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Set up Desks

Learn how to set up and enable desk booking with Envoy.

Updated over a week ago

This article is for admins setting up desks. Trying to book a desk? Check out our desk booking articles: Book a desk [Mobile], Book a desk [Web], and Delegated booking.

Adding Desks

How to add desks via CSV file upload

Create a floor plan or upload a CSV file with your list of desks.

  1. Navigate to Desks > All desks.

  2. Click on Import CSV.

  3. Drag and drop or select the file you want to upload.
    A template can be found on the Desks dashboard.

    1. Floor Name, Desk and Enabled are required on each row.

    2. Neighborhood, and Assigned To are optional.

    3. If using the Assigned To field, note that this field can only be populated with an email address, not the employee name.

  4. Click Import X desks.

  5. You should see a list of your floor(s).

✨ TIPS:

  • If a desk is set to Enabled: No but has an email in the Assigned To field the desk will only be assigned to the employee when they sign in.

How to make changes to an existing CSV file

  1. Navigate to Desks > All desks in your Envoy dashboard.

  2. Click Export CSV in the top right of the page.

  3. Open the CSV file in any spreadsheet tool, make necessary changes, such as deleting or adding new floors, and then upload the file back into the Envoy dashboard.

    1. If the file downloads without a .csv extension you can add .csv to the file and it will open in any spreadsheet tool.

Floor Maps

Uploading a floor map

Once your desks have been added, you will see a list of all the Floors you have clicked under Details. At the top, you will see a modal to drag and drop your floor map image.

  • Supported file types for map images are .jpg and .png.

  • A higher-resolution image will be easier for your employees to read.

  1. Navigate to Maps.

  2. Click Create a floor.

  3. Give it a Floor name.

  4. Click Upload to select a file from your computer.

  5. Click Create.

Note: Supported file types for map images are .jpg and .png

Video: Placing desks on your map

Adding Desks to your map

  1. Navigate to Maps > Live map and click Edit Map.

  2. On the left side panel, under Add resources, click on Desks.

  3. Place your desk on the map by clicking where you want the desk to be located.

    1. ✨Tip: To place multiple desks at once, hold Command ⌘ (Mac) or Ctrl (Windows) while you click and drag the boundary box completely covering your desks. Envoy will place desks accordingly. Learn more about automatic desk placement.

  4. Edit your desk details:

    1. Name your desk.

    2. Assign a Neighborhood. (optional)

    3. Assign a person to that desk. (optional)

    4. Assign desk amenities. (optional)

    5. Be sure to toggle on Enable desk to make that desk available for booking.

  5. Click Save.

Check out our Interactive Workplace Maps article for more information on editing your Map and adding resources.

Assigned Desks and Neighborhood Filter in Edit Mode

To provide an accurate picture of your space utilization and enable better planning capabilities Envoy has made updates to how Desks and Neighborhoods are displayed while editing your desk map.

Desks: We show the profile photos or initials of assigned desks to easily distinguish between assigned, hotel, and blocked desks.

Neighborhoods: To decide which desks you want to view while editing you can filter by neighborhood.

Edit desks on your floor map

Note: Making name changes to desks with existing reservations could cause reservation deletion.

  1. Navigate to Maps > Live map and click Edit Map.

  2. Find the desk you want to edit.

  3. Click on the green dot (desk) and make changes on the details panel.

  4. Click Save.

Select multiple desks for bulk editing

  1. To select multiple desks, hold the ⇧Shift key, click, and drag your cursor to create a bounding box. All desks contained within this box will be selected.

  2. From here, you can edit desk attributes in bulk. Learn more about Bulk desk editing.

Moving single desks on your floor map

  1. Navigate to Maps > Live map and click Edit Map.

  2. Click on Edit map.

  3. Click on the desk you would like to edit and drag it to the new location.

  4. Click Save.

Moving multiple desks on your floor map

You can use our bulk selection tool to move multiple desks at a time.

Deleting desks on your floor map

  1. Navigate to Maps > Live map and click Edit Map.

  2. Find the desk you want to delete.

  3. Click on the green dot.

  4. Click on the trash can icon.

  5. Click Save.

Deleting ALL desks and amenities on your floor map

  1. Navigate to Maps > Live map and click Edit Map.

  2. Under the map (bottom right) click Delete everything on this floor.

  3. Confirm you want to Delete everything.

  4. Click Save.

How to deactivate desks

  1. Navigate to Desks > Settings.

    1. If you've never uploaded a Desks CSV, click the link above and it will take you directly there.

  2. Click Deactivate.

Importing desks placement of map

If you made changes to the map and need to re-upload the previous desk placements, you can upload a copy of the .csv containing the preferred desks placements.

  1. Navigate to Desks > All desks.

  2. Click Re-import CSV.

  3. Drag and drop or select the file you want to upload.

  4. Click Import X desks.

  5. You should see a lists of your floor(s) and be able to view the correct desk placements on the Desks Map.

Exporting desks placement of map

If you have desks placed on your map, you can export the desks placements along with the rest of the desks information.

  1. Navigate to Desks > All desks.

  2. Click Export CSV.

  3. A .csv file should be downloaded.

    1. Note: If the file downloads without a .csv extension you can add .csv to the file and it will open in any spreadsheet tool.

  4. Within the exported file, there should be X position and Y position columns within the .csv that denotes the X-Y position of the desks on your map.

Adding a new Floor to your Map

  1. Navigate to Maps > Live map and click Edit Map.

  2. Click the dropdown menu next to the pencil icon.

  3. Select Create new Floor.

  4. Enter your floor Name.

  5. Click Upload to select a Floor map from your computer.

  6. Click Create.

Deleting Floors

  1. Navigate to Maps > Live map and click Edit Map.

  2. Click the dropdown next to the pencil icon showing the floor name.

  3. Select the floor you want to delete.

  4. Click the pencil icon next to the floor name.

  5. Click on the trash can icon.

  6. Click Delete to confirm.

Desk Settings

How to see who has been assigned what desk?

  1. Go to Workplace > Employee Log.

  2. Click the menu icon at the top right of the employee log.

  3. Scroll down and check the box next to Desk.

✨ IMPORTANT NOTES:

  • If an employee changes their desk and meets a specific set of criteria, Envoy will remember that changed desk for future days.

  • The employee will get the same desk the next day so long as they:

    • Are not already permanently assigned a desk via the Assigned to column within the CSV.

    • Chose a desk within a neighborhood they are assigned to (E.g - They are assigned to Finance but chose a different desk in the finance neighborhood. If they chose a desk in a different neighborhood they would not be automatically assigned that desk the next day).

    • Someone else is already sitting at that desk when you go to sign in.

Automatic desk assignment

If you prefer that employees do not receive a desk automatically upon registration but instead choose to request a desk after deciding to come in, you can use the "Automatic desk assignment" toggle.

  1. Go to Desks > Settings.

  2. Scroll to Automatically assign desks with employee reservation.

    1. If the toggle is off your team will have to click Book desk after scheduling themselves or signing in.

    2. If the toggle is on your team will automatically be assigned a desk upon scheduling or signing in.

How to enable Automatic desk free-up (Space Saver)

  1. Go to Desks > Settings.

  2. Scroll down to Space Saver and toggle Desk check-in to On.

  3. Select a time to release desks if they are not checked into.

    1. We will send a notification to the employee 1 hour prior that they need to check in to their desk or they will lose the assignment.

Permanently Assigned Desks on the Live Map

See all your employees on the map, including those with permanently assigned desks. Know when folks with an assigned desk are scheduled on-site and where they’re sitting so you can find them or even reserve a desk near them.

  • Assigned desks will show up on the live map with the employee's initial or photo whether the employee is "Scheduled" or "Not scheduled" for the day.

  • Clicking on an assigned but not scheduled desk will open the reservation info card and indicate that this desk is “Assigned” and that this employee is “Not Scheduled”

  • If employees with an assigned desk turn off their schedule visibility, their desk will not show their name on the desk's reservation info card. (See how to adjust schedule visibility here.)

Assigning a Desk

  1. Navigate to Maps > Live map and click Edit Map.

  2. Click on a placed desk to open the Desk details panel on the right-hand side.

  3. Add an employee under Assigned employee. This blocks anyone else from booking this desk, even if that employee does not check-in.

  4. Remember to Save after making any assignment changes.

Desks FAQ

  • Desks will be randomly assigned when someone signs in using Employee reservation for the first time.

  • Uploading a new CSV will overwrite your current list. Be sure to include all desks on every new upload.

  • CSV re-upload will not remove existing Reservations if no changes are made to existing desk information. If changes are made to existing desks, reservations could be deleted.

  • Learn more about Neighborhoods.

  • Adding Amenities or Neighborhood information will not remove existing reservations.

  • If you have no desks available to be assigned, an employee will still be able to sign in without one.

  • We suggest setting a capacity that matches the number of desks available to use.

  • If you're getting an error Line 2: Floor name column is missing please ensure that your CSV file is saved as comma separated value (.csv) not CSV UTF-8 (comma delimited) (.csv)

Related Articles
Desks Analytics
Booking a desk [Mobile]
Reservation log and Delegated Booking
Desk Amenities
Interactive Workplace Maps
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