Scanners

A scanner is a door position, not a person. Each one is a named credential that lets a single device open the Sway scanning app for one event and validate the QR codes on tickets sold through Sway. Nothing else.

Create one per door or per shift, hand it to whoever works that door, and take it back when the event is over.

The screen is called Scanner Management, and its subtitle says Manage scanners for this event.

Before you start

Scanners only exist for events selling through Sway. If Sway Tickets is off, the whole screen is replaced by a warning, Sway Tickets is not enabled for this event. Scanners will not be able to validate tickets., followed by Enable it in Settings →.

Turn it on in Event settings, on the Main tab, then come back.

Creating, activating and deleting scanners is a separate permission from seeing them. If the sidebar row is greyed out, or the buttons are dimmed, ask whoever manages the event to widen your access. See Permissions.

Open the screen

1. Open Manage, then click your event.
2. Click Scanners in the sidebar, under Access.

Four counters sit at the top: Total Scanners, Active, Users and Anonymous. Under them, one card per scanner, showing its name, an Active or Inactive badge, its Type, the linked User when there is one, and the date it was Created. Before the first one exists the page reads No scanners found.

Add a scanner

1. Click Add scanner, at the top right.
2. Fill in Scanner Name *. Name it after the position rather than the person: a phone changes hands during a night, a door does not.
3. Pick a Scanner Type *. The two options are described in the box that appears under the field:
   • Anonymous Scanner is an independent scanner with a unique token. Ideal for dedicated access control devices.
   • Existing User is linked to an existing Sway user. The user can log in directly with their credentials.
4. For Existing User, type at least two characters into the search field (Search by username or email...) and click the person in the list. A green check confirms the choice.
5. Click Create Scanner.

The same person cannot hold two scanners on the same event, and a second attempt is refused. Give them one scanner and reuse it, or create an anonymous one for the extra door.

New scanners are Active straight away. An anonymous one stays unusable until you hand out a link; a user one can be signed into as soon as it exists.

Hand out access

There are two ways in, and which one applies depends on the type you chose.

Pair a device with a one-shot link

This is the only route for an Anonymous scanner, and it works for a User scanner too.

1. Click the three dots on the scanner's card, then Get URL.
2. Wait for the Scanner URL dialog. It shows the Unique access URL and the same link as a QR code.
3. Click Copy (it answers Copied to clipboard!) and send the link to the person working that door, or let them point the scanning app's camera at the QR code on your screen.
4. Click Close.

One link pairs one device, once. It stops working after it has been used, and it expires 24 hours after you generated it. Generate a fresh one for every person and every device, and generate it on the day, not the week before.

The dialog reports an error instead of a link in two cases: the scanner is Inactive, or your account cannot manage scanners. The Get URL entry is listed for everyone who can open the page, so the refusal only appears once you click it.

On a phone the link offers to open the Sway mobile app, which is what the prompt recommends, or to continue in the mobile browser. Both end up signed in to the same scanner.

Sign in with a Sway account

A scanner of type User can also be reached without any link: the person opens https://www.sway.events/scanner, enters the event ID with their usual Sway email and password, and lands on the same screen. If they are already signed in to Sway on that device, they are signed in to the scanner automatically.

Anonymous scanners have no password and cannot be reached this way. Use the link.

What a scanner can and cannot see

A signed-in scanner sees the event title, its own name, whether it is online or offline, and how long its session has left. A session runs for eight hours; after that it has to be paired or signed in again.

It gets a verdict per scan: a valid ticket with its ticket number, an invalid or counterfeit code, or a ticket already scanned, with the time and the name of the scanner that took it first. It also keeps a running count of its own scans, split between valid, invalid and offline, with a success rate.

It can also download the list of refunded and cancelled tickets, so it keeps rejecting them when the venue's connection drops, and it reports when that list was last refreshed. If the camera refuses to focus, the first twelve characters of a ticket code can be typed in by hand.

Every one of those counters belongs to that device, not to the event. They start at zero on each pairing and disappear when the person signs out. Two scanners on two doors each report their own tally and neither reports the total.

A scanner never sees orders, buyer names, buyer emails, revenue, the ticket types, the guestlist, any other event, or the admin. It cannot issue, refund or cancel anything. That is the point of handing one to casual door staff.

Deactivate a scanner

Deactivating parks a scanner without destroying it.

1. Click the three dots on its card, then Deactivate.
2. The badge turns Inactive, and the same menu entry becomes Activate.

An inactive scanner refuses new sign-ins and cannot produce a new link, and any link already generated for it stops working. A device that is already signed in keeps its session until the eight hours run out. Deactivate between shifts, or before you hand a phone back, rather than expecting it to cut somebody off mid-scan.

Delete a scanner

1. Click the three dots on its card, then Delete.
2. The Delete scanner? dialog warns that This action cannot be undone.
3. Click Delete, or Cancel to keep it.

A working routine

User scanners are worth keeping between events for people who work every door you run. Anonymous ones are worth deleting, because a token nobody is tracking is a token nobody will revoke.