Building a seat map

The seat map editor is where you draw your venue - rows, tables, standing areas and the stage - so its seats can be sold on any event. You build a map once, keep it in the Seat maps library, and attach it to events on their Reserved seating tab.

The Seat maps library

Open Seat maps in the app menu. The page lists your maps with the columns Name, Capacity, Events using this map and Actions.

• Create seat map starts a new, empty map with one price area named Standard.
• The Active and Archived buttons switch between lists, and Search maps finds a map by name.
• Click a row to open the map in the editor.
• The Actions menu has Duplicate and Archive, or Restore on the Archived list.

Duplicate opens a copy named after the original with "(copy)" added. It becomes a separate map on its first save.

Archive hides a map from new event setup. Dates already selling from it keep their version and keep selling. An archived map cannot be edited until you restore it.

There is no delete and there are no ready-made templates. Capacity counts every seat on the map, including seats marked unavailable.

Create a map

1. On the Seat maps page, click Create seat map.
2. Type a Name. A blank name is saved as "Draft".
3. Add rows, tables, standing areas and landmarks (see below).
4. Set up your Price areas and give each seat one.
5. Click Save in the save bar.

Nothing is stored until the first save, and unsaved work is lost if the browser closes. Preview customer view shows the real shopper chooser at any time: "Preview only. These selections do not reserve seats or start checkout."

Rows

• Draw row: press and drag on the map, then release to add one straight row. Escape cancels.
• Add elements, then Add rows: set Quantity (default 5) and Seats per row or table (default 10). Rows are named A, B, C and on to Z, AA, AB.
• Add elements, then Add seat adds a single seat.

Select a row to edit it in the side panel: Row name, Number of seats and Label side (Left or Right). More options holds Rotation (degrees), Seat spacing, Row curve and Renumber seats.

Renumber seats offers "1, 2, 3…", Reverse order, Odd numbers and Even numbers. To turn a row by hand, drag the round handle beside its name.

Tables

Add elements, then Add tables. Pick a Shape, Round or Rectangular, a Quantity (default 6) and Seats per row or table (default 8).

Round tables place the chairs in a ring. Rectangular tables put half the chairs on each long side. Tables are named Table 1, Table 2 and so on.

To sell whole tables on an event, the map must hold only tables and landmarks, and each table must sit in one price area.

Standing areas and landmarks

• Add standing area draws a box with a Capacity of unnumbered places, 50 by default. Its places count toward the map's 5,000-place limit one by one.
• Add stage or landmark draws a stage or other landmark that is never sold. Its Shape can be Rectangle, Rounded rectangle or Ellipse.

Areas and landmarks have a Width and Height from 40 to 10,000.

Sections and floors

Sections group rows and tables, such as Stalls or Balcony, and get their own colour on your map and the shopper's map.

1. Select the rows or tables.
2. Open Manage sections and click Add section.
3. Enter a Section name and Section color, and optionally a Price area.
4. Click Save section.

Assign section, in the More actions menu, adds a selection to an existing section or a New section. When a map has more than one section, shoppers get a Section select.

For a venue on several levels, type a floor name in More options, then Floor. With more than one floor, a Floor filter appears in the editor and in the shopper's chooser.

Price areas and default prices

A price area is a colour-coded group of seats that the event sells through one or more ticket types. Open Price areas to add up to 30, each with a Name, a Color and an optional default Price. Click Save price areas.

Give seats their area with the side panel's Price area select, or with Assign price area on a selection. A standing area has its own Price area select.

The default price is a planning number. It pre-fills the ticket prices when you create a seated event, and it feeds the total shown under the map when every area in use has a price. Shoppers never see it, and after the event exists, prices live on its ticket types.

A price area that seats still use cannot be deleted, and a map always keeps at least one.

Seat labels and row labels

Double-click a row or table name, or press F2, to open Rename label. You can type seat numbers one by one or renumber a whole row at once.

Names must be unique. A row or table name can appear once per floor and section, and a seat number once per row or table. A clash is refused with "Same name used twice", and the clashing rows are selected.

Shoppers see names exactly as you type them, in every language.

Wheelchair, companion, restricted-view and blocked seats

Select seats and tick one of the Accessibility boxes: Wheelchair space, Companion seat or Restricted view. Shoppers see a wheelchair icon or a marked ring on the seat, and the legend names them. Anyone can buy these seats; the app does not reserve them for anyone.

Tick Unavailable in this layout to take seats out of sale on every date that uses this map version. To block seats for one date only, use Manage reserved seating on that date's Attendees tab.

Moving, copying and tidying

• Drag a row or table to move it. Arrow keys or the Move group arrows move it 10 units.
• Straighten takes the rotation, curve and nudges out of selected rows and lines them up.
• Add aisle before this seat splits a row in two with a one-seat gap.
• Close gaps puts nudged seats back on even spacing.
• Double-click a seat for Move seat freely.
• Copy selection and Paste copy rows or tables, with "(copy)" added to the names. Duplicate copies a single row or table.

Select with a click, Shift-click, or a drag on empty space. Right-click a seat, row or table for the same actions.

Undo and Redo go back 40 steps. Scroll to zoom, hold Space and drag to pan, and use Fit map to see everything. Lock screen freezes zoom and panning while you edit.

Show seat list opens a searchable list of every row and table. Clicking a row's name selects it on the map.

Limits

• 5,000 places per map, counting seats and standing places
• 500 rows, tables, areas and landmarks
• 200 seats per row or table
• 30 price areas
• Map name up to 120 characters, row and table names up to 80, seat labels up to 40

A map over the limit is refused with "This draft is too large. Use up to 5,000 seats, 500 groups and 30 price areas."

The editor has no background floor plan image, no free-hand shapes and no grid snapping. There is no import or export, and no per-seat price: prices come from price areas and ticket types.

Saving and versions

Save in the save bar shows "Map saved. Events keep their existing layout." Every save adds a new version, and older versions are kept.

Save price areas, Save label and Save section on a saved map save at once as a new version, without the save bar.

If two people edit the same map, the second save is refused. A Review changes box then offers View the latest saved map, Use the latest version or Keep my draft as a new map.

Editing a map that is already attached

One map can sell on as many events and dates as you like. Editing it never changes a date that is already selling. Each date keeps the version it sells from, and its Reserved seating tab shows that a newer version is available.

To move a date over, click Use the latest version on that date's tab. The app checks sold and held seats first and asks you to confirm anything that affects them.

When you open the editor from an event with Edit this map, saving takes you back to that event's tab with the change popup open.

For the full event side, from prices to holds, see the reserved seating feature page.