What's the difference between unpublishing, closing, and locking?

Unpublish takes the page down — the link shows nothing. A closed sheet (past its Closes time) stays up so people can see the schedule and who's on it, but nothing new is taken; volunteers can still cancel. A locked sheet freezes everything, cancellations included, until you unlock it. Use close when you need the final list; use lock when the list is printed and any change should go through you.

What do people see before it opens?

The whole sheet — every slot, read-only — with a line at the top: “Sign-ups open Mon, Oct 12 at 9:00 AM CDT.” The buttons are greyed out until that minute. Share the link early; nobody can jump the gun.

Which time zone are the open and close times in?

Your church's. It's set once under the Sign-up window card (Time zone) and used for every sheet. If someone opens the page from another zone, the opening time is still shown in yours, with the zone name after it.

Can I say something of my own when the sheet is closed?

Yes. The Closed note on the sheet's After they sign up card (Settings tab) appears under the standard “Sign-ups for this sheet have closed” line while the sheet is closed or locked — “The schedule is set; email Deacon Ray to swap a Sunday.” It isn't shown before the sheet opens, and a plain form shows it once it reaches its response limit too.

Can I still add people after it closes?

Yes. Closing and locking only stop the public page. You can add, move, and remove volunteers from the Sign-ups tab at any time, and send a message to everyone on the sheet.

What happens to the waitlist and reminders?

A closed or locked sheet makes no new waitlist offers, and nobody can join its waitlist. Reminders to people already signed up still go out as usual — closing the sheet doesn't cancel anyone. The spots-still-open heads-up and the last call skip sheets that aren't taking sign-ups.

Does the window carry over when I duplicate or repeat a sheet?

A recurring sheet's next occurrence keeps the same rhythm — “opens Monday 9 AM, closes Saturday noon” moves forward with the date — and is never created locked. Move all dates moves the window by the same number of days. A duplicate starts with no window.

go tell it on the mountain

Publish, share & embed

Sheets start as drafts. When yours is ready, one click makes it public — and you get three ways to put it in front of your people.

The short answer: Click Publish in the sheet's editor, then share it three ways: copy the short link, download a QR code for bulletins and slides, or embed the sheet on your church website. Unpublish any time — sign-ups are kept.

Publish your sheet

In the sheet's editor, click Publish in the status bar under the title. The bar turns green and shows your live link. You can Unpublish at any time — the page goes dark but every sign-up is kept. On the Free plan the bar also shows how many of your active sheets are in use before you press Publish, so you know whether this one fits or another needs unpublishing first.

Share the link

Every sheet gets a short public link like signupchurch.com/s/easter-greeters. Copy it with the Copy link button in the status bar at the top of the sheet (beside Preview or Unpublish), or from the Link & QR code card on the Share tab, which shows the full link with its own Copy link button. Both work on a draft too, so you can line up the announcement first — the link starts working the moment you publish. You can customize the ending (the “slug”) on the Share tab — old links keep redirecting after a change, so nothing you already printed breaks.

Links that arrive filled in. Add ?name=Maria&email=maria@example.com to the end of the link (a phone goes in &phone=) and the form opens with those boxes already filled — handy for a newsletter tool or ChMS mail merge that can insert each person's details. The invitations and last call SignUpChurch sends for you already do this. It's a convenience only: the volunteer can change every box, and the sign-up is checked like any other.

Control the link preview

When your link is shared in a group chat or on social media, it unfurls into a preview card. The Search & link preview card on the sheet's Share tab controls all of it: the meta title and meta description (leave them blank to use the sheet title and description) and the preview image. By default the image is a card we generate from your sheet — title, your organization's name, and event date. Basic and Pro accounts can upload their own PNG, JPEG, or WebP (1200×630 works best, up to 1MB) with Upload image, and Remove it any time to go back to the generated card.

Uploaded images aren't kept forever: the day after the event, the image is deleted automatically and the sheet is archived (every sign-up is kept — restore it from the dashboard any time). Archiving a sheet yourself deletes its uploaded image a day later too. On a recurring form the image stays with the series, carried onto each new occurrence. Duplicate copies it onto the new draft as well (on Basic and Pro), as long as the original still has it.

Print the QR code

The Link & QR code card on the sheet's Share tab has a print-ready QR code that points at your public page — download it as PNG or SVG and put it on slides, posters, or connect cards. If you change the link, the QR code regenerates automatically.

Print a paper sign-up sheet

Once a sheet is published, Print sign-up sheet sits beside Unpublish at the top of the sheet and on the Share tab. It opens a page for the welcome table: every slot with who's already on it, a blank line for each open spot so people can write their names in, and the QR code at the top for anyone with a phone (Basic & Pro). Afterward, key the handwritten names in — see Sign people up on paper.

Embed it on your website

The Embed on your website card (also on Share) gives you a snippet to paste into your website — either inline (the form appears right on the page) or as a popup button. Sign-ups made through the embed work exactly like the public page. Step-by-step guides for Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, Webflow, Google Sites, Nucleus, Tithe.ly Sites, and Subsplash are in the Embed on your website section.

Want the form to match your organization's look? The Design panel on each sheet (and the account-wide design page) lets Basic and Pro accounts set fonts, colors, spacing (Compact, Comfortable, or Spacious — how tightly the page and its slot cards are packed), and a logo. Pick the logo's size (small, medium, or large) and position (left, or centered, which also centers your church name, title, and date). If your logo already includes your church name, a checkbox under the logo hides the repeated name text on your forms. If a color combo would be too low-contrast for volunteers to read, the editor asks for a stronger pairing before saving.

Open and close sign-ups on a schedule

Publishing makes the page public; the Sign-up window card on the sheet's Settings tab controls when it actually takes sign-ups. Set an Opens time to share the link ahead of a fair start — VBS registration that opens Monday at 9 so nobody camps the page the night before. Set a Closes time when you need the final list — the Thursday before, so the schedule can be printed. Either one is optional; leave a box blank for no limit.

Before it opens, people see every slot but can't pick, with a line that says when sign-ups open. After it closes, nothing new is taken — no sign-ups, no waitlist joins, no changes to a spot — but volunteers can still cancel, so a sick greeter is never trapped. The status bar under the title shows a badge (Opens … or Sign-ups closed) whenever a window is in effect.

To freeze a sheet by hand, tick Lock this sheet on the same card. A locked sheet takes no sign-ups, changes, or cancellations until you unlock it — for when the schedule is printed and any change should go through you. You can always add, move, or remove people yourself from the Sign-ups tab; the window and the lock only ever apply to the public page.

Times are read in your church's time zone, shown beside the boxes (for example CDT). Set it once from the card's Time zone row; it applies to every sheet. Slot times are unaffected — they stay exactly as you typed them.

Want the closed page to say something of your own? The Closed note on the After they sign up card (same tab) appears under the standard line while the sheet is closed or locked — who to email, where the waiting list is. See Say thanks in your own words.

A link for the team leader, not the public

Beside the public link, the Share tab offers a Read-only roster link: a private address that shows who has signed up — with contact details and answers — for a coordinator who needs the list but not a login or the power to change it. See See your sign-ups.

One link for everything: your church page

Sharing several sheets at once — three services, a season of serving? Instead of a link per sheet, turn on your church page: one public link that lists every published sheet you tick, with open-spot counts, and stays right as sheets come and go. Tick Show on your church page on this sheet's Share tab, and see Your church page for the rest.

Common questions

What's the difference between unpublishing, closing, and locking?: Unpublish takes the page down — the link shows nothing. A closed sheet (past its Closes time) stays up so people can see the schedule and who's on it, but nothing new is taken; volunteers can still cancel. A locked sheet freezes everything, cancellations included, until you unlock it. Use close when you need the final list; use lock when the list is printed and any change should go through you.
What do people see before it opens?: The whole sheet — every slot, read-only — with a line at the top: “Sign-ups open Mon, Oct 12 at 9:00 AM CDT.” The buttons are greyed out until that minute. Share the link early; nobody can jump the gun.
Which time zone are the open and close times in?: Your church's. It's set once under the Sign-up window card (Time zone) and used for every sheet. If someone opens the page from another zone, the opening time is still shown in yours, with the zone name after it.
Can I say something of my own when the sheet is closed?: Yes. The Closed note on the sheet's After they sign up card (Settings tab) appears under the standard “Sign-ups for this sheet have closed” line while the sheet is closed or locked — “The schedule is set; email Deacon Ray to swap a Sunday.” It isn't shown before the sheet opens, and a plain form shows it once it reaches its response limit too.
Can I still add people after it closes?: Yes. Closing and locking only stop the public page. You can add, move, and remove volunteers from the Sign-ups tab at any time, and send a message to everyone on the sheet.
What happens to the waitlist and reminders?: A closed or locked sheet makes no new waitlist offers, and nobody can join its waitlist. Reminders to people already signed up still go out as usual — closing the sheet doesn't cancel anyone. The spots-still-open heads-up and the last call skip sheets that aren't taking sign-ups.
Does the window carry over when I duplicate or repeat a sheet?: A recurring sheet's next occurrence keeps the same rhythm — “opens Monday 9 AM, closes Saturday noon” moves forward with the date — and is never created locked. Move all dates moves the window by the same number of days. A duplicate starts with no window.

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