Merging tables for a large party
What this covers
Putting two or more tables together for one booking, so a party of nine can sit at a four and a six. Available on every plan. You need permission to update bookings.
When you need it
Whenever a party is bigger than any single table you own. Tabledoo will not silently squeeze them in — it badges the booking Fits nowhere and waits for you to decide, because pushing tables together is a floor decision, not a calculation.
How to merge
- Open the booking, or find it in the assignment tray.
- Choose Combine tables. Tabledoo then shows every free table rather than only the ones big enough on their own.
- Select the tables you want, in order. The button confirms what you are doing, for example Merge 2 tables (10 seats).
- Save.
The first table you pick is the "primary"
It is labelled Primary, and it matters for one practical reason: if your guests order from their phones, the primary table's code covers the whole merge. Any guest scanning any of the joined tables reaches the same single order for the party — not three separate ones. Tabledoo tells you this on screen: "The first table selected is the primary — its QR and session cover the whole merge."
So pick the table you would think of as the head of the group.
What a merge looks like afterwards
- Timeline — one block spanning the rows of all the joined tables, so you can see at a glance that they are in use together, with Merged with… naming the partners.
- Live View — each table shows it is merged and with which.
- Floor plan — the joined tables are drawn connected, with the primary marked.
Every merged table is properly occupied for the length of the booking, so none of them can be booked by somebody else.
Splitting them again
Use Split tables on the booking. The tables go back to being separate and whichever are free become bookable again immediately.
Good to know
- Capacity is what you choose, not a guess. Joining a four and a six gives you ten seats to work with; if pushing them together actually seats eleven, seat eleven — you are the one looking at the room.
- Merges are for one booking, not a permanent change. Tomorrow the tables are separate again.
- Moving the physical tables? If your plan includes the floor plan, you can drag them together on screen too, so the picture matches the room. See Quick floor edits during service.