Volunteer Sign Up Sheets – Waitlists – Documentation

Overview

The Volunteer Sign Up Sheets Waitlists extension adds powerful waitlist functionality to your volunteer sign-up sheets. When tasks fill up, automatically capture interested volunteers and manage them efficiently. Configure waitlists at both sheet and task levels, with options for automatic sign-ups or time-limited notification emails when spots become available.

This extension for the Volunteer Sign Up Sheets plugin allows you to create as many Waitlist templates as you like, which can then be applied at the sheet or task level. Each Waitlist template let’s you set how many slots the waitlist has, whether or not to automatically sign up the next person on the waitlist when a spot is cleared from the main signup sheet, select the type of notifications sent, select a custom email template for each notification, define the number of cutoff days for allowing waitlist signups, and set the expiration hours that a person has to signup after a spot has opened (if not using automatic sign ups) before the next person on the waitlist is notified.

Two types of default waitlist templates, as well as default emails for all the notifications, are created the first time you install the plugin to give you a head start on how to set things up. Those can be modified, or deleted, as desired. You can create as many custom emails and waitlist templates as you need.

The Waitlists extension also integrates with the Validation features added in version 5 of the main plugin, and will follow the settings for login or validation from the main plugin. For example, if you enable Validation in the main plugin and enable the signup validation function, then this will work with Waitlist signups as well, requiring them to be validated via a link in an email, or via the validation form, or else the unvalidated signups will get deleted after the expiration hours set in the main plugin’s validation settings.

Setting Up a Waitlist – Step by Step

  1. Set up the emails you will need for the various waitlist notifications. You can edit the default emails that were installed with the plugin, or create new ones of your own. Make sure you give the emails an appropriate name so that you can keep track of which type of notification each email is designed for.
  2. Edit one of the default Waitlists, or create a new one. Again, give these a name that let’s you remember how you set it up, or for what purpose. Each Waitlist is a template of settings for how the waitlist will work when assigned to a sheet or task. You need to create the emails first so that you can assign the proper email templates for each notification type in the Waitlist. Note that the number of slots in the waitlist template will be the number of waitlist slots for each task & date that you assign that waitlist to. So, if you have 3 tasks on a sheet, and you defined 10 slots in the waitlist template, each of those 3 tasks will have their own separate waitlist with 10 slots each. Every combination of task and date gets its own separate waitlist that follows the template assigned to it.
  3. Edit the Sheet or Tasks that you want to use a waitlist for. If you want all the tasks on a sheet to use the same waitlist template, then select that waitlist template on the add/edit sheet page. If you need different waitlists for different tasks in the same sheet, or maybe a waitlist only for some of the tasks, then you can edit the tasks and assign a waitlist template at the task level. Waitlists assigned at the task level will override the sheet waitlist setting. If you only want a waitlist for some, not all, of the tasks, then make sure you select “No Waitlist” for the sheet (default), and then select the waitlist template you want to use for the tasks on the edit tasks page.

Main Settings

  • Waitlist Page – This is the page that will be used to create the various links in waitlist notification emails. It’s suggested that you use the waitlist block, or shortcode, on its own page, and then select that page for this option. If the page is not set, then the email links can’t be generated. However, you can also set this page to be the page where you have the User Signups List block/shortcode, or even the page with the main Volunteer Sign Up Sheets block/shortcode. Any of those pages will work, as they all use the same message functions, so messages can be properly displayed from waitlist email action links.
  • Waitlist Signup Success Message – The success message shown when a user has been signed up for a waitlist
  • Waitlist Clear Success Message – The success message shown when a user has successfully cleared themselves from a waitlist
  • Waitlist Signup Error Message – The error message shown if there was a database error when trying to add a user to a waitlist
  • View All Sheets link text – The text for the link to view all sheets. Displayed after signing up for a waitlist, and other actions.
  • Waitlist full message – The message to show when the waitlist is full for a specific task and date.
  • Remove “Filled” text? – Check this to remove the “Filled” text on the list of sheets when a sheet has all spots full, but there is a waitlist.
  • Check Waitlist link text – The text in the main sheets list to view the sheet when the sheet is filled but there is a waitlist. This will show under the “Filled” text. If you disable the “Filled” text (above), then this text will show by itself.
  • Waitlist Signup link text – The text used for any waitlist signup links, including in the Waitlist Info Template
  • Show Waitlist Signups below User Signups? – Although you can use the Waitlists block/shortcode to show a user their Waitlist Signups anywhere, you can also check this option to automatically show the user a list of their Waitlist signups below the list of their regular signups at any place where you are displaying those.
  • Show Waitlist Info? – Check this to show the info from the Waitlist Info Template (below) for tasks that have a waitlist. If you are using the default sheet display, this info will show below the table for each task. This is in addition to the waitlist signup row in the table. This will not be shown if you are using the Single table layout option from the Customizer extension.
  • Waitlist Info Template – The text/html info shown below a task table when the task is filled, but there are open spots in the waitlist, and you have the above option enabled. Include the template tag {waitlist_signup_link} where you want the signup link to appear. You can also use the template tag {waitlist_open_spots} to display the number of open spots in the waitlist.
  • Waitlist Signup Form Heading – This text will replace the “Sign Up” heading above the signup form when signing up for a waitlist. You should make it something different to distinguish between signing up for the regular signup list versus signing up for the waitlist.
  • Waitlist Signup Form Heading – Similar to above, this text will replace the “You are signing up for…” text above the task info at the top of the signup form when signing up for a waitlist. You should make it clear that they are signing up for the waitlist.
  • Validation Form Header – The text/html info shown above the validation form on the Waitlist page if the user is not logged in, or if their validation has expired. This will only be shown if validation, and the validation form, are enabled in the main plugin.
  • No Waitlist Signups message – This text will appear anywhere you are displaying the waitlist signups if the user is logged in, or validated, but they are not signed up for any waitlists. You can set it blank to not show the message.
  • Waitlist Signup Row Additional Text – This text will be added on to the end of the signup name for waitlist signup rows, if you are showing signup names on your sheet. You can set it to something like “(waitlist)” to distinguish the waitlist signup rows from regular signup rows, and/or use some of the styling options below.
  • Waitlist Signup Row Background Color – Background Color for waitlist signup rows, if you are showing signup names on your sheet.
  • Waitlist Signup Row Text Color – Text Color for waitlist signup rows, if you are showing signup names on your sheet.
  • Waitlist Signup Row Text Style – Text Style for waitlist signup rows, if you are showing signup names on your sheet.

Waitlist Template Settings

The Waitlist Templates tab in Waitlist submenu of the Sign-up Sheets admin menu item is where you can manage your current waitlist templates. These are not the actual waitlists, but are the settings used to determine the waitlist behavior for a task & date when you assign one of these templates to a sheet or task. Each combination of task and date will have its own separate waitlist if a waitlist template has been assigned at the sheet or task level. There is no need for a separate Waitlist template for every sheet or task. If you want to use the same Waitlist Template settings for all of your waitlists, then you only need one “default” waitlist template that you can assign to the sheets or tasks where you want there to be a waitlist.

  • Admin Waitlist Name – Give your waitlist template a name that is descriptive enough for you to remember which sheets/tasks you wish to use it for. This name is only used on the admin side and will appear in the select boxes on the add/edit sheet and tasks pages.
  • Waitlist Slots – The number of waitlist slots for each task that uses this waitlist. If a task has more than one date, such as for Recurring type sheets, each combination of task and date gets a separate waitlist and has this number of slots available.
  • Cutoff Days – The minimum number of days (using 24 hours time difference) before the task date to allow waitlist signups. Set to 0, or blank, for no cutoff.
  • Confirmation? – Checking this will send a confirmation email when a user signs up for a waitlist.
  • Confirmation Email Template – The email template that will be used for confirmation emails if the above option is checked.
  • Auto Signup? – Checking this will automatically sign up the next qualified person on the waitlist when someone clears a spot a filled task that uses this waitlist. If you are using quantities for a task, then in order for a waitlist signup to be qualified, the quantity entered for the waitlist signup must be equal to, or less than, the number of spots cleared in the main signup sheet. The plugin will search for the first one in the waitlist that meets this condition.
  • Notify User? – Checking this will send an email to the next qualified person on the waitlist when someone clears a spot for a filled task that uses this waitlist. Note that this will happen with or without Auto Signup enabled. If Auto Signup is enabled, then you may want the email notification to let them know a spot has opened up and they have been automatically signed up. If Auto Signup is not enabled, then you will need to let them know a spot has opened up and how long they have to signup before the next person on the waitlist is notified.
  • User Email Template – Select the appropriate email to send if Notify User is enabled, based on what was mentioned in the above setting.
  • Notify Chair? – Checking this will send an email to the sheet Chair when someone clears a spot for a filled task that uses this waitlist
  • Notify Admin? – Checking this will send an email to the site Admin when someone clears a spot for a filled task that uses this waitlist
  • Chair/Admin Email Template – The email template to use for Chair & Admin email notifications (above 2 settings). The same template is used for both.
  • Waitlist Signup Validation Template – The email template to use when the Validation system is enabled in the main plugin, and Signup Validation has also been enabled in the main plugin. If the user is NOT logged into a user account, and you have those validation settings enabled, then if they sign up for a Waitlist, this email will be sent to them and you will need to include the template tag for the validation link so they can validate the waitlist signup. Unvalidated waitlist signups are deleted after the number of hours specified by the Signup Expiration setting in the main plugin.
  • Expiration Hours – If you are not using Auto Signup, then this is the number of hours a person has to signup when a spot opens up before that spot is given to the next person on the waitlist. Leave blank, or 0, for no expiration.