How to set up Tideswell for the first time

Setting up a workspace is two things: creating it, and answering four short questions that decide which parts of Tideswell you start with. Ten minutes, once. See Getting started with Tideswell for whether this page is the one you need.

Before you start

You need a signup code. Tideswell is invitation-only during private beta, and a workspace cannot be created without one. Get in touch and we will give you one.

You also need to be signed in, since the create-workspace screen only appears once you have an account and no workspace yet.

How do you create the workspace?

Fill in your company name, your own name if you signed in by email, your company website if you want to, and paste the signup code.

Then accept the Terms and Privacy Policy, which you can open in a new tab first, and choose whether you want product updates by email.

Your company name and the short URL name are set here. The URL name is shown greyed out and is fixed once the workspace exists, so use the company's real name rather than a working title.

Whoever creates the workspace becomes its owner: full admin rights automatically, and the one person who can never be deactivated.

What are the four setup questions?

A short wizard you are taken to straight away, and only the person who created the workspace ever sees it. People who join by invitation skip it entirely.

1. Your industry, from a list.
2. What you are focused on right now, up to three things.
3. Which platform you sell on. Choosing Shopify takes you to the connect screen at the end, which is the right shortcut to take.
4. How you get product: a multi-brand retailer, a DTC brand, or a DTC manufacturer. Plus a tick for We also sell to other businesses if you sell wholesale.

Move back and forth freely. Continue stays unavailable until the current step is answered.

What does question four actually do?

It sets your operating model, which is two separate answers: how you get product, and whether you sell wholesale. Together they decide which parts of Tideswell are switched on to begin with.

Before you finish, the screen shows a live count, along the lines of "You'll start with 12 of 21 modules switched on. The rest are one click away in Settings."

Read that count. It is telling you the wizard is choosing a starting point, not a restriction.

Can you change your mind afterwards?

Yes, all of it. Everything the wizard sets lives in Settings › Modules and can be changed whenever you like, per How to switch parts of Tideswell on and off.

Nothing is ever deleted or made permanently unavailable by these answers. If a module you wanted is off, switch it on.

The wizard itself does not reopen once finished, because there is nothing in it you cannot reach from Settings.

Answer honestly rather than ticking everything: a workspace with every module on is harder to learn than one that shows you the six areas you actually use.

What happens when you finish?

You land in the app, or on the integrations screen if you said you sell on Shopify.

Take the Shopify route. Most of the useful screens are empty until a store is connected, per How to connect your Shopify store.

After that, set up your departments and invite people, which is How to invite your team and set up departments.