> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tixfix.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Manage a seated event

> Watch seats sell on your live map, release a seat, and know what refunds and scanning do to seat assignments

Once a seat map is published and tickets are selling, the same editor becomes a live view of your room. This page covers what you can see there, what you can change, and how refunds and check-in interact with seat assignments.

***

## Watch seats sell

Open the event, go to the seat map step, and the canvas shows the current state of every seat. It refreshes every 15 seconds, so leave it open on a door-open morning and watch the room fill.

| What you see | Meaning |
| - | - |
| **Category color** | Available. |
| **Grey with a thin ring** | Held by a buyer who is checking out. It returns to available if they do not pay. |
| **Plain grey** | Sold. |
| **White with a dashed outline** | Blocked by you. It is not for sale. |

Buyers see sold seats in dark red so that a gone seat is never mistaken for an available one. On your canvas the same seats are plain grey.

Click any seat that is held or sold to see its section, row, seat number, and status. Click an available seat to block it, or a blocked seat to unblock it, exactly as you would on a draft. See [Block seats](/seating/build-a-seat-map#block-seats).

<Tip>
  Your draft edits and the live seat statuses share the same canvas. Edits you make are saved to a draft and do nothing to buyers until you [publish again](/seating/publish-a-seat-map#edit-a-live-map).
</Tip>

***

## Release a seat

Releasing puts a held or sold seat straight back on sale. Use it when the seat has to be freed and the normal refund route has not done it. For example, after a partial refund, or when you are moving a guest to a different seat.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the live map">
    Go to the seat map step for the event.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click the seat">
    A small panel names the seat, such as `Balcony · Row C · Seat 12`, with its status.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click Release seat">
    A confirmation asks whether to put the seat back on sale.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm with Release">
    You see `… is available again.` and the seat returns to its category color.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  Releasing a sold seat cannot be undone from the seat map. If someone bought that seat, sort out what happens to them separately: releasing does not refund them, email them, or change their order.
</Warning>

Release refuses in these cases:

| Message | Why |
| - | - |
| `Seat cannot be released: its ticket has already been scanned` | That guest is already inside. Their seat cannot be taken back. |
| `Seat is not held or sold` | The seat is available or blocked. There is nothing to release. |
| `Could not verify the ticket for this seat; try again` | TixFix could not check whether the ticket was scanned, so it refuses rather than risk removing the seat from someone who is inside. Try again in a moment. |

If the panel says a seat is not on the published map, publish again before releasing it.

***

## Refunds and seats

A full refund frees the seats automatically. A partial refund does not.

| Refund | What happens to the seats |
| - | - |
| **Full refund** | Once the money has gone back to the buyer, every seat on the order returns to available and can be sold again. The category's available count goes up to match. |
| **Partial refund** | The seats stay with the buyer. A partial refund is treated as a price adjustment, not a cancellation. Use [Release a seat](#release-a-seat) if you also need the seat back. |

The refund itself is the same as for any event. See [Transfer or cancel a ticket](/attendees/transfer-or-cancel) for how to issue one.

Freeing seats never blocks a refund. If the seat bookkeeping fails, the refund still succeeds and the problem is logged for TixFix to look at.

***

## Check-in

Door staff scan the ticket's QR code, and the ticket is what is checked, not the seat map. That means:

* Editing or republishing the map never invalidates a ticket already sold.
* A ticket keeps the section, row, and seat it was sold with, even if you later rename or move that section.
* A seat whose ticket has been scanned cannot be released.

See [Scanner app](/scanning/scanner-app) and [Troubleshoot scanning](/scanning/troubleshoot-scanning) for the door workflow.

***

## Duplicating an event

Duplicating a seated event copies the ticket categories and settings but not the seat map or the seating setting. The new event starts as ordinary general admission. Switch `Enable Reserved Seating` on in the new event and redraw the map.

***

## If something looks wrong

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="A seat shows as held but nobody seems to be buying">
    A buyer may have abandoned checkout. Holds last 5 minutes and free themselves, so it will return to available on its own. There is nothing to do.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="A seat was sold but the buyer says they never got tickets">
    In rare cases a payment can be interrupted between the charge and the ticket being issued. Email [contact@tixfix.ai](mailto:contact@tixfix.ai) with the event name and the buyer's email so TixFix can reconcile it. Do not release the seat first: the buyer may have paid for it.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Ticket counts in reports do not match what I drew">
    The count for a seated category is the seats on the published map, not blocked seats, and not whatever you typed in the category form. Check the before and after table from your last [publish](/seating/publish-a-seat-map#read-the-ticket-count-table).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>