Floor plan pane

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The floorplan_16Floor Plan pane shows an 'aerial' view of your table plan. You can only select one seat or table at a time in this pane.

Appearance

Clicking on the zoomi_16 and zoomo_16 buttons zooms in and out. Clicking on the zoom_16 button zooms and scrolls (pans) the display to show all the tables in your plan. When you are zoomed in you can move around by clicking on the scroll bars or by dragging the background (the cursor will change to a hand).

By default the inside of the floor plan is shown in white and the outside of the floor plan is shown in grey.

You can change the floor plan dimensions and units by clicking on the ruler_16 button. You can also set whether a grid is drawn (and what size) and whether tables, shapes and text are snapped to a grid (and what size).

Click the add_text_16Insert text button to add text to the floor plan (e.g. a title). We would really appreciate a mention of www.perfecttableplan.com in the footer!

Click the shape_16Insert shape button to add shapes to the floor plan (e.g. to represent dance floors or stages).

Click the rotate_16Rotate button to rotate the selected table, shape or text item 45 degrees clockwise. For finer control use the Angle field in the Table properties window.

Click the move_to_back_16Move to back button to move the selected item behind (under) others in the vertical stacking order.

Click the paint_16 button to change the fonts and colours. The table colour will be overridden by colours set for individual tables through the Table properties window.

Hint If you want to seamlessly join two tables set the inner and outer colours of the table to be the same.

Click on the more_button_50_pc button to show additional options.

Select from the Seats drop-down list according to how you want seats to be displayed.

Select from the Guests drop-down list to change the text that is displayed for assigned seats.

Select from the Tables drop-down list according to what text you want displayed for the table. If you show unassigned seats any unassigned seats may also be highlighted with a red cross, depending on the setting for Seats.

Changing the Floor plan

New tables are inserted in a vacant space near the current centre of the pane. Once a table has been placed you can drag it to any location inside the floor plan.

Guests can be dragged between seats or from the unknown_adult_16Guests pane or couple_16Groups pane (set the Left pane Mode to drag & drop). Drop a guest away from a seat or table to unassign them.

Note If you drag a guest on to a seat where another guest is already assigned the guests will swap seats with the guest being dragged.

Double-click on a table or guest to show the Properties window.

Right click on a table or seat to display actions in a pop-up menu.

Assessing your plan

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When you hover the mouse cursor over a table or assigned seat a tool tip window with summary information will appear. You can turn these tool tips on/off in the prefs_16Preferences window.

Hold down the heart_16 button to show all guests that should be sitting next to each other.

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Hold down the smile_16 button to show all guests that should be sitting near to each other.

Hold down the sad_16 button to show all guests that should not be sitting next to each other.

Hold down the skull_16 button to show all guests that should be not be sitting near to each other.

Hold down the all_affinity_16 button to show all guest proximities.

Hold down the thunderbolt_16 button to show all non-optimal seating arrangements, e.g. guests that should be sitting next to each other that aren't.

Depress the gender_16 button to show the gender of guests (blue for male, pink for female).

Hint It is easier to see proximities if the gender_16 button is not depressed.

Depress the age_16 button to show the age of guests (large circle for adult, small circle for child).

Depress the group_16 button to show which groups guests belong to. The seats are colour coded for up to 100 groups (and then repeat the colour sequence).

Depress the meal_16 button to show colour-coded meal choices. Each meal is displayed in a different colour (up to 10 colours). If you have more than one course (e.g. “soup,fish,ice cream”) the courses will be displayed as concentric rings: outer ring=first course, second ring=second course etc.

Note The colours for the groups and meals visualisations are chosen automatically - you can't change them. The colours should be distinguishable even for people with most types of colour blindness.

Depress the star_16 button to show VIP guests and VIP tables.

Depress the exclamation_16 button to show guests with special needs.

Depress the tick_16 button to show guest RSVP status.

Depress the lock_16 button to show locked guests.

Hint Some of the above will be easier to see if you use simple (e.g. default ) colours in the floorplan_16Floor plan pane.

Keyboard accelerators

You can change the selected table or seat using Alt+Left arrow and Alt+Right arrow (change table) and Alt+Up arrow and Alt+Down arrow (change seat).

Printing, copying and exporting

When you are happy with the layout you can print this page with File>print_16Print. You can also export the image as a PDF, PNG, BMP or JPEG file using File>exp_16Export or copy it to the clipboard using Edit>copy_16Copy.