their phones.
- A button or tile that is greyed out always says why — hover over it, or tap it on a tablet. See Why is a button greyed out?.
- The first time you open a page, a short introduction explains it; the ⓘ beside the page name opens it again. See First-visit page introductions.
The top bar
The bar across the top is the one thing every page shares — it's how you get around no matter which screen you're on. What's in it is the same everywhere; who sees which piece changes with your role.
| Role | What the top bar shows |
|---|---|
| Owner or manager | The full sidebar down the left (above), so the bar shows a location chip (the name of the location you are on) and the current page's name side by side, with a menu button to open the sidebar on a narrow screen. On the Dashboard, Team and Billing, with more than one location, the chip reads Dashboard and does not open. |
| Staff | No sidebar — the small set of pages staff use sits as a row of tabs of its own, just under the bar, so the bar itself shows the turnda mark and a location chip instead of a page title. |
| Left to right, everything in the top bar | What happens |
|---|---|
| Ask turndaAI | The help button, for everyone. Ask in your own words and it answers from this help centre with a link to the full article — see Get help & contact support. |
| Quick actions (the "+" button) | Staff only. A shortcut menu for the things a staff member does most often on shift: Add walk-in, New appointment, and setting your own status (Available / On break / Off). An owner or manager doesn't see this button at all — those actions are already a click away on the pages themselves. |
On a narrow screen Quick actions' rows move inside the account menu instead of standing on their own.
| You press | What happens |
|---|---|
| Search or jump to… | Opens the command palette. Type a few letters and the results come in three groups — Pages, Settings and Actions. Typing "retention", "logo" or "priority" lands you on the exact screen; typing "invite" offers the action Invite someone. Other actions include Add a location, Add a question, Add a shift, Add time off, Assign people to a roster and Connect another system. A long group shows +3 more; press it, or Show fewer, to open or close the rest. Use the up and down arrows to move, Enter to open and Esc to close. If nothing matches it says “Nothing found for …” and suggests a page name such as Queue or Schedule. On a laptop-width screen this shrinks to just the search icon to leave room for your business and page names; it always opens the same way. |
| Warnings (an amber badge with a number) | Appears beside the bell only when something needs you but is not stopping visitors. Press it to open the Warnings list. Each row has one button, and some have Snooze until closing. A snoozed warning moves to a Snoozed until … part with Show now. When nothing is there it says “Nothing needs you right now.” A red bar under the top bar says Stop when visitors cannot join or be called. It has one button, or “Owner only” when only the owner can fix it, and +N more when there are several. You cannot dismiss it. It clears itself once the cause is fixed. See In-app notifications. |
| Notifications | A bell for news about your day, such as an appointment that is due, cancelled or moved, a new chat message, a low rating or a shift that changed. Each person only sees their own. Things that stop or threaten the line are in the Warnings badge and the red bar instead, not in the bell. When there's nothing, it says so: "You're all caught up." |
| Team chat | The message bubble. It's the one and only door to chat, for every role, at every screen size, with a small number on it for unread messages. |
| Report a problem | A bug icon after the chat bubble, shown when the screen is 1440 pixels wide or more. It opens a real in-product report that reaches a person. On a narrower screen the same thing is a row in the account menu, Report a problem. When a visitor is selected on the Queue it reads “Report a problem about A9” and carries that visitor. An older version of this help centre had a support email address here — clicking it opened your email app and created no ticket at all. |
| Counter | Two lines. “Counter” over “Not signed in”, “Sign in” or “None free”, or “At counter” over your counter's name when you are signed in. Press it to pick a counter (Which counter?) or to leave the one you are at. It only appears on a line that actually has named counters, otherwise it hides itself. On a line with counters, whoever presses Call is asked which counter they are at if they have not signed in at one. |
Also in the top bar
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Your name and a chevron, top-right | Never just a bare picture, so it's obvious it opens something. It opens the account menu, listed just below. |
Inside the account menu, from the top
| What you see | What it does |
|---|---|
| This month | A card with the month's visits so far. |
| Your name and role | Your name, with a small badge showing the icon and the word for your role (Owner, Manager or Staff). |
| Switch person | For when someone else was using this tablet before you. Anyone with a staff profile sees it. |
| Settings and Billing | Owner and manager see Settings. Only the owner sees Billing. |
| Switch business | Only if you belong to more than one business. Each shows the role you hold there, with a tick beside the one you are in. |
| Language | Your own screen language. |
| Change my PIN and Where I'm signed in | Only if you sign in with a PIN. |
| Report a problem | Opens a report that reaches a person. |
| Sign out | Ends your sign-in on this device. |
More than one business? A Switch business list appears in the account menu too, with the role you hold at each one under its name and a tick beside the one you're in.
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| "You're offline. Changes won't save and the page won't update until you're back online." | Lose your connection and this banner tells you plainly. It clears itself the moment you're back. |
Looking for a "Create" menu? There isn't one any more — adding a walk-in or an appointment from anywhere now lives in the "+" quick-actions button above, which is a staff tool. An owner or manager adds those from the Queue and Appointments pages themselves (on the Queue the button is Add walk-in).
Keyboard shortcuts
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| The search shortcut — Ctrl+K | Opens the command palette from anywhere — the one shortcut worth learning, because it reaches every page and every settings card by typing its name. |
| Ctrl+1 next to Queue, Ctrl+2 next to Appointments | Printed in the sidebar as a reminder of which pages you visit most — today these two are a label, not a working shortcut, so use the sidebar or the search shortcut to reach them. |
Switching location
Run more than one location? The Dashboard is the all-locations view — every location at once. To work on one location, open Locations — each location is a tab across the top, and the Queue, settings and pages follow the location you pick. On most other pages, with more than one location, the location chip in the top bar opens the list of locations too.
Learn one shortcut: the search shortcut. It's the fastest way to reach any page or setting — start typing the name and press enter. Everything in the sidebar (and plenty that isn't) is reachable from there.
Small helpers in the top bar and menu
What the extra icons and badges do.
| What happens | What it means |
|---|---|
| Chat icon in the top bar | Shows how many messages you have not read and opens Team chat. |
| Your initials in the account button | Opens the account menu. If you belong to more than one business, you switch between them there. A small amber or red dot on it warns that this month's visits are running low or have run out, or that there is a billing problem. Hover over it to see why. |
| A banner saying you are offline | Your device has lost internet. Changes will not save and the page will not update until you are back online. |
| A number on Queue in the menu | How many people are waiting right now. |
| The status at the bottom of the menu | Shows whether the line you have selected is live, has joins paused or is not taking visitors. |
| Collapsing the menu | The side menu shrinks to icons, and the waiting count moves onto the Queue icon. The Cmd 1 and Cmd 2 hints appear only when the menu is open and you point at a row. |
| Staff pages | Staff get a row of page tabs, just under the top bar, instead of a sidebar. |
| Search boxes | Every search (Queue, activity, chat, schedule, dropdowns) works the same way, with a clear button. |
| Ordering things | Questions, stops, lines and display sections are ordered the same way everywhere: name on top, the move and remove buttons below. |
Related: Settings, at a glance · What to do first, by role