It's the in-house app for running GTB Collective and Windy Corner Self Store. It keeps everything in one place so the team can all see the same up-to-date information from anywhere:

• Your storage units and car storage — who's in, who's leaving, prices.
• The shared diary of bookings and jobs.
• A message board for the team.
• Customers, payments and (for GTB) shredding.

It's private — only you and the rest of the team can sign in. Nothing you do here is visible to customers.

1. A phone, iPad, or computer with internet.
2. The web link to the app (Gareth will give you this — it's the gtb… web address).
3. Your email and password for the app — also from Gareth. You can't create your own account, so if you don't have a login yet, ask him.
4. Your mobile phone to hand, for the one-time security text the first time you sign in.

1. Open your web browser (Safari on iPhone/iPad, Chrome on Android, any browser on a computer).
2. Type or paste the app's web link into the address bar at the top and go to it.
3. You'll land on the sign-in screen (see the next topic).

1. On the sign-in screen, tap the Email box and type the email address Gareth gave you.
2. Tap the Password box and type your password. (Tap the little eye icon, if shown, to check what you've typed.)
3. Tap the Sign in button.

The first time only — a security code by text

To keep the app secure, the first time you sign in it sets up 2-step sign-in:

1. Type your mobile number when asked.
2. We'll text you a code — wait a few seconds for it to arrive.
3. Type that code into the app. Done — you won't have to set this up again.

After this, signing in is just your email and password, with the occasional text code now and then for security.

So you don't have to type your password every time, you can let your device unlock the app with your face or fingerprint.

1. On the welcome screen (the one with the two company cards), find the Face ID / fingerprint button and tap it.
2. Follow your phone's prompt (look at it, or touch the sensor).
3. From now on, when you come back to the app it shows a lock screen — just glance at it or touch the sensor to get in.

This is a convenience lock on your own device; your real security is still your password and the text code. You can sign out properly any time with the Sign out button.

This puts an icon on your phone/tablet so it opens like a normal app — and on iPhone/iPad it's required for notifications to work.

iPhone / iPad

1. Open the app in Safari.
2. Tap the Share button (the square with an arrow pointing up, usually along the bottom).
3. Scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen.
4. Tap Add in the top corner. The GTB icon now sits on your Home Screen — open the app from there in future.

Android

1. Open the app in Chrome.
2. Tap the ⋮ menu (three dots, top right).
3. Tap Add to Home screen and confirm.

Right after you sign in, you'll see a welcome screen with two cards:

• GTB Collective Ltd (green)
• Windy Corner Self Store (orange)

Tap the one you're working on. Each company keeps its own units, customers, messages and payments completely separate, so you'll only ever see the right information for that business.

The welcome screen also shows a hello message with your name, the Barwell weather, and Your day — a quick list of today's diary jobs that are assigned to you.

Once you're inside a company, the screen has three parts:

1. The menu

• On a computer or iPad, the menu is the row of words across the top — Home, Units, Car Storage, Messages, Payments, Diary, Help and so on. Tap a word to go to that section.
• On a phone, there isn't room for the row, so you'll see a ☰ button (three lines) in the top corner. Tap it to slide the menu out, then tap where you want to go. Tap anywhere else to close it.

2. The tiles on the Home screen

The Home screen shows big square tiles (Units, Car Storage, Messages, Diary…). Tapping a tile does exactly the same as using the menu — whichever you find easier.

Arrange the tiles your own way. Press and hold a tile for a moment, then drag it to a new spot and let go — the others shuffle to fit. A normal quick tap still opens it as usual. (On a computer, just click and drag a tile.) Your layout is saved to your login, so it's your own order and follows you onto any device you sign in on (it won't change anyone else's). Works on the Home screen, the Shredding hub, the Self Store hub, and the Car Storage action bubbles (Check in, Check out, New contract and so on) inside each site.

3. The buttons top-right

• Switch — change between GTB and Windy Corner.
• Sign out — log out completely (you'll need your password to get back in).

Going back

To leave a section, just tap Home or another menu item. Some screens (like inside Car Storage or the Self Store hub) also have their own ← Back button.

Notifications are the little pop-up alerts on your phone. Turning them on means the app can tell you about things that involve you, even when it's closed.

1. Go to the welcome screen (sign in, or tap Switch).
2. Tap the 🔔 Turn on notifications button.
3. When your phone asks "Allow notifications?", tap Allow.

You'll then get an alert for:

• A diary booking added, changed or cancelled that's assigned to you.
• A reminder about 30 minutes before a timed job.
• A "your day" summary each morning.
• New messages or replies aimed at you.

Tapping an alert opens the app straight to the right place.

This is a shared noticeboard where the team leaves messages and jobs for each other. Open it from the menu or the Messages tile.

Posting a message

1. Tap the big text box and type your message.
2. Tick who it's for — Pete, Gareth and/or Ian. Whoever you tick gets a notification, so always tick at least one person.
3. Optional: tap the 📎 (paperclip) button to attach a photo or file, or the 😊 button to add an emoji.
4. Tap Post. Your message appears at the top, stamped with your name and the date/time.

Replying

1. Under any message, tap Reply.
2. Type your reply and post it — it tucks underneath as part of that conversation. The people on the thread get notified.

Editing & filtering

• You can edit your own messages and replies — tap the ✎ Edit button on the message, change the subject/text and Save changes. When you edit a message, the people it's for get a fresh notification and it shows as new again, with a small "· edited" note. Once the person it's for has signed it off, it locks and can't be edited (post a new message instead).
• Use the chips at the top (Pete / Gareth / Ian) to show only messages for one person.
• Use the Status toggle to switch between Active (still-open messages — the default), Complete (everyone it's for has signed off), or All. So the board stays clear of finished jobs unless you go looking for them.
• Area (Gareth & Pete): when a message is tagged to an area (Ross/Birmingham Shredding, Self Store, Car Storage Derby/Barwell), an Area row of chips lets you show only that area's messages — handy for focusing on one site's jobs. Tap All areas to clear it.

Marking a job done

When a message is a job for you, tap Mark complete when it's finished. Only the person it was given to can tick it off, so nothing gets closed by accident. It then shows who completed it and when.

The Diary is the team's shared bookings calendar — storage move-ins, car drop-offs and collections, shredding jobs, and so on. It's linked to the shared Google "GTB" calendar, so everyone sees the same thing.

👁️ Viewing appointment. For a customer who just wants to view the car storage (they don't need to be in the system): on the Diary, add a new event and set the type to Car Store Derby or Car Store Barwell. In the appointment box at the bottom, tap the Viewing option, and a box appears where you type the viewing customer's email (and name) instead of picking an existing customer. Set the date and time, save the event so it shows in the diary for everyone, then tap Send viewing email. They get a friendly branded viewing email with the location, arrival instructions and contact details — no deposit, payment or no-show fee, and a note that filming/photography isn't allowed. A copy is BCC'd to info@gtbcarstorage.com. Viewings don't get an automatic 24-hour reminder.

The first time on each device

1. Open Diary from the menu.
2. Tap Connect Google Calendar.
3. Sign in with the Google account Gareth gave you access with, and tap Allow. You only do this once per device.

List, Week or Month view

At the top of the Diary you can switch between 📋 List (the day-by-day list), 📆 Week (a Google-style week grid with the times down the side and bookings as blocks in each day) and 🗓️ Month (a calendar grid like your phone). In Week and Month views, use the ‹ › arrows or Today to move around. Bookings are coloured by type. The Everyone / My diary tabs and the type chips still work in all views.

On a phone, Month view now looks like the Apple Calendar: week numbers down the side, each day shows a coloured dot for each booking, and today is a filled circle. Tap a day and that day's bookings appear in a list underneath — tap one to open it, or tap the + to add a booking on that day. On a computer or iPad the Month view still shows the bookings written inside each day.

The three views (buttons near the top)

• Everyone — every booking. Use the type chips (Windy Corner, GTB Self Store, Car Derby, Car Barwell, Shred collect, Shred drop-off, Bag pick-up, General) to show just one kind.
• My diary — only the jobs assigned to you, with This week / Next week / Today buttons.
• Past — bookings from the last 90 days, newest first, for when a day has gone by and you need to look back.

Adding a booking

1. Tap + New event.
2. Pick a type from the list. For car sites and shred drop-off, the location fills in by itself.
3. Type the customer/job into the title.
4. For the location, start typing an address, postcode or place name and pick it from the suggestions.
5. Set the date and time.
6. Assign a team member if it's their job.
7. Tap Save.

If you assigned someone, they get a notification. If you leave it unassigned, the whole team is notified.

Changing or cancelling

Tap an existing booking to open it. Change the details and Save, or tap Delete to cancel it. Either way the assigned person is told.

Sending an appointment email from the diary (Derby or Barwell)

When you pick the type Car Store Derby or Car Store Barwell, an extra box appears at the bottom of the booking:

1. Set the booking's date and time as normal.
2. In the appointment box, choose the customer from the dropdown — it lists that site's current and reserved customers (with an email on file).
3. Choose Drop-off, Collection, or Drop-off / Collection — this choice is remembered and highlighted for the booking, so if you send another email later (e.g. an extra reminder on top of the automatic one) it's already set correctly.
4. Tap ✉️ Send appointment email. You're asked to confirm the recipient first, then it sends the branded email — with that site's own address and arrival instructions — using the date and time you set above.

You'll see the status straight away: the booking now remembers which customer it's for, so whenever anyone reopens it the box shows a clear green "✅ Appointment email sent" or amber "⚠️ No appointment email sent yet" — no need to re-pick the customer name. Under that, a sent history lists each email sent (type, date, who it went to, who sent it, and the 24-hour reminder status — scheduled with its due time, or sent with the exact date and time it went out).

Automatic 24-hour reminder: the app sends the customer the same email again about 24 hours before the appointment, with the subject starting "Just a reminder —". This happens on its own for bookings made more than 24 hours ahead (it's skipped for shorter-notice ones).

At-a-glance ✉️ marker: any car-storage booking that's had its confirmation email sent shows a small ✉️ next to it in the diary — in the List, Week and Month views — so you can see which appointments have been emailed without opening each one.

Cancelling a booking: if a customer cancels and you delete the car-storage booking, the app asks whether to send them a cancellation email. Say yes and it emails the customer a branded note confirming the appointment is cancelled (the app remembers which customer the booking was for, so there's nothing to re-pick).

Changing a booking? Don't cancel and re-book — just open the booking, change the date/time or the appointment type (e.g. Collection → Drop-off / Collection) and Save. If a confirmation email has already gone out for that booking, the app asks "Send the customer an updated confirmation email?" — say yes and it re-emails them the full details with the new time and/or type (subject marked UPDATED). The appointment type now also shows in the email body, so the customer can see exactly what they're booked in for.

This is your grid of storage units. For Windy Corner, tapping Units opens the 27 units straight away. For GTB, tap GTB Self Store first, then choose Storage Units (there's also SBC, a separate set of units, and the Price list). The GTB grid is grouped into sections — ground floor, first floor, lockers, containers, small containers, and Offices (Office 1 and Office 2) at the bottom.

What the colours mean

• Green = Lettable — empty and ready to rent.
• Amber = Rented — someone's in it.
• Red = Locked out — the unit's been locked because the customer hasn't paid.
• Blue = Cleaning required — the customer's gone and it needs a clean before it can be re-let. (Set the unit's Status to "Cleaning required" to mark it.)

Cards or Table

Use the Cards / Table toggle (top right) to switch how units are shown — Cards are the colourful tiles, Table is a spreadsheet-style list. In Cards view there's also an "available by size" strip — tap a size to see only the free units that size.

Quick filters

At the top are summary bubbles (Lettable / Rented / Locked out / Leaving) with counts. Tap one to show only those units; tap it again to show all. The Leaving bubble shows every unit whose tenant has a leaving date set, so you can see at a glance who's due to move out.

Finding a customer or unit

Use the search box at the top — type a customer's name, phone number, or a unit number, and the grid filters down to the matches. Tap one to open it.

Letting a unit / editing a customer

1. Tap the unit to open its form.
2. Type the customer's name (if they've stored before, their phone and email fill in automatically).
3. If they're storing under a company, add the Business name underneath.
4. Fill in the size, monthly price, start date, contact details, and whether the fob is paid (Yes/No).
5. If they're booked to leave, put the date in Date leaving. Leave it blank if they're staying.
6. Add anything useful in Notes, then tap Save.

📄 Digital sign-up / storage agreement. Every unit has a sign-up button. On an empty unit it reads ➕ New customer sign-up — tap it to sign a brand-new customer straight in (it fills the details, takes the signatures and lets the unit for you). On a unit that's already Let it reads 📄 Storage sign-up / agreement. Two ways to start it: from the Self Store hub tap ➕ New customer sign-up to pick the unit(s) the customer is taking (tick one or more and set each monthly price — handy when someone takes two units), or open a single unit and use its sign-up button. Either way it runs as a simple step-by-step walkthrough the customer can do themselves: a quick staff set-up screen (unit, price, key-fob £10 deposit Paid / Not paid, office-use ticks) then Hand to customer — they enter their own details one screen at a time, read each term of the Terms & Conditions and tap Accept & continue, then sign each document (rental agreement, terms & conditions, key-fob receipt). The customer first sees exactly what they're signing up for (unit(s) and the monthly price, inc VAT). Finally it hands back to staff, who sign it off and can add notes to the agreement (the notes print on the PDF and save to the unit) before it files. The office-use ticks become an entry in the Office to-do for Pete (just like a new car-storage customer) — whatever was ticked shows as already done, the rest are there to work through, with the signed agreement one tap away. After it files, you're offered to send the customer a welcome email (from no-reply@gtbselfstore.com, copied to info@gtbselfstore.com) with a copy of their signed agreement attached as a PDF. If the fob deposit hasn't been paid, the customer still signs for receiving the fob and the key-fob page is clearly marked NOT PAID — outstanding. Tap Save & file to Dropbox and it builds the full signed 3-page PDF and files it into the /GTB Self Store Dropbox folder under the customer's name. No internet? It saves on the device and uploads automatically later. Once signed, the button changes to 📄 View signed agreement.

📲 Complete on a separate iPad. On the staff set-up screen there's a 📲 Send to an iPad button. Tap it (you can add the staff signature first) and a 4-digit code appears. On the iPad open the GTB Self Store sign page (selfstore-sign.html) and leave it on that screen — it shows up in the list to tap, or type the code — then the customer does the whole walkthrough on the iPad (their details, read the terms, sign all three) while your screen just waits. When they finish it comes straight back to the staff device, where you sign it off and add any notes, then it files the signed PDF and lets the unit(s) automatically. Same idea as sending a shredding signature to the till iPad.

✉️ Email the sign-up to a customer. For a customer you never see (e.g. a removal company fills the unit), tap ✉️ Email the sign-up on the set-up screen and enter their email. They get a secure link (valid 14 days) to complete their details, read the terms and sign on their own phone or computer. It shows in the Self Store hub under ✉️ Awaiting signature with a badge count — ⏳ Waiting until they sign, then ✅ Ready to file. Tap 📄 File it, add your staff sign-off and notes, and it files to Dropbox and lets the unit exactly like an in-person sign-up. You can also copy the link from there to send it yourself, or remove an entry.

To free a unit up when a customer moves out, open it and clear it / mark it empty, then Save. Their details don't just vanish — the unit's tenant info (including whether the fob was paid) is saved to 🗄️ Past customers (the button at the top of the Storage Units screen). So if someone returns a key fob weeks after leaving, you can search their name there and see whether they'd paid for it. (Moving a tenant to a different unit with Swap unit does not archive them — that's just a move, not a leave.) When a customer leaves their last unit with us, their Dropbox folder is moved into “GTB Self Store Customers / Agreements / 1. Archive” automatically (if they still rent another unit, the folder stays put). The signed agreement is kept, but any photo ID we captured is deleted automatically 60 days after they leave — so we don't hold ID longer than we need to.

Inside GTB Self Store, tap Price list. It shows each unit size with a price per week and per month.

Just looking

Anyone can open it to check what a size costs.

Changing prices (Gareth & Pete only)

1. Tap into a price box and type the new figure (it keeps two decimal places, e.g. 65.00).
2. Use Add to add a new size row, or the remove option to delete one.
3. Tap Save. It asks you to confirm before saving changes or removing a price, so you can't change one by accident.

The Fire Log is Windy Corner's weekly fire-alarm test record, kept for the fire regulations. It's on the Windy Corner home screen (and top menu) only — mainly Gareth or Ian will fill it in.

Logging the weekly test

1. Do the test — set off a call point and check the alarm sounds (test a different point each week so they all get covered over time).
2. Open Fire Log, check the date, type which call point / zone you tested, choose Alarm sounded OK or Fault found, and add any notes (e.g. a fault and what you did about it).
3. Tap ＋ Log test. It's saved to the record with your name and the date.

At the top a banner tells you if a test is due (it turns amber once it's been 7+ days since the last one) or that you're up to date. Every entry is listed newest first with a green OK or red Fault tag. Managers can delete a mistaken entry.

Reminders

Gareth and Ian get a push every Monday morning reminding you the weekly test is due, plus a Friday nudge if it still hasn't been logged that week.

On the Home screen (or the menu), tap Meter Readings — the monthly electricity readings for the Self Store meters (27A–27F, unit 25, the parking spots, offices, WC, etc.).

Taking this month's readings

1. Check the Month is right (it defaults to now) and set the Reading date.
2. For each meter, type the Current reading. The Previous reading fills in automatically from last month, and Used (this month's consumption) works itself out.
3. The total used for the month shows at the bottom.
4. Tap Save readings.

Confirming & invoicing

Once every current reading is entered and saved, the ✅ Confirm all readings button lights up. Tapping it double-checks the month is complete and locks the figures. Only after that can Pete tick the Invoiced boxes. If something needs changing before invoicing, tap Un-confirm to edit.

When Pete opens Meter Readings, it jumps straight to the oldest month that's confirmed but not yet fully invoiced — so the month he still needs to work through is there waiting, rather than the current one. Once every box in a month is ticked off, it stops landing on that month.

The RCC Van figure is separate from the electricity readings. Ian can confirm the month's readings without it, and Gareth can still enter or change the RCC Van figure afterwards (right up until Pete invoices the van) — just type it in and tap Save readings. It only locks once the van itself is ticked as invoiced.

Looking back

Tap Annual summary for a year-at-a-glance grid of consumption per meter per month, with monthly and yearly totals.

Changing the meter list

Tap ⚙️ Manage meters to rename, add or remove meters.

This is for the stored cars (and motorbikes). It's GTB only.

Pick a site first

Tap Car Storage in the menu. You'll see two buttons — Derby and Barwell. Tap the site you want. (Tap ← Sites at the top to come back and switch.)

Then choose what you're doing

After picking a site you get five buttons:

• 📝 Check in vehicle — start a check-in. It shows the site's cars; tap one to go straight into its condition report.
• 🚗 Check out vehicle — start a check-out; tap the car to do its check-out report.
• Swapping a car — there's no separate button for this any more. Just check the car out as normal, and when you finish, the app asks "Is the customer swapping to a different car?" Tap OK and it takes you straight into entering the new vehicle and checking it in (the existing contract stays); tap Cancel if they're only collecting. On the new car's check-in, if it's a different shape to the old one, use the 🚗 Silhouette dropdown above the diagram to pick the right body style (saloon, SUV, van…) so the condition report matches the car.
• 📄 New customer contract — do the rental agreement + Terms & Conditions for a car.
• 📸 Add photos — shows only the cars still waiting for photos (the ones flagged “Photos needed”), so you tap the right one straight away and upload the photos into its latest folder. This button only appears when something is actually waiting for photos. If it’s a new or reserved customer whose car hasn’t been given a bay yet, it asks you to allocate a bay first (pick any free slot — you don’t have to reuse an old one) before adding the photos.
• 📋 Customers & vehicles — the full list of bays and cars (browse, search, add, edit, photos) — everything described below lives here.

The site and what you're doing (e.g. "Derby · Check-in — choose a car") stays pinned at the top while you scroll. The three action buttons need the car's Dropbox folder linked first (see the digital paperwork topic below).

Reading the list (under "Customers & vehicles")

• Every bay is listed by number. A green "Free bay" means it's empty — tap it to let it.
• Use the Cards / Table toggle to choose colourful cards or a spreadsheet-style table.
• Derby bays are grouped into labelled areas (Bays 1–10, 11–20, 21–29, and so on) that match the physical layout, so you can find a spot fast.

Finding a car

Use the search box at the top — type the customer's name, the registration, the make, or a bay number, and it filters straight to matching cars. Tap one to open it.

Letting a bay / adding a car

1. Tap a green free bay (or tap + Add car).
2. Choose the Bay from the dropdown. Bays already taken or marked "not in use" are blocked, so you can't double-book.
3. Fill in Customer name (returning customers auto-fill), email, contact number.
4. Fill in the vehicle: Make, Model, Registration.
5. Set the price, start date, and minimum term if there is one.
6. Tap Save.

The extra options (only if they apply)

• Trickle charge — keeping the car's battery topped up. Set Yes and the cost if you're doing it.
• KCM (Keep Components Moving) — periodically moving the car so brakes/tyres don't seize. Set Yes and the cost.
• Cover — a car cover. Set Yes and the cost.
• Date leaving — if they're booked to collect, put the date here.
• Dropbox folder — where their contract, reports and photos are filed. It’s set up automatically the first time you do the car’s paperwork — everyone can tap Open to view it. (Attaching an old scanned report to a check-in is Gareth or Pete only.)

Day-to-day buttons

• Out tick — the car has gone out for now but is keeping its bay. Tick it when it leaves, untick when it's back. You can also tick "out" straight from the list.
• Swapping to a different vehicle — when the same customer keeps the space but stores a different car, just check the old car out and answer Yes to the "swapping to a different car?" prompt at the end. The existing contract stays (the contract is for the space) — you just enter the new vehicle and do a fresh check-in / condition report for it.
• Same car, new plate? (private plate transferred, or NO REG → a real reg) — just edit the Reg on the car and Save. It keeps the same one folder and simply renames it to the new reg (the contract, reports and photos move with it). Only use the swap prompt for a genuinely different vehicle — that one makes a new folder on purpose.
• The Free bays and Leaving bubbles at the top filter the list to just those.
• 🔌 Trickle chargers (Pete & Gareth only) — a bubble in each site's menu that opens the trickle charger register: add each GTB charger with its number, last PAT test date, next-test-due/expiry date, status and notes. Overdue chargers are flagged in red. Status looks after itself: once you assign a GTB charger to a car it automatically shows as In use (with the customer's name and bay), and it flips back to Available when that car is marked Out, checked out, or the charger is unassigned — no need to change it by hand. (Set a charger to Retired to take it out of use; that's left alone.) On a car, if Trickle charge is set to Yes (GTB) the Trickle appliance no becomes a dropdown of that site's chargers (swap = pick a different number). Chargers already in use on another car (or Retired) are greyed out in the dropdown so the same one can't be assigned to two vehicles. If it's the customer's own charger (Yes (Own)), the dropdown is replaced by a PAT expiry date box for their charger — it isn't added to our register, but the car gets a red 🔌 Charger PAT due flag if that date passes while they're still with us, so we know to PAT test it.

When a customer leaves

Open their car and tap 🧹 Empty bay. The car is removed and the bay turns green (free to let again). The customer is kept in your Customers list, so their details aren't lost, and their Dropbox folder is moved into that site's "1. Archive" automatically (if they still have another car with you, only the leaving car's folder is archived under their name). (For a reserved booking that's cancelled, the same button reads Remove booking. A plain reservation doesn't create a folder, so nothing to tidy. If you'd prepared anything — a contract, a draft, damage marked — or it's a returning customer whose old folder came back, that folder is moved to "1. Archive" so nothing's lost. Only a completely untouched, empty folder is removed.)

Customer comes back later? Just add their car again with the same name. If their old folder was archived, the app brings it back out of "1. Archive" automatically so all their previous contracts, reports and photos return with them. To store a different vehicle for a customer who's keeping their space, check the old car out and answer Yes to the "swapping?" prompt (never re-type the vehicle on the existing record) — it keeps the contract and reuses the right Dropbox folder.

Reserved cars (deposit paid, not arrived yet)

If a customer pays a deposit before bringing the car, tick Reserved when you add them. They show in a separate Reserved section at the bottom and aren't counted in the live totals.

When they actually arrive, move them into a bay:

1. Scroll to the Reserved section and tap their car to open it.
2. Tap the green 📥 Move into a bay button — this takes them off Reserved and jumps you to the bay picker.
3. Choose a free bay from the dropdown.
4. Tap Save.

They move out of Reserved into the normal bay list and start counting in your totals.

The whole car paperwork process — the rental contract, the condition report and the photos — is now done in the app on the iPad and phone, and saved straight into the Dropbox folder for that car. No more printing and signing on paper.

Folders are made automatically (no linking needed)

You don’t need to link anything up front — the app creates (or reuses) each car’s Dropbox folder automatically the first time you do its paperwork (Check in, Check out or Contract). If you ever want to point a car at an existing folder by hand, open the car (under Customers & vehicles) and tap 🔗 Link folder, then pick the customer’s folder. The folder picker only shows the car storage area for that site — you can't wander into other Dropbox folders. The link saves itself the moment you pick it (no need to press Save), and the Check in, Check out and Contract buttons work straight away. New cars usually get a folder made automatically, and if it isn't linked yet, tapping Check in, Check out or Contract sets one up on the spot — for a returning customer it even brings their original folder back out of the archive. Once a contract is signed or attached, it's remembered against the car the same way.

New customer contract

This is the rental agreement plus the Terms & Conditions, signed by the customer. Tap the site's 📄 New customer contract button, then choose one of two options:

• 🆕 New customer — add a brand-new customer's details and Save. The agreement then opens on its own, prefilled with what you just entered.
• 📋 Reserved customer — pick from this site's reserved / pre-booked customers; their email, phone and chosen services are carried across automatically.

(For an existing stored customer, open their car under Customers & vehicles and use its own New customer contract button.)

1. Fill in the customer and vehicle details and tick the services they want (prices are pre-filled and can be edited).
2. The customer signs twice — once for the agreement, once for the Terms & Conditions — by tapping each signature box.
3. Tap ✓ Sign & upload contract. It saves a tidy PDF into the car's Dropbox folder, then takes you straight into the vehicle check-in (condition report).

Check in a vehicle (condition report)

1. Tap 📝 Check in vehicle, then the car.
2. On the car diagram, draw any existing damage with a finger or Apple Pencil. On iPad tap the diagram to go full screen for easier marking. Damage already on record shows in red; mark new damage found at check-in in green.
3. The diagram matches the car's shape if you set its Body style (Saloon, Estate, Coupe/Convertible, SUV, etc.) on the car's record — pick it when adding or editing the car. If it's not set, the standard diagram is used.
4. Enter the mileage (required) and tyre details.
5. The customer signs — tap the signature box. Signatures are date & time stamped.
6. Tap Save. If you haven't marked any damage, it asks you to confirm there's no damage to report first (so a clean diagram is always a deliberate choice). A full A4 report is saved to Dropbox — with a colour key printed on it so anyone reading it knows red = existing, green = new at check-in, blue = new at check-out (a claim).
7. Client not present? (Gareth only) Fill in the report and marks as normal, then tap 📤 Prepare to send instead of Save. It builds the report (unsigned) and opens the share sheet, so you can send it out for signature (Dropbox Sign, Adobe, email…). When the signed copy comes back, open the report and use 📄 View scan → Change scan to attach it to the car.

Mark existing damage (for a car already in, before its next check-in)

Sometimes a car has been stored (or is out) and its damage is only on the old paper report / scan, not yet on the app. Rather than re-doing the whole thing, open the car under Customers & vehicles and tap 🩹 Mark existing damage. Mark the damage the car already has on the diagram and tap Save existing damage — no signature or PDF, it just records it against the car. If there's nothing to mark, it asks you to confirm there's no damage to report first. Then, at the car's next check-in, that damage is already there in red so you can cross-reference it against the car in front of you and only add anything new in green.

Transferring damage from the old paper reports for cars that are already stored? Leave the tick-box “This car is stored here now — mark it as checked in” ticked when you save. The app then treats the paper check-in as done, so when the car eventually leaves you can go straight to Check out without it asking for a check-in. On this screen you can also copy across the rest of the paper report — Exterior, Interior and Additional notes, mileage and tyres — and it all carries through onto the final check-out report. (Untick it if the car isn't here yet and you're just pre-recording damage before it arrives.)

Check out a vehicle

Tap 🚗 Check out vehicle, then the car. It's the same report; mark any new damage in blue — new marks count as a claim, and the customer signs to that. No new marks = a clean waiver. Enter the check-out mileage and get the signature. Tyres: if the car's tyres were over-inflated to 50psi at check-in, the check-out screen shows a red reminder and the report prints a note that they must be returned to the correct pressures before release — tick Exit: reset tyres to recommended once you've done it. Every check-out pops up to confirm the tyre pressures have been checked / set correctly — with an extra reminder if they were over-inflated to 50psi at check-in — and you can't finish the check-out until you confirm (or go back and sort them). Ticking Exit: tyres checked / set to correct pressures yourself skips the prompt. (The 50psi tick you set at check-in / Mark existing damage is remembered when you go back in.)

The OUT tag looks after itself. Checking a car out automatically marks it OUT (“Car currently out”), and its next check-in clears that tag again — so you don't have to tick the box by hand.

Photos

Take the condition photos on your phone's normal camera (best quality). Then upload them either way: tap 📸 Add photos in the site menu and pick the car, or open the car under Customers & vehicles and tap its 📸 Add photos button. Either way they go into that car's latest job folder.

Different devices are fine. Do the contract and check-in on the iPad, then just pick up your iPhone — everything you saved is already synced. Cars you've checked in show a 📸 Photos needed tag until their photos are added, so on the phone you can spot straight away which ones are waiting. The tag clears once you've uploaded. A car with a signed or attached agreement on file shows a 📄 Contract tag on its card, so you can see at a glance which cars have their contract sorted. A car shows a 📝 Check-in report tag when it's checked in via the app with a check-in on file — whether that's a full digital check-in or Mark existing damage set as checked in (it shows even if the car had no damage to draw). Handy while we move the older paper check-ins across to the app, so you can tell which cars still need doing.

No internet in the yard? Don't worry

If there's no signal when you save a signed report or contract, it's saved safely on the iPad first and uploads to Dropbox automatically when you're back online. A small amber bar at the bottom shows anything still waiting — tap it to retry. The on-iPad copy is deleted the moment it's safely in Dropbox, so nothing is ever lost.

Viewing old scans

Inside a report, 📄 View scan lets you open an older scanned report from Dropbox for reference; it remembers the one you pick so it's one tap next time.

When a new-customer contract is signed and filed, the office side still needs doing (Mailchimp, invoicing, welcome email…) — like the paper used to get passed to Pete. The app now does this automatically.

• A signed new-customer contract creates an Office to-do and sends Pete a notification.
• Open it from the 🗂️ Office to-do tile or menu item (shown to Pete and Gareth) — a number shows how many are waiting.
• Each one has a 📄 View contract button plus tick-boxes: Customer file uploaded, Recurring invoice (QuickBooks), Welcome email, Mailchimp, Map update, and a notes box.
• Tick tasks as you do them, then tap ✓ Mark signed off. It moves to "Recently signed off", showing who did it and when.

On any car's screen you'll also see its office status — ⏳ awaiting processing or ✅ signed off — so everyone can see whether the office bits are done.

This is a running address book of everyone who has stored with you — units or cars. You don't have to fill it in by hand: a customer's details are saved automatically whenever you let a unit or add a car, and they're kept even after the customer leaves.

Using it

• Open Customers from the menu.
• Use the search box to find anyone by name, phone or email.
• Tap a customer to open their card and see/edit their phone, email, notes and any saved vehicles.

A simple record of money taken. Open Payments from the menu.

Adding a payment

1. Tap to add a new one.
2. Enter the date, the customer, the amount, and whether it was cash or card.
3. Add a note if useful, then save.

Use the search box to find past payments.

Made a mistake? Whoever entered a payment can edit or delete it for up to 1 hour afterwards (tap the ✎ on its row) — handy for a wrong amount or a missing customer name. After that hour it locks; ask Pete or Gareth, who can change it any time. A payment already ticked QB matched can only be changed by them.

The Shredding tab is a hub — tap it and you'll see bubbles for each tool:

• Collection Planner — the full shredding job planner, where collection rounds are organised. It opens in its own full screen; use its Back button to return to the hub.
• Sacks at Sites — tracks shredding sacks dropped at Birmingham, Ross-on-Wye and Barwell. Pick a site with the chips, log sacks received and collected, and it shows a running "bags at site now" total.
• Recycled Shredding — Pete's recycling loads to Williams, Russell Richardson and Restore Datashred, with weigh-in/out, net weight and yearly totals.
• Orders — every website order in one place, with tappable bubbles (each showing a live count): Quote needed (collection quote), Quote sent, To invoice, Awaiting payment, To dispatch (paid), and Dispatched. Collection quotes now go straight to the customer. When someone asks for a collection, the order lands in Quote needed. Gareth enters the Quote £ and taps “Quote & email customer” — the app emails the customer a branded email with four buttons (Accept & pay now · Send bags now, sort collection later · No collection — I’ll drop off · Cancel) and moves the order to Quote sent while it waits for their reply. If you haven't heard back, open the order and tap 📧 Send follow-up email to re-send the same quote with all the options again — the card shows how many times you've followed up. Whatever the customer taps comes straight back into the app: any of the three ‘yes’ choices move the order to Awaiting payment and record what they picked — a card customer is sent to a SumUp checkout for the right amount (bags only, or bags + collection if they’re paying it now), a bank customer sees the transfer details and reference. Cancel moves it to Cancelled. Card payments then move to To dispatch automatically once SumUp confirms; bank transfers are matched by hand as usual. You get a push the moment a customer replies. (The old To invoice bubble is kept for any earlier orders still sitting there — for those, Pete taps “Invoiced → awaiting payment” as before.) The quote you type is recorded as a collection quote note on the order (and printed in the Collection quote box on the certificate) — it is not added to the order total; when a customer accepts and pays the collection now, the certificate’s Collection Rqd & Paid box is ticked. If they decline and drop off, the quoted figure still prints on the certificate for reference (in case they want a collection another time). Each order card also shows how long it's been sitting in its current stage (e.g. "3 days here"), so nothing gets forgotten in a bubble. Card / drop-off orders come in to Awaiting payment when the customer places the order, then move to To dispatch automatically once SumUp confirms the card payment (and the payment is logged for Pete) — or you can tap Payment received yourself. If someone hasn't paid, managers get a 📧 Send payment reminder button on the Awaiting-payment order. It opens a branded reminder email (matching your order-confirmation email) with the order summary, and the app automatically picks the right version: card customers get the green Pay-by-Card box with their SumUp "pay now" link, and bank-transfer customers get the Bank Transfer Details box (account name, bank, sort code, account number, and "use this reference exactly"). Preview it, hit send, and the card then shows when the reminder was sent (and how many times). Each order card has an expandable Full order details showing everything the website form captured — the whole order in the app, no email needed. If the customer wants a collection from a different postcode to their bag delivery address, the card shows a bold red banner with that postcode right at the top, so it can't be missed buried in the details. A red number badge on the Orders tile (and the Shredding tab/tile) shows how many orders still need attention. On a To dispatch order you also get 🖨 Certificate and 🖨 WTN buttons — they build a ready-to-print Collection & Destruction Certificate and Waste Transfer Note auto-filled from the order (name, business, address, quantity, fees, total, reference…), with the signature lines, security-tag numbers and date-destroyed left blank to complete on the day. No more copying the details across by hand. Each To-dispatch order also has a 📮 Postage label button next to Certificate and WTN: when Gareth or Pete are away, they can upload the postage label PDF straight onto the order (instead of sending it in a message) — either tap 📮 Upload label to pick the file, or on a computer just drag the PDF onto the button. As soon as a label is added, Ian gets a notification that the order has a label and is ready to dispatch. He then taps 🏷️ Postage label to open and print it (and a manager can drag a new PDF onto that button to replace it). To keep storage tidy, an uploaded label is automatically deleted 10 days after upload — managers can also remove it sooner with the ✕. Each To-dispatch order also has a 📝 Notes for the certificate box — type anything there before printing and it drops into the certificate's Additional Notes. There's a search box at the top to find any order by name, reference, email, phone or postcode (handy for the long Dispatched list). When you email the details to the Birmingham or Ross depot, the order shows a green ✉️ Emailed [depot] tag with the date and who sent it, so you can see at a glance it's been done (the button becomes Re-send). And instead of deleting, managers get 🚫 Cancel order — it asks why (Never paid, Customer requested cancellation, Duplicate, Test order, or your own reason), then moves the order to a Cancelled filter rather than removing it. The reason is shown on the cancelled order. If the customer then pays or wants it after all, tap ↩ Reinstate order and it comes straight back out of Cancelled to where it was (e.g. Awaiting payment or To dispatch). Or use 🗑 Delete permanently to remove a genuine junk/test order for good.
• Customers — the shredding customer database (kept separate from the storage customers). Every website bag order automatically creates or updates a customer here — matched by email (or name + postcode) so the same person stays as one record, marked with a purple 🌐 Web badge and an Order history you can expand on the card. You can still tap + Add customer to add anyone manually, and save their name, contact, phone, email and address, plus the service type, collection frequency, bags/consoles per visit, price, billing notes and which site/area or route they're on. Editing a customer's service, price, billing, area or notes is never overwritten by their orders — only their contact details refresh from their most recent order. Tap a card to edit or delete. Use the search box to find anyone by name, contact, phone, email, area or address.

• Lettable — a unit or bay that's empty and ready to rent.
• Locked out — a unit locked because the customer hasn't paid.
• Fob — the entry key/tag; "Fob paid" tracks whether they've paid for it.
• SBC — a separate set of GTB storage units, alongside the main Self Store.
• Reserved — a car booked with a deposit that hasn't arrived yet. Do the contract and condition report first (it stays reserved with no bay); as soon as you give it a bay, it clears the reserved flag automatically and moves into the active list.
• Trickle charge — keeping a stored car's battery topped up.
• KCM — "Keep Components Moving": periodically moving a car so it doesn't seize up.
• Cover — a protective car cover.
• Out — a stored car that's temporarily away but keeping its bay.
• Min term — the minimum length of the storage contract.
• ex VAT — the price before VAT is added.
• QB matched — a payment that's been reconciled in QuickBooks.

Your data is protected automatically in the background (daily and weekly copies are kept safely off-site). On top of that, Gareth has a Back up / Restore button on the Activity log screen:

• Back up now — downloads a single file containing a full copy of everything (both companies). Keep it somewhere safe, like your own Google Drive or a memory stick. Handy to grab before a big change.
• Restore missing — if some records get deleted by accident, open a backup file and it will put back only what's missing. It never overwrites or changes anything that's currently in the app, so it's safe to run.

• Something looks out of date or hasn't updated? Close the app and open it again, or pull down on the screen to refresh — it always loads the latest.
• Not getting notifications on an iPhone/iPad? You must have opened the Home Screen version (not Safari) and tapped 🔔 Turn on notifications. Do it once per device.
• Diary won't load or shows nothing? Open the Diary and tap Connect Google Calendar again, and make sure you sign in with the right Google account.
• Seeing the wrong business? Tap Switch at the top to change company.
• Can't sign in / forgotten password? Accounts are managed for you — ask Gareth to reset it.
• Still stuck? Sign out and back in. If it's still odd, give Gareth a shout and tell him what you tapped just before it went wrong.