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Open and Close the Register

Every day of cash handling runs inside a drawer session: you open the register with a counted starting float, ring sales, log any cash that moves in or out mid-day, and close by counting the drawer. Omnivo computes the expected cash and records the over/short — and prints a receipt-style slip on your register printer at open and at close.

Where to find it: on the web POS terminal, click Drawer in the top bar. On the iPad app, use the Drawer tab.

Open the register (start of day)​

  1. Take the till insert out of the safe and count it before looking at any screen.
  2. Open the Drawer panel and choose Open Register.
  3. Enter the counted starting cash. If your store has a standard float (for example $150), it's pre-filled — just confirm it matches what you counted. Use Count by denomination to enter each bill and coin count and let Omnivo total them.
  4. Confirm. The cash drawer pops so you can seat the till, and an opening slip prints — sign it and drop it in the till.

On the iPad register, opening and closing both check that the receipt printer is connected first, because the drawer pop and the opening and closing slips all go through it. If the printer is unplugged or powered off you'll see Receipt printer not connected instead of the count screen, and the register starts looking for the printer on its own. Fix the cable or power and the open or close continues by itself; if it gives up after about ten seconds, tap Retry Connection. See iPad Receipt Printer.

Each register keeps its own session. A register that already has an open drawer can't be opened again until it's closed.

:::note Cash needs an open register By default, the POS refuses cash payments (and cash refunds) while the register has no open drawer session — the checkout shows an "Open Register" prompt that takes you to the Drawer panel. Card payments always go through, since they never touch the drawer. Your administrator can relax this per store, but leaving it on is what keeps the day reconcilable. :::

During the day​

Open the Drawer panel any time to see the session at a glance: starting cash, net cash sales, refunds, and any cash movements.

  • No Sale — pops the drawer without a sale (making change for a neighbor register, for example). Every no-sale is logged with who did it.
  • Cash In/Out — records money that moves outside of a sale, with a required reason:
    • Paid Out — cash taken to pay for goods or services ("ice for cooler"). Keep the paper receipt in the till.
    • Paid In — cash added to the drawer outside of a sale.
    • Safe Drop — excess cash moved from the drawer to the safe. Drop the slip in the till so the paper trail matches.
  • Print Snapshot — prints a mid-day (X) reading of the session.

All of these adjust the expected cash, so the drawer still balances at close.

Close the register (end of day)​

  1. Finish or void any in-progress sales.
  2. In the Drawer panel, choose Close Register.
  3. Pull the till to a quiet spot and count every bill and coin — Omnivo does a blind count by default, meaning the expected amount stays hidden until after you've entered your total, and so does the day's cash sales figure (your own paid in/out and safe drops still show). Count what's actually there, not what the screen says should be there.
  4. Enter the counted total (the denomination counter works here too), add a note if anything unusual happened, and confirm. If your store requires a witness, a second person picks their name and enters their PIN on the same screen before the close goes through; they must be someone other than the closer.
  5. Omnivo reveals the reconciliation: expected cash, your counted cash, and the over/short. The close slip prints automatically with the full breakdown — starting cash, cash sales, change given, refunds, paid in/out, safe drops, tender totals (with each card brand listed under the card total), and the variance. Card payments settle automatically on the payment processor's schedule — no batch step is needed at close. (Stores whose processor account is dedicated to the POS can optionally have the close also submit the card batch; the slip then shows a Card batch line with the batch status and number.)
  6. The slip has two signature lines: the closer and a witness (named on the slip when the store requires one). Count with a second person and have both sign, then wrap the slip around the deposit. The slip also shows how much to leave as tomorrow's float and how much to deposit.

Need another copy? Print Slip on the result screen reprints it, and after you leave that screen the closed register view keeps a Reprint Close Slip button for the most recent session. Reprints are marked on the paper and counted.

A closed session is final — it can't be reopened or edited. If a count was wrong, tell your manager; corrections are recorded against the session rather than rewriting it.

Donations and rounding on the drawer​

While the register is open, the drawer screen (web and iPad) shows This session's giving as soon as there is any: the donations taken so far, split into Round-up donations and Checkout donations with their counts, and Cash rounding with its sign. It is not a cash count, so it shows whether or not the store uses blind close.

When the register closes, the result screen shows This session's sales alongside expected and counted cash: net sales, tax, the same giving lines, and whether the session balanced — that is, whether net sales, tax, donations and rounding foot to the tenders — with the difference if not. The printed close slip carries the same lines, with Round-ups and Gifts indented under Contributions. A session that does not balance is a sale that never footed, not a miscount, and it lands on Giving Exceptions for review.

Over/short and manager review​

Every close records its variance. When the over/short exceeds your store's threshold (the default is $5), Omnivo raises an alert for manager review. Consistent small variances — including overages — are worth watching, not just big shortages.

Store settings​

Per-store drawer behavior is configurable by your administrator: the standard float amount, whether closes are blind, the variance-alert threshold, whether opening/closing slips print automatically, whether a witness is required to close, whether cash is blocked while the register is unopened (on by default), and whether closing the drawer also submits the card batch (off by default — leave it off if online donations run through the same payment processor account, since batches cover the whole account, not just the store).

Managers with the see expected cash permission can view the running expected amount mid-day; cashiers count blind.