Set up and use the Kitchen Display

Use Kitchen Display in Karma to receive and progress live orders. This guide covers ticket controls, filters, all four display modes, and every setting available for the board.

Watch the video walkthrough for the complete Kitchen Display setup, or follow the written steps below.

Before you start

Make sure your role can open Kitchen Display.
Open Karma on the device that will run the kitchen board. Most KDS preferences are saved in that browser, so check the setup on every display.
Configure prep groups or coursing first if you want those choices to appear in KDS settings.

Open the Kitchen Display

Open Karma.
Select Kitchen Display in the left menu.

New tickets appear in Incoming. Depending on your location's workflow, they can then move through Scheduled, Hold, In progress, Ready to pickup, and Done.

Detailed Kitchen Display with three synthetic marketplace tickets — Detailed mode shows full ticket context and explicit workflow actions. Select the image to view it full size.

Progress a ticket

In Detailed or Focused mode:

Check the order number, source, timing, notes, items, and modifications.
Select the main action on the ticket, such as Accept.
Continue with the next action when preparation reaches the next stage.
Complete the ticket after the order leaves the kitchen or is collected.

The ticket moves to the next visible workflow column after each successful action.

In Compact or Mini mode, a short press on the ticket advances it. Press and hold to open its details without advancing it.

Use the top-bar controls

Bell: Enable or disable notifications for new orders. Your browser may ask for permission. On iPhone and iPad, add Karma to the Home Screen and use iOS 16.4 or later.
Pin: Enter pin mode, then select a ticket to keep it at the front of its column. Select the pin again when you finish pinning.
Fullscreen: Expand the KDS to use the available display area. This control appears only when the browser supports fullscreen.
Display mode: Choose Detailed, Focused, Compact, or Mini.
KDS settings: Open the configuration panel for this display.
Lock device: Lock Karma before another team member uses the device. They can select their user and enter a PIN when required.

Pinned tickets remain pinned for the current app session. Reloading the page clears the pin selection.

Filter and sort tickets

Use the filter bar to focus the board without changing an order:

Order Type: All Types, Dine In, Takeaway, or Over the counter.
Table Groups: Show tickets from selected table groups.
Tables: Show tickets from selected tables.
Prep Groups: Show items assigned to selected preparation groups.
Order Source: Show all sources, POS-only orders, or guest-only orders.
Ordered: Limit tickets by when the order was received. The default is the last day.
Pickup time: Limit tickets by their requested pickup window.

The sort menu controls item order inside each ticket:

Kitchen order follows the configured kitchen sorting order and matches printed kitchen tickets.
Alphabetical sorts item names from A to Z.
Order received keeps the sequence in which items were added.

Kitchen Display filter menu with order, table, prep group, source, and time filters — The filter badge shows how many filters are active. Select the image to view it full size.

Choose a display mode

Choose the mode that gives the kitchen enough information without making tickets harder to scan.

Mode	What it shows	How you work with a ticket	Best fit
Detailed	Full order, guest and delivery context, notes, items, modifications, timing options, and large actions	Use the visible action buttons; select the header to open details	Order acceptance and full-service review
Focused	Full context and item rows in a tighter card, with the main action in the header	Use the header action; select the information area to open details	Busy services that still need ticket context
Compact	Header, item rows, quantities, and modifications without extra metadata or action panels	Short press to advance; press and hold for details	Dense kitchen screens where item detail matters
Mini	Ticket headers only	Short press to advance; press and hold for details	High-level queue monitoring and small displays

Focused Kitchen Display with full item detail and header actions — Focused keeps item detail while moving the main action into the header.

Compact Kitchen Display showing item rows without extra ticket metadata — Compact keeps the preparation lines while removing most surrounding detail.

Mini Kitchen Display showing ticket headers only — Mini is a header-only view for the highest ticket density.

Open KDS settings

Open Kitchen Display.
Select KDS settings in the top-right corner.

Changes apply as you make them. Close the panel to return to the board.

Apply a quick setting

Open Quick settings, then choose a preset:

Regular restores the standard active board: Incoming, Hold, In progress, and Ready to pickup. It shows prices and ordered times, hides customer names in titles, uses item colors, and does not auto-advance.
Surplus keeps only Ready to pickup. It hides prices and ordered times, shows the customer name in the title, and removes item-row coloring.

A preset changes several settings at once. Review the remaining sections after applying it.

Choose columns and ticket direction

Open Show columns.
Select any stages this display should show: Incoming, Scheduled, Hold, In progress, Ready to pickup, or Done.
Turn on Reverse ticket order in columns (right to left) if new tickets should enter from the opposite side of each column.

The board updates to show the selected stages and ticket direction.

KDS settings with Regular preset and the workflow column selector open — Use a preset as a starting point, then choose the exact stages needed at this station.

Set text size and the item summary

Under Font Size, choose Small (-20%), Medium (Default), Large (+20%), or Extra Large (+50%).

Under Summary of ordered items:

Turn on Show section to aggregate item quantities across visible tickets.
Use Show modifications to include or exclude modifications in the summary.
Choose Left or Right for the summary placement.

Use a larger text size for distant screens. Use the summary when a station needs total quantities across the queue.

KDS text size and ordered-item summary settings — Choose text size for the viewing distance, then place the optional item summary on the left or right.

Configure Visual Settings

Use the switches to control the information on each ticket:

Show confetti when completing items adds a completion animation.
Hide order prices removes prices from tickets.
Hide ordered times (keeps pickup times) removes the received time but preserves the requested pickup time.
Hide daily order numbers removes Karma's daily order number.
Hide table names (takeaway remains visible) removes dine-in table names while preserving takeaway labels.
Show customer name in title adds the customer name to the ticket header.

Use Group items by to choose None, Prep group, or Coursing. Coursing appears only when the location has coursing configured.

Use Item row coloring to choose None, Item color, or Coursing color. Coursing color appears only when coursing is configured.

If prep groups exist, you can choose Primary prep groups. Items from other groups appear muted. After choosing a primary group, Hide tickets with only secondary prep group items can remove tickets that contain no primary-group work for that station.

Set completion behavior

Use Completion style to choose what happens to a completed item row:

Strikethrough keeps the row visible and crosses it out.
Fade keeps the row visible with reduced emphasis.
Hide removes the completed row from the ticket.

Turn on Auto-advance when all items completed only if the ticket should move to its next stage as soon as its final item is completed.

KDS Visual Settings with ticket visibility, grouping, coloring, completion, and auto-advance controls — Visual Settings control both ticket content and what happens as items are completed.

Choose card colors

Under Colors, choose a Card Color Scheme:

Time-based: Ticket colors change as time passes. Select a color to edit it, add thresholds with a color and number of minutes, or remove non-initial thresholds.
Type-based (Table/Takeaway): Table orders are blue and takeaway orders are purple.
Solid Color: Every ticket uses the selected background color. Time labels keep their own status colors.

Time-based colors are useful for spotting delays. Type-based colors separate service styles. A solid color creates a uniform board.

Set the KDS order limit

Under KDS Limit, choose the maximum number of orders to fetch: 100, 200, 300, 400, or 500.

Keep the limit at 100 orders unless the display needs more history. Karma shows a performance warning from 200 orders because a larger board can respond more slowly.

KDS settings showing a solid card color and the performance warning at a 200-order limit — Color choices change ticket emphasis; the order limit controls how much work the display loads.

Troubleshoot the Kitchen Display

No tickets appear

Remove active filters from the filter bar.
Set Ordered to a period that includes the order.
Open KDS settings and confirm the ticket's current stage is selected under Show columns.
If a prep-group filter is active, confirm the order contains items assigned to that group.

Notifications do not arrive

Select the bell and allow notifications when the browser asks.
If notifications are blocked, allow them for the Karma site in the browser or device settings.
On iPhone or iPad, update to iOS 16.4 or later, add Karma to the Home Screen, open it from there, and select the bell again.

Prep group or coursing choices are missing

Create the relevant preparation groups or coursing setup for the location first. The KDS hides choices that are not configured.

The board feels slow

Lower KDS Limit, reduce the ordered-time range, and apply filters for the work this station needs.

Manage surplus sales in Karma