"Works offline" can mean many things. Here is exactly what it means in BooksPOS today.
The shop's main PC runs the BooksPOS store server, which owns that branch's database: stock, bills, khata and the day book. Only the store server writes to it. The till on the same PC, and tills on other PCs in the shop, all ask the store server. Never put the store's database on a shared folder, OneDrive or Google Drive: BooksPOS is built on the rule that one program owns it.
A sale is saved on the store PC together with a numbered message for the cloud, in one step. Every 15 seconds (less often while the cloud is not answering), or when you press Sync now, the store sends what is waiting. A message sent twice counts once, and the store forgets a message only after the cloud confirms it has saved it. In a test, sales made while the cloud was switched off reached it later, and the cloud's daily totals matched the store's own report.
Open the full-size screenshot Selling, returns, purchases, khata payments, closing a shift and printing all continue. Changes wait on the store PC, in order.
The same as no internet. The store retries on its own and never loses what is waiting.
A till on another PC cannot bill without the store PC. Its bill in progress is kept, and a retry cannot post it twice. The till on the store PC keeps working.
Every till needs it. No second PC quietly takes over, because two PCs selling the same stock separately could both sell the last copy.
Sales and returns per day, and from BooksPOS 0.9.7 stock per title, what customers owe and you owe suppliers, and purchases and expenses by day, each with the time of the branch's last report, in the owner portal and the Owner app for Android.
A branch that has not reported for 15 minutes is marked STALE, because it may be selling right now without the internet.
Store PCs with their last-seen time and licence grant. Revoke one and its cloud access stops at once.
Edit an item's title, edition, category, status or prices; each branch applies it at its next sync unless the shop changed that item meanwhile.
Goods sent between branches as the cloud relayed them: on their way, received in full or short.
Owners can require a code from an authenticator app, with one-time recovery codes.
The cloud gives each paired store PC a signed grant (30 days by default, then 14 days' grace). The PC checks the signature itself, without the internet.
Turning the PC's clock back does not extend a grant. A suspension is only noticed at the next check-in.
The store PC takes an encrypted backup every day and before each database upgrade. Restoring one, on the same PC or a replacement, is done on screen, with a preview before anything changes.
Create your account, choose Cloud or Offline, and tell us what you sell and how many counters and branches you have.
Run the installer from the Download page on your main PC, open BooksPOS and choose Main PC of the shop, or we set it up with you.
Items, opening stock, customers and suppliers from CSV, every row checked before saving.
Give your staff their own sign-ins and roles, and open the till.
BooksPOS: the shop's own Windows PC keeps the records, so billing, returns, purchases and khata payments carry on with no internet, and everything goes to BooksPOS Cloud in order when the connection is back. That is why we consider it the best fit for book depots and stationers in towns where the internet comes and goes.
Nothing changes at the counter. The shop keeps billing, and changes go to the cloud, in order and each once, when the internet returns.
Yes: each branch's daily sales, and from BooksPOS 0.9.7 its stock and khata, in the owner portal and the Owner app for Android, with the time the branch last reported. If a branch has not reported for 15 minutes it is marked STALE, never shown as live.
Tills on other PCs cannot bill until it is back; their open bills are kept. BooksPOS deliberately does not let a second PC take over the stock.
No. Each store PC holds a signed grant it checks itself, valid for 30 days by default plus 14 days' grace, renewed whenever it syncs.
No. One program, the store server, must own the database on the store PC's own disk. A synced or shared folder can corrupt it.
Start a 14-day free trial, no card required, and download the Windows installer. We help you set it up if you ask.