1. Getting started

Welcome to Vinedem, the all-in-one platform for running your electronics repair shop: repairs, customers, inventory, sales and payments in one place. This first part walks you through creating your account, getting to know the interface, and understanding what each member of your team can do.

1.1 What Vinedem is

Vinedem replaces the front-desk spreadsheets and notebooks with a system built for repair shops:

Repairs: register every device that comes in for repair, its diagnosis, the quote, the parts used and the stage it is in.
Inventory (Products): control the stock of parts and accessories, with photos, prices and low-stock alerts.
Sales: bill product sales, with different payment methods, installments and even trade-ins.
Debts (Store credit): track the balance of every customer who owes you, with partial payments and installment plans.
Customers and providers: a directory with the full history of each contact.
Reports and cash close: see how the shop is doing day by day.

Everything is saved in the cloud, synced across every device and person in your shop.

1.2 Create your account and verify your email

To begin you need a personal account. Every person on your team will have their own.

Step by step:

Go to the sign-up page (Create account) from the public site.
Fill in your full name, your email and a password. The time zone is filled in from your browser; if it is not right, search for yours by city or country.
The password must be between 8 and 20 characters and include at least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, one number and one special character.
Submit the form. You will receive an email with a verification link.
Open that email and click the link to confirm your account.

With Google: on the same screen, Continue with Google creates the account with your Google name and email, already verified, and takes you straight to creating your organization. It has no password: if you later want to sign in with your email too, add one from Security (see Part 10).

You can create your first organization even before you verify your email. From the second one on, and to keep using the system normally, it will ask you to verify. If you do not see the email, check the spam folder and use the resend option on the verification screen.

1.3 Create your first shop (organization)

In Vinedem each organization represents a shop or branch. All the information (works, products, sales) lives inside an organization, so the first thing to do is create yours.

Step by step:

The first time you sign in, the system takes you to create an organization.
Enter the shop name, and optionally its logo and contact details.
Check the business time zone: it starts with your account's, and Change lets you pick another if the shop is elsewhere. It matters: it defines the shop's "today" for reports and the cash close. You can change it later in Business.
Tell us what your business does: electronics, clothing, phone charging, or whichever apply. It is required, and it decides two things: the starter product types and statuses we set up for you, and which sections appear in your menu. A shop that does not charge phones never sees the charges section; one that only charges phones sees no products or sales. You can change it any time from Business.
Pick the currencies you will trade in. One is suggested based on your country; you can add more (US dollars, for example) or change them later in Settings.
Save. You can start loading repairs right away.

You don't start from nothing. When you create the organization we set up several lists so you can get to work straight away, in the language you are using:

Product types based on what you sell (electronics, clothing, or both).

Brands and models of the most common phones (iPhone, Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola and more), only if you sell electronics.

Expense categories you are likely to need (Rent, Salaries, Utilities, Supplies, Taxes).

Services a repair shop typically bills for (screen replacement, battery replacement, unlocking and others).

All of it is yours: edit it, delete what you do not use and add what is missing from Catalogs.

Currencies matter from the very start: they are the ones offered in sales, repairs, expenses and debts. If you configure none, those forms will not let you record amounts until you add one.

You can have more than one organization on the same account (for example, two branches) and switch between them whenever you want. See "Switching organizations" in the interface section.

1.4 Sign in and recover your password

Once your account is created, you sign in with your email and password.

Sign in: enter your email and password on the login screen, or use Continue with Google. If you already had an account with that same verified email, Google is connected to it; if your email was not verified yet, sign in with your password and connect Google from Security.
Forgot my password: click the corresponding option, enter your email and you will receive a link to set a new password. The link expires for security, so use it as soon as it arrives.
Change your password while signed in: done from Settings, in the Security section (see Part 10).

If you enabled two-step verification, after the password (or Google) you will be asked for an extra code. You can tick Trust this device for 30 days so that computer does not ask every time. See "Security and two-step verification" in Part 10.

1.5 A tour of the interface

When you enter the system you always find the same elements:

Sidebar (menu): on the left. At the top is the Menu with the day-to-day features: Home, Repairs, Products, Sales, Expenses, Profit, Purchases, Debts, Customers and Providers. Below it, the Owner and Administrators have the collapsible Administration group (Overview, Export data, Team, Roles and permissions, Catalogs, Business, Plan and billing and, for the Owner only, Activity; see 10.9). At the bottom is the Settings group with your personal pages: My details, Security and Sessions. What the Menu shows depends on the business kind: Repairs, Products, Sales, Profit and Purchases appear for an electronics or clothing business, and Charging for a phone charging business (see 1.3). A Member sees the Menu without Expenses, Profit or Purchases, with their daily catalogs (Services, States and Brands) inside "Catalogs", the Administration group with only Team, Business and Plan and billing (to view, without changing anything), plus the Settings group.
Collapsible sidebar: you can collapse the bar to icons only to gain space, with the arrow button. Hovering over an icon shows its name.
Organization switcher: at the top of the sidebar. If you have more than one shop, you switch between them from there.
Global search: with the keyboard shortcut Cmd+K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows) you open a search box that finds customers and providers, products, sales and works no matter which screen you are on.
Language and theme: from your user menu you can change the language (Español, English, Français) and toggle between light and dark theme. On the public site, the language picker sits next to the theme button.
Documentation: the link to this manual is at the bottom of the sidebar.

1.6 Roles and permissions

Every person in an organization has a role that defines what they can do. There are three roles:

Owner: full control. This is the person who created the organization. They can manage billing, view the activity log, manage members and access everything.
Admin: can run the whole shop (works, sales, products, expenses, customers, catalogs) and most of the settings. They do not manage billing, member management or the activity log, which are exclusive to the Owner.
Member: can work day to day (create works, sales, customers), but does not see Expenses or certain sensitive sections.

Throughout the manual, when a feature is limited to certain roles, you will see it noted with a "Permissions" callout. To invite people and assign them a role, see "Members, roles and invitations" in Part 10.

1.7 Install Vinedem as an app

You can install Vinedem on your computer, tablet or phone. It opens in its own window, without the browser bar, and sits next to your other apps (Dock, Start menu or home screen). It is still the same system: your data and your session are the same as on the web.

Chrome or Edge (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android): click Install app in the top bar and confirm. It is also in your user menu.
Safari on Mac: in the menu bar, open File and choose Add to Dock.
iPhone or iPad: tap the browser’s Share button and choose Add to Home Screen.

If you would rather not see the button in the top bar, close it with the X: the option stays available in your user menu. Once the app is installed, the button no longer appears.

To uninstall it, do it like any other app: from the menu of the Vinedem window itself in Chrome or Edge, by removing it from the Dock on a Mac, or by long-pressing the icon on your phone.

1. Getting started

1.1 What Vinedem is

Vinedem replaces the front-desk spreadsheets and notebooks with a system built for repair shops:

Repairs: register every device that comes in for repair, its diagnosis, the quote, the parts used and the stage it is in.
Inventory (Products): control the stock of parts and accessories, with photos, prices and low-stock alerts.
Sales: bill product sales, with different payment methods, installments and even trade-ins.
Debts (Store credit): track the balance of every customer who owes you, with partial payments and installment plans.
Customers and providers: a directory with the full history of each contact.
Reports and cash close: see how the shop is doing day by day.

Everything is saved in the cloud, synced across every device and person in your shop.

1.2 Create your account and verify your email

To begin you need a personal account. Every person on your team will have their own.

Step by step:

Go to the sign-up page (Create account) from the public site.
Fill in your full name, your email and a password. The time zone is filled in from your browser; if it is not right, search for yours by city or country.
The password must be between 8 and 20 characters and include at least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, one number and one special character.
Submit the form. You will receive an email with a verification link.
Open that email and click the link to confirm your account.

You can create your first organization even before you verify your email. From the second one on, and to keep using the system normally, it will ask you to verify. If you do not see the email, check the spam folder and use the resend option on the verification screen.

1.3 Create your first shop (organization)

In Vinedem each organization represents a shop or branch. All the information (works, products, sales) lives inside an organization, so the first thing to do is create yours.

Step by step:

The first time you sign in, the system takes you to create an organization.
Enter the shop name, and optionally its logo and contact details.
Check the business time zone: it starts with your account's, and Change lets you pick another if the shop is elsewhere. It matters: it defines the shop's "today" for reports and the cash close. You can change it later in Business.
Tell us what your business does: electronics, clothing, phone charging, or whichever apply. It is required, and it decides two things: the starter product types and statuses we set up for you, and which sections appear in your menu. A shop that does not charge phones never sees the charges section; one that only charges phones sees no products or sales. You can change it any time from Business.
Pick the currencies you will trade in. One is suggested based on your country; you can add more (US dollars, for example) or change them later in Settings.
Save. You can start loading repairs right away.

You don't start from nothing. When you create the organization we set up several lists so you can get to work straight away, in the language you are using:

Product types based on what you sell (electronics, clothing, or both).

Brands and models of the most common phones (iPhone, Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola and more), only if you sell electronics.

Expense categories you are likely to need (Rent, Salaries, Utilities, Supplies, Taxes).

Services a repair shop typically bills for (screen replacement, battery replacement, unlocking and others).

All of it is yours: edit it, delete what you do not use and add what is missing from Catalogs.

Currencies matter from the very start: they are the ones offered in sales, repairs, expenses and debts. If you configure none, those forms will not let you record amounts until you add one.

You can have more than one organization on the same account (for example, two branches) and switch between them whenever you want. See "Switching organizations" in the interface section.

1.4 Sign in and recover your password

Once your account is created, you sign in with your email and password.

Sign in: enter your email and password on the login screen, or use Continue with Google. If you already had an account with that same verified email, Google is connected to it; if your email was not verified yet, sign in with your password and connect Google from Security.
Forgot my password: click the corresponding option, enter your email and you will receive a link to set a new password. The link expires for security, so use it as soon as it arrives.
Change your password while signed in: done from Settings, in the Security section (see Part 10).

If you enabled two-step verification, after the password (or Google) you will be asked for an extra code. You can tick Trust this device for 30 days so that computer does not ask every time. See "Security and two-step verification" in Part 10.

1.5 A tour of the interface

When you enter the system you always find the same elements:

Sidebar (menu): on the left. At the top is the Menu with the day-to-day features: Home, Repairs, Products, Sales, Expenses, Profit, Purchases, Debts, Customers and Providers. Below it, the Owner and Administrators have the collapsible Administration group (Overview, Export data, Team, Roles and permissions, Catalogs, Business, Plan and billing and, for the Owner only, Activity; see 10.9). At the bottom is the Settings group with your personal pages: My details, Security and Sessions. What the Menu shows depends on the business kind: Repairs, Products, Sales, Profit and Purchases appear for an electronics or clothing business, and Charging for a phone charging business (see 1.3). A Member sees the Menu without Expenses, Profit or Purchases, with their daily catalogs (Services, States and Brands) inside "Catalogs", the Administration group with only Team, Business and Plan and billing (to view, without changing anything), plus the Settings group.
Collapsible sidebar: you can collapse the bar to icons only to gain space, with the arrow button. Hovering over an icon shows its name.
Organization switcher: at the top of the sidebar. If you have more than one shop, you switch between them from there.
Global search: with the keyboard shortcut Cmd+K (Mac) or Ctrl+K (Windows) you open a search box that finds customers and providers, products, sales and works no matter which screen you are on.
Language and theme: from your user menu you can change the language (Español, English, Français) and toggle between light and dark theme. On the public site, the language picker sits next to the theme button.
Documentation: the link to this manual is at the bottom of the sidebar.

1.6 Roles and permissions

Every person in an organization has a role that defines what they can do. There are three roles:

Owner: full control. This is the person who created the organization. They can manage billing, view the activity log, manage members and access everything.
Admin: can run the whole shop (works, sales, products, expenses, customers, catalogs) and most of the settings. They do not manage billing, member management or the activity log, which are exclusive to the Owner.
Member: can work day to day (create works, sales, customers), but does not see Expenses or certain sensitive sections.

Throughout the manual, when a feature is limited to certain roles, you will see it noted with a "Permissions" callout. To invite people and assign them a role, see "Members, roles and invitations" in Part 10.

1.7 Install Vinedem as an app

Chrome or Edge (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android): click Install app in the top bar and confirm. It is also in your user menu.
Safari on Mac: in the menu bar, open File and choose Add to Dock.
iPhone or iPad: tap the browser’s Share button and choose Add to Home Screen.

If you would rather not see the button in the top bar, close it with the X: the option stays available in your user menu. Once the app is installed, the button no longer appears.

To uninstall it, do it like any other app: from the menu of the Vinedem window itself in Chrome or Edge, by removing it from the Dock on a Mac, or by long-pressing the icon on your phone.