User Guide

Overview

Plan Groups are shared workspaces for projects, gatherings, and household plans. Each plan group can have events, guest RSVPs, member chat, files, and an activity history.

Open Plan Groups from Inventory → Tools → Plan Groups, or go directly to /planning.

Plan groups

A plan group is the container for everything related to a shared plan.

1. From the Plan Groups page, click "New plan group".
2. Enter a name and optional description, then create it.
3. Use search on the list to find a group by name or by a member’s name or email.
4. Open a plan group and click the pencil next to the title to rename it.
5. Click the palette icon next to the title to set a two-color theme for events and RSVP pages.
6. Use Timeline on the Plan Groups page for a chronological view of upcoming events across all your groups, and switch to Table when you want a scannable list.

Inside a plan group you will see tabs: Events, Messages, Files, Members, and History.

Group theme

Each plan group can have its own two-tone color theme. The colors tint that group’s header, Events tab, event cards, and guest RSVP pages (personal invite links and public signup links). Other plan groups and the rest of NookNDen stay on the default greens.

1. Open the plan group.
2. Click the palette icon next to the group name in the header.
3. Choose a primary and secondary color with the pickers, or tap a preset (Forest, Ocean, Indigo, and others).
4. Check the preview gradient, then click Save theme.

• Primary is the main accent (buttons, selected tabs, event card stripe).
• Secondary is used with primary in header and RSVP page gradients.
• Reset default restores the original forest greens.
• Any member of the plan group can change the theme.

Members & invites

Collaborators need to be members of the plan group to see events, messages, and files.

• Email invite — send an invite to someone’s email. They sign in (or register) and accept the invite.
• Join link — create a shareable link so people can join without a personal invite email.
• Display name — each member can set a first and last name for that plan group (helpful when emails are hard to recognize).
• Owner vs member — the creator owns the plan group; members can collaborate on events, RSVPs, messages, and files.

Open the Members tab to invite people, copy a join link, or manage display names.

Events

Events are the core of planning: meetings, parties, service visits, or any scheduled activity. The Events tab and event cards use this plan group’s theme colors.

1. Open a plan group → Events tab → "Add event".
2. Set the title, start time, optional end time, and timezone (search for any region worldwide).
3. Add an optional location (address or venue) and map pin.
4. Optionally set Repeats (daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly), interval, and when the series ends.
5. Optionally set an RSVP limit for how many people can mark Going (party size counts).
6. Save the event.

Upcoming vs Done — Use Upcoming for active events and Done for completed ones. Mark an event Done when it is finished; you can reopen it later. Marking Done does not email members.

Recurring events expand into upcoming occurrences in the list and in the Plan Groups timeline.

• Edit an event anytime — members get an update email with a refreshed calendar file.
• Cancel an event to notify members and mark the calendar item cancelled.
• Download a .ics calendar file from an open event anytime.
• Open an event from an email link (?event=…) to jump straight to its details.

Location & map pins

Each event can have a text location and an optional map pin (latitude / longitude).

1. In Add/Edit event, type a venue or address in Location.
2. Pick a suggestion from the search results (or click Find) to fill the location text and drop a pin automatically.
3. Or place/adjust the pin on the map, or use “Use my location”.
4. Clear the pin if you only want text location.

Guests on the public RSVP signup page see the location. If a pin exists, they can tap the location to open a map modal, or open it in Maps.

Calendar emails & .ics

When you create or update an event (calendar-changing fields), every plan group member receives an email that includes:

• Event title, time, timezone, location, and notes
• An “Add to Google Calendar” button (great for Gmail)
• An attached .ics file for Apple Calendar, Outlook, and other apps
• A link back to the event in NookNDen (also stored as the URL in the .ics file)

RSVP invite and confirmation emails can also include a calendar file with a link back to the guest’s personal RSVP page.

RSVPs

Collect responses from guests who may not be plan group members. Guest RSVP pages use this plan group’s theme colors.

Invite by email

1. Open an event, then use the RSVP section to add guest emails.
2. Each guest gets a personal RSVP link (no account required).
3. They choose Going, Maybe, or Can’t, and set party size and optional comments.

Public signup link

1. Enable or copy the shareable signup link for the event.
2. Anyone with the link can submit their name, email, party size, and comments.
3. They receive a confirmation email with a personal link to update later, plus a calendar file.

Managing responses

• See Going, Maybe, Not going, and Awaiting counts.
• When an RSVP limit is set, going headcount (including party size) is compared to the limit.
• If the event is full, new Going RSVPs are blocked until spots free up.
• Use "Email guests" to notify everyone on the RSVP list about changes, with a personal update link.
• Use "Export Excel" to download the RSVP list as a spreadsheet.

Messages

Use the Messages tab to chat with plan group members.

• Type @ to mention a member — mentioned people get an email notification.
• Messages can be linked to a specific event or file when relevant.
• Keep coordination in-thread so History and email don’t become the only record.

Files

Upload photos or PDFs on the Files tab — for the whole plan group or tied to a specific event.

• Great for floor plans, permits, menus, itineraries, or receipts.
• Attach to an event when the file is only relevant to that date.
• All members of the plan group can access shared files.

History & timeline

The History tab shows activity inside a plan group (events created, invites sent, and other updates).

From the Plan Groups list, open Timeline for a chronological view of planned events across your groups — useful when you belong to several plan groups at once. Switch between the visual timeline and a compact Table of the same events.

Tips

• Set the correct timezone on events so calendar invites match everyone’s local time.
• Use map pins for venues that are hard to find by address alone.
• Set an RSVP limit for capacity-constrained gatherings (party size counts).
• Share the public signup link for open house–style RSVPs; use email invites for a controlled guest list.
• After changing time or location, edit and save so members and calendars stay in sync.
• Download the .ics from the event page if someone missed the email attachment.

Need more help?

Open Plan Groups