Finish setup on your dashboard
First-run setup opens as a step drawer on your dashboard—describe your event, review and publish, match your brand, then share your widget or event link—while the normal sidebar stays available. Create paths stay in that drawer instead of sending you to separate full-page onboarding screens. Collapse the drawer anytime to a compact setup panel on the same page.
On windows narrower than 1280px, the app sidebar collapses into a hamburger menu so the drawer and main content can use the full width. Open the menu anytime to reach Dashboard, Events, Customize, and Settings.
How setup appears on the dashboard
Setup uses two related surfaces on the dashboard—not a separate full-screen onboarding shell, and not a checklist in the left sidebar.
Setup drawer — Opens over the dashboard and dims the page behind it. The header shows Step 1 of 3, Step 2 of 3, or Step 3 of 3 with step labels Describe your event, Make it yours, and Share with your audience. Use the collapse control (Collapse setup) to leave the open drawer.
Setup panel — The collapsed return state. Title is Set up your events (or Set up with your team name). The top-right action is Dismiss until every step is done, then Mark setup complete. Step cards show the same three outcomes, plus optional Connect your checkout when needed.
You can click a completed or current step pill in the drawer header to move between reachable steps. Future steps stay disabled until you finish earlier ones.
On a first-run account, starting create from the dashboard opens the drawer on Describe your event in place. The manual creator remains available as an escape hatch from that step.
Describe your event
When no published event exists yet, the drawer opens on describe with Welcome to Eventually. and intro copy that you have three steps to get events live on your own site.
If you see persona choices under First, a bit about you., pick one card or choose Skip for now:
I run a space
I teach or host
I'm part of an organization
I build sites for clients (shows a Partner badge)
After persona (or skip), Evie opens in the drawer with Ask Evie when AI event setup is available. The heading uses your persona greeting when you picked one (for example What's on at your space?); the subheading is Describe it the way you'd tell a friend. Evie sets up the rest.
Describe the event and submit. A successful parse creates a draft and moves the drawer to review. If parse fails, you stay in the drawer on describe with your text still in the prompt so you can edit and try again.
If Evie is unavailable, the drawer does not show the composer. It shows Evie is offline right now — the manual creator walks you through the same event, step by step. and Build your event manually. On the main dashboard composer slot, unavailable Evie is replaced by + Create an event.
For Evie limits, photos, and failures, see Using Evie (AI) to create an event. To build fields yourself instead, choose Build your event manually or follow Create an event.
Review and publish
First-run Evie drafts open review inside the dashboard drawer—not the standalone review page used after you already have a published event.
Review shows Here's your event and Evie put this together from what you wrote. Check it over — you can change anything. The drawer also shows a right-hand preview labeled Your widget — preview. That preview can render your unpublished draft for you as the owner; it is not a live embed on your site.
Click Next (shows Publishing… while it runs) when nothing is blocking publish. The standalone review page still uses Publish event.
Click Edit all the details to open the full event builder. From the drawer, edits save and cancel back to drawer review so you do not leave the setup flow.
If publish is blocked, read Almost — this needs a little more before it can go live. Each blocker links into the part of the builder that needs work.
On a draft, choose Start a different event instead to leave this draft and start fresh.
If you connect Squarespace checkout from a paid draft before publish, the drawer can show Connected ✓ — Next puts your event live and opens ticket sales. Connecting checkout does not publish the event by itself.
Only a published event completes the first setup outcome. A draft alone does not.
Where you land after first publish
The destination depends on how and when you publish.
First-run single publish (you have not finished onboarding, and the team is not in demo mode) — Eventually keeps you on the dashboard and opens the setup drawer on brand. That handoff still happens even if you already copied embed code or a public link earlier.
Bulk publish, CSV import first publish, demo mode, or accounts that already finished onboarding — Eventually sends you to the standalone Set up your widget page (
/setup) instead of the dashboard drawer.
Brand and share content is shared between the drawer and Set up your widget. The standalone page still uses the browser title Set up your widget and a Dashboard back link. It is not Brand settings.
Make it yours (brand sync or default look)
On the brand step, match the widget to your site or keep the default look before you share. The rail eyebrow is Make it yours.
When brand is still needed, the heading is Make it look like you with body Want it to look like you before it goes on your site? and Paste your site and we’ll pull your brand.
Enter the URL in the field with placeholder
https://yoursite.com.Click Sync my brand. While it runs, the button shows Reading your site….
On failure, the primary action becomes Try again and the error reads We couldn't read that site. Try again, or keep the default look.
To skip brand for now, choose I’m happy with the default look — take me to the embed code. That moves you straight to the share/embed view.
From the dashboard drawer, a successful sync stays on the brand confirm rail until you continue; skip opens the drawer share step. From Set up your widget, sync and skip stay on that page. If you leave to connect Squarespace during setup, authorization returns you to the same brand or share step you started from.
After a successful sync
Confirm the match before continuing:
Normal match: heading This is your widget, matched to your brand and body Pulled from your site — your colors, logo, and actual fonts. Look right?
Guess-grade match: heading This is your widget — our best guess at your brand and body We couldn't read your site directly, so this is our best guess — look right?
The preview label is Your widget — live from your brand when branded, or Your widget — live before brand is applied. Click Looks right to advance to share, or Not your brand? Try a different URL to edit the site URL and sync again.
Brand completes when sync succeeds or when you explicitly skip. A later successful sync clears a previous skip. A failed re-sync does not clear a standing skip. Full brand controls later: Syncing your brand from Squarespace.
Share with your audience
After brand sync or skip, share your widget embed code or the public event link. The share step can complete when Eventually sees the widget live on your site, when you copy the embed code, or when you copy the public event link.
Choose scope: Just this event or All my events. Defaults follow your published content: a single one-time event defaults to Just this event; otherwise All my events.
Click Copy embed code (it changes to Copied).
Optional: under Or send the link:, click Copy link (it changes to Copied ✓) to copy the public event URL when a public event id is available. See also Sharing a direct event link.
If you copied embed code, paste it on your Squarespace page and publish the page so the widget is live. See Embedding the calendar widget on Squarespace and Installing the calendar widget.
After you copy, click Done — back to dashboard. In the drawer, that collapses setup in place; on Set up your widget, it returns you to the dashboard. Or open Customize my widget.
Copied and live are different. On the setup panel, the share card can show:
Code copied ✓ — paste it into a code block on your site. We'll confirm the moment we see it live. CTA becomes Get the code again, with helper How to add it to Squarespace →.
Link copied ✓ — share it anywhere. Drop the embed on your site too and we'll confirm the moment we see it live. CTA becomes Copy link again.
When live detection succeeds, the completed CTA is It's live ↗.
Before any copy or live detection, the card body is Send the link, or drop one embed on your site — we'll mark this done when we see the widget live. Helper: We'll confirm the moment we see it live.
Previewing inside Eventually—including the owner draft preview labeled Your widget — preview in the setup drawer—does not count as a live embed.
What the setup panel tracks
When the drawer is collapsed, the panel cards track the same outcomes—not button clicks alone:
Describe your event — Completes when a published event exists. With only a draft, the card can show Finish your event and helper Pick up where you left off. Pending CTA is Create event or Finish your event; complete CTA is View event.
Make it yours — Completes on successful brand sync or an explicit skip. Pending CTA: Sync my brand. Complete CTA: Synced ✓. Helpers include Paste your site's URL — no connection needed and We guessed your colors — get the real ones, plus your fonts.
Share with your audience — Completes when the widget is detected live, embed code was copied, or the public event link was copied. Pending CTA: Get embed code. After embed copy without live detection: body Code copied ✓ — paste it into a code block on your site. We'll confirm the moment we see it live. and CTA Get the code again. After link copy without live detection: body Link copied ✓ — share it anywhere. Drop the embed on your site too and we'll confirm the moment we see it live. and CTA Copy link again. Live CTA: It's live ↗. Helper before completion: We'll confirm the moment we see it live.
Connect your checkout (optional) — Appears only when you have a paid published event on a site that still needs checkout. Helper: Attendees see “Sales open soon” until you do. Pending CTA: Connect Squarespace. Complete CTA: Connected ✓.
When every required step is done, the panel stays visible with Mark setup complete in the top right. Click it to finish onboarding, see Welcome to Eventually!, and hide the setup panel. Use Dismiss anytime before that to hide setup without marking it complete. You can still brand and embed later from Settings and widget tools.
Optional: Connect your checkout
Connecting Squarespace checkout is required only to sell paid tickets. Publishing, branding, and embedding still work without it.
Until you connect:
Buyers see a disabled Sales open soon control on the widget and hosted event page for those paid events.
After first-run onboarding is no longer active, a site-wide banner can show Connect your checkout to start selling. Owners and admins get a Connect checkout action; other members see the warning without the action. During active first-run setup, that banner is hidden because the connect prompt is handled in the setup drawer and panel card instead.
Free, RSVP, and external-registration events are not blocked by this state.
Complete the step from the panel card, the banner (when shown), or Settings → Payments & Sites. During first-run setup, connecting Squarespace returns you to the onboarding step you left—brand, share, or the dashboard setup flow—rather than dropping you on an unrelated page. See Connect your Squarespace site.
Collapse and dismiss
Control how much setup UI you see without losing progress:
Collapse setup in the open drawer returns you to the setup panel on the dashboard.
Dismiss hides setup for the team before every step is done. You can still brand and embed later from Settings and widget tools.
Mark setup complete appears on the panel only when every required step is done. It finishes onboarding and removes the setup UI.
Related guides
Get started with Eventually — High-level first login path
Quick start guide — Short overview of checkout, payments, and the attendee experience
Go live with your account — Demo mode and plan activation are separate from first-publish setup