Getting started

From a new account to a form people can register on, in about half an hour. This chapter walks through it in order. Each step links to the chapter that covers it in depth.

The steps

Your account

When you sign up, Plantains asks you to name your organization: your business or your event series (Bike Monkey, say, not one race). Your forms, registrations, codes and settings all live in it. Then you accept Plantains' terms, and you're in.

You're the account's Owner. An account has three seats: you and up to two teammates (see Invite your team). You can rename the account and add its logo on the Team page.

Start your free trial

You can build forms right away. To publish one (so people can register), the account needs a plan. Every account starts with a 90-day free trial of every feature.

1. In the sidebar, open Billing (only the Owner sees it).
2. Click Add a card and start the trial. You're not charged until the trial ends, and you can close the account any time before then.

After the trial, the account moves to the Basic plan. What it costs, and what's counted, is in Billing.

Check your settings

Open Settings in the sidebar. The General tab has three things worth setting first:

• Default time zone: used for when registration opens and closes, and for showing when people registered. Each form can use its own (in its Settings).
• Sales tax rate: the rate charged on taxable items, like T-shirts. Each form can use its own. See Prices, discounts and codes.
• Contact email for registrants: when registrants reply to an email from Plantains (their confirmation, a receipt, a refund notice), the reply goes here, and each email shows it. Leave it empty to use the Owner's email.

The Integrations tab next to General is where you connect Google, MailerLite or Xero, if your account has them. See Integrations.

Connect Stripe

Plantains takes card payments through your own Stripe account: the money goes straight to it, and refunds and payouts are in your Stripe dashboard. If you don't have a Stripe account yet, you can make one while connecting.

1. In Settings → General, scroll to Payments.
2. Click Connect Stripe and follow Stripe's steps. You come back to Plantains when it's done.
3. Do the same for Test mode too: it lets you try payments with Stripe's test cards, and no real money moves.

Invite your team

On the Team page, under Invite someone, enter their email, pick a role, and click Send invitation. They get an email with a link to join. The roles, from most access to least:

• Admin: everything but the team, Stripe and account settings.
• Manager: edits and publishes forms, handles codes, inventory and money, and archives registrations.
• Editor: like a Manager, but can't publish forms or archive registrations.
• Check-in: for the people at your desk on the day: looks up and edits registrations, marks waivers signed, takes card payments for what's owed. No refunds, exports or Reports.
• Viewer: sees and exports registrations, and Reports, but changes nothing.

You can also limit someone to some folders of forms. More in Your team.

Make your first form

1. Open Forms in the sidebar and click New form.
2. Give it a name, like Wente 8 Hour Registration, and click Create form. The builder opens.
3. Drag fields from the palette on the left into sections on the canvas. Click anything to change it in the panel on the right. Your work saves as you go.

Three things make a race form work well:

• Mark each person's section as a participant, so Plantains knows who's in the registration: for waivers, transfers, teams and check-in. See Participants.
• Give your categories and items prices, so the form adds up a total and takes payment. See Prices, discounts and codes.
• Ask for an email that's required: the primary email gets the confirmation and receipts. A form that takes payments needs one.

The builder shows a small marker at the top when the form's participants still need setting up, with a link to fix it. Everything about the builder is in Building forms.

Try it with a test card

Before anyone else registers, register yourself, with a test card:

1. In the form's Settings tab, under Payments, choose Test mode. The form's header shows a Test payments badge while it's on.
2. Click Publish at the top right. The form is now at its public link (shown in Settings → Public link), and View live opens it.
3. Fill it in and pay with Stripe's test card 4242 4242 4242 4242, any future expiry date and any 3-digit code.
4. Check your inbox for the confirmation, and the form's Submissions tab for the registration.

Go live

When the test registration looks right:

1. In the form's Settings, under Payments, choose Live: real cards are charged. (Connect Stripe's live mode first, in Settings.)
2. Under Accepting entries, set when it opens and closes (Registration opens, Registration closes), a Maximum number of registrations or people if there is one, and an access code if only some people should register. Right now says who can register at this moment, and Preview the live form shows what visitors see.
3. Under Public link, change the end of the link if you like (plantains.app/forms/wente-8-hour).
4. Share the link: on your website, in your newsletter, anywhere.

The Accepting entries switch closes the form instantly, without unpublishing it, and opens it again. Changes you make in the builder after publishing aren't seen by registrants until you click Publish changes.

Where to go next