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Overview

Seating plans define your reusable venue layout: seats, rows, tables, general admission areas, labels, and plan-level settings. Each seating plan belongs to a single venue, and a venue can have multiple seating plans. This section covers the authoring side of seating:
  • Creating plans
  • Choosing a plan type
  • Building layouts in the editor
  • Managing revisions
  • Managing holds
Operational workflows such as attaching plans to events, syncing event data, and managing event-level availability are covered in Seated Events. Seating plan area data can also be retrieved via the Seating Plan Areas API endpoint.

How Seating Plans Fit Into The Workflow

  1. Create a seating plan from Seating plans.
  2. Choose a plan type (small/medium or large), or import an existing plan file.
  3. Build and save the layout in the editor.
  4. Complete the plan by setting a Name and Venue.
  5. Attach and sync the plan to one or more events from the event workflow.
Plans must be complete before they can be attached to events. Incomplete plans can be saved as drafts and continued later.

Access And Requirements

RequirementDetails
Seating plans featureYour company must have seating plans enabled.
PermissionsYou need the relevant seating plan permissions to view/create/edit plans.
Venue accessPlan completion requires a venue, and venue selection is constrained to venues you can access.
Large plansLarge plan creation is only available when your company has the large-plan seating context enabled.

Plan Types

When you create a new seating plan, you choose a type:
  • Small / medium plan
  • Large plan (if enabled for your company)
The type controls how the editor behaves and how the layout is structured.

Type Comparison

TypeBest forStructureCapacity guidanceAvailability
Small / mediumTheatres, cinemas, comedy clubs, and similar venuesSingle canvasUp to 1,000 seats per planAvailable when seating plans are enabled
LargeStadiums and large multi-zone venuesMain plan with separate editable areasUp to 1,000 seats per areaRequires the large-plan seating context
The editor shows live seat counters and enforces seat/space limits while you build.

Choosing A Type

From Create seating plan, you can:
  • Start a new small/medium plan
  • Start a new large plan (if available)
  • Import an existing plan file
  • Continue an incomplete draft
For exports and imports:
  • Use Export in the seating plan editor to download a plan file.
  • Use Create seating plan and choose Import to upload a previously exported file.
  • Small plan import supports .nuspx.
  • Large plan import supports .nuspx and .nuspb (when large plans are enabled).

Important Behaviours

Type Is Fixed After Creation

Once a plan exists, its type is preserved on future saves. If you need a different type, create a new plan.

Large Plans Use Area Editing

Large plans are designed around areas:
  • Build the high-level area map in the main view
  • Enter an area to edit its detailed seat content
  • Save area changes back to the main plan

Feature Gating

If a large plan file is imported into a company without large-plan access, the import is blocked and users are prompted to use supported plan types.

What You’ll See In The Seating Plans Area

  • A primary list of complete plans.
  • A separate flow for continuing recent incomplete drafts.
  • A holds tab (when holds are enabled and you have access), used to manage reusable hold groups.