How to Use Table Management for Seating Arrangements

Table Management helps you organize seating arrangements for your event, from its own Seating page in the dashboard. All your guests are loaded automatically when you open it — color-coded by RSVP status — so you can start planning immediately. Create tables (down to how many chairs sit on each side), drag guests to assign seats, or let the auto-seating assistant place everyone in one go. Trace your layout over a photo of the venue's real floor plan, keep an eye on the seating issues bar as RSVPs change, and share a Find your seat page guests can open at the door. Multi-part events can even keep several independent seating arrangements — for example one chart for a boat trip and another for dinner.

You don't need to set up an RSVP or digital invitation first — Seating works completely on its own, and connects automatically if you add an invitation later.

Opening the Seating Page

There's nothing to enable — seating is always available:

1. Go to your event dashboard at dashboard.fotify.app
2. Select your event and click "Seating" in the sidebar

That's it. The page works even if you haven't created an invitation or enabled RSVP for the event.

Note: We recommend keeping Collect Guest Names on (it's ON by default for new invitations) so every attendee can be identified by name for seating. It's a recommendation, not a requirement — with names off, seating still works and plus-ones appear as numbered placeholders (e.g. "Maria G. x2") that you can rename yourself.

Creating Tables

Adding a New Table

1. Open the Seating page
2. Click "Create Table"
3. Fill in the table details:
   • Table Number - A unique number for the table (required)
   • Alias - An optional friendly name like "VIP", "Family", or "Friends"
   • Capacity - Maximum number of seats at this table
4. Click "Create"

Creating your first table also switches the seating feature on for the event automatically — no separate toggle to remember.

Table Templates — Create It Once, Reuse It Everywhere

If you keep building the same table — a head table with chairs on one side, a round of ten with two reserved chairs — save it as a template and never rebuild it:

• Save a template — select any table on the venue map, click "Save as template" in the sidebar, and give it a name (e.g. "Head table"). The template captures the table's shape, size, capacity and full chair layout, including reserved seats.
• Create from a template — the next time you click "Create Table", your templates appear as chips at the top of the dialog. Pick one and the new table is born with that blueprint; pick "Blank table" for the regular flow.

Templates belong to your account, not to one event — build your standard tables once and reuse them across every event you organize. Editing or deleting a template never touches tables already created from it (hover a template chip and click the × to delete it).

Table Properties

Property	Required	Description
Number	Yes	Unique identifier (1, 2, 3, etc.)
Alias	No	Friendly name displayed to guests
Capacity	Yes	Maximum seats available

Editing Tables

To modify a table:

1. Find the table card in the Seating page's grid view
2. Click the Edit (pencil) icon
3. Update the details
4. Click "Save"

Renaming Tables

The alias is the friendly name your guests see instead of just a number — perfect for naming tables after boats, families, or themes. Two ways to set it:

• Edit dialog — click the Edit (pencil) icon on the table card (or on the selected table in the map's sidebar) and fill in the Alias field.
• Right on the map — double-click any table on the venue map and type the name in place. Press Enter to save, Escape to cancel. No dialog needed.

Deleting Tables

1. Click the Delete (trash) icon on the table card
2. Confirm the deletion

If guests are assigned to the table, they will be moved to the unassigned pool.

Assigning Guests to Tables

Automatic Guest Loading

When you open the Seating page, all your guests are loaded automatically — no manual setup required. Guests are created from your guest list:

• Accepted/Attended guests — loaded with their confirmed party size
• Pending guests (not yet answered) — loaded with their invited quantity so you can plan ahead
• Declined guests — shown as a single entry so you have the full picture

This means you can start seating at any point — even after all your guests have already RSVPed — and everyone appears instantly.

Adding Guests from the Seating Page

Starting from scratch? You don't have to leave the page:

• Click "Add Guest" in the Unassigned panel to add a person (with their party size) directly — they're created in your guest list and appear as unassigned chips right away.
• For contact details, tags, or spreadsheet imports, use the "Manage guest list" link under the panel, which takes you to the Guests page.

Color-Coded RSVP Status

Every guest chip is color-coded so you can see their RSVP status at a glance:

• 🟢 Green — Accepted / Attended
• 🔵 Blue — Pending (not yet answered)
• 🔴 Red (dimmed) — Declined, or not coming

The color is per person, not per invitation. When a party confirms fewer people than it was invited with — an invitation for three that comes back "just me" — only the people the guest actually confirmed turn green. The others turn red so you can see at a glance which seats are really taken. They stay in the party so nothing you set up is lost, and any seat you gave them is held until you unassign them (click the chip → Remove from table) or delete them from the party. If the guest later raises their count again, the same people come back as confirmed, names and seats intact.

Use the filter pills above the guest list to show only a specific status. For example, click the green pill to see only confirmed guests while assigning tables.

Plus-One Display

Guests with unnamed plus-ones are shown using the main guest's name with a number:

• Maria G. — the main guest
• Maria G. x2 — second person in Maria's party
• Maria G. x3 — third person

Once you fill in real names, they display normally (e.g., "Carlos R.").

Using Drag and Drop

The easiest way to assign guests is drag and drop:

1. Find guests in the "Unassigned" section on the left
2. Drag a guest chip to the desired table
3. Drop the guest onto the table card

The table will show its current occupancy (e.g., "6/8").

Using the Assign Modal

Click any guest name to open the assign modal where you can:

1. Edit their name — change the first and last name directly (great for renaming "Guest 2" to a real name)
2. See who they belong to — for plus-ones, the modal shows "Guest of [Main Guest Name]"
3. Pick a table — select from the table list below
4. Click Save to confirm changes, or Cancel to discard

Removing Assignments

To unassign a guest from a table:

1. Find the guest in their assigned table
2. Drag them back to the "Unassigned" area
3. Or click the guest name and select "Remove from table" in the modal

Auto-Seating

Seating a hundred guests by hand is the least fun part of event planning — so let the auto-seating assistant do the first pass. Click the "Auto-seat" button at the top of the Seating page to open it.

What the Assistant Guarantees

However you configure it, some rules never bend:

• Parties stay together — a guest and their plus-ones always land at the same table; if no table can hold the whole party, nobody in it is seated and the assistant tells you.
• Declined guests are never seated.
• Reserved chairs stay free — reserved seats are never given to guests.
• Nothing happens without a preview — the assistant always shows you the full plan (who goes to which table, who doesn't fit) before you click apply.

Options

• Seat guests with the same tag together (on by default) — guests sharing a guest tag cluster at the same tables. Tag your groups ("Bride's family", "Work friends", "Table-tennis club") and the assistant keeps them together.
• Keep guests who already have a table where they are (on by default) — turn it off to let the assistant reshuffle existing assignments for a better fit.
• Also seat guests who haven't answered yet (off by default) — normally only confirmed guests are seated.

It's a Conversation

Clicking "Auto-seat" opens the in-dashboard assistant with a ready-made brief for your event — how many guests still need a table, the rules above — so you can just press send, or edit it first. From there it's a chat: the assistant runs a dry run, shows you who would sit where and who doesn't fit, and only applies the plan once you confirm. Anything the form couldn't express, you simply say:

"Seat the bride's family together, keep Ana García away from Luis Pérez, and leave table 3 empty."

The assistant uses the same seating tools as the dashboard (it can also move individual guests or create tables if you ask), always with a confirmation card before it changes anything. Guests it places land at their tables without specific chair numbers — fine-tune individual chairs on the map afterwards if you care about exact positions.

Designing Your Venue with the Map

Beyond the list view, the Map view lets you arrange tables on a 2D floor plan that matches your real venue. Switch between Grid and Map using the toggle at the top of the Seating page.

What You Can Do on the Map

• Place tables anywhere on the floor with drag-and-drop.
• Choose table shapes — Round, Square, Rectangle, or Oval.
• Customize the chair layout — pin chairs per side on rectangular tables (one-sided head tables included), keep a round table's chairs on the front arc only, and reserve chairs for the DJ, photographer, or a highchair.
• Trace over your real floor plan — upload a photo or scan of the venue's plan as a background layer and build the chart on top of it.
• Rename tables inline — double-click a table to type its name right on the map.
• Resize and rotate each table to mirror your venue's layout.
• Seat guests at specific chairs — every table renders the right number of chairs around it; drop a guest onto a chair to lock them in.
• Add furniture and structure — walls, doors, windows, stage, DJ booth, dance floor, bar, buffet, gift table, cake table, photo booth, restroom, and free-text labels.
• Multi-select and align — shift-click or marquee-select, then move, rotate, align, distribute, lock, duplicate, or delete as a group.
• Undo / redo any layout change with ⌘Z / ⌘⇧Z.
• Smart guides — pink alignment lines snap a moving object to its neighbours' edges or centres.
• Lock items so they don't move during fine-tuning.
• Auto-save keeps every change in sync; a Saving / Saved indicator lives in the toolbar.
• Export the layout as PNG, SVG, print-ready PDF, per-table cards, or CSV.
• Go fullscreen for distraction-free planning during setup.

Placing a Table

New tables start in the Unplaced panel on the right side of the map.

1. Click "Add table" in the toolbar to create one (or use the existing Create Table flow).
2. Find it in the Unplaced panel on the right.
3. Press and drag the table anywhere onto the floor.
4. Use the brand-coloured handles on a selected table to resize (bottom-right) or rotate (top).

To remove a table from the map without deleting it, select the table and click "Unplace" — it goes back to the Unplaced panel.

Changing Shape, Size and Rotation

Click any table to open the right-hand sidebar and adjust:

• Shape — pick Round, Square, Rectangle, or Oval. Switching shape resets to a sensible default size.
• Size — drag the W/H sliders, or grab the resize handle on the table itself.
• Rotation — drag the slider, or use the rotation handle above the table.

Custom Chair Layouts

By default, chairs distribute themselves automatically around each table — round and oval tables space them evenly on the perimeter, rectangles split them across the four sides. The Chair layout section of the table sidebar lets you take control when the default doesn't match reality:

• Chairs per side (Rectangle / Square) — tick "Custom chairs per side" and set exactly how many chairs sit on the top, right, bottom and left edges. The table's capacity follows the sum automatically. This is how you build:
  • a head table — all chairs on one side, facing the room (e.g. Top: 6, everything else 0; rotate the table to face the dance floor),
  • a banquet row with no chairs on the short ends,
  • any asymmetric layout your venue forces on you.
• Seat arc (Round / Oval) — choose Full circle, Three-quarter, Half (front) or Quarter. A half-circle keeps every chair on the front arc — perfect for a sweetheart table or any round table pushed against a wall. Chairs centre on the table's "12 o'clock", so rotate the table to aim the arc.
• Reserved seats — in the sidebar's seat list, click the bookmark icon on any empty seat to reserve it, and type a label right on the row ("DJ", "Photographer", "Highchair"). Reserved chairs render greyed-out on the map, can never be given to a guest (dragging a guest onto one simply targets the next free chair), and are excluded from the table's guest capacity — a 10-chair table with 2 reserved seats counts as 8 available seats everywhere: the occupancy badge, the stats bar, capacity checks, and exports. Click the bookmark again to free the chair.

If you shrink a layout underneath guests who already hold specific chair numbers, their seats are cleared gracefully — they stay at the table and auto-fill into the remaining free chairs, nothing is lost. Changing a table's capacity by hand releases a chairs-per-side pin (the reservations survive).

Floor Plan Background

Instead of laying out the room from memory, put the venue's real floor plan underneath the chart and trace over it:

1. Click "Floor plan" in the map toolbar and choose "Upload venue floor plan" (JPEG, PNG or WebP, up to 15 MB — a phone photo of the venue's printed plan works fine).
2. The image appears as a locked, semi-transparent background layer under everything else.
3. Use the sliders in the same menu to adjust its opacity, size and position until the plan's walls line up with your canvas, then place tables and elements right on top.

Each seating arrangement keeps its own floor plan, so the boat chart and the dinner chart can each show their own space. The background is an organizer-only planning aid: guests never see it, and it's not included in image or print exports (your tables, elements and labels are). "Replace floor plan" swaps the image; "Remove floor plan" deletes it without touching anything you've placed.

Adding Venue Elements

Click "Add element" in the toolbar to open the venue-element menu. Elements are split into two groups so you can find what you need quickly:

Structural — for the bones of the room:

• Wall — a configurable bar. Drag either endpoint handle to change the length and angle in one move; the opposite end stays anchored.
• Door and Window — narrow, dashed openings to mark entrances and visibility.
• Dance floor — a soft, translucent surface that sits beneath the tables so it doesn't compete visually.
• Label — editable free-text annotation. Double-click any label to edit its text.

Furniture — for the things sitting on the floor:

• Stage, DJ booth, Bar, Buffet, Gift table, Cake table, Photo booth, Restroom.

Each element type has its own colour, default size, and z-order so freshly-added items land at the right layer without manual tweaking. After placing an element, click it to open the right sidebar — adjust its size sliders, rotation, text label (where applicable), or lock state.

Tip: Walls are special — instead of one resize handle, they expose a circular grip at each end. Drag an end to reshape and rotate the wall together. Hold Shift while dragging to bypass the soft rotation snap for fine control.

Seating Guests on the Map

Every table renders the right number of chairs around it based on its capacity and shape — round and oval tables space chairs evenly on the perimeter, rectangle and square tables split chairs across the four sides. Each chair shows the seated guest's initials, plus their first name as a small caption outside the chair (full name on hover).

To seat a guest from the sidebar:

1. Find them in the Unassigned panel on the left. The list is debounced-search-able, status-filterable (Accepted / Pending / Declined), and tag-filterable by any guest tags you've defined.
2. Press and drag the guest's name.
3. As you approach a table, the nearest chair highlights green — release to seat them there. Drop on the table body (not a specific chair) to let the system pick the next free seat automatically.

To move a guest between chairs (same or different table):

Drag the guest directly from their current chair to the target chair — no need to unseat them first. If the target chair already has someone, that person is bumped to "no specific seat" at the same table so you don't lose the assignment.

To unseat a guest:

• Drag them from their chair into the empty canvas area, or
• Click the table to open the sidebar, find the row for that seat, and click the × button. The guest returns to the Unassigned panel.

Backwards compatibility: Guests assigned before the per-seat feature shipped (no specific seat yet) are auto-filled into the remaining empty chairs in main-guest-then-RSVP order. They render exactly like seated guests; dragging them to a chair commits the assignment.

Filtering the Unassigned Panel

The Unassigned panel includes server-side search and filtering — useful when an event has hundreds of guests:

• Search box is always visible. Typing is debounced (~250 ms) before it queries the server.
• Status chips — All / Accepted / Pending / Declined, each with live counts.
• Tag chips — one per guest tag you've defined, in the tag's own colour. Toggle any combination to filter to guests carrying at least one of the selected tags. Tag indicators (small coloured dots) also appear inline on guest rows so you can spot tagged guests at a glance.
• A small × appears on the right of the search box when any filter is active — clear everything in one click.

Highlighting Tags on the Map

Tag chips do double duty: while a tag filter is active, seated guests carrying that tag light up on the map — their chairs get a ring in the tag's colour while everyone else dims. Tag your guests (say, one tag per bus, boat, or team) and one click answers "who is sitting where" across the whole floor plan. See guest tags for how to create and assign tags.

The list paginates automatically as you scroll, so even thousand-guest events load instantly.

Map Controls

Control	What it does
Drag empty canvas	Pans the floor plan
Shift + drag empty canvas	Marquee-selects everything inside the box
Ctrl/⌘ + scroll	Zooms in and out around the cursor
Grid toggle	Shows or hides the alignment grid
Snap toggle	Snaps tables and elements to the grid while dragging
Fit view (F)	Auto-frames everything you've placed
Zoom 100% (0)	Resets zoom to 100%
Fullscreen	Expands the map to the full screen for setup day
Shift-click an item	Adds or removes the item from the current selection
Drag a selected item	Moves the whole selection together
Double-click a table	Renames the table inline
Delete / Backspace	Sends selected tables back to the parking lot, deletes selected venue elements
Escape	Clears selection / closes open menus

Tip: Adding or editing a table from inside fullscreen opens the dialog right on top of the map — you stay in fullscreen the whole time.

Multiple Seating Arrangements

Some events need more than one seating plan. A celebration with a boat trip followed by dinner, a conference with a workshop session and a gala, a wedding with a ceremony bus plan and a reception chart — in all of these the same guests sit in different places at different moments.

Depending on your event type, you can create additional seating arrangements, each a completely independent chart:

• Its own tables (numbers can repeat across arrangements — "Table 1" can exist on both charts)
• Its own floor plan — walls, dance floor, labels and furniture are per-arrangement
• Its own seat assignments — the same guest can sit at different tables in each arrangement

Switching and Managing Arrangements

At the top of the Seating page you'll see a chip for Main seating plus one per additional arrangement:

1. Click a chip to switch — the grid, map, stats and unassigned list all follow.
2. Click "New arrangement" and give it a name (e.g. "Boat trip") to create one — you can add up to 5.
3. On the active chip, use the pencil to rename or the trash to delete an arrangement. Deleting removes that chart's tables and seat assignments; your main seating is never affected.

What Guests See

Guests see every arrangement they're seated in, listed one after another in their invitation and labelled with the arrangement name you chose — so a guest on a boat trip followed by dinner sees both, in the order your chips appear on the Seating page:

Boat trip — Havfruen Dinner — Table 4

If someone hasn't been seated yet in one of the charts, that arrangement shows "To be announced" for them while the others still display normally. Events with a single chart look exactly as before — no arrangement heading, just the table.

The Table Assignments switch covers all of them at once: hiding assignments from guests hides every arrangement, so extra charts that are pure logistics (buses, shifts, staff) stay internal.

Note: Multiple arrangements are a Professional Event feature, also included on every subscription event. On other plans the Seating page shows the single main seating chart with no arrangement chips; upgrade the event to add more.

Working with Multiple Items

Need to align a row of tables or shift a cluster as a single unit? The map supports full multi-select.

Selecting Multiple Items

• Shift-click any table or venue element to add or remove it from the current selection.
• Shift + drag the empty canvas to draw a marquee box — anything inside the box is selected.
• Ctrl/⌘ + A selects every unlocked item on the map.

When more than one item is selected, a selection toolbar appears showing the count and bulk-operation buttons. Selected items get a coloured outline so it's easy to see what's grouped.

Bulk Operations

With two or more items selected, the selection toolbar offers:

• Align — left, horizontal centre, right, top, vertical centre, bottom.
• Distribute — even horizontal or vertical spacing (needs at least three items).
• Bring forward / Send backward — adjust z-order, useful for layering furniture under labels or behind a dance floor.
• Lock / Unlock — pinned items can't be moved or resized until unlocked.
• Duplicate — clones the selected venue elements with a small offset (tables aren't cloned to avoid number collisions).
• Delete — removes selected elements; selected tables are sent to the Unplaced panel instead of being deleted.

Drag any selected item to move the entire group together, with smart-guide snapping driven by the primary item under your cursor.

Keyboard Shortcuts & Undo

The map is built for keyboard-first power users. Everything below is also reachable from the toolbar.

Shortcut	What it does
Ctrl/⌘ + Z	Undo the last layout change
Ctrl/⌘ + Shift + Z or Ctrl/⌘ + Y	Redo
Ctrl/⌘ + A	Select all unlocked items
Ctrl/⌘ + D	Duplicate the selected venue elements
Arrow keys	Nudge the selection by 1 px
Shift + Arrow keys	Nudge by 10 px
R / Shift + R	Rotate the selection by +15° or −15°
[ / ]	Send backward / Bring forward (z-order)
L	Lock / unlock the selection
F	Fit view — frame everything you've placed
0	Reset zoom to 100%
Delete / Backspace	Remove selection
Escape	Clear selection and close any open menu

Soft Rotation Snap

Free-form rotation (via the table or element rotation handle) snaps to 0° / 45° / 90° / 135° / 180° / 225° / 270° / 315° when within 5° of those targets. Hold Shift while rotating to bypass the snap if you need a precise off-axis angle.

Smart Guides

When you drag a single object, pink dashed alignment lines appear whenever its centre or edges line up with a neighbour. The object also magnetically snaps to the match within a small threshold, so building neat rows and columns takes seconds. (Smart guides only activate when Snap to grid is off — the two systems serve different layout styles.)

Autosave Indicator

A small pill in the toolbar shows the save state at all times — Saved (green), Saving… (yellow with a spinner), or Offline — retrying (red) if the network drops. Changes are debounced and sent in batches, and a failure is automatically retried after 5 seconds.

Managing Individual Guest Names

When guests RSVP with multiple people in their party (plus-ones), you need to know who each person is for table assignments. There are three ways to manage names:

Edit Names Directly on the Seating Page

The fastest way — click any guest chip on the Seating page to open the assign modal, where you can rename them on the spot:

1. Click a guest chip (e.g., "Maria G. x2")
2. The modal shows the name inputs pre-filled — for plus-ones, it also shows "Guest of [Main Guest Name]"
3. Type the real name and click Save

This is ideal when you're assigning tables and want to fill in names at the same time.

Organizer Pre-fills Names on the Guests Page

If you already know who's in each guest's party:

1. Click "Guests" in the sidebar
2. Find the guest with multiple people in their party
3. Click the Users icon (people icon) next to their name
4. Add the first and last name for each person in the party
5. Click "Save"

Guests Provide Names During RSVP

If you don't pre-fill names, guests will be asked to provide them when they respond to their invitation:

1. Guest opens their personalized invitation link
2. When they RSVP with multiple attendees, they're prompted to enter each person's name
3. Names are automatically saved and appear in your dashboard

This works whenever Collect Guest Names is on — which it is by default for new invitations. If you've turned it off, guests are only asked for their party size, and their plus-ones appear as numbered placeholders you can rename from the Seating page.

How Names Work

Scenario	What Happens
Names not yet provided	Shows as "Maria G. x2", "Maria G. x3" on the Seating page
Organizer edits on the Seating page	Name updates instantly on the chip, and on the Guests page
Organizer pre-fills on the Guests page	Names appear on the Seating page for assignment
Guest provides names during RSVP	Names sync automatically after guest responds
Guest re-RSVPs after you renamed them	Your version is kept — a later submission never overwrites a name you corrected

Wherever you type a name, it's the same name: editing the main person on the Seating page updates the Guests page (and the emails sent to them), and editing them on the Guests page updates the seating chart. There's no second copy to keep in step.

Tips for Name Collection

• For weddings, let guests provide their own names to avoid spelling errors
• For corporate events, pre-fill from your employee database or edit directly on the Seating page
• The primary RSVP holder is always automatically included
• Each named person can be assigned to different tables

Guest Table Notifications

Once you assign guests to tables, they'll automatically see their table assignment in their invitation.

What Guests See

When a guest opens their invitation after being assigned to a table:

• Their assigned table is displayed — by the alias if you named it ("Havfruen", "The Oak Table"), otherwise by its number
• Every person in their party is listed with their own table, so a family can see they're seated together
• If the event has several seating arrangements, each one appears as its own labelled block
• If not yet assigned, they see "To be announced"

When It Appears

The table assignment section appears in the guest's invitation only when:

• The Table Assignments switch is set to Shown on the invitation (see below)
• The guest has accepted the invitation (RSVP status is Accepted or Attended)

You can reorder where this section appears using the Section Order settings in the Invitation tab.

Showing or Hiding Table Assignments

Sometimes you want to organize seating for yourself — to plan the room, print charts, or brief the venue — without showing guests where they're sitting. One switch controls this:

1. Click "Invitation" in the sidebar and go to the "Details" tab
2. Find "Table Assignments" in the Event Settings
3. Set the switch to Shown on the invitation or Hidden from guests

When assignments are hidden:

• You keep full access to the Seating page, the venue map, seat assignments, and every export
• Guests never see their assigned table in their invitation — the table section is removed entirely, not shown as "To be announced"

Flip the switch at any time to reveal assignments to guests again — hiding never touches your seating charts.

Find My Seat

Guests at the door shouldn't have to hunt for a printed chart. Every event gets a public Find your seat page: guests open it, type their name, and instantly see their table.

Sharing the Page

On the Seating page, click "Seat finder link" to copy the page's URL — put it behind a QR code on the welcome sign, drop it in the event group chat, or add it next to the photo-upload QR guests are already scanning. If your event uses a custom domain, the link uses it automatically.

Switching It Off

Prefer not to expose a searchable list? Flip the Guest seat finder switch next to the link. The page then tells guests seating isn't published, while each guest's own invitation keeps showing their table. It's on by default, and a connected AI assistant can flip the same switch for you.

How It Works for Guests

1. The guest opens the page on their phone and sees your event's name.
2. They type their name (a few letters is enough) and matching guests appear with their table number ("Table 4"). Table aliases are your planning labels and stay private to you.
3. Plus-ones who haven't been named yet are findable under the main guest's name ("Marta Ruiz x2").

Privacy, By Design

The page reveals only names and tables — never contact details, RSVP statuses, or the full guest list, and there's no way to browse the roster. It searches only your main seating chart (the one guests see in their invitations), and it works only while table assignments are shown to guests: if the Table Assignments switch is set to Hidden, the page politely says seating isn't published yet, no matter what anyone types. Flip the switch on the day you're ready and the page starts answering.

Viewing Seating Statistics

The Seating page header shows key statistics:

Stat	Description
Tables	Total number of tables created
Capacity	Total seats available to guests across all tables (reserved chairs don't count)
Seated	Number of guests assigned to tables
Unseated	Guests still in the unassigned pool

Use these stats to quickly see your seating progress.

Seating Issues

RSVPs keep moving after you've built the chart — someone declines after being seated, late confirmations pile up unassigned. The seating issues bar above the seating views watches for exactly that, live, and turns amber when something needs attention. Click it to expand the details:

• Declined guests still holding a seat — each one listed with their table and a one-click Unseat button to free the chair.
• Confirmed guests without a seat — a count plus how many free seats you have left; "Show them in the guest list" jumps straight to the filtered list so you can place them.
• Overbooked tables — any table with more guests than available seats (it can happen when you reserve chairs or shrink a table after seating people).

When everything is clean, the bar turns green and simply tells you how many free seats remain. There's nothing to configure — it's computed from the data already on the page.

Exporting Table Assignments

Click Export in the map toolbar to open the export menu. Six formats are available, each optimised for a different use case:

Option	What you get
Print map	Opens the full venue map in a new tab styled for A3 landscape, with a Print button and an auto-fired print dialog. Best for hanging behind the welcome desk or handing to venue staff.
Print table cards	Generates one card per table on A4 portrait, listing the guests at that table by seat number — reserved chairs are listed too with their labels, so venue staff know they're intentional. Drop on each table for guests to find their seat.
Print escort list	An alphabetical "Find your seat" list — one line per seated guest with their table, in a clean two-column A4 layout. Pin it at the entrance or hand it to whoever greets guests.
PNG image	2× retina PNG of the whole map, white background, transparent-free. Good for embedding in emails, slide decks, or sharing on WhatsApp.
SVG file	Vector copy of the map — infinitely scalable, perfect for printing huge floor diagrams or editing in Illustrator.
CSV (seating)	Spreadsheet with one row per guest: table number, alias, available capacity, seat number (1-based), guest first and last name, and whether they're the main RSVP holder — plus a row per reserved chair. Opens in Excel / Google Sheets.

All exports respect the current layout — placed tables, venue elements, and the per-seat assignments. The grid pattern (and the floor-plan background) is stripped from image and print exports so the printed page is clean. If the canvas is empty, the export menu shows a friendly message instead of producing a blank file.

Tips for Table Management

Planning Your Layout

• Create all tables before starting assignments
• Set realistic capacities based on your venue
• Use aliases for easy identification ("Bride's Family", "Groom's Family")

Efficient Assignment

• Use the search feature to find specific guests
• Assign family groups together
• Check the unassigned count regularly to ensure no one is missed

Before the Event

• Verify all accepted guests are assigned
• Export and share with venue coordinators
• Double-check capacity limits aren't exceeded

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do I need to set up an RSVP or invitation before using seating? A: No. The Seating page works completely on its own — open it from the sidebar, add guests right there (or import them on the Guests page), and start building tables. If you later create a digital invitation and enable RSVP, the same guest list and seating carry over automatically.

Q: Can I assign guests before they RSVP? A: Yes! All guests — accepted, pending, and declined — are loaded automatically. Pending guests appear in blue so you can plan ahead.

Q: What happens if I exceed a table's capacity? A: The system prevents you from assigning more guests than the table's capacity allows.

Q: I changed how many passes an invitation has. Why didn't the Seating page follow? A: Seating keeps one person per pass, so raising the passes adds new unnamed placeholders ("Guest 2", "Guest 3"), and lowering them removes those placeholders again — the next time you open the Seating page you'll see a note saying how many empty seats were freed.

Lowering the passes below the people the invitation actually lists is refused, though. If someone in that party already has a name, a table, a seat or a door check-in, we won't delete them to make the number fit — you'll get a message naming who is in the way. Remove that person from the party first (open the invitation on the Guests page → People / Manage Names), then lower the passes. If they're already seated, removing them asks you to confirm, because it frees their seat too.

Q: My guest list and my Seating page show different numbers of people. Which is right? A: They count different things. The Guests page counts invitations and their passes; the Seating page counts people to seat — one chip per pass, plus anyone you or your guests named beyond it. So an invitation with 2 passes whose guests named 3 attendees shows as 1 invitation / 2 passes on the Guests page and 3 chips on the Seating page. Open the invitation on the Guests page to see its party and reconcile the two.

Q: I renamed my guests, but the old names keep coming back. Why? A: They shouldn't — the Guests page and the Seating page edit the same names, so a correction in either place applies everywhere, and a guest re-submitting their RSVP can no longer replace a name you fixed. If you renamed people before this changed, open the guest and save the correct name once more; it will stick from then on.

Q: Can guests from the same RSVP sit at different tables? A: Yes! When you add individual names for guests in a party, each person can be assigned to different tables.

Q: Will guests be notified when I assign them to a table? A: Guests see their table assignment when they view their invitation. No separate notification is sent.

Q: Can I use table management without showing assignments to guests? A: Yes. In the Invitation section's Details tab, set the Table Assignments switch to Hidden from guests. You keep the full Seating page, venue map, and exports for your own planning, but guests never see their table in the invitation — the table section is hidden entirely. Flip the switch whenever you're ready to reveal seating.

Q: Can I have different seating for different parts of my event (e.g. a boat trip and a dinner)? A: Yes — create an additional seating arrangement. Each arrangement has its own tables, its own floor plan, and its own seat assignments, so the same guest can sit in different places in each one. Use the chips at the top of the Seating page to switch between them. Available on selected event types, with up to 5 additional arrangements.

Q: Which seating arrangement do my guests see? A: All of them. Every arrangement a guest is seated in appears in their invitation, labelled with the name you gave it ("Boat trip", "Dinner"), in the same order as the chips on your Seating page. To keep a chart internal, set the Table Assignments switch to Hidden from guests — that hides every arrangement at once.

Q: How do I rename a table with my own name, like a boat or family name? A: Double-click the table on the venue map and type the name right there (Enter saves, Escape cancels). You can also click the Edit (pencil) icon and fill in the Alias field. The name shows as "#3 · Neptune" on the map and is what guests see in their invitation.

Q: Can I see where all guests with a certain tag are seated? A: Yes — click that tag's chip in the map's Unassigned panel. Besides filtering the sidebar list, the map highlights every seated guest carrying the tag (their chairs get a ring in the tag's colour) and dims everyone else.

Q: Can I change assignments after the event starts? A: Yes, you can modify table assignments at any time from the dashboard.

Q: What if a guest declines after being assigned? A: Their chip turns red (declined status). The assignment remains but won't be shown to the guest. You can unassign them to free the seat.

Q: Is there a limit to how many tables I can create? A: There's no limit to the number of tables. Create as many as your venue requires.

Q: Can I print seating charts? A: Yes — the map's Export menu has dedicated print options. Print map sends the floor plan to print on A3 landscape (ideal for hanging at the venue), and Print table cards generates a per-table page with each guest listed by seat number for the venue staff to place on each table. You can also export to PNG, SVG, or CSV.

Q: How do I collect names for plus-ones? A: Three options: (1) Click the plus-one chip directly on the Seating page to rename them, (2) pre-fill names using the Users icon on the Guests page, or (3) let guests enter names themselves when they RSVP. Unnamed plus-ones show as "Maria G. x2" so you always know whose guest they are.

Q: I started seating after guests already RSVPed. Where are my guests? A: All guests are loaded automatically when you open the Seating page — even if they RSVPed before you created any tables. No manual sync needed. If you were already using Collect Guest Names before, the individual plus-one names you captured are preserved and appear as unassigned chips ready to seat.

Q: What do the colors mean? A: Guest chips are color-coded by RSVP status: green = accepted, blue = pending (not answered), red = declined or not coming. The color is per person, so inside an accepted party only the people the guest confirmed are green. You can filter by status using the pills above the guest list.

Q: Can I edit guest names from the Seating page? A: Yes! Click any guest chip to open the modal where you can change their first and last name. For plus-ones, the modal also shows who they belong to (e.g., "Guest of Maria Garcia").

Q: How do I switch between the list view and the venue map? A: Use the Grid / Map toggle at the top of the Seating page. Both views share the same data — assignments and edits made in one view appear instantly in the other.

Q: Do I need to place tables on the map? A: No. The map is optional. You can keep using the Grid view if you only need a list and don't care about a visual floor plan. Tables you create stay in the Unplaced panel of the map until you drag them onto the floor.

Q: What table shapes are available? A: Round, Square, Rectangle, and Oval. Choose whichever matches your venue. On rectangles and squares you can additionally pin how many chairs sit on each side; round and oval tables can keep their chairs on a partial front arc.

Q: How do I make a head table with chairs on one side only? A: Create a Rectangle table, open its sidebar, tick "Custom chairs per side", and set the top side to the number of chairs with 0 on the other three. Rotate the table so the chairs face the room. Save it as a template if you'll need it again.

Q: Can I block a chair for the DJ, the photographer, or a highchair? A: Yes — open the table's sidebar, click the bookmark icon on an empty seat, and type a label. Reserved seats can never be assigned to guests, don't count toward the table's available capacity, and show with their label on the map, the table cards, and the CSV export.

Q: Can Fotify seat my guests automatically? A: Yes — click "Auto-seat" on the Seating page. The assistant seats everyone still unassigned: parties always stay together, guests sharing a tag are grouped, declined guests are skipped, and reserved chairs stay free. You can also type instructions in plain language ("keep Ana away from Luis") and review the full plan before applying it. Nothing is saved until you click apply.

Q: Can I put my venue's real floor plan behind the seating chart? A: Yes — click "Floor plan" in the map toolbar and upload a photo or scan of it (JPEG/PNG/WebP, up to 15 MB). It becomes a locked, semi-transparent background layer you can size, position, and fade, so you trace the room instead of rebuilding it from memory. Guests never see it and it's excluded from exports.

Q: How do guests find their table at the venue? A: Three complementary ways: the table appears in their invitation once assignments are shown; the Print escort list export gives you an alphabetical "find your seat" sheet for the entrance; and the public Find your seat page lets guests type their name on their phone and see their table instantly — copy its link with the "Seat finder link" button on the Seating page.

Q: Why does a table show fewer available seats than its capacity? A: It has reserved chairs. A 10-chair table with 2 reserved seats offers 8 seats to guests, and every counter — the occupancy badge, the stats bar, capacity checks and exports — uses that available number.

Q: Are walls and labels visible to my guests? A: No. Walls and labels are organizer-only planning aids. Guests still see their assigned table number in their invitation, just like with the Grid view.

Q: Can I drag a guest from one chair to another? A: Yes — press on the guest's chair (you'll see their initials inside) and drag them to any other chair, on the same table or a different one. If the target chair is already occupied, the existing occupant is bumped to "no specific seat" at that same table, so nothing is silently overwritten. Dragging a guest into the empty canvas removes them from their table entirely.

Q: How do I delete a venue element? A: Click the element (wall, label, stage, bar, anything), then either click the trash button in the right sidebar or press Delete / Backspace on your keyboard. To delete several at once, marquee-select them and hit Delete.

Q: Can I undo a mistake? A: Yes — press Ctrl/⌘ + Z to undo and Ctrl/⌘ + Shift + Z (or Ctrl/⌘ + Y) to redo. The toolbar also has dedicated Undo / Redo buttons. The history covers the last 50 layout actions.

Q: How do per-seat assignments work? A: Every table renders the right number of chairs around it. Drop a guest near a chair and that chair lights up green — release to seat them there. Guests show as initials inside the chair and their first name as a small caption outside it (full name on hover). Drop on the table body instead of a chair to let the system pick the next free seat.

Q: My event has hundreds of guests — will the sidebar still be usable? A: Yes. The unassigned-guest list is server-paginated (50 per page, page-on-scroll) with debounced search and server-side filtering by status and tag. Even 1000+ guest events stay snappy because only the visible window is rendered at any time.

Q: How do I add a stage, bar, or dance floor? A: Click Add element in the toolbar. The menu lists every venue element — walls, doors, windows, dance floor, label, plus furniture (stage, DJ booth, bar, buffet, gift table, cake table, photo booth, restroom). Each type ships with its own colour and default size so it lands at the right layer.

Q: How do I prevent items from moving while I work on the rest of the layout? A: Select the item(s) and click the lock button in the sidebar (or press L). Locked items can't be dragged, resized, or rotated. Click the lock icon again (or press L) to unlock.

Q: Things keep snapping to weird angles — can I rotate freely? A: The rotation handle snaps to 0° / 45° / 90° / 135° / 180° / 225° / 270° / 315° when within 5° of those values. Hold Shift while dragging the rotation handle to bypass the snap and rotate freely.

Q: I don't see the changes I just made — are they saved? A: Every change saves automatically. Watch the Saved / Saving… / Offline pill in the toolbar to confirm. If the network drops, the pill turns red and the save retries after 5 seconds — no work is lost.

Q: Does the map work in fullscreen? A: Yes. Click the Fullscreen button in the map toolbar to expand the canvas to the whole screen — useful for planning on a big monitor or projector during venue setup. Adding or editing a table from fullscreen opens the dialog right on top of the map, so you never leave fullscreen while working.