The Planning view shows your day as a horizontal timeline — each row is a table, each block is a reservation. It’s the right view for running service in real time: see who’s coming, who’s seated, where you have headroom, and move things around quickly.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.eat-now.io/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

When to use this view
EatNow gives you three ways to look at your reservations. Each has its job:| View | Best for |
|---|---|
| Floor plan | Spatial layout of the dining room, seating walk-ins |
| List | Sorting, filtering, reviewing, exporting |
| Planning | Orchestrating service, spotting peaks, moving a reservation quickly |
Anatomy
From top to bottom:- Header — date picker, filters (services, statuses, rooms), search, “Block” and “Refresh” buttons.
- Hours bar — stays sticky at the top while you scroll. On hover, a blue tooltip shows the exact time plus the number of reservations and covers at that moment (e.g.
20:30 — 30 resv · 151 pers). - Orange shift bar — shows each service’s window (e.g. Dinner 7pm-11pm).
- “Unassigned” lane — yellow background with an orange badge counting reservations without a table. See below.
- Rooms (
Main Room,Mezzanine,Terrasse…) — collapsible. Each room contains its tables. - Table rows — one row per table. Number and capacity (
1 - 4) on the left. - Reservation blocks — colored by status. Width = expected duration.
- Vertical red line — current time (
now).
Reading a block
Each block shows the key info at a glance:- Color = status (gray = confirmed, blue = seated, green = arrived, etc.).
- Customer name.
- Fork icon + number = covers (party size).
- 🔒 Lock (if visible) = the table is pinned for this reservation, auto-assign won’t touch it. See Pinned table.
- ⚠ Late (red, blinking) = the reservation should already have arrived but the status is still “Confirmed”.
Tap to act fast
Click (or tap on mobile) any block to open a quick-action menu.
- The current status (badge top-right — here
Confirmed). - Status transitions that make sense from the current state — not all statuses appear, only the relevant ones. For example:
- From “Confirmed”: Showed up, Seated, For drinks, No-show.
- From “Showed up”: Seated, Done.
- From “Seated”: Done.
- Once “Done” / “Cancelled”: no buttons (final state).
- “Pinned table” toggle — only if auto-assign is enabled for your restaurant.
- See details — opens the full reservation drawer.
- Unassign — removes the reservation from the table (it goes back into the “Unassigned” lane).
A tap does ONE thing: opens this menu. To move the reservation (drag & drop), do a long-press — see Move a reservation.
Right-click (desktop) → context menu
On desktop, you can also right-click a block to open a fuller context menu. It offers the same status changes, plus:- See detail / See customer profile.
- Cancel reservation (with optional refund if there’s a payment).
- Refund all (if existing payments).
- Capture / Skip of a pre-authorization when marking as No-show.
Pinned table
When auto-assign is on for your restaurant, EatNow shuffles reservations across tables to optimize service. The 🔒 lock icon means a reservation is pinned to its table: auto-assign won’t move it.How to pin
- Manually from the quick-action sheet → “Pinned table” toggle.
- Automatically when you drag-and-drop a reservation. The explicit move is treated as a decision: the reservation gets pinned immediately, and the 🔒 appears.
Move a reservation
Drag & drop is the Planning view’s headline feature. In a single gesture you can change the table (vertical movement) and the time (horizontal movement).
The gesture
- Long-press a block (~350ms — you’ll see it shrink slightly, that’s the cue).
- On mobile, you’ll feel a small vibration — drag is armed.
- Slide your finger / mouse to the new position. You’ll see:
- A black floating ghost following your pointer (reminder of which reservation you’re holding).
- A dashed blue rectangle on the target row showing exactly where the reservation will land (table + time).
- The original block stays in place but greyed out, like an “anchor” of the move.
- Release — the reservation lands at the new position. The 🔒 appears automatically.
Snap to 15 minutes
The target time is automatically snapped to 15-minute slots. No need for pixel-perfect aim.Auto-scroll at edges
If the destination is off-screen (e.g. moving a reservation from 4pm to 10pm and 10pm isn’t visible), just keep moving toward the edge. The grid auto-scrolls in that direction. Same vertically for rooms.Short tap vs long-press
- Short tap (release < 350ms) → opens the quick-action menu.
- Long-press (≥ 350ms) → enters drag mode.
Conflicts on drop
If you drop a reservation on a slot already occupied by another, EatNow opens a modal asking what to do:- Mark as done the previous reservation (frees the table).
- Chain them — both reservations follow each other on the same table.
- Replace — unassigns the previous reservation (it goes back to the “Unassigned” lane).
- Cancel — nothing changes.
Unassigned lane
At the top of the grid, on yellow background, EatNow shows reservations without a table. The orange badge on the left counts them.How they get there
- A reservation created without manual assignment.
- A reservation that was unassigned (from the action menu or elsewhere).
- A reservation auto-assign couldn’t place (no compatible table available).
”Auto-assign all” button
The ✨ icon to the left of the lane runs auto-assign. EatNow tries to place all unassigned reservations while respecting capacity, room constraints, and times. Pinned reservations (🔒) are not touched.Drag & drop from the lane
You can also drag a reservation from the lane down to a table: same gesture as a normal block. The reservation leaves the lane and lands on the target table.Subtleties
Multiple reservations on the same slot
When 2+ reservations have exactly the same time and duration on the same table (or stacked in the lane), EatNow merges them into a single dark-grey block2 resv. Click it to open a window listing each reservation individually.

Visible conflicts
If two reservations overlap on the same table (without being stacked exactly), the conflict zone shows a red diagonal stripe pattern. It’s a signal that you have a problem to resolve: move one, mark one as done, or ignore if intentional.Hover over the hours bar
When hovering the grid (desktop mouse), a blue tooltip follows the cursor and shows:- The exact time under the cursor.
- The number of reservations and covers expected at that moment (across all rooms, excluding cancelled and no-shows).
Mobile vs Desktop
| Gesture | Desktop | Mobile / Tablet |
|---|---|---|
| Short tap | Quick-action menu | Quick-action menu |
| Long-press | Starts drag | Starts drag (vibrates) |
| Right-click | Context menu | N/A |
| Hours bar hover | Pressure tooltip | N/A (no touch hover) |
On mobile, you can’t scroll the grid by starting your finger on a block — this is intentional so drag works without conflict. Start your finger on an empty cell to scroll normally.
