POS: Offline Sales

1. What Gets Cached for Offline Use

While you're online, Tracksales caches data in your browser so it works offline:

• Products — Names, prices, and item numbers for search and the product grid.
• Customers — Customer list for attaching customers to offline sales.
• Categories — For category-based product browsing.

This cache is updated in the background when you load the sales page, when you search, and when you scroll the product grid. A full inventory sync runs periodically to keep all products searchable offline.

2. When You Go Offline

When the connection is lost:

• A gray banner appears at the top: "Offline mode — Sales will sync when connection returns."
• Navigation to other areas (Invoices, Customers, etc.) is restricted. You stay on the sales register.
• You can add items, select customers, and complete sales as normal.
• Completed sales are saved locally (in your browser) and queued for sync.

3. Completing Sales Offline

Offline sales support:

• Adding products from the grid or search (using cached data).
• Selecting customers from the cached list.
• Cash and other payment methods (methods that don't need real-time authorization).
• Printing receipts (uses local print if configured).

After payment, you see "Sale saved locally — will sync when online." The sale is stored until the connection returns.

4. When You Come Back Online

As soon as the connection is restored:

1. Tracksales detects that you're online.
2. Queued sales are synced automatically to the server (you may see "Syncing…" in the banner).
3. When done, the banner shows "All synced" and the pending count goes to zero.
4. You can navigate away from the sales page again.

5. Resetting Local Data (Status Page)

If you experience issues (e.g. items not appearing in search, sync problems):

1. Go to Sales → Status from the sales sidebar.
2. Under "Reset local data", click Reset data.
3. This clears the cached products, customers, and parked/pending data from your browser.
4. The page reloads. When online, the cache will repopulate as you use the register.

Use this only when necessary; you will need to be online to refresh the cache.

6. Offline Limitations

• Product search uses cached data only. New products added while offline may not appear until you're back online.
• Payment methods that require real-time authorization (e.g. some card terminals) may not work offline.
• Returns and exchanges typically require the original sale data from the server—best done when online.