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Open tabs

Turn open tabs on or off for your terminals, and set limits on long-running tabs.

A tab is a running bill on a table — staff open it, add items over the course of the meal, and take payment at the end. This page controls whether your terminals can run tabs at all, and lets you set limits to keep long-running tabs in check.

Note

This page needs Table service switched on for your account. If you don't see it, ask your account manager.

From the sidebar, open Table Management, then Tabs.

Turn tabs on or off

The main switch turns open tabs on or off across your terminals.

  • On — terminals show the Tabs area, and staff can open a tab on a table, add to it, and pay it out later.
  • Off — terminals hide the Tabs area entirely. They show only the Tables grid and the pay-as-you-go flow: tap a table and take payment in one go, with no running bill.

Turn it off if your venue takes payment up front and doesn't keep bills open.

Note

This Tabs switch works with your device's mode, not instead of it. The mode's Dine in capability (under Modes) is what lets staff seat an order on a table at all; this Tabs setting then decides whether that becomes a running bill (tabs on) or pay-as-you-go (tabs off). So for running bills you need both Dine in on in the mode and tabs on here. If a device shows the floor plan but tapping a table goes straight to payment, check the Tabs switch first.

Using tabs on the terminal

This page is just the on/off setting and limits. To see what opening and running a tab actually looks like on the device — tapping a table, the order screen, sending to the kitchen, paying — see Using the till. The terminal's Tabs area (and free-standing bar tabs) is covered there too.

Limits

When tabs are on, two optional limits tune long-running tabs without switching the feature off:

  • Maximum tab amount — a ceiling on how large a single tab can grow. Leave it blank for no limit.
  • Auto-close after a number of hours — how long a tab can stay open before it's closed automatically. Leave it blank for no limit.

Both limits ignore zero or negative values — those count as "no limit". Set them only if you want to cap runaway tabs.

Tip

Limits are a safety net, not a workflow. Most venues leave them blank and rely on staff to close tabs at the end of service.

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