HelpSet up your lineServing order & fairness
Serving order & fairness
This is how one line decides who's called next. Change a setting and the line re-sorts.
Each line is separate. On the Locations hub, open a line's Line settings and go to the Serving order section, then pick the rule — it saves the moment you pick it, without needing Save changes; on a line with people already waiting, it asks you to confirm first.
Serving rule Served in arrival order — the booking waits its turn.
Walk-in Booking Now being called
The serving order
- A new line starts on Keep it fairA serving rule that lets a long-waiting walk-in move ahead, while still serving due bookings first. — the default.
| First come, first served Strict order | Keep it fair Popular Walk-ins + bookings — the default | Appointments first Booking-led | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who's called next | Strict arrival order — only a true emergency or a priority guest still goes first | Arrival order — but a long-waiting walk-in can pass a not-yet-due booking | A due, checked-in booking beats walk-ins — an emergency still goes first, and an absent booking can be passed by someone present who's waited past the limit |
| Best for | A single walk-in queue | A busy mix of both | Appointment-led venues |
| Walk-ins can move up | — | ✓ | yes — ahead of other walk-ins, never past a booking |
| Max-wait safety net | — | ✓ | ✓ |
You pick between them in Line settings → Serving order. On a line that already has people waiting, changing it asks you to confirm first, because it can change who is called next.
Why did a customer's position go backwards? On Keep it fair and Appointments first, a due booking or a returning priority guest can legitimately go ahead of someone who joined earlier.
- So a number that moved forward can look like it went backwards to the person watching their tracker. It isn't an error — it's the rule you picked doing what it says.
The safety net — nobody waits too long
The max-wait limitA max-wait limit: a walk-in who has waited longer than it is bumped ahead of other walk-ins — never past an emergency or a due booking. quietly moves a walk-in who passes it ahead of other walk-ins — never past an emergency or a checked-in booking. It's the fairness guarantee almost no competitor has.
Tune it in Max-wait limit; leave it unset and a sensible 20 minutes applies.
A blank box reads "Off", and it isn't off Leave Max-wait limit empty and the control shows Off — but blank means "use turnda's 20 minutes", and a walk-in past 20 minutes still gets moved up.
- If you want nobody moved, don't empty the box: switch the serving order to First come, first served.
- That is the one setting that genuinely turns the safety net off, and it greys the max-wait field out to say so.
No-shows & grace
When a booking doesn't arrive by its slot, it's held for your no-show graceHow long a called visitor's spot is held before they're marked a no-show. window, then marked a no-show. A called walk-in works differently — see Auto-clear a called guest after, below.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Honour late arrivals | A late booking keeps its appointment priority instead of dropping to the back — held for up to about 12 hours. Turning it on switches the grace field off, because this setting does the holding instead. |
| Auto-clear a called guest after (30 minutes unless you change it; 5–240, or blank for off) | If a guest marked “now serving” sits unresolved past it, they're auto-marked a no-show and cleared from the board — so a forgotten “now serving” never sits on the wall all day. |
| Auto-close a visit left open after (240 minutes unless you change it; 15–1440, or blank to leave every visit open until staff act) | Deals with somebody who was served and never marked done. Nothing else ever closes a started visit — if staff forget to press Done, it stays open for good and keeps counting as service time. |
| Close a guest left on hold after (240 minutes — four hours — unless you change it; 15–1440, or blank for never) | Somebody you put on hold and nobody came back to is closed off the board once this runs out. Set it a bit longer than the longest you’d ever ask a person to step away, so nobody is dropped while they are still on their way back. |
Set it longer than your longest real service So nobody is auto-closed mid-appointment.
If it goes wrong Changed the serving order but nothing happened? When people are already waiting, the change asks first — "Change the serving rule now?" — press Apply now to confirm. No-show grace greyed out? Honour late arrivals is on — it overrides the grace window.
Serving rules
22 settings Control type Setting What it does Default Affects
Serving orderServing order · Choice Keep it fair (a long-waiting walk-in can move up), First come first served (strict order, safety net off), or Appointments first (due bookings always go first). Changing it on a live line asks you to confirm. Keep it fair Line
Max-wait limit (min)Serving order · Number The safety net — a walk-in past this is bumped ahead of other walk-ins, never past an emergency or due booking. Leave it blank and 20 minutes still applies: blank means “use turnda’s default”, not “off”, and the control says so — it reads “20 min (our default)”. (Until 19 Sep 2026 it read “Off”, which was simply untrue.) The only way to switch the safety net off is the First come, first served rule. Range 1–1440. 20 Line
Close a guest left on hold after (min)Serving order · Number Somebody put on hold and never picked back up is closed off the board once this runs out — four hours unless you change it. Set it longer than the longest you’d ever ask a person to step away, so nobody is dropped while still on their way back. Blank means never. Range 15–1440. (This ran on every line with no control anywhere until 19 Sep 2026: guests vanished and the owner had no way to see why.) 240 LineStaff
Measure the wait asServing order · Choice Multi-stop lines only. Per stop = the safety net sees only the wait at this stop; Whole visit = it adds up the waiting across every stop so far. Time being served, and time while the line was closed, never count either way. Hidden on a one-stop line, where the two are identical. Per stop Line
No-show grace (min)Bookings & appointments · Number How long a called visitor's spot is held before they're marked a no-show. Range 1–1440. 10 LineStaff
Honour late arrivalsServing order · Toggle On: a late booking keeps its priority (up to 12h) and the grace field is disabled. Off: it re-joins as a walk-in. Off Line
Auto-clear a called guest after (min)Serving order · Number How long a guest marked “now serving” can sit unresolved before they're auto no-showed and cleared from the board. Blank = off. Range 5–240. 30 LineStaffLobby TV
Auto-close a visit left open after (min)Serving order · Number How long a visit that has STARTED can stay open before it's auto-completed. Nothing else ever closes it, so without this a visit staff forget to finish stays open for good and drags your average service time out with it. Set it longer than your longest real service so nobody is closed mid-appointment; blank leaves every visit open until staff press Done. Range 15–1440. 240 LineStaff
Show bookings this early (min)Bookings & appointments · Number How far before its time a booking appears in the live line. 0 = only when due. Range 0–1440. 120 LineBookings
Send “you’re almost up” at positionNotifications & timing · Number When the heads-up goes out. 1 = only the next person; 3 = the top three. Range 1–10. 1 Tracker
Appointment reminder lead (hrs)Notifications & timing · Number How long before a booked time the single reminder is sent. Range 1–168 (up to a week). 24 BookingsTracker
Booking slot lengthBookings & appointments · Choice The grid people self-book on — 10, 15, 20, 30, 45 or 60 min. Existing bookings keep their times. 30 min Bookings
Bookings per time slotBookings & appointments · Number How many people can book the same slot. Range 1–99. 1 Bookings
Self-booking opensBookings & appointments · Number The earliest time of day the self-booking grid offers a slot. Match your opening time. Range 12:00 AM–11:00 PM. 9:00 AM Bookings
Self-booking closesBookings & appointments · Number The latest time of day the self-booking grid offers a slot — your last slot. Must be after opening; midnight is allowed for a late-closing place. Range 1:00 AM–Midnight. 5:00 PM Bookings
Booking horizon (days)Bookings & appointments · Number How far ahead visitors can self-book. Range 1–365. 365 Bookings
Times a visitor may move their bookingBookings & appointments · Number How many times someone can change their own appointment from their booking link. Lower it if the same people reschedule repeatedly — your staff can always move a booking at the desk, and that never counts against this. Range 1–20. 5 Bookings
Check-in opens (min before)Bookings & appointments · Number Blank = check in any time on the day. 60 = a 3 pm booking can check in from 2 pm. Range 5–1440. Blank BookingsJoin page
Minimum notice (min)Bookings & appointments · Number The soonest a visitor may book from now, so nobody grabs a slot ten minutes before it starts. 120 = they must book at least two hours ahead. Blank = no minimum, they can book the next free slot. It only limits what VISITORS can book — your staff can still add a booking at the desk for any time. Range 1–43200 (up to 30 days). Blank Bookings
Open hoursOpen hours · Choice Always open (the line never closes on a schedule) or a weekly pattern with holiday closures. Outside its hours the line is closed — nobody can join — and it re-opens on its own, so there is nothing to switch back on in the morning. Always open LineJoin page
Use WhatsApp on this lineNotifications & timing · Toggle Whether this line messages on WhatsApp. Off also stops the line asking for a phone number, and stops it drawing on your WhatsApp allowance. Same switch as the one on the WhatsApp page. On Join pageTracker
Use email on this lineNotifications & timing · Toggle Whether this line sends email. Off also stops the line asking for an email address. Same switch as the one on the Email page. With both channels off, visitors still get the free tracking link and the lobby TV. On Join pageTracker
Capacity & privacy
18 settings Control type Setting What it does Default Affects
Capacity capCapacity & limits · Number Max in the line before new joins pause. Blank = no cap. No cap LineJoin page
Count the cap byCapacity & limits · Choice Tickets (one per party) or People (headcount — for occupancy/fire limits). Tickets Line
Largest party sizeCapacity & limits · Number The biggest group the join page and kiosk accept. Range 1–100. 100 Join page
Display on public screensVisitor page & privacy · Choice Numbers only (hides names on TV & tracker) · Initials + numbers · Names + numbers. Private by default. Numbers only Lobby TVTracker
Ticket series letterVisitor page & privacy · Text Optional letter before each number, e.g. A012. Blank = plain numbers. Blank Lobby TVTracker
Let visitors pick who they wantVisitor page & privacy · Toggle Asks “Who would you like?” on the join page so a regular can request a particular person. It only appears when the line actually has staff assigned to it, so turning it on changes nothing until it does. Off keeps the join page simple where nobody has a preference. Off Join page
Ask visitors for an email codeVisitor page & privacy · Toggle Before joining, a visitor types a six-digit code we email them, so nobody can take a place with a made-up address. The email box becomes required. Anyone who can’t get a code is sent to the counter. Off Join page
Let visitors confirm with a booking codeVisitor page & privacy · Toggle Someone with a booking for today types its code on the join page and is checked in as that appointment, not as a second walk-in. With only this on, people without a booking are sent to the counter. Off Join page
Ticket number digitsVisitor page & privacy · Number Pads every ticket number out to at least this many digits, so 7 shows as 0007 at 4. It is padding, not a limit — a busy day that passes 9999 simply prints 10000 and nothing is refused or reused. 1 keeps plain numbers. Range 1–5. 1 Lobby TVTrackerJoin page
First number each dayVisitor page & privacy · Number The number the day’s first guest gets; it starts again from here every morning. Set 1001 so a new business doesn’t look like it is on guest 4. If someone from yesterday is still waiting, the first number of the new day is lifted above theirs so nobody is handed a number twice. Range 1–99999. 1 Lobby TVTrackerJoin page
Show estimated wait on tracking linksVisitor page & privacy · Toggle Show an approximate wait time on each visitor’s tracking link. The lobby TV shows a wait only if you add a wait panel to its board. On TrackerJoin page
Show missed numbers on the TVLobby TV · Toggle A strip lists no-show numbers so the desk can call them back. On Lobby TV
Ask visitors to rate their visitFeedback & ratings · Toggle A completed visitor is invited to leave a 1–5★ rating on their tracker. Off Tracker
Ask for a written commentFeedback & ratings · Toggle Adds an optional comment box under the stars, so a visitor can say why. Only appears once you're asking for a rating. Off Tracker
Alert on a low ratingFeedback & ratings · Number Notifies you when a visit is rated at or below this. Set it to 2 and a 1★ or 2★ arrives in your bell while the customer may still be in the shop. Blank = no alert. Range 1–4. Off Staff
Names shown as “up next”Lobby TV · Number How many upcoming visitors the board names. Range 1–20. 10 Lobby TV
Chime on callLobby TV · Toggle The board plays a short chime when a new visitor is called. Off Lobby TV
Pause new joinsCapacity & limits · Toggle People already waiting are unaffected; the join page shows “check back shortly”. Off Join page
Queue rules (staff latitude)
4 settings Control type Setting What it does Default Affects
Let staff serve out of orderStaff controls · Toggle Allow calling a specific person instead of the next in line. Off = strict order. On Staff
Let staff grab from another stationStaff controls · Toggle Allow taking over a visitor being served/held at a different station. On Staff
Send re-queued visitors to the backStaff controls · Toggle When a no-show/completed visitor is put back, send them to the back (on) vs keep their spot (off). On LineStaff
Sign a server out of their station after (min)Staff controls · Number Frees a station automatically if someone forgets to sign out. Range 1–1440. 15 Staff
Flags & banner
2 settings Control type Setting What it does Default Affects
FlagsStaff controls · Text Reusable coloured labels staff put on a visitor — awareness only, never shown to the visitor, never change order. — Staff
Running-late bannerVisitor page & privacy · Text A free message shown on the TV and every tracking link — no WhatsApp or email sent. Blank Lobby TVTracker
Owner & Manager can change all of these. Every row names the Line settings tab the control is on — open Locations → your line → Line settings and pick that tab. Defaults and ranges are checked against the running product on every build.
Related: ((run-the-queue/hold-missed-and-requeue|Hold, missed & requeue))