Parking in deskbird works like desks: you create a parking area on a floor, add the spots, decide who can park there and set the booking rules. Once it's published, your employees book a spot in the same flow as a desk, and you can see who is expected in your car park every day. This article walks you through the setup in order and links to the detailed articles for each step.
- Before you start
- Create a parking area
- Add parking spots
- Control who can park
- Set booking rules and check-in
- Require license plates
- Automate parking bookings
- FAQs
1. Before you start
- Role: Global Admins can set up parking in every office. Office Admins can set it up in the offices they administer.
- Floors: parking areas belong to a floor, just like desk areas. If your car park is not part of an existing floor, add a floor for it first (for example "Underground parking"). See Floors and spaces.
- Plans: parking areas, spots, access rules, assigned spots and check-in are available on every plan. License plates, priority access, weekday access rules, temporary closures and auto check-in via geolocation need Desks Professional and above. See Feature Availability.
💡 Tip: Booking settings and equipment are configured per office. Use the office selector at the top of each admin page to make sure you are working in the right office.
2. Create a parking area
- Go to Admin > Workplace > Floors & spaces and select the floor.
- Click Add area.
- Select the area type Parking area.
- Enter a Name (for example "Garage level -1") and the Capacity, which is the number of parking spots in the area. A Description is optional, for example "Entrance via Main Street, height limit 2 m".
- Leave Save area as draft ticked while you set up the area, then click Add as draft.
A draft area is hidden from users. When the spots and settings are ready, open the area and click Publish area. Publishing cannot be undone.
To show the parking area on the interactive floor plan, place it in the floor plan editor. See Floor plans.
3. Add parking spots
To add spots to an area, for example when your car park grows:
- In Admin > Workplace > Floors & spaces, click the pen icon next to the parking area.
- Click Add spots.
- Enter how many spots to add, an optional prefix (default "Parking spot") and the number to Start numbering at. The preview shows the first name, for example "Parking spot 1".
- Optionally tick Save spot(s) as draft, then click Add spots.
To rename a spot or add a description, click the pen icon in its row. You can also reorder spots with drag and drop.
💡 Tip: Use the same numbers as the markings in your car park. If a spot name contains a number (for example "P 12"), that number is shown on the floor plan, which makes the spot easy to find.
Add equipment such as EV chargers
- Go to Admin > Desks, parking & others: Equipment and click Add parking spot equipment (for example "EV charger" or "Wide spot").
- Back in the parking area, click the pen icon next to a spot and select the equipment under Equipment.
Users can then filter for this equipment when they book. For more on equipment, see Desks, Parking Spots and Other Resources.
4. Control who can park
Access to the whole area
On the parking area page, click the pen icon in the Access card. In Access configuration, choose:
- Open Access: all users with access to the office can book.
- Restricted Access: only selected users or groups can book, for example a pool for management, visitors or night-shift staff.
- Priority Access (Desks Professional and above): selected users or groups can book further in advance, and everyone else can book the remaining spots from a lead time you set.
With Desks Professional and above, you can also limit access to certain weekdays. For details, see Manage access and Weekday-based access rules.
Assign a spot to one person
- Click the pen icon next to the spot.
- Under Access, select Restrict access to a user and search for the colleague.
- Optionally tick Allow others to book this space if the assigned user is not in the office, so the spot doesn't stay empty when its owner works remotely.
- Click Save.
The spot is booked automatically when the assigned user sets their status to Office. See Desks, Parking Spots and Other Resources.
Close an area or a spot
Use Manage under Area closures (or next to a single spot) to close it, for example during construction work. An indefinite closure hides the space from users. Temporary closures with an end date need Desks Professional and above. See Closing spaces.
⚠️ Important: Closing or deleting a parking area or spot cancels future bookings in it.
5. Set booking rules and check-in
Parking spots share their booking settings with desks. There are no separate settings for parking. Go to Admin > Desks, parking & others: Booking settings, select the office and check:
- Maximum booking timeframe: how many days in advance each role can book.
- Users and Group manager cannot book more than one desk or parking spot at the same date and time: stops users from holding two parking spots at once. Users can still book one desk and one parking spot for the same day.
- Book anonymously: hides names from other users.
- Booking for guests: which roles can book a spot for a visitor.
- Check-in: No check-in, Check-in with click and/or QR Codes or Check-in with QR Codes only, plus the Grace period and the Earliest auto-cancellation time. Bookings without check-in are released, so the spot becomes free for others.
- Auto check-in via geolocation with the deskbird mobile app (Desks Professional and above): checks users in when they arrive at the office. It does not work with No check-in.
Click Save. Changes apply to future bookings only.
💡 Tip: If you use QR code check-in, place a QR code sign at each spot or at the car park entrance. You can download the codes from the QR icon on the parking area page. See QR codes.
For details, see Booking settings, Check-in Options for Resources and Meeting Rooms and Automatic Check-In for Desk and Parking Bookings.
6. Require license plates
With Desks Professional and above, you can ask for a license plate in the parking areas where your garage operator, barrier system or security team needs one.
- Open the parking area in Admin > Workplace > Floors & spaces.
- Under Vehicle license plate management, switch on Require a license plate.
- Click Save.
Users then confirm a vehicle when they book a spot in this area. The license plate appears in the bookings list and in the bookings export, so you can hand a daily list to your garage operator. For bulk import, plate search and what users see, see License plate management.
7. Automate parking bookings
If your employees park on every office day, automated bookings save them from booking a spot each time.
- Go to Admin > Desks, parking & others: Booking settings and select the office.
- Under Automated bookings, switch on Parking and click Save.
- Users turn on Use automated booking for parking spots in Profile > Hybrid preferences.
deskbird then books a spot on every day the user sets to Office. In areas that require a license plate, the user's default vehicle is used. See Set up automated bookings.
8. FAQs
- The parking area (and its floor) is published, not a draft.
- The area or its spots are not closed.
- The area is not set to Restricted Access for a group the user isn't part of.
- The user has access to the office.
- The area is placed on the floor plan if users look for it there.
deskbird has no built-in connector for parking barriers or ANPR cameras. Many companies connect them through the Public API (Desks Professional and above): your parking system provider or integrator reads the parking bookings from deskbird and grants access in the barrier system. If you require license plates, you can also export a daily list of bookings with plates from Admin > Desks, parking & others: Bookings.
Yes. Parking bookings are time-based, so one spot can be booked by several people on the same day as long as their times don't overlap. Bookings must stay within the office opening hours, which you set in Admin > Workplace > Office settings. A booking always starts and ends on the same day, so a shift that runs past midnight needs two bookings.
Create a separate parking area for these spots and set its access to Restricted Access for the users or groups who may park there. With Desks Professional and above, you can use Priority Access instead, so the group can book first and others can use the remaining spots later.
Yes. Choose Guest as the booking type when booking the spot. Which roles can do this is set under Booking for guests in the booking settings. See Bookings for guests.
Yes, with office sites. An office site groups nearby offices so that parking is shared across them, and users can book a spot in a sibling office without switching offices. Office sites is in beta and available on request. See Office sites.
If you require license plates, search for the plate in deskbird to see which user it belongs to and whether they have a booking for that day. See License plate management.