Call ahead & auto-call (keep every counter busy)

What it does

Normally a window serves one customer at a time: call, serve, finish, call again — and the counter idles while the next person walks up. Call ahead lets each window hold several live tickets at once (one being served, the rest already called and walking up). Auto-call fills any free capacity from the line automatically, the moment it opens.

The now-serving board shows it as "#45 … then #46 #47", so the next customers start walking before the current one finishes.

Turn it on

1. Open Manage windows (your word, e.g. Manage booths) and find Serving options. On the Queue screen, reach it from Set up → Manage booths, kiosk & what they're called →.
2. Set Customers per window (1–20). 1 — one at a time is the classic flow; 3 is a good start for a checkout counter.
3. Tick Auto-call the next customer when a window has room to fill free capacity from the line with no taps at all. Leave it off to keep staff in control of every call.
4. Select Save.

Good to know

• Auto-call only calls to windows that are taken and available — never to a window that is on a break, away or empty. With several windows open, it shares the line between them.
• On My window, staff see "2 of 3 at your window", and Call next still works when auto-call is on.
• ↩ Back to queue doesn't bounce the customer straight back — auto-call skips that moment. They wait near the front of the line and are called again the next time a window has room.
• A force release or the away timer sends all of a window's live tickets back to the front of the line, so nobody is stranded mid-walk-up. (End shift asks you to finish your customers first.)
• Works well with rapid one-tap serving: tap ✓ Done, and auto-call brings the next customer in the same beat.