Set up open tabs for your online selling profile
- Account owners or team members with online permissions. Set permissions in Square Dashboard.
- Square Plus and Square Premium subscribers.
About open tabs
Open tabs lets customers place multiple in-person orders during a single visit and pay once at the end of their tab. Customers can start a tab from your online selling profile, add items over time, and close out with a single payment when they're ready to leave.
How it works:
Customers scan a QR code at their table to access the menu.
They pre-authorize a payment method (credit card, debit card, Cash App Pay, or Google Pay) to open a tab.
They can add items to their tab multiple times during their visit.
The final payment is processed when the customer closes their tab.
Before you begin
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Before you can set up open tabs, you need to:
Create an online selling profile. Learn how to set up and manage your online selling profile.
Enable QR code ordering for your selling profile.
Assign a menu to your selling profile. Learn how to create and update menus.
Configure at least one QR ordering location with selling stations.
To assign unique QR codes to specific tables and see active tabs on your POS floor plan, set up a floor plan. Learn how to create a floor plan.
Multiple customers can open separate tabs at the same station. Customers can't switch stations while a tab is open. If a customer moves, staff should close the original tab and have the customer open a new one.
Turn on open tabs for your selling profile
Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Online selling > QR Codes.
Select the location where you want to enable open tabs.
Turn on Allow dine-in customers to open a tab.
Click Save.
Once open tabs are enabled, customers who scan a QR code at your location can start a tab, order multiple rounds, and pay once when they're ready to leave.
Set the preauthorization minimum
When a customer opens a tab, Square authorizes a hold on their payment method. You can set the minimum preauthorization amount for your location. Learn how to preauthorize payments.
The preauthorization amount is the greater of the configured minimum or the customer's initial order total. You can set the minimum between $1.01 and $250.00. Supported payment methods include credit card, debit card, Cash App Pay, and Google Pay.
Manage open tabs in Square POS
Your staff can view and manage customer tabs in Square POS using Open Tickets. Once open tabs is enabled, orders placed through QR code ordering appear as open tickets on your POS.
From Square POS, staff can:
View active tabs and their items
Void or comp items on a tab
Void or comp an entire tab
Add items to a customer's tab from the POS
Note: Items added by staff from POS sync to the customer's active tab automatically. To use open tabs with POS, make sure Open Tickets is enabled. Learn how to create and edit open tickets.
Test your setup
After enabling open tabs, complete a test order to verify the full flow works:
Scan a QR code at one of your ordering stations.
Pre-authorize a payment method to open a tab.
Add items to the tab and confirm they appear on your POS.
Close the tab and verify the final payment processes correctly.
Turn off open tabs for your selling profile
You can disable open tabs at any time without turning off your online selling profile.
Go to Online selling > QR Codes.
Select the location where you want to disable open tabs.
Turn off Allow dine-in customers to open a tab.
Click Save.
Turning off open tabs stops new tabs from being opened, but does not affect your other online selling profile settings like pickup or delivery. Any tabs already in progress will remain open until the customer closes them or they auto-close after 24 hours.