Get Started with Orders in Square POS
Order Manager is available in the Square Point of Sale app on Square Register, Square Terminal or a compatible iPad, iPhone or Android tablet/phone. You can view the Orders tab to manage all in-person, pickup and online orders. Follow this guide to navigate through your order setup and printer settings.
Before you get started, download the latest version of the Square POS app. If you are using Square Register, please make sure your Square Register is up to date. Order Manager is available POS 5.17 or greater.
Set Up Order Manager
You can create orders for in-store and curbside pickup. All Dining options must be turned off in your online Square Dashboard.
Open the Square POS app , then tap ≡ More > Settings.
Tap Orders > Order creation.
Ensure ‘Enable order creation in checkout’ is toggled on.
If you’re using Square Terminal, learn more about managing orders on Square Terminal.
Order Manager Features
The Orders layout allows you to filter by order status (Active, Arrived, Upcoming or Completed), fulfillment type, payment status and order source.
Each order has relevant fulfillment details in the Active order view, including recipient name, fulfillment type, placed at date, order number (if provided) and fulfillment status (New, In Progress, Ready, Completed).
If you’re using Square POS on an iOS device, your active orders list will look like this:
If you’re using Square POS on an Android device, your active orders list will look like this:
You can view new orders immediately, or choose View Later to dismiss the notification.
Note: Notifications will not appear when you’re in the Checkout screen accepting a transaction. Notifications appear only in the Square POS app – they will not appear with system notifications today.
Use the Completed filter to view completed orders. Completed orders have a link to the corresponding transaction details for issuing refunds and sending receipts.
If you’re using Square POS on an iOS device, your completed orders list will look like this:
The Order Detail pages display details relevant to the fulfillment, including pickup date and time, recipient information, line item details and order payment info.
You can temporarily add 15 minutes to a location’s prep time during busy periods to give yourself more time to complete your active and incoming orders. To do so:
- From the navigation bar, tap Orders. If you don’t see Orders, tap More and select Orders.
- Tap the clock icon on the Order Manager screen to view your Order Timing settings.
- In the “Prep time” section, toggle on Busy Mode.
- Select how long you want Busy Mode: 15 minutes, 30 minutes or one hour. While Busy Mode is on, 15 minutes will be added to your current location’s prep time.
- Tap Save.
Once enabled, you can see the remaining time in Busy Mode on your Orders page. Here, you can also select Exit Busy Mode to resume your regular prep times or select Extend to extend the duration of Busy Mode.
Note: Busy Mode can also be extended from the Order Timing settings page by selecting Extend > Save.
Pause online orders to prepare your active and upcoming orders, then resume Square Online orders when you’re ready. To temporarily stop incoming online orders from Square Point of Sale (version 5.93 or later):
- From the navigation bar, tap Orders. If you don’t see Orders, tap More and select Orders.
- Tap the clock icon on the Order Manager screen to view your Order Timing settings.
- In the Pause Orders section, select Pause for pickup or delivery orders. Tap Save.
- Choose when you want to resume online orders and tap Save.
You can see the remaining pause time and resume online orders instantly from the Orders tab.
Message Customer
You can send an email or text message to your customer regarding their order from the Order Details page. Select an order and tap the phone number or email at the top of the Order Details page to start a conversation. Alternatively, select an order, open the action menu (...), and select Message Buyer.
This feature is ideal for gaining clarification on your customer’s order as well as any last minute changes, such as out of stock items or substitutions. Square Messages supports both text and email communication, as well as photo support.
You will receive an email notification when your customer responds. You can also enable push notifications by going to Messages > Settings icon on Dashboard. Learn more about Square Messages
Note: Square Messages will only be accessible to your employees with the following permission enabled: Grant access to view and send messages to customers. This includes access to items and customer data for sending messages. Learn more about managing your employees’ Custom Permission Sets.
Order Settings
Enable order creation in checkout to create orders for in-store and pickup. All dining options must be turned off in your online Square Dashboard.
If you’re using an iOS device—such as an iPad or iPhone— you can receive device alerts for all new orders, even if your Square POS app is not open.
Note: You will also have to turn on push notifications on your iOS operating system. To do so:
- From your Apple device, go to Settings > Notifications.
- Scroll to the Square app.
- Toggle on “Allow Notifications.” You can go to the Alerts settings in your Square POS app to preview the notification.
Note: If you do not see Alerts in your Square POS app settings, force-close your app and re-open.
You can also turn on curbside notifications for orders when your customer arrives. From your Square POS app, go to ≡ More > Settings > Orders > Alerts, then toggle on “Allow curbside alerts.”
Group Items
To customize your item grouping settings:
On the Square Point of Sale app, go to Settings > Hardware > Printer Settings. Scroll down to In-Person Orders. On Square KDS, go to your Square Dashboard and select Devices > Kitchen Settings.
Toggle on Combine identical items. Items with the same details will then be automatically combined into one line item.
If you toggle on Single item per ticket, this setting overrides grouping items and automatically prints each item, ungrouped, on its own ticket.
Note: Combine identical items is off by default for existing printer stations but will turn on by default for all new printer stations you create. Learn more about grouping items.
Split Order Fulfilment
You can split up items within orders as they become available and separately manage the fulfilment of each item by marking them as New, In Progress, Ready, Completed, Shipped or Delivered.
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| New | This status is for net new items or orders. |
| In Progress | You are preparing part of the order. Items and Orders are In Progress before Ready or Completed. |
| Ready | Mark an item as Ready when part of the order is available for pickup. |
| Completed | Used for pickup orders. Mark an item as Completed once the customer picks up the item. |
| Shipped | Used for shipments. Mark an item as Shipped once you ship the items to the customer. |
| Delivered | Used for delivery orders. Mark an item as Delivered once the customer receives the items. |
To manually split up any order:
Tap an order to bring up the Order Detail screen.
Under ‘Mark as’, select items to place them into different fulfilment states. You can select multiple items at once or edit the status of items individually.
Items in an order are automatically grouped based on their fulfilment availability status. If an order fulfilment is split, then the Order List View shows the least progressed fulfilment state as the entire order fulfilment state. If Quick Actions is turned on, it will display the next action for the least progressed item on the order as the Quick Action.
Printer Station Setup
You can create printer stations to print order tickets for all in-person or online orders. This will ensure you or your team members can manage and prepare orders as they come in. To set up a printer station:
From your Square POS app, go to ≡ More > Settings > Hardware > Printers.
Create a new printer station or update the settings on an existing printer station.
Tap Printer and select your printer.
Make sure the printer and your device are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. To test your connection, tap Test Print.
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Be sure to enable the Online order tickets toggle option for the printer station(s) you want to print Order Manager order tickets. There are several other options:
Toggle on Single item per ticket. With this setting on, you will get a new order ticket for each item.
Toggle on Automatically print new orders. With this setting on, all new orders will print when they come in.
Select Categories to print if you want the print station to only print some item categories.
Tap Save.
Learn more about setting up a printer station on iOS or Android devices.
Auto-printing
You can toggle on the automatic order ticket printing functionality to ensure all new orders will automatically print when they come in. Follow the steps above to toggle on the Automatically Print New Orders feature. There is also a Print button on the Order Detail page.
Note: If you have the Square POS app minimized or the device locked, auto-printing will not work. The Square POS app needs to be open on the screen for auto-printing to work.