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JupitaPos works online, but a till approved for offline use keeps selling when the internet or the server goes away. Sales, payments in cash and the receipts are saved on the till and sent to the server by themselves as soon as the connection returns. Nobody uploads anything by hand.
Offline selling is limited on purpose: cash and the payment methods your business allows offline, no refunds, no discounts, no voids of items already sent. Everything that needs a decision waits for the connection.
The pictures show Paul Ssekandi, a cashier, on Restaurant Till 3 at the demo business’s Kampala — Kololo branch.
Prepare a till for offline use
Purpose
Make sure a till keeps selling when the internet drops: it must be an approved till with offline use switched on, and it must have downloaded what it needs while it was online.
Role / permission required
Branch managers and owners approve and edit tills (terminals.manage,
terminals.approve); staff who sell offline need auth.offline, which
every till role has.
Prerequisites
- JupitaPos is installed on the till (see Installing JupitaPos) and the device is registered as a till (see Register this device as a till).
Steps
- Open Terminals from the menu.
- For a new till, tap Approve and leave Offline enabled on (see Approve a new till).
- For a till already approved, tap Edit on its row. Check the Type (1) — pos or waiter — and switch Offline enabled on (2). Tap Save (3).
- On the till itself, sign in and open Point of sale once while online. The till downloads the menu and prices, taxes and service charges, the tables, the open orders, the payment methods, the current shift and a block of receipt numbers.
- Check it: on the till, open Offline sync. This device (1) says Online · last sync just now (2) and 0 event(s) waiting to upload (3).
Expected result
JupitaPos says Restaurant Till 3 saved. and the till’s row on Terminals shows active and offline. The till keeps its offline data up to date by itself every few minutes while it is online; staff who sign in on it can sell offline.
Screenshot
Common mistakes
- Enabling offline on a till nobody has opened since. A till has nothing to sell with until someone signs in on it and opens the POS while online. Do it right after approving.
- Using a browser tab instead of the installed app. The installed app starts even without a connection; a browser tab may not. Install the app.
- Signing out every evening while offline sales are waiting. They stay on the till and are sent at the next sign-in there — but only there. Let the till sync before you sign out.
Troubleshooting
- “This terminal has no offline data yet”. The till was never opened online since it was approved. Reconnect and open Point of sale.
- “This terminal is not enabled for offline mode. Ask a manager to enable it under Terminals.” Switch Offline enabled on (step 3).
- “Pair this device to trade offline”. The device lost its link with the till (the app was reinstalled). Register it again from This device.
FAQ
Can every device work offline? Only approved tills of the type pos or waiter with Offline enabled. Office computers and kitchen screens do not sell offline.
How long can a till stay offline? Up to 72 hours by default. After that it stops opening new orders until it reconnects; open orders can still be paid.
See whether the till is online
Purpose
Know at a glance whether the till is talking to the server, whether sales are waiting to be sent, and when it last synced — so that you are not surprised when the internet drops.
Role / permission required
Everyone signed in: the status is on every screen.
Prerequisites
- You are signed in (see Sign in).
Steps
- Look at the status at the top of the screen (1):
- Online (green) — everything goes straight to the server;
- Degraded (amber) — the network is up but the server is slow or not answering; the till works offline to be safe;
- Offline (red) — no connection; sales are saved on this till;
- Syncing with the progress, like Syncing 12 / 40 (blue) — the connection is back and offline sales are being sent;
- Sync failed (red) — sending failed; it is retried by itself. On a phone the status shows only its icon and colour; the word is in its tooltip.
- When something is waiting, the status adds the count, for example Offline · 3 pending.
- Read the bar under it (2): it explains what is happening and when the last sync was. When sending failed, tap Retry now in the bar to try at once.
- On a till, the red Offline till badge (3) shows that you are selling offline.
Expected result
On a working connection the status reads Online. When the connection drops, the status turns to Offline, the red bar says You’re offline — sales are saved on this terminal and sent automatically when the connection returns. and the till switches to the Offline till by itself.
Screenshot
Common mistakes
- Restarting the router at the first red status. Short drops are normal; the till keeps selling and syncs by itself. Tell your manager if it stays offline.
- Ignoring “Sync failed”. Sales are kept and retried, but a till that stays in Sync failed needs a manager to look at Offline sync.
Troubleshooting
- “Sign in again to send … offline event(s) to the server.” The connection is back but your sign-in ended. Sign in again on this till; the sales are then sent.
- The status stays Degraded although the internet works. The server is slow or unreachable. The till keeps selling offline; tell your manager or system administrator.
Sell while the internet is down
Purpose
Keep serving customers when the connection drops: take the order, take cash, print a receipt — the sale is sent to the server by itself later.
Role / permission required
Cashiers, waiters, bartenders, baristas, supervisors (sales.create,
payments.take) on an offline-enabled till.
Prerequisites
- The till was prepared for offline use (see Prepare a till for offline use).
- You signed in on this till while it was online. An offline sale must belong to someone signed in here.
Steps
- When the connection drops, the till changes to the Offline till by itself. Keep working; the order you were on is kept.
- Tap the items as usual. Tapping an item with no order open starts a counter order; for a table tap New order, choose Dine-in and the table.
- Tap Send to send items to the kitchen. The kitchen gets them when the till syncs — or print the kitchen ticket if your till prints it.
- Tap Pay. Take payment (offline) opens.
- Tap Cash (1). Methods that need the internet show Online only (2) and cannot be chosen.
- Type what the customer gave you in Cash received (3) and read the Change (4): here 20,000 received, USh 4,000 change.
- Tap Record Cash (5).
- The receipt opens (1). Tap Print (2), then Done (3).
Expected result
The receipt has a number from the till’s reserved block and says Issued offline; the dialog says Printed offline from this terminal’s reserved numbers. The status shows Offline · 3 pending (1): the order, the payment and the receipt wait to be sent. Recent lists the sale as Not synced (2) with Reprint (3).
Screenshot
Common mistakes
- Taking mobile money offline without the reference. Methods allowed offline, like manual mobile money, need the customer’s transaction reference so that it can be checked later. Type it before you record.
- Promising a discount or a refund offline. They need the server. Note it and do it when the connection is back.
- Switching the till off to “fix” the connection. A restart is safe — the installed app opens the offline till with everything taken so far — but it does not bring the internet back.
Troubleshooting
- “Sign in again to trade offline”. Your session on this till ended. Offline sales must belong to someone signed in: reconnect and sign in.
- “Offline data is older than 72 h: new orders are blocked until the terminal reconnects.” The till has been offline too long. Open orders can still be paid; reconnect as soon as possible.
- “Offline data belongs to another user”. The data was downloaded for someone else. Reconnect so that it is refreshed for you.
FAQ
What else can I do offline? See the open orders (as they were at the last sync, plus the ones taken offline) and add to them; check Shift for the expected cash; record Wastage; raise a Requisition; and seat Bookings.
What cannot be done offline? Refunds, voiding items already sent, discounts, cancelling orders that were sent or paid, reports and administration.
What happens when the connection returns
Purpose
Know what the till does by itself when the internet comes back, and what you must do so that it can return to normal.
Role / permission required
Everyone at the till. Managers read the result on Offline sync
(sync.view).
Prerequisites
- The till sold offline (see Sell while the internet is down).
Steps
- When the connection returns, the status turns Online (1) and the till sends what it saved; while it does, the status shows Syncing … with the progress.
- If you are in the middle of an order, the till says The connection is back. Send, pay or clear this order to return to the online till. (2). Finish the order — Send, Pay — or clear it (3).
- The online till comes back by itself with the server’s figures.
- A manager can check the result on Offline sync: the run from the till, by you, with its events applied (1).
Expected result
The offline sales are on the server: their order numbers, which were temporary on the till (like OFF-KLA-T11-0001), are now ordinary numbers (ORD-KLA-…), the cash is in the till’s expected cash, and the kitchen has the tickets. The status shows Online with nothing pending.
Screenshot
Common mistakes
- Leaving an order half taken. The till stays offline until that order is sent, paid or cleared. Finish it.
- Signing out before the sync ends. The till warns you. Wait for Online with nothing pending.
Troubleshooting
- The status shows Sync failed. The till retries by itself; tap Retry now to try at once.
- An offline sale needs a manager. Something changed on the server meanwhile — a price, a table, a payment. The sale is kept and a manager reviews it on Offline sync (see Resolve a sync conflict).