Check-In Settings

The Check-In Settings page lets you configure your label templates, printer setup, printing options, and general check-in options. Open it from the Check-In Station (Planning > Check-In): click the gear (Check-In Settings) icon in the page header.

Settings Tabs

The settings page is organized into three tabs:

1. Label Designer -- Manage your label templates (covered in the Label Templates article).
2. Printer Setup -- Choose your label size and configure what gets printed.
3. Options -- General check-in behavior: Check-in Notifications, Unclaimed children alerts, New visitor follow-ups go to, and Check-in history retention (see The Options Tab below).

Changing settings needs the Check-In Manage permission.

Printer Setup

Selecting a Label Size

Choose the label stock that matches your printer:

To select a preset:

1. Open the Printer Setup tab.
2. Click the label size that matches your label stock.
3. If using custom dimensions, enter the width, height, and select the unit (millimeters or inches).

Print Options

These four toggles control what gets printed on each check-in. All are on by default.

To save your changes, click Save Printer Settings at the bottom of the Printer Setup tab.

The Options Tab

The Options tab has four cards. Change what you need, then click Save Options at the bottom of the tab.

Check-in Notifications

The Check-in Notifications card lets you send a child's parents a short message when the child is checked in, and again when they are checked out.

To turn notices on:

1. Open the Options tab (the third tab).
2. In the Check-in Notifications card, switch on "Notify parents on check-in and check-out."
3. In the "When to send a notice" dropdown that appears, choose when notices go out.
4. Click Save Options.

Notices go only to a child's legal guardians, delivered by Telegram if the guardian has linked it, otherwise by email. Each guardian can also be switched off individually with the Check-in notices button on the person's Family tab. For the full workflow, recipients, delivery, and opt-outs, see Parent Check-In / Check-Out Notifications.

Unclaimed Children Alerts

"For kids still checked in after a session ends." When Alert staff about unclaimed children is on (it is on by default), TimelyChurch alerts staff once when a child is still checked in after the session ends, then only again if the child is still there later -- not every few minutes.

Under Who gets these alerts, choose:

• The class leaders (recommended) -- the leaders of the class each unclaimed child is in. If a class has no leader, the alert goes to the coordinator(s) below, or to all admins.
• A specific coordinator -- only the people you tick under Check-in coordinator(s) (all admins if none are ticked).
• Only whoever started the check-in -- so every admin isn't notified.
• All church admins -- every church admin is notified.

See Unclaimed Children Alerts for when a session counts as ended and how to respond.

New Visitor Follow-ups Go To

When someone with the Visitor status is checked in for the first time, TimelyChurch creates a First-Time Visitor follow-up. Search your people and pick who should own it -- a greeter, your visitor pastor, anyone. They do not need a login: if they don't have one yet, an amber note says they will see the task as soon as one is linked. Leave it empty to keep new visitor follow-ups unassigned. See Follow-Ups.

Check-in History Retention

"How long to keep individual check-in records. Person profiles are never deleted by this setting." Enter a number of days in Keep check-in history for (days), or leave it blank (or 0) to keep check-in history forever (the default). Each night, check-in records older than that are removed -- the people themselves are never deleted. Removed check-ins no longer appear in attendance history or reports, so choose the period with your record-keeping needs in mind. See Check-In History, Privacy, and Retention.

Event-Specific Sessions

Check-in sessions can be linked to events from the Events module. When linked:

• The session name defaults to the event title.
• The session is shown with a calendar-style icon in the Active Sessions banner.
• Attendance data from check-in feeds into the event's reports.
• If you open Check-In from an event (for example, from an event detail page), a session for that event is automatically created or resumed.
• If the event has an end time, the session uses it as its expected end -- which is when unclaimed-children alerts start.

Running Multiple Rooms for One Event (the event Check-In tab)

For a single event that has several check-in points at the same time -- for example a Nursery, Grade 1, and Grade 2 all meeting during one service -- use the event's own Check-In tab. This is the primary surface for multi-room check-in.

Open the event, then open its Check-In tab:

1. In the Check-in sessions box, type a room or class name in the name field. It is pre-filled with an incrementing default (Room 1, Room 2, Room 3, ...) so two rooms are never identical, but you should edit it to the real room name (Nursery, Grade 1, ...).
2. Click Start a session. Repeat once per room -- they all run at the same time under the same event; starting a new room does not end the others.

Each session appears on its own card showing its name, a Live or Ended badge, and its running totals (total, checked in, and head-count if used). Each card has its own controls:

• Rename -- edit the room/class name inline at any time.
• Open kiosk -- opens a self-serve kiosk for that specific room (shown only while the session is Live). An ended session never presents a live kiosk.
• End -- closes that room to new check-ins (people already checked in stay checked in).
• Resume -- re-activates an Ended session so you can keep checking people into that room.
• Delete -- permanently removes the session. This is a hard action: if the session has check-ins, deleting it also permanently deletes those check-ins and their attendance records, and cannot be undone. You are asked to confirm first.

Quick check-in and the room picker. The Check-In tab also has a Quick check-in search to check people in from the event page itself. When two or more rooms are Live at once, a "Checking into" room picker appears next to the search -- choose the room first so each person is checked into the correct room. When only one session is live, that session is used automatically.

Note: Sessions on this tab are scoped to today (in your church's time zone), so the tab always shows the rooms running right now. Start your rooms on the day of the event.

Running Concurrent Sessions

TimelyChurch supports multiple active sessions at the same time. This is useful when:

• A worship service and children's church happen simultaneously.
• An early service and a late service overlap.
• A midweek program has separate age-group sessions.
• A single event needs a separate check-in point per room or age group (Nursery, Grade 1, Grade 2), started from that event's Check-In tab (see above).

Each session maintains its own roster and stats. On the kiosk, if multiple sessions are active, families are asked to select which session they are checking into. To run several rooms under one event, use the event's Check-In tab described in Running Multiple Rooms for One Event above.

Tip: Link each session to its corresponding event for the cleanest attendance reporting.

Starting and Ending Sessions

Starting a Session

1. Click Start Session on the Check-In Station.
2. In the Link to Event dropdown, choose an event (the dropdown lists events from today through the next 7 days), or choose "No event - standalone session" to start a session without linking an event.
3. Optionally type a custom Session Name (Optional). Leave it blank to use the event title or a default name.
4. Optionally attach a Consent / Waiver form and choose how often parents must sign -- see Consent Forms and Waivers at Check-In.
5. Optionally tick This session uses wristbands -- see Set Up Wristband Check-In.
6. Click Start Session.

A session can also be started automatically when Check-In is opened from an event page.

Ending a Session

1. Find the session in the Active Sessions banner on the Check-In Station.
2. Click End next to the session.
3. The session is marked as inactive and given an end time.

Ending a session does not check out people who are still checked in. It simply closes the session to prevent new check-ins. For an old session that still shows people as checked in, see Closing an old session.

Headcount Mode

For services or areas where individual check-in is impractical (such as a large auditorium), use headcount:

1. On the kiosk, tap the Headcount button (in the stats bar).
2. Enter the number of people counted.
3. The headcount is saved and displayed alongside individual check-in counts in the live stats.

The total attendance for a session equals individual check-ins plus headcount.

Room Capacity and Live Occupancy

Each class can be linked to a Room, and each Room can have a capacity value.

Setting Room Capacity

1. In the sidebar, open Facilities > Rooms (Rooms requires the Rooms feature on your plan).
2. Open a room and enter a number in Capacity.
3. Make sure the room is marked Active.
4. Assign the room to each class that uses it: open the class (Planning > Classes) and choose it in the class's Room dropdown.

See the Room Occupancy article for how to read the live head counts against capacity, plus the "No Room" handling for children checked in without a class.

Permissions and Plan Features

Two layers control who can use the Check-In module: your subscription plan and your church permissions.

Plan-Level Feature Gate

Check-In is a gated feature on TimelyChurch plans. If your plan does not include the Check-In feature, the entire module (including the kiosk, label designer, and reports) is hidden from the menu and shows a "feature not available" message if you try to reach it.

• Every part of Check-In (the station, kiosk, settings, and label designer) requires the Check-In feature on your plan.
• If you upgrade to a plan that includes Check-In, the module appears immediately -- no extra setup required.

To see what your current plan includes, click Church Setting at the bottom of the left sidebar and open the Billing & Plans tab.

Church-Level Permissions

For churches whose plan includes Check-In, access is further controlled by your roles. In the role editor, the Check-In module has three checkboxes (the Full Access level ticks all three):

• View -- See the Check-In Station, sessions, and rosters.
• Use -- Operate check-in: open the kiosk, start and end sessions, look families up (only while a session is open), check people in and out, print labels, and update headcounts.
• Manage -- Everything in Use, plus check-in settings and label templates, renaming and deleting sessions, changing a session's consent form, closing stale check-ins, and releasing children from the Need Attention page.
• Lockdown -- The server allows anyone with Manage (administrators and the built-in Safety Officer role) to activate or lift lockdown, but the buttons on the Check-In Station currently appear only for administrators (see Lockdown Mode).

Configure who has which role under Administration > Roles & Permissions (assign people to roles, and edit what each role can do).