HappenBoard Pro gives every confirmed booking a QR code, and a scanner inside your WordPress admin to check people in. It runs on a phone, a tablet or a laptop, with nothing to install.
This page is written for the people at the door: what to prepare, how to scan, and what to do when a code will not scan.
QR code check-in needs HappenBoard Pro. See what Pro adds.
Before the event
- Give each volunteer a WordPress account that can run check-in. Administrators and Editors can by default, and Pro roles and permissions explains how to allow another role.
- Use a device with a camera, signed in to your WordPress admin. Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari all work, on iPhone and Android too.
- Check that your site opens over HTTPS (the address starts with
https://). Browsers only open the camera on a secure page. - Check the internet connection at the venue. Each scan is checked by your site, so the scanner needs to reach it.
- Open the scanner once beforehand and allow the camera, so the browser does not ask in the middle of the queue.
Attendees can show the code from their confirmation email or the PDF e-ticket. The same code is on the Show my QR page and on printed name badges.
Scan tickets at the door
- Go to HappenBoard → Attendees → Check-in.
- In Event at this door, choose the event you are checking in. Tickets for any other event are then refused.
- Click Start scanning and allow the camera. On a phone, the rear camera is used.
- Hold the QR code inside the frame. A banner shows the result over the camera view.
- Lower the ticket once the banner appears. After two and a half seconds, the scanner looks for the next code.
- Click Stop scanning when the doors close, to turn the camera off.
The Event at this door list shows the events with a date between yesterday and seven days from now. The device remembers your choice. Leave it on Any event only if one door serves several events: a valid ticket for any of them is then let in.
A ticket left in front of the camera is read again after the banner fades, and logged as a re-scan. That does no harm, but lowering the ticket keeps your figures clean.
Read the result
| Banner | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Green, Checked in | A valid ticket, scanned for the first time. | Let the person in. |
| Amber, already checked in | This seat was scanned before. The new scan is logged. | Let them in if they are coming back. Check the name if you think a ticket was shared. |
| Red, Not admitted | A real ticket that does not give a seat today. The reason shows under the name. | Do not let them in. Send them to the organizer. |
| Red, Invalid ticket | Not a valid code from your site. | Ask for another copy of the ticket, or use the steps below. |
The green banner shows the attendee’s name and the event, with the date on a recurring event. For a booking of several seats, it also says which seat, for example “Seat 2 of 4”. Each seat has its own code, so each guest scans in on their own.
Not admitted covers a booking that was cancelled or refunded, declined, or left on the waitlist. It also covers a ticket for another event, and on a recurring event, a ticket for another date. A recurring event’s ticket is valid all day on its own date, in your site’s timezone.
On a multilingual site, an event appears once in the list. Tickets bought on any language version of it are admitted at the same door and counted together.
Beside the camera, a counter shows how many people were checked in on this device since the page opened. Re-scans are not added to it, and reloading the page sets it back to zero.
Undo a mistaken scan
After each scan, the side panel shows Last check-in with the attendee’s name and an Undo button. Click Undo if you checked in the wrong person.
The check-in is removed and the counter goes down by one. The attendee’s activity timeline keeps the scan and adds a Check-in undone entry under it. Only the latest check-in on this device can be undone, until the next scan or a page reload.
If your outbound webhooks or Slack channel hear about check-ins, they can also be told about undone ones. Tick the Check-in undone event in their settings.
If a code will not scan
- The camera does not start: read the message on screen. It says whether the page is not on HTTPS, the browser has no camera access, or the camera was refused. Allow the camera in the browser’s site settings and try again.
- The camera is on but reads nothing: a warning says the QR reader could not load. Reload the page.
- No usable camera on this device: click Scan a photo of a ticket and choose a photo or screenshot of the QR code.
- The code cannot be read at all: type or paste the check-in link printed under each QR code into Manual entry, then click Check in. The link is in the email, on the PDF and on the Show my QR page.
- The attendee has nothing with them: find them under HappenBoard → Attendees and click their name. The Check-in ticket section shows their code, which a second device can scan.
You can also scan a ticket with your phone’s own camera app. When you are signed in as door staff, the link opens the scanner with the code already in Manual entry. Nothing is checked in until you click Check in.
After ten different invalid codes in one minute, the scanner shows “Too many invalid check-in codes. Verification is paused for a few minutes.” The pause lasts five minutes for that WordPress account, on all its devices. A valid scan before that resets the count.
See who has arrived
The attendee list gets a Checked in column. A dash means not scanned yet. A tick means one scan, and a tick followed by “×3” means three, with the time of the latest scan underneath. The count adds up every scan of the booking, all seats and re-scans included.
Next steps
- The Show my QR page: send an attendee their codes again when they lost the email.
- Printing name badges: badges carry the same codes and scan at the door.
- The attendee activity timeline: see every scan, refusal and undo for one person.
- Pro roles and permissions: choose who can run the door.