Getting around

The app has one layout on every device: a navigation rail (or drawer), an account chip, the offline banner, and screens built from cards with their actions at the top.

The navigation

On a wide screen a rail runs down the left; on a phone the same items are in a drawer behind the menu button. From top to bottom:

1. Dashboard.
2. One entry per module your organisation licenses and you may open: Receipts, Customers, Products, Inventory.
3. Reporting, when you hold Reports.View.
4. The account chip: your initials and name.

The rail collapses to icons with the small round button on its edge; the choice is remembered on the device. A module's submenu, if it has one, stays open while you are in that module and rolls out when you rest the pointer on it.

The account menu

Press the account chip to open it:

• Switch Organisation, only if you belong to more than one.
• Settings: see The Settings area.
• Guides: these pages.
• Sign Out.

The offline banner

A strip under the header appears only when there is something to say: the device is offline, items are waiting to sync, syncing is in progress, or something failed. Tap it to open the Sync issues screen. See Working offline and sync issues.

App updates

The installed Android and iOS apps receive most improvements without a store update. When a new version has been downloaded, a strip appears under the header (or at the top of the sign-in screen): "A New Update Is Pending" with a Restart To Update button. Restarting takes a second or two and keeps you signed in; anything waiting to sync is kept. The strip stays until the update is applied.

• When the app is started fresh it fetches the latest version before opening, so a newly installed app is up to date from its first screen. It also checks each time you return to it.
• If you carry on without pressing it, the update applies by itself the next time you come back to the app on the dashboard, a list or the sign-in screen, or the next time the app is started fresh. It never restarts while you are in the middle of a receipt or a form.
• Occasionally a change needs a new version from the app store. The strip then reads "A New App Version Is Available" with Open Store and Later. Later hides it until the app is next started fresh. Updating from the store keeps you signed in and keeps anything waiting to sync.
• If the server has moved ahead of the version you are running, the strip reads "A Newer Version Is Required" while the app fetches the update. It keeps checking until the update arrives and restarts by itself as soon as you are on the dashboard, a list or the sign-in screen; elsewhere, finish what you are doing and press Restart To Update when it appears. Check For Updates asks again straight away.
• In a browser the strip reads "A New Version Is Ready" with Reload; reloading the page at any time also picks up the latest version.

How screens are laid out

• Actions at the top. Every page action (New Customer, Save Changes, Delete, Print Receipt…) sits in a bar at the top of the screen that stays put while the content scrolls. On a phone the buttons show icons only; on a desktop, icon and label. A button you do not have permission for is simply not there.
• Lists are tables on a desktop and cards on a phone. Tap a row or card to open the record. Pull down to refresh.
• Forms are stacks of cards, each with a title and a one-line explanation of what the card is for.
• Loading shows the shape of the screen with placeholders where the data will go, so nothing jumps.
• Back is the arrow in the top bar on a phone; on a desktop use the navigation.

Money and dates

Money is shown as the currency code and amount, for example USD 1,500.00. Dates and times are shown in your own time zone, or the organisation's if you have not set one, never the device's. See Currency and time zones.

Web, Android and iOS

The same app runs in a browser and as an installed app. Two differences matter: report files download only in the browser (the installed apps email them instead), and receipt-roll printing (a terminal's built-in printer or a paired Bluetooth printer) works only from the installed Android app. See Running and exporting reports and Printing and reprinting.