The left menu lists the app's modules and the dashboard shows your store at a glance. The top bar holds the quick-add menu, location and language switchers, messages, and your avatar menu; test mode lets you practice without saving sales.

PHP Point Of Sale keeps everything in three places: the left menu, which lists the app's modules; the dashboard, your home screen; and the top bar, which holds the tools that follow you everywhere. A few minutes here makes everything else in these docs faster to follow.

The left menu

Every part of the app is a module in the left menu, starting with Dashboard at the top. Sales is the register, Items is inventory, and the rest — Customers, Suppliers, Employees, Receivings, Reports, Gift Cards, Expenses, Work Orders, Deliveries, Appointments, Invoices, Locations, Messages, Store Config — each get their own entry. A few entries group related screens into a sub-menu:

• The Inventory group holds Items, Item Kits, Categories, Manufacturers, Modifiers, Tags, Attributes, Price Rules, Label Designs (when your plan includes it), and Price Check — a customer-facing price lookup that opens in its own tab.
• The Customers group holds Customers and Subscriptions (recurring charges).
• The Invoices group splits into Customers and Suppliers invoices.

The menu also carries a Support entry (it opens the support chat — see getting help), a POS Genie entry with an AI badge when your plan includes the Genie assistant, a Timeclock entry when the time clock is enabled, and Logout at the bottom. A PayVantage entry appears just below the Dashboard when the PayVantage checkbox is enabled in Store Config → Application Settings; it opens the PayVantage dealer portal inside the app.

Two behaviors are worth knowing. First, on the Sales and Receivings screens the menu automatically collapses to a narrow icon bar to leave room for the register — hover over it to expand it temporarily, or use the menu toggle; a Store Config → Application Settings checkbox, Always Minimize Left Side Bar Menu, makes it collapse everywhere. Second, an admin can rename modules or turn off the ones your store doesn't use in Store Config → Rename Left Menu and Store Config → Disable Modules — see customizing the menu and modules — and permissions hide modules per employee. When an article names a module you can't find, that's usually why.

The top bar

Left to right, the top bar holds:

• A breadcrumb showing where you are.
• The + Add quick-add menu: New Sale, New Work Order, New Purchase Order, New Customer, New Item, and New Appointment, jumping straight to a fresh form from anywhere. Each entry appears only if you have permission for that module.
• An optional clock (turned on with Show Clock in Header in Store Config → Application Settings; visible on wide screens).
• On the Sales and Receivings screens: a fullscreen icon that hides the browser around the app — useful on a register — and a cart icon showing the line count in progress.
• The location switcher, when your account has more than one location assigned to you (more below).
• The language switcher — a flag dropdown — when Show Language Switcher is enabled in Store Config → Application Settings and you have the Edit Profile permission. The interface is available in 17 languages, chosen per employee, so a bilingual team can each work in their own.
• A latest updates icon that opens the in-app changelog of recent releases.
• A messages bell with your unread count, when you have the Messages permission — it previews recent messages and links to All Messages.
• Your avatar menu: Support, Settings (a shortcut to Store Config, admin-only), Update Billing Information, Request & Discuss Features, Change Log (the What's New page), Switch User, Edit profile, Timeclock (when enabled), and Logout.

Edit profile is where each employee manages their own name, email, phone, username, password, switch-user PIN, and two-factor authentication when it's enabled — see secure sign-in.

The dashboard

The dashboard is your home screen. It shows:

• Stats tiles for total sales, customers, items, and item kits — each is a link into its module. These (and the chart) require the View Dashboard Statistics permission under Reports, and they're hidden on phone-sized screens (tablets show them).
• A sales chart with Month and Week tabs — the current month's sales by day, or the current week's.
• An Items Expiring Soon table listing stock at your current location whose expiration date (from receivings) falls within the next six months. An admin can hide it with Hide Expiring Items On Dashboard in Store Config → Application Settings.
• Quick task links — Start New Sale, Start a New Receiving, Today's closeout report, Today's detailed sales report, and Today's summary items report — plus any reports you've saved as favorites. Each link appears only with the matching permission.
• Sync progress bars for ecommerce and QuickBooks while those integrations are actively syncing.

On a fresh store, the dashboard also shows the setup checklist described in your first day: store setup, and during a trial it shows your trial end date with a billing button.

Switching locations

If more than one location is assigned to your employee account, the location switcher in the top bar shows which location you're working in, with each location's color badge; the dropdown has a search box for long lists. Most screens — inventory quantities, sales, reports — show data for the selected location, so if numbers ever look unfamiliar, check the switcher before anything else. Two details:

• You only see the locations assigned to you on your employee record.
• Switching locations clears your selected register, so the Sales screen will ask you to pick a register again if your store tracks registers.

If you sign in with access to several locations, the app asks you to choose one right after login.

Make it yours

A few settings are personal to each employee rather than store-wide:

• Dark Mode — a checkbox on the employee's record in the Employees module. (There's also a store-wide Dark Mode default in Store Config → Application Settings; the interface is dark if either is on.)
• Language — chosen from the flag dropdown in the top bar; 17 languages are available.
• Fullscreen mode — the expand icon on the Sales and Receivings screens hides the browser chrome around the app.

The sales screen

The Sales module is the register: scan or search to add items, then take payment. It has its own keyboard shortcuts — click Keyboard shortcuts help on the sales screen to toggle the reference and learn them while you work. Ringing up a sale covers the full selling flow.

Search and test mode

Each module has its own search: look for customers in Customers, items in Items, and so on — no scrolling through long lists. Store Config likewise has a keyword search for finding any setting; see store configuration basics.

When you want to try anything without consequences, use test mode: the dashboard offers an Enable test mode panel, and while test mode is on a red banner reads "You are in test mode. Sales will NOT be saved". It's the safest way to train a new employee or explore a feature you haven't used yet; click Disable test mode when you're done. An admin can remove the option entirely with the Disable test mode setting in Store Config → Application Settings.

From here, the rest of these docs go module by module — jump straight to the section that matches whatever you're doing next.

Common questions

Why don't I see the statistics tiles or the sales chart? Either your employee account lacks the View Dashboard Statistics permission (under Reports), or you're on a phone — the dashboard hides stats on phone-sized screens but shows them on tablets and desktops.

A module mentioned in the docs isn't in my menu. Where is it? Three possibilities: an admin disabled it (Store Config → Disable Modules), an admin renamed it (Store Config → Rename Left Menu), or your employee account doesn't have permission for it. An admin can check all three.

Why does the left menu keep collapsing? It collapses to an icon bar automatically on the Sales and Receivings screens to make room for the register. Hover over the bar to expand it. If it's collapsed everywhere, an admin has enabled Always Minimize Left Side Bar Menu in Store Config → Application Settings.

The numbers on my dashboard look wrong. What should I check first? The location switcher in the top bar — most screens show data only for the currently selected location.

How do two employees share one register without logging out? Use Switch User in the avatar menu. Employees can set a switch-user PIN in Edit profile for fast switching; see secure sign-in.

Why was I sent to the time clock right after logging in? When the time clock is enabled, employees who are required to clock in are taken there before the dashboard. Clock in and you'll continue normally; see the time clock.

Why doesn't the language switcher appear for me? An admin must enable Show Language Switcher in Store Config → Application Settings, and your account needs the Edit Profile permission.

Can I use the app in fullscreen on a tablet? Yes — open the Sales or Receivings screen and tap the fullscreen (expand) icon in the top bar.