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Set up and create predefined tickets and ticket groups

Who is this article for?
  • Sellers with the account & settings permission to manage subscriptions to Square services and Add-ons or Create, edit, and delete device profiles.
  • Sellers with checkout permissions. Set permissions in Square Dashboard.
  • About predefined tickets and ticket groups

    Predefined tickets help your staff be more efficient by auto-creating ticket names that you set up. Ticket groups help you organize your open tickets depending on your business needs, such as Dining Room ticket group, Patio ticket group, etc.

    Use predefined tickets and ticket groups in your restaurant business for dining room sections, table numbers, and more.

    Before you begin

    You have two options for enabling predefined tickets and ticket groups. 

    • You can turn on predefined tickets and ticket groups from your Square Dashboard. You enable these through device profiles, which apply settings across a group of devices. Learn how to Split and merge open tickets and create and assign device profiles

    • You can turn on predefined tickets and ticket groups from the Square POS apps from an iPad, Android tablet, Square Terminal and Square Register. When you enable predefined tickets and ticket groups from the Square POS apps, it only applies to that specific device.

    You can only create ticket groups and predefined tickets on the Square POS apps from the following devices or Square hardware:

    • iPad (including a connected Square Stand)

    • Android tablet

    • Square Terminal

    • Square Register

    Once you enable and create a predefined ticket, you can view it from any device.

    Step 1: Turn on predefined tickets and ticket groups

    With this feature turned on, you are able to create and manage ticket groups, predefined tickets, and specify the number of open tickets per group.

    Square Dashboard

    1. Sign in to your Square Dashboard and click Settings > Device Management.
    2. Click Profiles > Device profiles.
    3. Select an existing profile and click Manage under Settings.
    4. Click the Open Tickets add-on.
    5. To add the Add-on, click + and click Add for Free next to Open Tickets.
    6. Toggle ON Use on this profile.
    7. Toggle ON Use predefined tickets.
    8. Click Save.

    Square POS apps

    1. Open your Square POS app.
    2. Tap ≡ More > Settings > Open Tickets.
    3. To add the Add-on, tap Add-ons > Open Tickets > Add for free.
    4. Toggle ON Use on this device.
    5. Toggle ON Use predefined tickets.

    Any pre-existing open tickets will stay open and assign to the Custom group. These tickets are viewable under All Tickets.

    Step 2: Create a ticket group

    1. Open your Square POS app.

    2. Tap ≡ More > Settings > Open Tickets.

    3. Tap Create Ticket Group.

    4. Enter a name for the group, such as Dining Room. Note: Predefined ticket names that are already in use cannot be recreated until after they are either closed or converted into a custom ticket.

    5. Select a ticket naming option:

      • Automatic Ticket Names: Tickets created from and assigned to this group will automatically be named after the group name you entered, such as Dining Room 1, Dining Room 2, etc.

      • Custom Ticket Names: You can name each ticket manually.

    6. Assign a number of predefined ticket names to the group.

    7. Tap Save.

    Step 3: Create a predefined ticket

    1. Open your Square POS app.

    2. Tap Checkout > Tickets.

    3. Tap New Ticket in the upper-right corner. You can also tap Groups in the upper-left corner to select an open ticket from your groups.

    4. Select a group to assign the ticket to (e.g. Dining Room).

    5. Select your ticket.

    Any custom tickets or tickets without a group can be found by selecting All Tickets or Custom — both can be found in your list of Groups.

    Open tickets have a limit of 500 items and will be marked as full when the limit is met. You will not be able to save or merge open tickets if doing so would result in the ticket having more than 500 items.

    Step 4: Use open tickets menu as the home screen (optional)

    By turning this feature on, you are enabling the open tickets menu as the home screen on your device. After every completed transaction, you will be returned to the Open Tickets screen instead of the Checkout screen. This is a useful feature for businesses that use Open Tickets to manage customer orders and frequently access the screen.

    1. Open your Square POS app.

    2. Tap ≡ More > Settings > Open Tickets.

    3. Toggle ON Use Open Tickets Menu as Home Screen.

    Note: You can still use this feature without creating a predefined ticket.

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