October 20, 2026 | 6 min read
Short answers to the questions organizers and desk staff ask most often about Eventact Arrival. Each answer links to the guide in this series that covers the topic in full.
A cloud-based check-in and badge printing system. It has three components: the Arrival Desk for staff-operated check-in, the Arrival Kiosk for attendee self-check-in, and the Eventact Printer App, which prints the badges. See Eventact Arrival: An Introduction to Event Check-in.
No. Arrival works as a standalone check-in solution. You can create a project at arrival.eventact.com, import your guest list from an Excel file, and design badges there - see Simplified setup at arrival.eventact.com. If your registration already runs in Eventact, set Arrival up from the back office instead: guests sync automatically, so there is nothing to export or import, and online registration can stay open during the event.
Use the back office setup if you manage your event in Eventact - it gives full control over every Arrival feature. Use the arrival.eventact.com setup if you only need check-in and badges. You can also use both in parallel. Either way, the desk itself is always operated from arrival.eventact.com.
Desk operators sign in at arrival.eventact.com with an Eventact user account - Account Name, Username, and Password. These users are created in advance in the Eventact back office, even if Arrival is used on its own. Personal accounts for each operator are recommended over a shared login. See Arrival Desk users.
Arrival Desk and Arrival Kiosk run in a standard browser on any laptop, PC, or tablet - Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS. A touch screen is recommended for kiosks - check-in uses an on-screen keypad. A keyboard is needed only for on-site registration and the "I forgot my code" reminder. The Eventact Printer App needs a Windows PC or notebook.
Not necessarily. Desks and kiosks can scan QR codes and e-tickets with the device's built-in camera - turn the camera on in the desk's Gear Icon ⚙ settings or the kiosk setup page. An external USB QR code scanner connected to the desk works too.
Any printer with a Windows driver - label printers, inkjet, and laser printers all work. Direct thermal printers suit small to medium one-day events; thermal transfer printers suit large conferences and exhibitions. For the trade-offs, see Choosing a Badge Printer for Your Event. A local USB connection between the printer and the Windows machine gives the best performance.
Yes. Each printer gets a Printer ID in the Eventact Printer App, and any desk or kiosk set to that number sends its badges there. On the desk, the number is set under Gear Icon ⚙ > Printer; on the kiosk, it is the Print to field on the setup page.
No. Each desk, kiosk, and Printer App connects directly to the internet and syncs through the cloud - the Printer App simply checks the cloud for new badges. There is no local network to configure, and the components can sit on different networks.
If the venue network has high latency, increase the Interval in the Printer App's printer settings - how often, in milliseconds, it checks for new badges (the default is 2500 ms).
A shared high-bandwidth connection is generally preferred: it handles the varying demands of several desks better and keeps each desk fast at peak times. Separate low-bandwidth lines can be more cost-effective and less prone to congestion, which makes them a fit for smaller events. See the setup guide FAQ.
Scan the guest's e-ticket or QR code, or start typing in the search field. You can search by name, organization, registration code, order code, or phone number - and by External ID, if it is enabled under Settings > Data Fields. A phone number can be entered in full with the country code, or as the local number in the event's country. See How to Print a Single Badge.
Check the desk's Search Status setting (Gear Icon ⚙) - only guests in the selected statuses appear in results. Then check the guest is in the right project, and try another search key, such as the phone number instead of the name.
Yes. At the Arrival Desk, staff click Add a new visitor (or the "Add as a new visitor" link when a search finds nothing), fill in the arrival form, and select Save & Print. On the Arrival Kiosk it is optional: turn on Allow new attendees to register on-site in the kiosk settings, then each kiosk can either accept new registrations or allow pre-registered attendees only.
Yes. Search for the guest again or scan their QR code. Their record is marked Already Arrived, and the Check in again button prints the badge again. View History shows their earlier check-ins.
In the Arrival app, open Print to reach the Print Badges page. Choose to print all participants, only unarrived participants, or by group, role, or field condition; pick the badge and printer; and select Print. Back office users can also filter the Registrant List and use Bulk-Actions > Registration > Print Badges. See How to Print Badges for a Group.
Yes. Each check-in appears immediately on the back office dashboard, with the total number of arrivals, badges printed per desk, and the status of active printers and stations.
Yes. Create a badge per guest type - duplicating an existing badge is the quickest way - and use Conditional Printing in the back office so each design prints only for a specific role, ticket type, or registration form. See Badge Design and Configuration.
Static text, guest data pulled in with tokens such as {Contact.Full Name}, QR codes, barcodes,
and images. A QR code linked to {Registration.VCard} lets guests scan each other's badges with a
phone camera to save contact details (in the arrival.eventact.com badge editor, type this token in - it isn't
in the token list). See the token quick reference.
No. Leave the position blank and each line flows directly under the one above it. Enter coordinates only to pin an element to an exact spot - see Understanding Position Settings.
They scan their QR code, or type their registration code on the on-screen keypad - or their phone number, if phone check-in is enabled. Once they are verified, the badge prints automatically. You choose which registration statuses may self-check-in, and guests who lost their code can tap I forgot my code to get it by email or SMS.
Yes. The welcome message, code-entry instructions, code-not-found message, and code reminder text are set in the back office under Arrival > Arrival Kiosk > Kiosk Setup, in the Messages and Text card. Branding, colors, fonts, and images come from the project's Design settings. If the project has more than one language, attendees can also choose their preferred language during check-in.
Almost always the Event ID or Arrival Password - the Messages log shows "Access Violation: invalid event id or password" and the app stops. Compare them with the values in the back office Arrival settings (or at arrival.eventact.com under Settings > Printer), watching for a stray leading or trailing space. See the full fix.
Check that the printer number on the desk (Gear Icon ⚙ > Printer) or kiosk (Print to) matches the Printer ID in the Printer App driving that printer - a mismatch is the most common cause. If the badge appears in the app's Last badges list but not on paper, make sure Don't Print is unchecked and look for red errors in the Messages log; otherwise the problem is between Windows and the printer: pause mode, a paper jam, or a stalled print queue. See printer troubleshooting.
The Custom Paper Size in Windows Printer Preferences must match the Page size (millimeters) entered for that badge type in the Printer App (Options > Printer & Paper size). After loading a new roll, run the printer's media calibration. See badge alignment.
First check the device's internet connection and that all three fields - Account Name, Username, and Password - are correct. Then contact the person who issued the credentials; "Forgot your password?" on the login screen resets the password.
Run a full pre-event test - search, desk and kiosk check-in, scanning, and a printed badge for each guest type - and the morning launch checklist before the doors open.
Still stuck? Contact Eventact Support. Read more about the Eventact Check-in Software