Skip to content 
PATHFINDER POS / HELP CENTER
Pathfinder POS
Support & how-to
Practical how-to guides and troubleshooting for the Pathfinder POS plugin. Find the next step, protect your transactions, and get help when you need it.
For store teams and managers. Available features and menu names can vary by version, payment provider, and staff permissions.
NEED A HAND?
Talk to Pathfinder.
Tell us what happened and what is on your screen. If a payment may have gone through, pause before trying again.
Include your store name and a callback number. Please do not send passwords or card details.
Payment status unclear? Pause before retrying.
A frozen screen, closed app, or missing receipt does not prove a payment failed. Check the existing order and payment record first. Cancelling an order does not automatically refund a payment. If the result is unclear, ask a manager or contact support before charging again.
FIND YOUR ANSWER
How can we help?
01 / Getting started
Getting started
Start with the register and sign-in method your manager has set up for your store.
Guide updated October 24, 2026. The instructions below cover features through Pathfinder POS 2.0.8. New buttons require the relevant plugin update and staff permission.
Open the right register
- Connect the iPad to the store’s approved Wi-Fi and make sure it has enough battery or is charging.
- Open your existing Pathfinder POS Home Screen icon, or the saved POS link in Safari if that is your store’s normal setup.
- Sign in with your own assigned staff account. Check that you are in the correct store and register.
- Before the first sale, check the equipment your store uses: card reader, receipt printer, barcode scanner, and cash drawer.
If you cannot sign in or do not have the correct access, ask your manager. Do not share another person’s password or create a second register to work around the problem.
Pause the register without cancelling a sale
The register’s Exit Register control can offer Leave register, followed by Register paused and Resume. This preserves the cart and recovery context.
Pausing is not a cancellation, refund, sign-out, or security lock. Complete or recover any active payment request first. Follow your store’s sign-out or device-lock procedure when leaving the register unattended.
02 / Checkout & payments
Checkout & payments
Review the sale before payment and verify the result before starting another transaction.
Complete a normal sale
- Scan or select the items. Confirm the product, variation, quantity, and price.
- Review any discount, tax, donation, or other enabled option. Follow your store’s approval rules.
- Select the correct payment method and amount. Only use methods configured for your store.
- Follow the POS and card-reader prompts. Submit the payment once and wait for the result.
- Confirm that the sale is recorded as completed, then print or email the receipt as needed.
A receipt-printing error does not mean the payment failed. Reprint the original receipt rather than creating another sale.
Change quantity quickly: use the − and + controls beside a product or Category in the cart, or beside Quantity in the price-entry/edit screen. Tap the quantity to enter it manually. Minus stops at one; use X to remove the item. Donation and gift-card funding quantities stay fixed.
Add a customer when needed: use the Customer button before or during checkout to choose an existing customer or create one. There is no mandatory customer-selection step after Checkout.
Card declined: a red “Card declined — payment not collected” message shows the supported bank reason, such as Insufficient funds, and the remaining balance. Keep the customer at the register. Use Back to payment methods to safely stop/check the current card request, then choose another tender. Status checks do not automatically recharge a declined card. Wait for Sale complete before considering the sale paid.
Switch from card to cash without starting over · 2.0.8
If the reader is waiting for a card and the customer wants another payment method, use the iPad controls below. Closing the app does not stop a card payment.
- Tap Stop card & change payment at the top of the card-payment screen. The button stays visible while scrolling and remains available during the initial card request and payment-status checks.
- Wait for Pathfinder to confirm whether that exact card payment stopped or was approved. If another request is running, the stop waits for it to finish.
- When the payment choices return, select Cash, enter the amount received, and record payment. Check or Gift card can also be selected when enabled. The same order, items, customer, and recorded payments stay saved.
- For multiple tenders, choose Switch to split payment instead. The pending card request is stopped and checked before split payment opens for the actual remaining balance.
If the card was already approved: Pathfinder preserves the payment and completes the sale or shows the remaining balance. Do not collect cash for an amount already paid. A completed card payment requires a return/refund to send money back.
If stopping cannot be confirmed: use Retry stop & check payment to check the same request. Wait for confirmation before taking another tender; do not create a duplicate sale.
Still on 2.0.7? Scroll below the payment details and choose Back to payment methods or Stop card reader payment. During a manual status check, allow it to finish before tapping. Update to 2.0.8 for the prominent controls above.
The screen timed out or the customer may have paid
- Stop. Do not press Pay again, start a duplicate sale, or assume a timeout means a decline.
- Stay with the original sale. If offered, use Check payment status or the Sale recovery workflow.
- Have an authorized manager compare the original order and payment record. Keep the order number and note the time and amount.
- If the result is still uncertain, contact support before collecting another payment or issuing a refund.
Do not clear browser history or website data, reinstall the app, or reset the device while a sale needs recovery. These actions can remove recovery information.
Donation question timed out? The diagnostic collect_inputs_timeout concerns an on-screen reader question, not a card-payment result. If checkout completed normally, this entry alone does not require a payment retry. If the question blocks checkout, use Skip customer question or Reader help → Cancel customer question. Repeated timeouts while customers are answering should be reported to support.
03 / Cancel an order
Cancel an order
First identify whether you are clearing the current sale, cancelling a saved unpaid order, or returning a paid sale.
Cancel the current sale or cart
- Check whether any payment has already been collected or is still pending.
- Only when no payment has been collected or is pending, use Cancel Order for the current sale. Read the confirmation before choosing Cancel Order & start over.
- Wait for the POS to confirm the cancellation. A pending card payment may need to be checked first.
- If the POS reports that payment was collected, stop. Keep that order and ask a manager to use its return workflow.
Stopping a card-reader prompt or closing the iPad app is not a refund. Never clear a payment warning just to get back to an empty cart.
Cancel a saved unpaid order
- Open Orders and find the correct order. Verify its order number, date, total, and payment status.
- An authorized manager can use Cancel order when the order is eligible, then review the Cancel unpaid order confirmation.
- Confirm that the order now shows a cancelled status. Keep the record for your audit trail.
If the cancellation option is missing, the order is paid, or the payment status is unclear, stop and ask a manager or support. Do not delete the order or change its status simply to hide it.
04 / Returns & refunds
Returns & refunds
Use the original order and your store’s return policy. Returns and refunds require the appropriate staff permissions.
Return a paid sale
- Open the original sale in Orders and choose Return.
- Check the eligible items, quantities, and amounts. Enter the reason and choose whether to restock only when appropriate.
- Choose the intended outcome: Refund original payment method or, where enabled and permitted, Issue store credit on gift card.
- Use Review refund and carefully verify the final amount, payment method, and any prior refunds before confirming.
- Wait for confirmation and check the original order’s updated refund or return record.
Cash and check returns require the actual funds to be returned to the customer according to store procedure. Recording a return does not hand money back. Store credit adds value to a gift card; it is not a refund to the customer’s card.
Interrupted refunds or partly paid split sales
If a refund times out, recover or check that same refund request. Do not start a second refund while the first result is uncertain.
A split-payment sale with money already collected cannot be treated as an empty, unpaid cart. Ask a manager to use the relevant recovery or Return collected portions & abort workflow, if available. Verify every collected portion and any cash or check returned before confirming.
If the correct next step is not clear, stop and contact support. Cancelling an order or manually marking it Refunded in WordPress does not by itself prove that money was returned.
05 / Close & reopen on iPad
Close & reopen on iPad
If the POS locks up, follow this recovery sequence before contacting support: check the transaction, cancel the current unpaid order if the controls respond, then force-close and reopen the POS. If the screen is too frozen to cancel, reopen first and check the original order before trying again.
POS locked up? Cancel, close & reopen
- Check payment status first. A frozen screen does not prove that a payment failed. If any payment or refund succeeded, is pending, or has an unknown result, do not cancel the sale or charge again. Note the order number, time, and amount, and use Check payment status or Sale recovery if offered. If the screen is too frozen to check, reopen the app using the steps below, then check the original transaction.
- Cancel the current unpaid order if the POS responds. Only when no payment has been collected or is pending, use Cancel Order, review the confirmation, and choose Cancel Order & start over. Wait for confirmation. If the controls are frozen and you cannot cancel, do not keep tapping; continue to close and reopen, then review the original order.
- Force-close the POS app. On an iPad without a Home button, swipe up from the bottom edge and pause in the middle to open the App Switcher. On an iPad with a Home button, double-click it. Find the Pathfinder POS app preview and swipe it up to close. If you normally use the POS in Safari, close Safari’s preview instead.
- Reopen the same POS. Open your usual Pathfinder POS Home Screen icon or reopen Safari and return to your usual POS tab. Sign in if required.
- Check the original order and payment record before a new attempt. Use the original order or sale-recovery screen, not a duplicate sale. If you could not cancel earlier, confirm that the original order is unpaid with no pending payment, then use the appropriate cancel-order workflow. Do not collect another payment if the original one succeeded, is pending, or remains uncertain.
- Contact support if recovery fails. If the POS still locks up or the error returns after reopening, contact Pathfinder support with the order details and what you already tried. If payment or refund status is still unclear, contact your manager or support before retrying.
Force-closing is for an unresponsive app, not normal daily use. Closing the app does not cancel an order, and cancelling an order does not refund a payment. Keep recovery data intact; do not clear website data or reinstall the app.
Still frozen, or stuck after printing?
If printing opened Star PassPRNT, switch back to the same POS app you started from. A Home Screen app may not automatically regain focus, and a Safari session can have a separate sign-in.
If the iPad itself remains unresponsive, follow Apple’s iPad restart guidance. Keep any unresolved order details available and check its status after reopening.
Do not delete the Home Screen app, clear website data, factory-reset the iPad, or reinstall equipment software as a routine fix. Contact support before removing data or configuration.
After a plugin update
- Finish any active sale and confirm Sale complete, or recover its payment status first.
- After the update is installed, close and reopen Pathfinder POS on every iPad. Reload while connected if the old interface remains.
- Reload any open WordPress till/settings pages too. An already-open register may otherwise keep older scripts.
If an update occurred during payment, recover that same order before taking another charge. Do not clear website data to force an update.
Load the 2.0.8 checkout buttons after an update
- Have a manager finish or safely recover active checkouts before installing the update.
- After the plugin is updated, fully close Pathfinder POS on every iPad and reopen it from its Home Screen icon. Closing just the checkout dialog does not reload the app.
- On an iPad with a Home button, double-click Home to open the app switcher, then swipe the Pathfinder POS app preview upward to close it. On an iPad without a Home button, swipe up from the bottom and pause, then swipe the app preview upward.
- Reopen Pathfinder POS. The next card-payment screen should show Stop card & change payment at the top. If the old controls remain, ask a manager to confirm version 2.0.8 is installed before starting another payment.
Do not clear Safari website data or local storage to update the app; saved checkout recovery information may be needed.
06 / WordPress settings
WordPress settings
The WordPress dashboard is the store’s back office. Use your own store website and an account with the appropriate permissions.
Find Pathfinder POS in the back office
- Open your store’s approved WordPress login or admin bookmark. If you know the correct site address, its usual dashboard path is /wp-admin/.
- Sign in with your assigned account. This is your store’s website, not Pathfinder Creative’s marketing website.
- In the left menu, look for Pathfinder POS. Open it to find the available settings tabs.
- If the menu is missing or a setting is unavailable, ask your manager or Pathfinder support to confirm your access and installed version.
Do not reinstall the plugin, grant yourself additional access, or change working payment settings to make a menu appear.
Where to look for common settings
- Overview / Setup Guide: register setup information and the available setup steps.
- Business: store and business information used by the POS.
- Receipts: printed receipt layout and email-receipt options. Sections can have separate Save controls.
- Hardware: printer and cash drawer, barcode scanner, and card-reader setup.
- Payments: payment-account and reader configuration. Leave working credentials and connections unchanged during basic troubleshooting.
- Categories / Weekly Promotions: the relevant register catalog and promotion options, where enabled.
Only authorized managers should change settings. Capture the original value, change one approved setting at a time, and use the relevant Save control. Arrange any test with your manager; do not toggle Test Mode or run a live payment just to troubleshoot.
Find orders and products
In standard WooCommerce, use WooCommerce → Orders to locate an order and Products → All Products to find product information. Access and menus depend on your role and site configuration.
Use the order number and date to confirm you have the right record. Review its status, payment information, and order notes before making a change. Changing an order status is not the same as sending a refund through the payment provider.
If a POS feature or setting is not where this guide describes, send support a screenshot of the menu with private information hidden.
Are cash sales in WooCommerce? Yes. Online cash, check, card, and gift-card/split sales create real WooCommerce orders. An order can exist before it is paid, so check payment status too. Offline cash/check sales appear after a successful sync. Training carts are not completed live sales; test orders are kept out of live sales reports.
Order times: current register versions use the timezone in WordPress → Settings → General, rather than the device timezone. Choose a city such as Denver for automatic daylight-saving changes. Stripe’s own dashboard timezone is separate.
07 / Receipts & equipment
Receipts & equipment
Troubleshoot the output or connection without repeating the sale.
Print or reprint a receipt
- Open the saved receipt for the correct order and choose Print receipt.
- If your setup uses Star PassPRNT, allow the expected handoff to that app.
- Check the printer itself to see whether a receipt actually printed before trying again.
- Switch back to the same register app after printing.
If nothing prints, check power, paper, the paper-cover latch, the normal cable or connection, and the selected printer in PassPRNT. Do not replace the sale with a new order to get a receipt.
If you see plus signs, odd symbols, wrapping, or missing text, send a photo with the order number, printer model, and app/plugin version. Do not guess at encoding or reset the printer.
Email receipts, scanners, and cash drawers
- Email receipt missing: confirm the address through your store’s approved process and check spam or junk. Ask a manager to check the POS Receipts settings if the issue affects multiple orders. Avoid repeatedly resending without checking.
- Barcode not found: confirm the item, barcode, and product variation. Try your approved product search rather than scanning repeatedly or creating a duplicate product.
- Cash drawer will not open: check its lock position, power/connection where applicable, and printer connection if your drawer is printer-driven. Use only the approved opening procedure; do not force the drawer.
- Card reader disconnected: check power and its normal connection. If a charge may be pending, verify that transaction before reconnecting, switching devices, or retrying payment.
Automatic email receipts (2.0.2+): enable email receipt delivery in Pathfinder POS → Receipts. A completed online sale with a valid customer email then queues a receipt automatically; no separate receipt checkbox is needed. Adding the email to the same paid sale through its checkout Customer screen also uses the same receipt queue. Subscribe to deals remains a separate explicit choice.
If no mail-log entry appears, verify the order’s billing email and receipt setting. If the receipt stays queued, ask a manager to review the pathfinder_pos_send_receipt scheduled action and website cron. Accepted means handed to WordPress/mail provider, not guaranteed inbox delivery. Check provider delivery/bounce logs if mail was accepted but is missing. Updates do not automatically resend older missed receipts.
08 / Gift cards
Gift cards
These options apply only when gift cards are enabled and configured for your store.
Check, sell, or reload a gift card
Check a balance: open Gift cards → Check balance and scan or enter the card through the approved POS workflow. A balance lookup does not add value.
Sell or reload: use the available Sell card, Activate & fund, or Reload card option. Scan the physical card, review the Value to add, choose Add funding to cart, and complete payment. Value is added only after full payment completes.
Do not use one gift card to fund another. The manager-only Activate existing card action is different: it requires an audit reason and does not add value.
If a balance or funding result is unclear, keep the original order and ask a manager to verify it. Do not re-import, reissue, or reload the card as a workaround. Never send the full gift-card code in an ordinary support email.
Using the barcode scanner: press its trigger to wake it, allow about three seconds for Bluetooth reconnection, then scan the gift-card barcode into the relevant gift-card field. Connection time can vary by scanner. Wired and Bluetooth scanners that enter barcode text as keyboard input use the same workflow.
09 / Reports: print or save a PDF
Reports: print or save a PDF
Create a branded report using the selected dates and filters. PDFs generate on demand and are not retained on the website.
Sales and Donations reports
- Open Dashboard in the register, or open Reports under the Pathfinder POS WordPress menu.
- Choose Sales or Donations, set the dates and available filters, and select Refresh.
- Choose Print / PDF → Open PDF to print or save.
- On iPad, use Share → Print or Save to Files. On desktop, use the PDF viewer’s print or download controls.
The report includes your configured business logo/details and primary brand color, totals, readable tables, and page numbers. It uses the same calculations as the dashboard. Standard PDFs begin with report content on page one and include repeated table headers on longer reports.
Before sharing a report
Confirm the dates, timezone, order source, and whether you are viewing live sales or tests. Check the report notes: line totals exclude tax, shipping, and fees; unallocated refunds need review. Donation reports do not by themselves reconcile Stripe fees or payouts.
Business identity and colors come from Business settings. PNG/JPEG logos work directly; WebP needs host image-conversion support. If the logo is missing, try a PNG. The PDF is generated privately for an authorized report user; it is not added to the Media Library.
10 / Till reconciliation & saved history
Till reconciliation & saved history
Use the selected day’s collected cash/check transactions and saved counts. Till worksheets are shared by date for the site, not separate per-register worksheets.
Save and reopen a day’s counts
- Open Pathfinder POS → Till Reconciliation, or its Till settings tab, in your store’s WordPress dashboard.
- Choose the date and select View day. Dates use the website timezone.
- Enter Opening till, Cash removed / paid out, and Actual drawer count.
- Wait for Saved, or click Save till amounts. Review Expected drawer, Over / short, and Deposit / cash to remove.
- Select another day, then return to the saved date to restore its amounts, including from another device.
History covers today and the preceding 29 calendar days. Earlier worksheet counts are pruned on later saves; WooCommerce orders are not deleted. Counts entered before history was introduced were never stored and cannot be recovered by an update. Dates with no saved worksheet start with default fields, not reconstructed counts.
If another manager changed the same day, reload before overwriting their saved amounts. A save error means you should keep the page open and resolve it. Printing or switching dates waits for pending saves.
Print or save the till PDF
- Select the day and review the counts.
- Click Print / Save PDF beside Print closeout. Pending edits save first.
- Click Open PDF to print or save. On iPad, choose Share → Print or Save to Files.
The branded PDF includes opening till, cash removed, actual count, expected cash, over/short, deposit amount, saved-count details, and cash/check/review lists. If saved counts changed after the PDF link was prepared, reload the worksheet and generate it again. Missing historical counts are marked Not recorded; older dates can still show their order transactions. No PDF file is stored on the website.
Check the reconciliation rules
Expected drawer = opening till + collected cash − cash removed. Deposit/cash to remove leaves the opening float. Include cash refunds and paid-outs in Cash removed; they are not automatically subtracted. Checks are shown separately.
Review refunds, unfinished orders, and split portions before closing. The report uses orders created on the selected day; a refund today for an older order still needs today’s cash movement entered separately. Saving worksheet amounts does not change orders or payments.
11 / Categories & product links
Categories & product links
Reusable Categories must link to real published simple Woo products with stock management off. Their product identity supports coupons and reporting.
Find a linked product
- Open Categories in Pathfinder POS settings.
- Add or edit a Category, then choose its linked Woo product.
- Search by product name or full/partial SKU. Results show 15 options per page; use Previous and Next to browse further matches.
- Select the product and Save Categories. If needed, use Create matching Woo product instead.
New or edited Categories require a valid linked product. A product hidden as a separate POS tile can still back a reusable Category. If links change while an unpaid cart is open, use Review Category updates to confirm the new mappings without discarding the entered cart.
Put Categories in alphabetical order
Choose Sort A–Z in either Category editor, then Save Categories. This sorts the current names while retaining the product links and other edits. The saved order is used in the register. Move up/down is still available for a custom order.
12 / Quick troubleshooting
Quick troubleshooting
Try the smallest safe check first. Escalate when payment status, saved data, or configuration could be affected.
Common problems and the next safe step
- POS locked up, blank, or slow: check the iPad’s connection, then follow the cancel, force-close, and reopen sequence before contacting support. Cancel only an unpaid order with no pending payment; if frozen, reopen first and check the original transaction before retrying.
- Login expired: return through the same Home Screen app or usual Safari session and sign in with your own account. If access is denied, ask your manager.
- Product, price, or promotion looks wrong: verify the selected product and variation. Ask a manager to check the relevant product or promotion settings rather than overriding the price without approval.
- Permission message: send your manager the exact message. Different staff roles intentionally have different tools.
- Repeated error: stop repeating the action. Note the time, exact wording, last successful step, and whether other registers are affected.
- Internet unavailable: follow your store’s approved outage procedure. Do not assume a card payment or new order will safely complete offline.
Keep recovery data intact. Avoid clearing cookies, cache, or website storage; deleting the app; resetting equipment; disabling plugins; or changing payment credentials unless support has reviewed the situation and your manager has approved the change.
LET’S GET YOU MOVING
Get the right help,
with less back-and-forth.
Email support@pathfindercreative.com or call (406) 926-0280. Tell us if checkout is blocked or if a customer may already have been charged.
Include these details
- Store name, website address, and your callback number
- What you were trying to do and the exact error message
- When it happened, including your time zone
- The order number, if relevant, and whether payment or a refund may have completed
- iPad model, iPadOS version, and whether you use a Home Screen app or Safari
- Pathfinder POS version and printer/reader model, if known
- The checks you already tried and whether other registers are affected
- A screenshot or photo with customer and payment details hidden
Keep private information private. Do not email passwords, login codes, full card numbers, security codes, customer records, or full gift-card codes. Crop or blur sensitive information in screenshots.
Related references: Apple: close and reopen an iPad app · Apple: restart an iPad · Star PassPRNT documentation
Use the instructions that match your store’s installed version and approved procedures. If a button, message, or outcome differs, stop and ask for help before changing a transaction.
