In this tutorial we’re going to cover staff registers on Tapestry — taking an online register for your staff, and exporting a paper register as a PDF, ready to print. It mirrors our Child Registers tutorial, just for staff instead of children.

There are two ways to keep a staff register:

  • The Online Register — sign staff in and out as they arrive and leave, straight from Tapestry.
  • The Paper Register — export a register as a PDF to print and fill in by hand.

You’ll find both in the same place: open Registers on the main Tapestry menu, where Staff Register (the online one) and Staff Paper Register sit right next to their Child Register equivalents.

Do bear in mind you’ll need the Management System set up on your account first — our Setting up the Management System tutorial will run you through it.

Any staff member with access to Registers can take the online staff register — but managers can control that access through user permissions. There are also permissions available to prevent staff editing and deleting registrations. You can find and amend these permissions from Configuration > Staff > Staff User Permissions > Booking: Register. See our User Permissions tutorial for further information.

The Staff Paper Register, though, is only available to managers — other staff members won’t see it in the Registers menu.

Open Registers › Staff Register from the main Tapestry menu.

The main Tapestry menu with the Registers section open, showing the Child Register, Staff Register, Child Paper Register and Staff Paper Register options.
You'll find the Staff Register under Registers on the main menu.

The register opens on today, with your staff listed alphabetically by first name. Use the Day picker — or the previous and next day arrows either side of it — to move to a different date, and Order by to switch between First Name and Last Name. Each row shows a green In button, the times recorded so far, an orange Out button, and any register note.

Click In when a member of staff arrives, and Out when they leave — the time is recorded for you, and their row is shaded green while they’re signed in. Staff can be signed in and out as many times in a day as you need; Out is only active while someone is currently signed in.

The Staff Register page for a single day: a Day picker with previous and next arrows, an Order by dropdown set to First Name, and a list of staff each with a green In button and an orange Out button. One member of staff is currently signed in and their row is shaded green.
The online Staff Register — one member of staff currently signed in.

Click a member of staff to open their details on the right. Under Registrations you’ll see the times recorded for the day, along with who recorded each one — use the pencil icon to change a time (click Confirm to save it), or to delete a registration added by mistake. You can also add a note in the Register Notes box; click Save Register Notes and it will appear in the register’s Notes column.

The details sidebar for a selected member of staff, showing In and Out buttons under Registrations, a recorded sign-in time with a pencil edit icon, and a Register Notes box with a typed note above the Save Register Notes button.
Add a note and click Save Register Notes.

Please note, the Staff Paper Register is only available to managers — it won’t appear in the Registers menu for other staff members.

Open Registers › Staff Paper Register from the main Tapestry menu.

The main Tapestry menu with the Registers section open, with the Staff Paper Register option at the bottom of the list.
The Staff Paper Register, under Registers on the main menu.

Under Export Options, choose the Date Range for your register. Both dates start on today — leave them as they are to export just today’s register, or set a longer range to export several days at once. If you choose the weekly format below, the range adjusts to whole weeks.

The Staff Paper Register page: Export Options with a Start Date and End Date both set to today, a collapsed Layout Options section, and a Generate PDF button.
Choose your date range, then expand Layout Options.

If you’d like to personalise the layout, click Layout Options to expand it. You can choose:

  • Format — a Daily or a Weekly register.
  • Optional Fields — add 3 blank rows to fill in by hand.
  • Extra Field — include a Notes column (available for the daily format).
  • Sort Staff — First Name Alphabetically or Surname Alphabetically.
The expanded Layout Options section: Format with Daily selected, Optional Fields with 3 blank rows ticked, Extra Field with a Notes option, Sort Staff set to First Name Alphabetically, and the Generate PDF button below.
Choose the format and any extra fields, then click Generate PDF.

When you’re happy, click Generate PDF — your register downloads as a PDF, ready to print. Do note that the layout settings you pick are saved when you generate, and will apply for your colleagues too (they can always change them the next time they export). If Generate PDF is greyed out with the message “There is no activity within this date range”, choose a date range your staff have activity on.

Please note, the Staff Paper Register doesn’t currently offer the font size or page break options you may have seen on the Child Paper Register — the layout options are otherwise the same.

And that’s it! That’s how to take an online staff register on Tapestry, and how to export and print a paper one. For the children’s equivalent, see our Child Registers tutorial.

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