What this is
When you open the Settings page and your shop still has basics to finish, a single line of text appears near the top — above the settings search bar and the category pills, below any pending organization-link notice if your shop has one. It reads "Finish setting up your shop (X of 4 essentials done) · Next: …" and counts four setup steps SalesThumb considers essential to taking a quote and getting paid.
It's deliberately just a line, not a card — there's no percentage and no progress bar. Your Dashboard's "Get your shop set up" card is the one full setup checklist for your shop; this line is a quiet pointer so you can pick setup back up from Settings too. It only appears while at least one of the four steps is still outstanding — once all four are done, the line disappears from the page entirely.
The four steps
The line counts these four, in this order:
- Add your services — Settings > Services, where you define the services your shop offers and their default pricing.
- Add installers & bays — Settings > Installers & Bays, where you add your techs and physical work areas.
- Turn on online booking — Settings > Online Booking, where you configure your public booking page.
- Connect payments — Settings > Payments, where you connect SalesThumb Payments to accept card payments.
Clicking the line takes you straight to the first of these that isn't done yet — the "Next:" part of the line names it, so you know where the click goes before you make it.
To open any of the others, use its tile in the Essential group further down the page. Those tiles (Services, Installers & Bays, Online Booking, and Payments) carry a live status badge in the corner — an amber "0 items" badge if that area still needs setup, or a green checkmark once it's configured. The Online Booking tile is shown only to Owner and Admin logins, but you never need it to finish that step: it checks itself off once the first two are done (see below).
How each step gets marked done
The count checks live data, not a box you tick manually:
- Add your services is marked done once your shop has at least one active service.
- Add installers & bays is marked done once your shop has at least one active installer or bay.
- Turn on online booking is marked done automatically once the first two steps are — SalesThumb confirms your shop has both an active service and an active installer/bay, since that combination is what actually makes your booking page bookable. There's no separate toggle to flip; finishing the first two steps satisfies this one on its own. You'll still want to visit the Online Booking settings page to configure the page itself (hours, services offered online, etc.), but the step completes regardless.
- Connect payments is marked done once you've connected SalesThumb Payments so your shop can accept card payments.
Because these checks run against your shop's live data, undoing something later (for example, deactivating your last service) can flip a step back to "not done" and bring the line back if it had disappeared.
Not the same as the Dashboard's checklist
SalesThumb also shows a setup checklist on your Dashboard, under a card titled "Get your shop set up." That card is your shop's full setup checklist, and it's tracked separately from the line described here. It covers more ground than the Settings page's four essentials — it also includes things like filling out your shop profile, uploading your logo, inviting a team member, adding your first customer, and booking your first appointment — so finishing the four essentials here won't automatically complete the Dashboard's checklist too. If you're looking for how the Dashboard's version works — including how to collapse or dismiss it — see The dashboard setup checklist.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the same checklist that shows up on my Dashboard? No. The Dashboard has its own "Get your shop set up" card, and that's the full setup checklist for your shop. The Settings page only shows a one-line "Finish setting up your shop" link that counts four essential steps. The two track different sets of steps independently, so their counts can differ — that's expected, not a bug.
Where did the Settings page's setup checklist go? It used to be a full card with a percentage, a progress bar, and a clickable row for each of the four steps. It's now a single line, so a new shop isn't shown several separate setup trackers at once. How the steps are counted didn't change, and the line always opens the next step you still need to do. The rest have their own tiles in the Essential group — Online Booking's tile only shows for Owners and Admins, and that step checks itself off once you have a service and an installer or bay.
Do I have to complete the four steps in order? No. The line always points at the first unfinished step in the usual order — services, then installers & bays, then online booking, then payments — but nothing blocks you from doing them in any order. Open any of them from its tile in the Essential group — though Online Booking's tile only shows for Owners and Admins, and that step completes itself once the first two are done.
Why did "Turn on online booking" check itself off without me doing anything on that page? That step doesn't have its own separate switch. SalesThumb marks it done as soon as your shop has at least one active service and at least one active installer or bay, because that's what actually makes your public booking page bookable. Completing the first two steps satisfies this one automatically — though you'll still want to visit the Online Booking settings page to configure your public booking page itself.
What happens once all four steps are done? The line disappears from the top of the Settings page. It only shows up while at least one of the four essentials still needs attention, so a shop that's fully set up won't see it at all.