Set up the desk, then run the day

Before the event

One-time setup, for whoever prepares the machines. Work through it in order; nobody on the floor needs to touch any of it on the day.

1. 1Install

   Download the installer from the desktop check-in page and run it.

   Expect a blue warning screen

   Windows shows Windows protected your PC. Choose More info → Run anyway. This is not a virus alert — Windows shows it for every new program it has not seen signed before, and this build is not code-signed yet.

   • No administrator rights needed — it installs per user, so an ordinary staff account is enough
   • About 300 MB once installed
   • Any printer already installed in Windows will do

2. 2Sign in and pick the event

   Sign in with a BagEvent account that has access to the event, then select it from the list. Switch event at the bottom left changes it later.

3. 3Sync the roster

   Press Sync data to pull the full attendee list onto this machine. After that the app syncs every 60 seconds in the background — pushing queued check-ins up, pulling roster changes down — and does a fuller refresh every 5 minutes.

   

   Do this before you leave the office

   The roster lives on the machine, so searching and checking in never depend on the network. But the first full pull does. Discovering at the venue that a laptop was never synced is discovering it too late.

4. 4Printer and badge template

   Open Badge templates and confirm the design for this event. Templates are built by the organizer in the web app; this machine keeps a copy, which is why badges still print with no network.

   

   Never select a file printer such as Print to PDF

   The app deliberately keeps file printers out of the print server: a badge routed into a PDF leaves the person at the front of the queue holding nothing.

5. 5Turn phones into scanners

   This PC can also host up to 3 phones or handheld scanners over the venue network, all printing to the printers attached here. Useful for splitting an entrance, or for sending someone into the queue to scan while it is still moving.

   

   1. 1Press Start server
   2. 2If the yellow banner appears, press Allow through firewall and approve the administrator prompt. Do not skip this. Without the rule, check-in on this PC works perfectly and paired phones simply never connect — nothing on screen looks wrong
   3. 3Press Pair a device on lane A, B or C and scan the code with the phone
   A device binds to a lane, not to a printer

   So when a printer jams or runs out of labels, the server can fail that lane over to another printer without anyone re-pairing a phone in the middle of a queue.

6. 6Prepare the offline pack

   Venue networks fail. While you still have one, press Go offline to package the whole event — roster, badge templates, event configuration — onto the machine, so the desk keeps working when the network does not.

   

   With no network	Works	Why
   Scan and check in	yes	Queued locally, sent on the next successful sync
   Undo a check-in	yes	Also queued
   Find someone by name, company or email	yes	Searches the roster on the machine
   Print a badge	yes	Assembled from the cached template
   Collection points	partly	Only points the organizer marked as not requiring a connection
   Hand out gifts	no	Stock is counted on the server
   Walk-in registration	no	The server issues the ticket code
   Change a ticket, approve a registration	no	Those decisions have to reach the server

   An offline pack is your attendee list

   Names, emails and phone numbers, sitting on a laptop that leaves the office. The lease is the one lever that limits it: long enough to cover the event, short enough that a forgotten laptop stops being a copy of your attendee list. Seven days by default, adjustable.

7. 7Desk settings

   

   • Desk name — sent as the check-in source, so reports can tell desks apart. Name them the way the floor plan does
   • Ignore a repeated scan for — 3 seconds by default. Scan guns fire twice on a slow trigger; the second read is ignored instead of raising a false “already checked in”
   • Sound on scan — leave it on. In a noisy hall, the beep tells the operator the scan landed faster than the screen does
   • Print a badge when someone is checked in on this PC — depends on your flow. Turn it off if badges are printed in advance and laid out on the table

Troubleshooting

What actually goes wrong at a desk, and what is actually causing it.

Phones cannot reach the check-in PC

Almost always the Windows Firewall rule. Open Print server and look for the yellow banner, then press Allow through firewall. Check-in on the PC itself keeps working throughout, which is why nothing on screen points at the real cause.

One scan is counted twice

A slow scan-gun trigger fires two reads. Raise the repeat-scan window in Settings; it is three seconds by default.

No badge comes out

Check the printer is ready in Windows, then check that it is not a file printer such as Print to PDF. The print server leaves file printers out on purpose, because a badge routed into a PDF hands the queue nothing.

The unsynced count will not clear

The network is still down or the backend is unreachable. Press Sync once; if the number does not move, check the connection. Nothing is lost, and you can keep checking people in the whole time.

The app says a registration is cancelled

That is the server's decision, not a fault on the machine. Something is wrong with that person's registration and the organizer has to resolve it in the web app.

Windows shows a blue warning when installing

The installer is not code-signed yet, so Windows shows the warning it shows for every unfamiliar program. Choose More info, then Run anyway.

The roster looks stale after switching events

Press Sync data once after switching. The roster is per event and is not pulled until you ask for it.

This manual covers BagEvent Onsite v0.1.2. Every screenshot is of the running application. Wording on screen may shift between versions; the way the desk works does not.