HandyCafe Account

Your HandyCafe account is the email and password you registered on handycafe.com. It owns your cafes and their licenses. HandyCafe Server signs in with it once to activate. After that you use the same account on the web dashboard to manage the plan, pay, see where the cafe is signed in and contact support.

The dashboard lives at dashboard.handycafe.com. When your account has more than one cafe, every page acts on the cafe chosen in the Cafe selector at the top.

For plan limits, license states and offline behavior, see Licensing. For the Cloud and Cafeteria add-ons, see Cloud.

Signing the Server In

HandyCafe Server shows the Sign in to activate screen until an account license is active on this computer. There are two ways through it.

Sign in with HandyCafe

1. On the Sign in to activate screen, select Sign in with HandyCafe.
2. The server shows Waiting for approval and opens the Authorize device page in your browser.
3. Sign in to the dashboard in the browser if you are not signed in already.
4. Check the page. It names HandyCafe Server and shows the account under Signed in as. The permissions the server receives are listed under This will allow HandyCafe Server to:.
5. Select Connect.
6. The browser shows Device connected. Return to the server. It finishes signing in by itself.

Select Cancel in the browser to refuse. The server then asks you to try again or sign in with email and password. Only approve a request you just started on your own server computer.

A request that is not approved in time expires. The server shows This sign-in request expired. Try again. Select Try again to start a new one.

Picking the Cafe to Activate

An account can own several cafes. After either sign-in method, HandyCafe decides what to show next:

• One cafe can be activated. The server shows Activating with the cafe name and activates it directly. No list appears.
• Several cafes can be activated. The Select a cafe list opens. Select the cafe this server belongs to.

Each row shows the cafe name, the country, the plan name and the PC limit. A cafe that cannot be activated is dimmed and shows a lock with the reason. Examples are This license has expired. Choose a plan to renew. and This license is not active.

Once the cafe is active the desktop shows the plan or trial summary described in Licensing.

One Active Server per Cafe

A cafe can be signed in on one server computer at a time. Activating the same cafe on a second computer takes it over. The first computer then shows Signed out on this device and turns read-only. Select Reactivate on this device there to move the license back.

Moving a cafe between computers has a daily limit. When it is reached the server shows Daily cafe switch limit reached. Try again tomorrow.

Dashboard Pages

The sidebar is split into cafe work and account work. Support and Settings sit at the bottom.

The old My Products address now opens Add-ons. Add-ons is reached from Manage add-ons on the Billing page. It is described in Cloud.

Server Sessions

Open Stations in the sidebar. The page is titled Server Sessions.

It answers one question: which computer is this cafe signed in on right now. One device can be active per cafe.

• Active server session shows the account email, a shortened device ID, the IP address and the sign-in time.
• Sign-in history lists earlier sign-ins with When, Account, Device, IP and Status.

The status of an old sign-in explains how it ended:

Signing a Server Out Remotely

Use this when the server computer is lost, stolen or replaced and you cannot sign out on it.

1. Open Stations.
2. If the account has several cafes, choose the cafe with the buttons at the top.
3. In Active server session, select Sign out remotely.

The session moves to the history as Signed out remotely. The computer loses its activation and must sign in again.

Buying or Changing a Plan

Open My Plan. Choose the cafe first when the account has more than one.

Per-PC pricing

A new Genesis subscription is priced per PC. You pick the number of PCs and pay for exactly that number. The minimum is 10 PCs. Eleven PCs are billed as eleven.

The price per PC depends on the country. When a country discount applies, the page says so under the price and shows the original price struck through. Choose Monthly or Yearly at the top. Yearly carries the 2 months free label.

Subscribe

1. Open My Plan.
2. Choose Monthly or Yearly.
3. Under How many PCs?, set Number of PCs. The page shows Billed as with the seat count and the price per PC.
4. Select Subscribe.
5. The secure Stripe checkout opens. Complete the payment there.

After payment the page shows Payment received, setting up your plan and refreshes by itself. This usually takes a few seconds. Do not pay again. If it takes too long the page shows Contact support and states that you were not charged twice.

Change the number of PCs or the billing period

1. Open My Plan.
2. In Change subscription, set the new Number of PCs or switch between Monthly and Yearly.
3. Select Upgrade Plan or Downgrade Plan.
4. Review Confirm subscription change and select Confirm change.

When the change takes effect depends on its direction:

A subscription bought on an older fixed package moves to per-PC pricing when you change it here. The page says Changing here moves your package to per-PC pricing.

Cancel or resume

• Cancel subscription keeps the plan active until the end of the paid period. After that the license locks until you subscribe again. Confirm with Cancel at period end.
• Resume subscription removes a scheduled cancellation. The plan renews on the shown date with the saved payment method.
• Cancel scheduled change drops a switch that was waiting for the next renewal.

Free trial

When the account is eligible, My Plan shows Try the full version free for 14 days. No card is required. It covers 5 PCs and every Genesis feature for 14 days. Select Start trial. While it runs the page shows the days left and the end date.

The trial is not offered to an account that has held a license before. It is also not offered a second time.

Billing & Credits

Open Billing. The page shows:

• Subscriptions: the Genesis plan and any Cloud, Cafeteria or bundle subscription with its renewal or end date. Manage plan opens My Plan. Manage add-ons opens Add-ons.
• AI Credits: the credit balance, monthly quota and use this period for the selected cafe.
• AI Credit Purchases: past AI credit activity.
• Invoices: each invoice with View and PDF links.

Support Tickets

Open Support to see My Tickets. Filter by status with the buttons at the top.

Open a ticket

1. Select New Ticket.
2. Fill in Subject, choose a Category and write the Message.
3. Select Send Request.

Who answers

A ticket is answered by AI first. The AI reads the HandyCafe documentation and the screenshots you attach. It replies only when it is confident. Its messages are marked AI Assistant. Every AI answer ends with a note that says how to reach a person.

The ticket goes to HandyCafe staff instead when:

• the AI is not confident enough to answer
• the question is about billing, a license or a fault the AI should not decide
• you reply with the word human
• the AI has already answered three times on that ticket

The AI stops writing on a ticket as soon as a person answers it. It also stops when you ask for a person. Staff messages are marked Support.

Reply and attach files

Open the ticket, write in Your Reply and select Send Reply. Formatting with Markdown is supported. Attach files adds up to 5 files of up to 5 MB each. Allowed types are JPG, PNG, WEBP, LOG and TXT.

A Resolved ticket asks you to open a new request if you still need help. A Closed ticket no longer accepts replies.

Resetting the Server Admin Password

If nobody can sign in as Admin on HandyCafe Server, the account that owns the cafe can set a new Admin password. The new password is typed in the browser, not on the cafe PC.

1. On the server staff login screen, select Forgot admin password?.
2. In Reset admin password, choose the account under Admin account.
3. Select Reset with handycafe.com account. The server shows Waiting for approval and opens the reset page in your browser.
4. Sign in to the dashboard if asked. Use the account that owns the license this server is activated with.
5. The page shows which cafe and Admin account asked for the reset. Enter New password and New password (repeat). Use at least 8 characters.
6. Select Set new password.
7. The browser shows New password set. The server applies it by itself and confirms the reset.
8. Sign in on the server with the new password.

The password is encrypted in the browser and can only be opened by the server computer that asked for it. HandyCafe does not see it.

This option needs an internet connection on the server. After 5 failed attempts the form is locked for 15 minutes.

Troubleshooting

The browser page says the sign-in link is invalid or has expired. The request timed out or was already used. Start again from the server with Sign in with HandyCafe.

A cafe in the Select a cafe list is dimmed. It cannot be activated on this server. The lock line gives the reason. An expired cafe needs a plan on My Plan first.

The server says Signed out on this device. The cafe was activated on another computer. Somebody may also have used Sign out remotely. Check Stations on the dashboard. Select Reactivate on this device on the computer that should run the cafe.

Admin password reset says the account does not own the server. You are signed in to the dashboard with a different account. Select Sign in with a different account on the reset page and use the account that owns this cafe's license.

Admin password reset cannot reach handycafe.com. The server has no internet connection. Restore it and start the reset again.

The plan page keeps showing Payment received, setting up your plan. Wait a minute. If the page then shows that activation is taking longer than it should, select Contact support. Do not pay a second time.