Schedule an Order on the POS Stand

[CheesecakeLady]

I've mentioned this in other posts before, but I'm curious to see if anyone in Square that has insight into the software of the POS would have an answer for this. 

I switched 100% to Square in the first quarter of 2025 and at that time, there was a "schedule" button on the checkout screen when creating a ticket. So for a quick walk through - you'd create or select a customer from the database, choose the items to be purchased, and then create a ticket to save. At that time, you could create the ticket and save it in the "tickets" screen, or you can "schedule" the order where you would select the date and time for the order to be picked up and you HAD to take payment at that time for the scheduler to work. 

At the time I was just getting used to my new POS system, and the nature of my business is to take pre-orders for specialized items where I don't always take the payment upfront, so the scheduler, while an awesome and useful tool, didn't work for me. Therefore, I was just putting tickets in the ticket screen. The problem was that you cannot move a ticket along to "processing", "ready" and "complete", you also do not get a snapshot of when the ticket will come due (such as when someone orders online). So you basically just have a bunch of tickets in the ticket screen with no information other than a name and the amount due. Still workable, but not as useful as the scheduler. 

So finally I get an order where someone wants to pay upfront, in person, and lo and behold that schedule button is GONE. I had posted about that in the community several months ago and was told that you can still schedule an order through the online terminal. Ok, great, except for two things. One, its a pain in the **bleep** - because it takes a really long time to actually get through the screen to take the order, and two - sometimes, it doesn't actually appear in your ticket screen. (One time I did it and it was there, but the next time, it wasn't), which can be a really big problem - especially during a busy holiday season. 

So my question is this: Is there any way to bring the "schedule" button back? I mean, there has to be other businesses like mine that aren't just restaurants taking payment for services the same day. We have so many different businesses out there that could really benefit from having an option to pay ahead, in person or over the phone, for something a customer orders for a future date pickup (aside from online ordering, which works really well for me) that is still tracked in the ticket screen and not so cumbersome to enter through the online terminal. 

Also - not related - but I do take deposits on orders as well and have yet to find a way to do that - so help on that is appreciated. I've tried splitting the payment at the payment screen but then it immediately wants the remaining balance paid to move on. So instead I've been making two tickets, one with the deposit and one with a discount equal to the deposit for later - but there really should be a better way, you think?

[JJ_]

Hi, @CheesecakeLady 

Thanks for sharing such detailed feedback about your workflow needs! It sounds like you've really adapted Square to fit your specialized pre-order business, and I can see how the schedule button change has impacted your process.

About the Schedule Button:
You're right that the schedule button was modified in recent updates. While I can't speak to bringing it back directly, your feedback is valuable for our product team. The workaround through the online dashboard, as you mentioned, is currently the main alternative - though I understand it's not as streamlined as the previous in-person option.

For Managing Pre-Orders Without Upfront Payment:
Have you explored using Customer Profiles with custom notes? Some Sellers add pickup dates and order details in the customer notes section as a temporary tracking method. Not perfect, but it helps with organization until tickets get more robust features.

For Handling Deposits:
Your two-ticket workaround is creative! Another approach some Sellers use:

• Create an "Other" item called "Deposit" for the partial amount
• Process that as a separate transaction
• Keep a manual log (spreadsheet or Square Notes) tracking deposits against final orders
• When completing the order, apply a discount for the deposit amount

The feedback about ticket status tracking (processing, ready, complete) for saved tickets is also spot-on. These real-world use cases help shape future updates!

Lastly, I can also recommend submitting a feature request here. 

Thank you for taking the time to share your interest in this feature here. This will help our product team get visibility and track other Sellers with similar interest in your request. 

Important: When submitting a request, make sure to include the desired feature(a single feature per request), and provide the details of how this feature will help your business succeed (how would you use it and what you expect from it).

Let me know if you have any other questions.