Table Plan pane

The Table Plan pane shows a single table, with an optional legend (text). You can only select a single seat or table in this pane. The legend cannot be selected.

Appearance

Clicking on the and buttons zooms in and out. Clicking on the button zooms and pans the display to show all the contents. 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).

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

Note If the name of a guest can't be fitted into the space available in the Table Plan pane, the font will automatically be scaled smaller for that name to try to make it fit.

Click on the buttons to display the first, previous, next or last table.

Click on the button to show additional options.

Select from the Arrow to drop-down list to display a directional arrow. This arrow can point up, right, down, left or to any table. Note the arrow will not be displayed when it is pointing to the current table.

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

Change the Guests drop-down to change the text that is displayed for assigned seats.

Select from the Places drop-down list according to whether you want the guest place setting to be Empty,  show Tableware (plate+cutlery) or the Seat number. If you choose Seat number it  will be shown in the same font as the table name, but automatically resized to fit. If the seat number is more than 2 characters long (e.g. because you have used the custom seat numbering available in the Advanced and Professional editions) it may be truncated or overlap other text.

Check the legend check box to show the text legend. Check the header, seat, VIP, gender, age, meal, special or notes check boxes to show the corresponding information in the legend.

Note The legend will display an Event: header if the Event field is set in the Information window.

Changing the Table plan

Guests can be dragged between seats or from the Guests pane or Groups 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 guest will swap seat with the guest being dragged.

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

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

Assessing your plan

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

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

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

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

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

Hold down the button to show all guest proximities.

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

Hint If you hold down the Shift key while pressing any of the above 6 buttons, only the proximity for guests whose chairs are selected will be shown. This can be very useful when showing the proximities of all guests is too confusing.

Note Only the proximities for guests on the current table are shown.

Depress the button to colour code guest genders (blue for male, pink for female, grey for undefined).

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

Depress the button to colour code which groups guests belong to.

Depress the button to show colour-coded meal choices. Each meal is displayed in a different colour. 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.

You can also colour code guests by custom field.

Note The visualization colours are chosen automatically by default. We have chosen the 12 default colours to be easily distinguishable, even for people with most types of colour blindness. But you can change these colours in the Visualization colours window.

Depress the button to show VIP guests and VIP tables.

Depress the button to show guests with special needs.

Depress the button to show guest RSVP status.

Depress the 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 Table Plan pane.

Click the Terms button to change the words used in the pane.

Mouse wheel

If you mouse has a mouse wheel you can use it to scroll or zoom, depending on the settings in the Preferences window. If you have set the mouse wheel to scroll vertically hold down the Shift key to zoom, and vice versa. If you have set the mouse wheel to scroll vertically, hold down the key to scroll horizontally.

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. You can also export the image as a PDF, PNG, BMP,JPEG file using File>Export or copy it to the clipboard using Edit>Copy.