Seat guests at tables

There are a few ways to seat someone, and they all do the same thing. Use whichever feels easiest: dragging on the floor plan, picking from a list, or letting Auto-Seat do most of the work.

On the floor plan

1. 1

   Open the floor plan

   Go to Floor plan. You can seat guests even while Lock layout is on.
2. 2

   Find who’s waiting

   On a computer, the Guest list on the left shows guests without a table under Unseated. On a phone or tablet, they’re in the Unassigned tray at the bottom of the floor plan.
3. 3

   Drag them to a table

   Drag a name onto a table. They take the first free chair. Drop them on a particular chair to choose their exact seat. The label next to the name shows table or seat so you know which you’re about to do.

Tap an empty chair

Click or tap any empty chair and a small list called Seat a guest here opens. Search the unseated guests and pick one to put them in that chair. Or click New guest, type a name and click Add & seat: the guest is added to your list and seated there, even if everyone else already has a seat.

Tap a table instead

Click or tap a table and its toolbar appears above it. Add guest there seats someone, or a new guest, in the next free chair. Seat guests opens the table’s panel: under Seated guests, click Add guest, type to search, and click names to seat them. The list stays open, so you can fill a whole table in one go.

The panel shows how full the table is, like “6/8 seated” and “2 open”. Click a seated guest to open their details, or Remove to send them back to the unassigned list.

Use the Assign menu

On a phone, each name in the Unassigned tray has an Assign button. Click it and choose a table from the list, which shows how full each table is, like “6/8”.

From the Guests list or the Table list screen

• On Guests, each guest has a table chip. It says Assign until they’re seated, then shows their table. Click it to pick a table.
• On Table list, the Unseated list shows everyone who still needs a seat (declined guests are left out). Use Assign next to a name.
• In a guest’s details, the Seating section has an Assign to table button that does the same.

When a table is full

If you try to seat someone at a full table, you’ll see Over capacity with the table’s count. Click Seat anyway to squeeze them in, or cancel and choose another table. An over-capacity table is outlined in red on the floor plan, so it’s easy to spot later.

Let Auto-Seat do the first pass

With lots of guests, click Auto-seat in the floor plan toolbar. It seats everyone marked Attending or Maybe who doesn’t have a table yet, and keeps households together and keep-apart pairs apart. It never moves anyone you’ve already seated. See how Auto-Seat works.

Take someone off a table

• In the table’s panel, click Remove next to their name.
• Or open their table menu and choose Unassign.

They go back to the unseated guests. Nothing about the guest is deleted. To clear the whole chart, use Unassign all in the toolbar’s More menu, and undo if you change your mind.

Not sure who should sit where? Our guide to making a seating chart walks through it step by step.