Set up your workplace in Robin with 6 steps. This quick start guide walks you through each one. Most teams complete setup in an afternoon.
This guide is for Robin Essentials and Business plans. If your organization uses Robin's One Workplace Platform, see the One Workplace Platform getting started guide. You can also work with your Customer Success Manager and implementation team for onboarding and setup guidance for your organization.
Before you start
Have these ready so setup goes faster:
- A floor plan of your office as a PDF, JPG, PNG or a .dxf file (CAD)
- A spreadsheet of the email addresses you want to invite (.csv template at the end of this article)
- Admin access to your Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 account, only if you plan to set up space booking
Robin turns on default booking policies for your office. You can change them later. Set up the basics first, then adjust the rest.
If you have questions about any of these steps, ask Robin’s support agent. To open it, select the blue bubble at the bottom right of your screen on the support site, or select ‘Support’ at the bottom left of Robin’s web app.
Follow along in the dashboard
When you create your Robin account, the Getting started dashboard is the first thing you see. It tracks these same steps and stays pinned to your sidebar until you finish. Then it moves under Manage. Check off each card as you go to save your progress.
Add your office
During the first onboarding flow, Robin walks you through how to create your building and add a floor. Name the building and add at least one floor. Then set the working hours, timezone and address. Your map and resources live inside this building.
The Business plan supports up to 3 buildings. You can add more buildings at any time from the Manage > Offices tab.
Add your floor map
Your map is the live picture of the office that your team books from. You have 3 ways to set it up, fastest first:
- Upload a CAD file and Robin traces it automatically in seconds (must be a .dxf file type)
- Draw it yourself in Robin’s map editor
- Send your floor plan to Robin as a PDF, JPG or PNG and Robin’s maps team builds it for you in 2 to 3 business days
To add more floors later, use the Manage > Offices tab.
For more detail, see Add your floor map.
Place your desks and spaces
After you create your map, Robin opens the Layout tool. Drag and drop your desks and meeting spaces onto the map. Name them, group desks into pods and set each desk as hot, assigned or hoteled.
You can go live with desks or spaces alone. If you use Robin for desks only, skip Step 4.
For more detail, see Place your desks and spaces.
Make rooms bookable
To let people reserve meeting rooms in advance, connect your calendar so each room's availability stays in sync. Robin works with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. You connect the account once, then pair each room's resource calendar to its space on the map.
In this step, you might need IT for 5 minutes to create resource calendars. After that, everything is point and click.
For more detail, see Make rooms bookable.
Invite your people
Add users with a .csv import of email addresses. You can download the template at the bottom of this page. Robin sends each person an invitation to set up their account. The import requires only an email address.
When you are ready to go live, Robin recommends that you launch with a small group of users first. This helps you make sure your setup runs smoothly and find the booking policies that work best for your office.
For more detail, see Invite your people.
Show everyone how to book, then launch
Tell your team how to book, and you are live. Most people book from the Robin mobile app or the web dashboard. Both show the office map with everything available in green.
Send a short email so everyone knows what is coming and how to log in. Robin has a launch email template that you can copy and change.
For more detail, see How your team books, plus the launch email.
Optional setup
Some offices add these during rollout. Both work on Essentials and Business. Neither is required to go live, so come back to them when you are ready.
- Connect room displays. Mount a tablet outside each meeting room. It shows availability at a glance and lets people book or check in at the door.
- Set up visitor management. Register guests ahead of time, notify hosts automatically when guests arrive and keep a record of who has been on site.
After you launch
After you complete the steps above, look at these options. None are required to start, so come back when you are ready:
- Dial in your policies. Set how far ahead people can book, auto-cancel no-show desks and meetings, and free up unused space automatically.
- Make it yours. Add your branding, custom amenities, announcements and office activities.
- Bring Robin where your team already works. Connect Slack or Microsoft Teams so people can find and book space without leaving chat.
- Add more to the map. Parking, lockers, points of interest and furnishings.
For more detail, see After you launch.
Support resources
Robin’s support agent is available 24/7. To open it, select the blue bubble at the bottom right of your screen on the support site, or select ‘Support’ at the bottom left of Robin’s web app.