Setup Guides

Set up your Clover. We'll walk you through it.

Step-by-step guides for getting your Clover system live — from unboxing to your first sale in under half a day. Pick your device, follow the steps, ask us if anything's unclear.

  • Live in under 4 hours
  • Free phone & on-site help
  • No technical skills needed
Your First Day

From unboxing to first sale in 6 steps.

The exact path our specialists walk every new customer through. Each step builds on the last — follow them in order and you'll be ringing real transactions before lunch.

01
15 min

Unbox & power on

Plug it in, push the power button, wait for the boot screen.

02
10 min

Connect to network

Wi-Fi or Ethernet — your device runs both, with auto-failover.

03
5 min

Sign in

Log in with the credentials in your welcome email. First sync starts.

04
45 min

Load your menu

Import items, set categories, add modifiers and pricing.

05
30 min

Configure payments

Test a card, set tip prompts, enable Apple Pay and Google Pay.

06
20 min

Train your team

Add staff users, assign roles, walk through ringing a sale.

Total time: about 2 hours · You're live before close-of-business
Browse Guides

Every guide, organized by topic.

Pick a category to filter. Each guide shows how long it takes and how technical it gets.

Unboxing & first power-on for Station Solo
Step-by-step: what's in the box, cable connections, first boot sequence.
15 min Beginner
Pairing the customer display with Station Duo
Connect the second screen, test the link, configure what the customer sees.
15 min Beginner
Connecting your Clover to Wi-Fi, Ethernet, or 4G LTE
Choose your connection method, set up failover, troubleshoot drops.
10 min Beginner
Loading paper into the receipt printer
Right roll, right orientation, no jams. With photos for each step.
5 min Beginner
Cash drawer connection & auto-open setup
Connect the RJ-12 cable, configure auto-open on cash sale, test the pulse.
10 min Beginner
Running your first test card transaction
Ring a $1 sale, refund it, confirm settlement — proves everything works.
10 min Beginner
Configuring tip prompts & tip percentages
Set the 3 prompt amounts, enable on the customer screen, choose pre/post-tax.
15 min Beginner
Processing refunds, voids, and store credit
When to use each one, how to track them, and what shows up on the customer's statement.
15 min Beginner
Enabling offline payments mode
Keep accepting cards when the internet is down. Configure limits and auto-sync.
10 min Intermediate
End-of-day reports & settlement timing
When the daily batch closes, when deposits arrive, how to verify totals match.
10 min Beginner
Adding your first 10 menu items
Build categories, add items with names, prices, and photos. Sync to all devices.
30 min Beginner
Setting up item modifiers (sizes, sides, options)
Create modifier groups, link them to items, set required vs optional, control pricing.
25 min Intermediate
Bulk-importing your menu from CSV
Use the Clover template, validate your data, import 100s of items in minutes.
20 min Intermediate
Inventory tracking & low-stock alerts
Enable auto-decrement on sale, set reorder thresholds, configure SMS/email alerts.
20 min Intermediate
Creating discounts & promotional codes
Percentage, dollar-off, item-specific, time-limited — all the discount types covered.
15 min Beginner
Adding staff & configuring roles
Create employee profiles, assign manager/cashier/server roles, set permissions.
15 min Beginner
Setting up the time clock & shifts
Enable clock-in/out, configure break policies, generate payroll-ready exports.
20 min Intermediate
Fingerprint login for staff
Enroll fingerprints, manage devices, fall back to PIN — secure and fast staff switching.
10 min Beginner
Tip-out rules & auto-distribution
Configure how tips are split between servers, bussers, and the bar — automatic or manual.
25 min Intermediate
Connecting a Kitchen Display System (KDS)
Pair the KDS, route orders by station, configure tickets and order timers.
30 min Intermediate
Enabling online ordering & delivery integration
Sync your menu to a public ordering page or to UberEats / DoorDash via Clover apps.
40 min Intermediate
Accounting sync — QuickBooks & Xero
Auto-export sales, refunds, tips, and tax into your accounting software daily.
25 min Intermediate
Setting up multi-location reporting
Group locations under one account, configure inter-location permissions, run consolidated reports.
45 min Advanced
Branding your Clover Kiosk UI
Upload logo, set brand colors, customize the menu layout, add background photos.
60 min Advanced
Using the Clover REST API for custom integrations
Authenticate, list resources, push updates — for developers building bespoke tools.
90 min Advanced

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New guides ship every month. Try another category, or get in touch and we'll walk you through what you need.

Stuck on a step?

A Great POS specialist can walk you through any setup on the phone, or come to your location. Same-day in major Canadian metros.

Setup Questions

Before you start.

The most common questions we hear from new customers in the first week.

Yes — and it's free with every Clover system. Choose between a 30-minute remote setup over phone/video, or have a specialist come to your location. For Kiosk, on-site setup is the default since it involves mounting hardware. For Mini, Solo, and Duo, most customers do remote setup since the devices are plug-and-play, but on-site is available if you'd prefer.

Three things: 1) Your Wi-Fi network name and password (or an Ethernet cable). 2) Your welcome email from us — it has your Clover login credentials. 3) A rough list of your menu items, modifiers, and prices. You don't need to have a perfect menu — you can refine as you go — but having the basics ready saves time at the menu-load step.

If your old POS exports to CSV, we can map it to Clover's import template in about 30 minutes. Just email support@greatpos.com with your CSV export and we'll handle the conversion and bulk-import for you. Most common migrations (Square, Lightspeed, Toast, Aloha) we've done before, so the mapping is already known.

You don't need to redo your setup. New devices added to your account auto-sync your menu, inventory, staff list, and settings the first time they connect to your network. Sign in, wait 60 seconds for the initial sync, and you're ringing sales on the new device with everything in place.

Most settings are reversible — wrong tip percentages, wrong tax rates, mis-categorized items, even staff permissions. You can undo from the Clover dashboard at any time. If you ever feel like you've made a mess, call us and we'll either fix it remotely or restore your account to a known-good state.

Yes. Use Training Mode in your device settings — it lets staff ring up sample transactions with a test card without affecting your real reports, inventory, or settlement. Most operations spend the first day in training mode while staff get familiar, then flip to live before opening for business.

You'll be taking your first real sale in about 2 hours from unboxing. "Fully set up" — meaning menu polished, staff trained, integrations connected, accounting synced — usually takes another day or two on top of that. Don't try to do it all in one sitting; the timeline above is designed so you can go live first and refine over the following week.