Capacity is the number of seats an event offers. You set it on the event, and the sign-up form stops taking sign-ups once every seat is taken.
Set a capacity
- Open the event in the block editor.
- In the Capacity panel of the sidebar, move the Maximum attendees slider.
At 0, the default, sign-ups are unlimited. Any other value turns the limit on, and a notice confirms that the form switches to a sold-out message when the event is full.
The slider goes up to 1,000. For a bigger event, use the Capacity field of the quick form, on the Events or Calendar screen, which has no upper limit. To give several events the same capacity, select them on the Events screen and use Edit fields….
What counts as a seat
Capacity counts seats, not sign-ups. Only sign-ups with the Going status take seats. Waitlisted, cancelled and declined sign-ups take none.
Example, on an event with 50 seats: one person who books 4 seats uses 4 of them. Twelve more single sign-ups leave 34 free. When a sign-up is cancelled, its seats become free again.
Recurring events: seats on each date
On a recurring event, the capacity applies to each date. Every sign-up is for one date, so a weekly class with 20 seats takes 20 people every week.
The sign-up form then starts with a Date field. A full date stays in the list, marked (full), but cannot be chosen. Long series show 60 dates at a time, with Later dates and Earlier dates links.
Multilingual sites: one set of seats
With WPML or Polylang, the translations of an event share its seats. Sign-ups on every language count against the capacity set on the default language’s version. Each translation shows the same number of seats left, and one email address can register only once, whatever the language. Details are in multilingual sites.
What visitors see
The seats are shown by the RSVP Form block, which your event page includes by default. Its options are explained in setting up an RSVP form:
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Show remaining seats | Shows how many seats are left, when the event has a capacity. | On |
| Allow multi-seat RSVP | Adds a Number of seats field, so one person can book for others. | Off |
| Maximum seats per RSVP | Most seats in one sign-up, from 1 to 20. Shown once multi-seat is on. | 4 |
When no seat is left, visitors see a sold-out message instead of the form.
When the event fills up
HappenBoard checks the seats again when the form is sent. If two people send the form at the same moment for the last seat, only one gets it. The other is told how many seats remain, or that the event or date is full.
One email address can hold one active sign-up per event, or per date on a recurring event.
There is no automatic waitlist: a full event shows its sold-out message and nothing more.
On the Attendees screen, Move to Waitlist puts someone on a waiting list by hand. Nobody moves up on their own when a seat frees up. Mark as Going checks the capacity: when a seat frees up, it moves to Going only the people whose seats fit. You can still go past the capacity from the person’s panel, with Save anyway, over capacity.
Watch how full an event is
- On the Events screen, the Capacity column shows seats taken against the limit, with a fill bar. For a recurring event, it shows the next date.
- On the admin Calendar, the month view shows a thin fill bar on each event and the agenda view a count such as 12 / 20, both for that date.
Venue capacity is different
Venues have their own Maximum capacity field. It records how many people the room holds and does not limit sign-ups. Only the event’s Maximum attendees does, so a hall for 200 can host an event limited to 40.
With HappenBoard Pro, paid tickets have their own Capacity per ticket type, also counted per date. An event with paid tickets shows the ticket picker instead of the free sign-up form. On the Attendees screen, a ticket holder’s seats are checked against what their ticket has left on their date. See creating ticket types and what Pro adds.
Next steps
- Setting up an RSVP form: choose what the form shows and asks.
- Managing attendees: change a status, move someone to another date.
- Multilingual sites: WPML and Polylang: how seats and emails work across languages.