Our integrated table seating feature makes managing event seating easy, intuitive, and efficient. Using a simple drag-and-drop interface, you can create seating groups, assign tickets to specific seats, and keep groups together – all in just a few clicks.
Whether you're planning a gala or banquet with tables, a charity golf tournament with cart assignments, or a theater event with sections, Givebutter allows you to easily manage your entire seating arrangement.
Create seating arrangements ✨
In your dashboard, navigate to the event you want to manage seating for.
Click on the Event tab in the top navigation.
Select Event seating from the left sidebar menu.
Click the Create tables button to open the setup wizard.
Before seating your ticketholders, you'll need to create seating arrangements. Seating arrangements refer to the number of tables/areas and people per table/area. If you'd like to arrange seats automatically, you can quickly create multiple seating areas simultaneously. (These can be customized after they are created.)
In the setup wizard, you'll be prompted to enter:
Number of Tables/Sections you'd like to create
Seats per Table/Section – how many guests can be assigned to each area
If you'd prefer to create your seating layout from scratch, click Build layout manually.
Click Continue, and you'll be taken to your seating layout (seating mode). The system will automatically create blank seating areas with sequential numbering. In the left-hand sidebar, you'll find a list of unseated guests. If multiple tickets were purchased in a single transaction, they'll be grouped with a purple header – these can be seated together or separated.
Manual arrangements 🪑
You can also create seating arrangements manually, one at a time, by clicking the Add table button. This button creates a new table with a default number of seats.
Assign guests to seats 🍽️
To seat guests one-by-one: Drag and drop guests to their seats in the seating layout.
To seat groups of ticketholders (tickets were purchased together): Drag entire groups to tables by their header to group them together. If a group is too large for a table, you must manually seat guests from the group.
To seat multiple ticketholders together (not necessarily grouped): Hover over the "drag-and-drop" icon on the left side of a guest, and a checkbox will appear. Check the boxes for the guests you'd like to seat, and drag them to a table as a group.
If you make a mistake, click the undo arrow icon in the upper-right corner of the page. You can undo (or redo) up to 10 actions.
To unseat a guest and return them to the list of unseated attendees, you can drag and drop them back to the Attendees list, or click on the three dots [...] to the right of a seated guest's name, and click Unseat guest. The same applies to grouped attendees seated together.
To view a guest's ticket information, click on the three dots [...] to the right of a seated guest's name, and click View ticket. This will open their ticket information on the same page.
Important: Seating arrangements are not saved automatically! Remember to click Save changes before you return to your dashboard.
Edit seating arrangements ✍
Whether you create your seating arrangements automatically or manually, you can customize them to match your venue's layout or event specifications.
Rename a seating area ✏️
Click on the seating area name (e.g., "Table 1") and enter a new name like "VIP Table," "Golf Cart 5," or "Orchestra Section". Click Save when you're done.
Customize table capacity 🧮
Click on the seating area capacity indicator to customize the seating capacity for a specific arrangement. You can add or remove additional seats. When you're done, click Save.
Add a table ➕
Click the Add table button in the upper right area of the seating arrangement screen to create a new table with a default number of seats.
Unseat an entire table 💨
Click the three dots [...] to the right of the table name, and click Unseat table guests. All guests seated at this table will return to the list of unseated attendees.
Delete a table ❌
You can only delete an empty table. If it contains attendees, you must unseat the table before deleting it. When the table is empty, click the three dots [...] to the right of the table name, and click Delete table.
Use event seating 📋
On the Event Seating tab in your dashboard, after you create and save your seating areas, you'll see a populated table including your event seating arrangements.
In the event seating data table, you'll see:
# (Seating group number) – This is assigned separately from table number, because your tables may have custom names, ie. Pink Table, Yellow Table. This is called Seating Group Number in the CSV export.
Table name – The default or customized table name for this seating group. This is called Seating Group in the CSV export.
Seats filled – The number of seats assigned at a specific table or seating area.
Attendees – A visual indication of the guests seated at a specific table or seating area.
Guests who are checked in are indicated in green.
Guests who are not checked in are indicated in grey.
Check in guests ✅
You can check guests in from your dashboard, without entering seating mode. To check in an entire table of guests, click the three dots [...] to the right side of the table, and click Check in all guests.
To check in specific guests, click View table details, and in the panel on the right side of the page, click Check in next to the guest(s) you'd like to check in.
If you need to un-check guests, you can also do this from the table details panel. On a checked-in guest, click the button again, and they will be unchecked. You cannot currently uncheck an entire table or group at once.
Export event seating ⬇️
You can export your event seating arrangements to make your event management easier, or if you won't have internet access to your Givebutter dashboard at the event. Please note that this export is the same as a Tickets export – table seating information is in dedicated columns within this export.
On the Event seating page, click the Actions menu near the upper right corner of the page. Select Export Attendees.
In the pop-up window, click Export.
Navigate to your email, and in a few moments, you will receive a message from Givebutter saying that your export is ready to download. In the email, click the Download button (good for 72 hours) or copy and paste the provided link into your browser. The spreadsheet (CSV) file will download to your device. Check your Downloads folder to open it in a file reader like Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets.
In the export file, scroll to the right, and you'll find columns containing your event seating data. If the attendee/ticket was not seated, the data will be blank.
Ticket Group – Refers to the name of the ticket purchaser, if tickets were purchased and therefore grouped together.
Seating Group – Refers to the default or customized name of the seating area or table the ticket has been assigned, ie. Yellow Table.
Seating Group Number – Refers to the order of the seating groups, numbered separately from seating groups themselves in case the seating groups have non-numeric names.
Seat Number – The numeric order in which guests are seated at each table.
FAQ 🤔
What if a group is too large for one table?
If you try to seat a large group at a table without capacity for the whole group, you'll get an error message. You'll need to manually seat the group.
Can I export or print my event seating charts?
Not currently. However, you can view seating arrangements and check guests in as they arrive from the Event seating tab.
There aren't any attendees appearing in my table seating layout!
Attendees refer to guests who have obtained tickets to this campaign. If no one has purchased tickets, your attendees list will be empty.
Can a guest select a seat for themselves from a seating map?
Not currently – guests cannot select their own seats or choose where they sit, as this feature is only accessible by Givebutter users in the dashboard.