Documentation

Otodesq is a native application for Windows, macOS and Linux. It is the POS terminal itself, so it is installed on each machine that will take money.

Where: otodesq.com/download

1. 1Download the installer for your operating system from the Download page.
2. 2On Windows, run the .exe and follow the installer. On macOS, open the .dmg and drag Otodesq into Applications. On Linux, run the .AppImage (make executable) or install the .deb package.
3. 3Launch the app. The first screen is the setup wizard.
4. 4Install the app on every terminal you intend to sell from — each one registers itself separately.

The first terminal you set up creates the business account. Every other terminal signs in to it.

Where: Setup wizard, first launch

1. 1Choose Sign up and enter your company name, admin email and a password of at least 8 characters.
2. 2Check your email for a 6-digit verification code and enter it.
3. 3Pick the plan you want to run during your trial. The tier decides which modules are unlocked while the trial is on.
4. 4Choose a branch — create your first one by name, or select an existing branch if the account already has some.
5. 5Set a 4-digit admin PIN. This is what you will use to sign in at the terminal from now on.

Additional terminals sign in to the same account and are bound to a branch. From then on they share sales, customers and stock with the others.

Where: Setup wizard, first launch on the new machine

1. 1Install the app on the new machine and launch it.
2. 2Choose Sign in and enter the same admin email and password you used to create the account.
3. 3Select the branch this machine stands in.
4. 4Set the admin PIN when prompted; staff accounts sync down automatically afterwards.
5. 5Open Teams → Terminals on any terminal to confirm the new machine has registered.

Nothing can be sold until the catalogue has something in it. There are two ways in.

Where: Inventory Audit → Product Catalog

1. 1For a handful of products, click New Product and fill in the name, category and base price.
2. 2For an existing catalogue, use Import CSV and follow the sample file — download it first if you are unsure of the columns.
3. 3Add variants to anything sold in more than one size, colour or pack. Each variant carries its own SKU, price and stock count.
4. 4Set the opening stock quantity for each variant.

The shortest possible path from a fresh install to money in the drawer.

Where: POS Dashboard

1. 1Sign in with your PIN and open a shift, declaring the cash float you are starting with.
2. 2Add items by clicking them in the grid or scanning a barcode.
3. 3Click Pay, choose cash, card or transfer, and confirm.
4. 4Print the receipt, or save it as an image if you have no printer connected yet.

The main register screen, built to be driven quickly with a scanner or by touch.

Where: POS Dashboard

1. 1Find items by clicking a category, typing in the search box, or scanning a barcode.
2. 2Adjust a line's quantity with the plus and minus controls, or remove it entirely.
3. 3Attach a customer to the sale if you want it on their purchase history.
4. 4Click Pay to move to payment.

Cash, card and bank transfer, individually or in combination on one sale.

Where: POS Dashboard → Pay

1. 1Choose the payment method: cash, card or transfer.
2. 2For cash, enter the amount tendered and the change due is calculated for you.
3. 3To split a payment, switch to split mode and enter the amount taken by each method until the sale is covered.
4. 4Confirm to complete the sale. The receipt shows the breakdown.

Discounts are applied to the sale before VAT, and larger ones need a manager to authorise them at the terminal.

Where: POS Dashboard → Discount

1. 1Open the discount control on the cart.
2. 2Enter the discount as an amount or a percentage.
3. 3If the discount is beyond a cashier's authority, a manager enters their PIN to authorise it.
4. 4Complete the sale as usual — the discount appears on the receipt and in reporting.

Park a cart to serve someone else, then bring it back exactly as it was — useful when a customer goes back for another item.

Where: POS Dashboard → Hold / Recall

1. 1With items in the cart, click Hold and give it a label you will recognise.
2. 2Serve the next customer as normal.
3. 3Click Recall, find the labelled cart and restore it.
4. 4Complete the sale, or delete the held cart if it is no longer wanted.

Receipts are laid out for 80mm thermal paper and printed through the printer your computer already has.

Where: POS Dashboard, and Sales History for past sales

1. 1After completing a sale, choose Print. Your system print dialog opens with the receipt already formatted.
2. 2Select your thermal printer and print. Set the paper size to 80mm in your printer settings for the tidiest result.
3. 3To reprint an older receipt, open Sales History, find the sale and use the print action on it.

Sales history is shared. Any signed-in user can find any sale, whichever colleague or terminal rang it up.

Where: Sales History

1. 1Open Sales History.
2. 2Search by order ID, or scan the barcode on the customer's receipt to jump straight to it.
3. 3Narrow the list by customer, sales rep or date range.
4. 4Admins and managers can also filter by branch and by terminal.
5. 5Click a sale to expand its lines, returns and payment breakdown.

Reverses the sale, returns the stock to the shelf and posts the accounting entry.

Where: Sales History → sale → Refund

1. 1Find the sale and open it.
2. 2Choose Refund and enter the reason for the return.
3. 3Confirm. The sale is marked Refunded and the items go back into stock.

When a customer keeps part of the order, return only the lines coming back.

Where: Sales History → sale → Partial refund

1. 1Open the sale and choose the partial refund action.
2. 2Set the quantity being returned for each line.
3. 3Enter a reason and confirm.
4. 4The sale becomes Partially Refunded and shows both kept and returned quantities.

Swap a size or colour and settle the difference in either direction, in one operation.

Where: Sales History → sale → Exchange

1. 1Open the sale and choose the exchange action.
2. 2Select the item being returned and the replacement variant being issued.
3. 3If the replacement costs more, take the balance as a payment. If it costs less, refund the difference.
4. 4Confirm. Stock moves both ways and the sale is marked Exchanged.

For correcting records rather than reversing trade. Both are restricted and both propagate to your other terminals.

Where: Sales History (admin or manager only)

1. 1To remove one sale, open it and choose Delete.
2. 2To clear the branch's history, use Clear All History in the header and confirm the warning.

Products carry the name, category and base price; variants carry SKU, price and stock.

Where: Inventory Audit → Product Catalog

1. 1Click New Product and enter the name, category and base price.
2. 2Add an image if you plan to sell the item on your storefront.
3. 3Add a variant for each version you sell — for example Small, Medium, Large.
4. 4Give each variant its own SKU, selling price and opening quantity.
5. 5Save. The product syncs to the cloud and to your other terminals.

Categories group the product grid and can carry a default set of variations, so similar products are quicker to add.

Where: Inventory Audit → Categories

1. 1Open the Categories tab and create a category.
2. 2Optionally list default variations for it, such as sizes for clothing.
3. 3New products in that category start with those variations ready to fill in.

Bring an existing product list in from a spreadsheet instead of typing it again.

Where: Inventory Audit → Product Catalog → Import CSV

1. 1Download the sample CSV so you can copy the exact column names.
2. 2Fill it in with your products, one row per variant.
3. 3Choose Import CSV and select your file.
4. 4Review the import summary, then check a few products in the catalogue.

Count the shelf and record what is actually there, leaving an auditable record of the correction.

Where: Inventory Audit → Stock Audit

1. 1Open the Stock Audit tab and start a count.
2. 2Enter the counted quantity for each variant you are checking.
3. 3Review the differences the app shows between counted and expected.
4. 4Commit the audit to apply the corrections.

Create untracked catalog items for salons, spas, car washes and consultancies, without physical stock limits.

Where: Service Catalog / Inventory → New Service

1. 1Click + Add Service (or New Product) and enter the service name, category and fee.
2. 2Disable 'Track Inventory Quantity' to mark the item as an untracked service or hospitality dish.
3. 3Add service duration options or tiers if applicable (e.g. 30 Mins, 60 Mins, Deluxe Package).
4. 4Save. The service is immediately available for checkout on your POS registers.

Breakages recorded separately from sales, so shrinkage is visible instead of vanishing from the count.

Where: Inventory Audit

1. 1Open the damaged stock record.
2. 2Select the variant, the quantity and the reason.
3. 3Save. The stock leaves the count and the write-off is recorded.

A shared list across your terminals with contact details and multiline client preferences.

Where: Customers → Add Customer

1. 1Open Customers and click Add Customer.
2. 2Enter the customer's name, phone number, and optional email.
3. 3Add custom client notes (e.g. dietary allergies, hair/skin formulas, vehicle info, or VIP credit limits).
4. 4Save. The customer and their notes sync across all terminals.

Everything they have bought, including anything returned.

Where: Customers → customer

1. 1Open Customers and select the person.
2. 2Review their purchase history, with totals and dates.
3. 3Use the link into Sales History to open any specific sale for a refund or a reprint.

Who your best customers are, and who has stopped coming in.

Where: Reports → Customer Reports

1. 1Open Reports and switch to Customer Reports.
2. 2Choose a date range, and a branch if you run more than one.
3. 3Review top customers by spend, order counts and days since last purchase.
4. 4Export the list if you want to contact lapsed customers.

Each person gets their own account and PIN, so sales and actions are attributable.

Where: Teams → Team Members

1. 1Open Teams → Team Members and click to add a user.
2. 2Enter their username, assign a role, and set the branch they work at.
3. 3Give them a 4-digit PIN, which is what they will use to sign in at the terminal.
4. 4Save. The account syncs to your other terminals so they can sign in anywhere.

Roles are yours to define. Each is a named set of permissions you assign to staff.

Where: Teams → Roles

1. 1Open Teams → Roles and create a role — for example Cashier, Supervisor or Stock Controller.
2. 2Tick the permissions it should carry: POS read and write, inventory, transfers, reports, customers, teams, accounting, web portal, and attendance across branches.
3. 3Save, then assign the role to staff in Team Members.

A shift is one cashier's session at one terminal. Closing it is where cash is counted and differences surface.

Where: POS Dashboard

1. 1At the start of a session, open a shift and declare the cash float in the drawer.
2. 2Sell as normal — the shift accumulates cash, card and transfer totals.
3. 3At the end, choose to close the shift and physically count the drawer.
4. 4Enter the counted cash. The app compares it to what it expected and records any shortage or overage.
5. 5Add a note explaining a difference if there is one, and confirm.

A terminal shift abandoned at closing time is closed automatically and flagged, rather than left open until morning.

Where: Teams → Branch Binding & Setup for the hours; POS Dashboard to reconcile

1. 1Set the branch's opening and closing times, and the grace period after closing.
2. 2A shift still open past closing plus the grace period is closed automatically and marked as auto-closed.
3. 3The next morning a manager opens the flagged shift and reconciles it by entering the cash that was actually counted.

Timecards separate from shifts, for hours worked rather than cash held.

Where: Teams → Staff Attendance & Timecards

1. 1Staff clock in by PIN at the start of the day and clock out at the end.
2. 2Managers review timecards and hours in the Attendance tab.
3. 3Filter by date range, and by branch where the role allows it.

One installation of the app on one machine. Terminals are how the system tells multiple checkout points in the same branch apart.

Where: Teams → Terminals

1. 1Open Teams → Terminals to see every terminal registered to your business.
2. 2Each row shows the terminal's name, branch, device, app version, last-seen time and IP address.
3. 3The terminal you are currently using is marked This terminal.

Sales, customers and accounting entries sync through the cloud, so every terminal sees the whole branch.

1. 1A completed sale is pushed to the cloud immediately and the other terminals are notified to pull it.
2. 2Terminals also run a full sync cycle on a short timer, which catches anything missed while offline.
3. 3Stock is adjusted on the other terminals in the same branch when they pull a sale, so shelf counts agree.
4. 4To force a cycle, click the connectivity badge in the sidebar.

Give terminals names your staff use, so filters and reports read like the shop floor.

Where: Teams → Terminals

1. 1Open Teams → Terminals and use the rename action on a terminal.
2. 2Enter a name such as Front Counter or Terminal 2 and save.

Cuts a machine off from your business at the server. Do this the moment a terminal goes missing.

Where: Teams → Terminals (admin or manager only)

1. 1Open Teams → Terminals and find the machine.
2. 2Click Suspend and enter a reason, such as where and when it went missing.
3. 3Confirm. The terminal is refused by the server immediately and locks itself the moment it next reaches the network.
4. 4When the machine is recovered, use Reactivate to bring it back into service.

What changes when the connection drops, and what does not.

1. 1Keep selling. Sales, refunds, receipts, stock changes and shifts all complete locally.
2. 2Watch the badge in the sidebar: it reads Offline while the cloud is unreachable.
3. 3When the connection returns, the queue uploads automatically and the badge returns to Online.

Show a QR code at the counter. Customers browse on their phones and send an order to that terminal.

Where: Self-Checkout

1. 1Open the Self-Checkout screen on the terminal that will serve the orders.
2. 2Display or print the cloud QR code shown there.
3. 3A customer scans it, browses your catalogue and submits an order with their name and phone.
4. 4The order arrives on this terminal as a held cart with a pickup code.
5. 5Recall the held cart, take payment and complete the sale as normal.

The terminal serves a self-checkout page directly on the shop network, so it works with no internet at all.

Where: Self-Checkout

1. 1Open the Self-Checkout screen and use the local kiosk QR code and address.
2. 2Customers or staff on the same Wi-Fi open that address on a phone or tablet.
3. 3Orders come straight to this terminal's held carts.

A standard chart is seeded on first launch, so postings work before you configure anything.

Where: Accounting → Chart of Accounts

1. 1Open Accounting → Chart of Accounts to see the seeded accounts and their balances.
2. 2Add your own accounts where you need them.
3. 3If you are migrating from another system, post your opening balances so the ledger starts from the right place.

You do not post day-to-day trade by hand; the POS terminal does it as it goes.

1. 1Each completed sale posts a balanced entry: cash or bank debited for the total, revenue credited net, VAT credited separately where a VAT rate is set.
2. 2Card and transfer sales debit the bank account; cash sales debit the cash account.
3. 3Refunds and exchanges post their own reversing entries automatically.
4. 4Review anything posted in Accounting → General Ledger.

For everything the POS terminal does not generate: rent, wages, corrections.

Where: Accounting → General Ledger

1. 1Choose to post a new journal entry and give it a reference and description.
2. 2Add lines until debits equal credits — the entry will not post otherwise.
3. 3Post it. To correct a mistake, reverse the entry rather than editing it, which leaves both sides of the trail.
4. 4Void is available for entries that should never have existed at all.

For customers who buy now and pay later.

Where: Accounting → Accounts Receivable

1. 1Create an invoice against a customer with its lines and due date.
2. 2Post it. The amount now sits in receivables.
3. 3When the customer pays, receive a payment against the invoice.
4. 4Track what is outstanding, and for how long, in the AR ageing report.

What you owe suppliers, and paying it down.

Where: Accounting → Accounts Payable

1. 1Create a vendor if the supplier is new.
2. 2Enter a bill with its lines and due date, or import the lines from a CSV the supplier sent.
3. 3Post the bill so it registers as a liability.
4. 4Record payments against it as you pay, in full or in part.
5. 5Watch the AP ageing report for what is falling due.

Match the ledger against what the bank actually shows.

Where: Accounting → Bank Reconciliation

1. 1Create the bank account if you have not already.
2. 2Import a statement as CSV, or enter transactions by hand.
3. 3Match each statement line to its ledger entry; unmatch anything you matched wrongly.
4. 4Review the summary of matched and unmatched items, then save the reconciliation.

Set a target per account and watch actuals against it.

Where: Accounting → Budget vs Actual

1. 1Choose the account and period, and set the budgeted figure.
2. 2Review the budget against actual report as the period progresses.
3. 3Remove a budget line if it no longer applies.

Register the equipment you own and let it depreciate on schedule.

Where: Accounting → Fixed Assets

1. 1Create the asset with its cost, purchase date, useful life and salvage value.
2. 2Run monthly depreciation to post the period's charge.
3. 3Review the depreciation schedule for the asset's remaining value.
4. 4Dispose of the asset when it is sold or scrapped, and the disposal is posted.

Close the door on a month you have already reported, so nobody can post into it by accident.

Where: Accounting

1. 1Create a fiscal year; monthly periods are generated with it.
2. 2Close a period once its month is finished.
3. 3Lock the period to prevent any further posting into it.
4. 4If a genuine correction belongs in a locked period, reopen it deliberately, post, then lock it again.

The reports your accountant will ask for, generated from the same ledger.

Where: Accounting → Financial Statements

1. 1Trial balance for a working view of every account.
2. 2Profit and loss for a period's trading result.
3. 3Balance sheet as at a date.
4. 4Cash flow for movement over a period.
5. 5VAT report for the tax you have collected.
6. 6Export any of them to PDF or CSV.

A consolidated Z-report entry for the day's takings on this terminal.

Where: Accounting

1. 1Choose the date, or leave it as today.
2. 2Post the daily sales summary. A single balanced entry is created splitting cash, card and transfer against revenue.

Each shop is a branch, with its own stock, staff, terminals and reporting.

Where: Teams → Branch Binding & Setup

1. 1Open Teams → Branch Binding & Setup.
2. 2Create the branch by name.
3. 3Set its opening and closing times, and the grace period for automatic shift closing.
4. 4Install the app on that shop's machines and bind them to the new branch during setup.

Stock is not simply moved: it leaves as a transfer, and only lands when someone at the other end receives it.

Where: Inventory Audit → Stock Transfers

1. 1At the sending branch, open Stock Transfers and start a transfer.
2. 2Choose the destination branch and add the variants and quantities.
3. 3Send it. The stock is now in transit and no longer counted at the origin.
4. 4At the destination, open Stock Transfers, find the pending transfer and receive it.
5. 5Enter what actually arrived. Differences between sent and received are recorded.

The same reports, narrowed to one location or across all of them.

Where: Reports

1. 1Open Reports and choose a branch in the branch filter, or leave it on All Branches.
2. 2Combine with the terminal filter to isolate a single terminal within a branch.
3. 3Export the result for a side-by-side comparison.

Your catalogue as a public shop, with you deciding exactly what appears.

Where: Web Portal → Storefront & Domain Settings

1. 1Open Web Portal → Storefront & Domain Settings.
2. 2Set your store name, logo and theme.
3. 3Save. The storefront is live on your Otodesq address straight away.
4. 4Publish the products you want to sell online — nothing appears until you do.

Run the shop on your own web address rather than an Otodesq subdomain.

Where: Web Portal → Storefront & Domain Settings

1. 1Enter the domain you want to use, for example shop.yourbrand.com.
2. 2Add the DNS record shown to you at your domain registrar.
3. 3Come back and run Verify DNS. Propagation can take a little while.
4. 4Once verified, the storefront answers on your domain.

Connect your own payment account. The money settles to your bank, not through us.

Where: Web Portal → Storefront & Domain Settings

1. 1Choose your provider: Paystack, Flutterwave or OPay.
2. 2Paste your own public and secret keys from that provider's dashboard.
3. 3Enable the provider and save.
4. 4Place a small test order to confirm the flow end to end before you advertise the shop.

Where you deliver, what it costs, and whether customers may collect instead.

Where: Web Portal → Storefront & Domain Settings

1. 1Add a delivery zone with its name and fee.
2. 2Repeat for each area you serve.
3. 3Customers choose their zone at checkout and the fee is added to the order.
4. 4Remove a zone when you stop serving it.

Orders land in the POS and move through states the customer can follow.

Where: Web Portal → Online Orders

1. 1Open Web Portal → Online Orders to see what has come in.
2. 2Open an order to see the items, the customer, the delivery address and the payment status.
3. 3Move it through Packing, then Out for Delivery, then Delivered as you work.
4. 4Cancel an order that cannot be fulfilled.

Questions from online shoppers, answered from inside the POS.

Where: Web Portal → Customer Support

1. 1Open Web Portal → Customer Support to see incoming conversations.
2. 2Open a ticket, read the history and reply.
3. 3Take over a ticket a colleague started so two people are not answering at once.
4. 4Close the ticket when it is resolved.

Revenue, trends, payment mix, peak hours and what is selling.

Where: Reports → Reports & Analytics

1. 1Choose a date range.
2. 2Narrow by branch, terminal or category as needed.
3. 3Review revenue and transaction trends, the split by payment method and the busiest hours.
4. 4Check the best sellers, and the products with no sales at all.
5. 5Export to PDF or CSV.

Stock movement and the record of who changed what.

Where: Reports → Inventory & Audit

1. 1Open Reports → Inventory & Audit.
2. 2Review stock adjustments, audits and write-offs over a date range.
3. 3Use it alongside System Logs when a count does not look right.

The application's own record of what happened, useful when reporting a problem.

Where: Reports → System Logs

1. 1Open Reports → System Logs.
2. 2Read recent activity and errors from this terminal.
3. 3Attach the log file to a support ticket if we ask for it.

Basic runs the shop floor; Pro adds the back office and self-checkout; Enterprise adds branches and the storefront.

1. 1See your current tier and renewal date in the app's profile screen.
2. 2A locked module explains which tier it needs rather than simply refusing.
3. 3Compare tiers on the pricing page before upgrading.

Pay from inside the app; the new tier applies as soon as payment is verified.

Where: Profile → Subscription

1. 1Open your profile and choose the tier and billing cycle you want.
2. 2Authorise the change with an admin PIN.
3. 3Complete payment with the provider shown.
4. 4The app checks the payment and unlocks the new tier without a restart.

Each plan has a storage ceiling. Archiving frees space without upgrading and without losing your records.

Where: Web dashboard → Archive

1. 1Sign in to the web dashboard with your account email and password.
2. 2Open Archive and choose the year to archive.
3. 3Confirm. The year downloads to your computer as a CSV and is removed from the cloud.
4. 4Keep the CSV somewhere safe — it is your copy of those records.

Usually nothing to fix — but here is how to confirm.

1. 1Keep selling. Nothing at the terminal depends on the connection.
2. 2Check the machine's own internet connection in the usual way.
3. 3Click the badge to force a sync attempt once you believe the connection is back.
4. 4If the machine is online but the badge is not, check that the cloud server address is reachable from this network.

Nearly always one of three things.

1. 1Check both terminals show Online. A sale cannot travel while either end is offline.
2. 2Click the connectivity badge on the receiving terminal to force a sync cycle.
3. 3Check in Teams → Terminals that the other machine is not suspended — a suspended terminal cannot upload.
4. 4Confirm both terminals are bound to the same branch if you expected stock to move as well.

That is deliberate: an administrator has cut this machine off.

1. 1Read the reason shown on the lock screen.
2. 2From another terminal, open Teams → Terminals and confirm the status.
3. 3If it was suspended in error, choose Reactivate. The machine unlocks the next time it reaches the network.

Almost always a printer setting rather than the app.

1. 1Check the printer is installed and works from another application.
2. 2In the print dialog, set the paper size to 80mm and margins to none.
3. 3Print a test receipt from a completed sale.
4. 4If printing still fails, use the saved receipt image as a fallback and send it to the customer.

Self-checkout links are deliberately short-lived.

1. 1Open the Self-Checkout screen so a fresh code is generated.
2. 2Ask the customer to scan the new code.
3. 3If you print the code, reprint it regularly rather than leaving an old one on the table.

Raise a ticket from inside the app so we get the context with it.

Where: Support

1. 1Open Support and create a ticket describing what happened and what you expected.
2. 2Attach a screenshot, and the log file from Reports → System Logs if the problem is technical.
3. 3Replies arrive in the same screen; you will see an unread marker when we respond.