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Create and publish your first signup

A signup is a page where people choose something to do or bring. Each thing they can choose is a slot. By the end, you'll have a published signup and a link to send to people.

People who sign up don't need an account. All they need is the link.

Create the signup

  1. Sign in to OpenSignup. The first time you sign in, this creates your account.

  2. On the Your signups page, choose New signup at the top.

    Some sites can fill in a signup for you. If you see What are you organizing?, describe your signup in a few sentences. Then choose Draft my signup, and check every slot before you publish.

    To follow the steps here instead, choose Skip, fill in by hand.

  3. Type a name in Title, like “Snack duty — Spring season”. You can add a few lines about it in Description (optional).

    The New signup page, with Snack duty — Spring season typed in as the title.

  4. Choose Create signup. Your signup is saved as a draft. Nobody else can see a draft until you publish it.

Add slots

A slot is one thing people can sign up for, like snacks for one game. Each slot has one or more spots. A person can take one spot or several. A new signup starts with one empty slot.

  1. Choose the slot marked Set what to open it.

  2. In What, type what the slot is for, like “Fruit and water”.

  3. Set the Date.

  4. In Capacity, type how many spots this slot has. If two families bring snacks to each game, type 2.

    A slot being edited, with What set to Fruit and water, a date set, and Capacity set to 2.

  5. Choose Done to close the slot. Your changes save as you go.

  6. For the next slot, choose Add a slot and fill it in the same way.

  7. To copy a slot, open it and choose Duplicate. Then open the copy and change its date.

You can't undo deleting a slot. To remove one you don't need, open it and choose Delete. Don't leave a slot empty: people see it as Untitled slot.

Publish and share the link

  1. On a computer, you can check your signup first. Choose Preview at the top of the page. It opens in a new tab and shows what people will see. Small screens, like most phones, don't show this button.

  2. When you publish, anyone with the link can sign up. Choose Publish at the top of the page. On a phone, choose the three dots at the top, then Publish signup.

    You'll see Signup published.

  3. Next to Public link, choose the copy button. Send the link to people by email or in a group chat.

    The link is there before you publish too. Until you publish, it only says the signup isn't ready.

    The top of a published signup, marked open, with the public link and its copy button.

What happens next

  • People open the link and choose Sign up on a slot. They type their name and email, and can add a note.
  • A slot with more than one spot shows how many are taken, like 1/2. People can take more than one spot at a time. When a slot is full, nobody else can choose it.
  • Each person gets an email saying they're signed up. It has a link they can use to change or cancel.
  • Search engines are asked not to list signup pages. Anyone with the link can open yours, so share it only with the people you want.

Reminders

If a slot has a date, people who take it get a reminder email the day before. Someone who signs up later than that gets one about an hour after signing up, unless the slot is less than an hour away. Each reminder has a link to stop them.

Reminders are on for every new signup. To turn them off:

  1. Choose Fields at the top of your signup.

  2. Choose Date.

  3. Clear Send a reminder email before this date, then choose Save.

Can't find what you need? Email hello@opensignup.org.