This guide is for System Admins and Course Owners whose booked places do not match their registrations: the seats booked, places taken or spaces left on a course date (or in the calendar) show a different number from the people listed under Registrants, or a date is full or over its participant limit when you expected room. It explains how Cademy counts places and how to check who is counted.
A date is one scheduled session. A block groups sessions into one booking, such as a cohort. A registration is one person’s place on a course, listed under Registrants. An order is the purchase record; one order can buy several places. Max Spaces is the participant limit: the total number of places on the date, including booked ones.
The booked count counts places, not names. An order holds every place it bought, even before all the attendee names are added. So the count and the list of registrations can differ without anything being wrong.
How Booked Places and Places Left Are Counted
The places left on a date are its limit minus the places already held. The limit is the date’s own saved Max Spaces; a session without one uses its block’s limit, and a date or block without one uses the course default.
These hold places:
An order holds the number of places it bought for that date, even if fewer attendee names have been supplied. If more people are named on it than it bought, each named person counts.
An order holds its places while it is awaiting payment, awaiting your approval, overdue, part paid or paid. A refunded order still holds its places until you cancel it or remove the places from it: refunding and cancelling are separate actions.
Each selected offer holds the number in its Spaces to block, which is one place unless you changed it.
Places added by an admin or imported without an order count until they are cancelled.
These do not hold places: a cancelled or deleted order, places removed from an order, a cancelled registration that was added or imported without an order, and an entry on the waitlist.
In a block, places are counted like this:
A whole-block place is held in the block and in every one of its sessions.
A place booked on one session is held in that session. It also reduces the room for whole-block bookings: the block counts its whole-block places plus the highest number of single-session places booked on any one of its sessions (for sessions that run at the same time, their single-session places are added together).
The block card counts whole-block places plus the most single-session places held at any one time, rather than adding together bookings across every session.
For example, a block allows 20 and its sessions have no limits of their own. 12 whole-block places are booked. One individually bookable session has 3 places of its own booked and another has 1. The two sessions do not overlap. The block has 20 − (12 + 3) = 5 places left for whole-block bookings, and its top card shows 15 booked. The first session has 5 places left and the second has 7.
Course Says 7 Places Taken but Only 6 Names Listed (Blank Places)
If a date says 7 places taken but only 6 names are listed, or there are blank registered places for a training date, places are held without a named person. The Orders tab on the course page is shown only to System Admins; a Course Owner can check Registrants and ask a System Admin to compare the orders. Check these, in this order:
An order with missing attendee names: an order for 5 places holds all 5 even if only 3 names have been added. A System Admin can open the date’s Orders tab and compare each order’s number of places with the people named on it.
An offer that holds several places: an offer whose Spaces to block is 2 or more holds that many places for each one bought.
An order still awaiting payment or approval, or refunded but not cancelled: it holds its places. Cancel it, or remove the places from it, if those places should be free.
Whole-block places on a session: each whole-block place counts in every session, so do not add session counts together to count the people on the block.
Inspect the relevant orders and registrations before changing the date’s capacity.
10 Registrations but Only 9 Seats Booked in the Calendar View
If you count 10 registrations but the calendar view or the date card shows only 9 seats booked, check what each one is counting:
Which registrations are listed: the All Registrations view also lists Cancelled and Draft registrations. The Active Registrations view lists only Active and Pending ones. A cancelled registration does not hold a place. Check the Status of each person.
Which date is counted: when you select a block on the course page, its Registrants tab (and, for System Admins, its Orders tab) also lists bookings on its sessions; when you select a session, it also lists the block’s bookings. In the calendar, a session that is not individually bookable shows its block’s booked places and limit, and a session sold separately shows its own. The top block card counts whole-block places plus the most single-session places held at any one time, so with several individually bookable sessions a block’s list of registrations can be longer than its booked count.
When the count was last worked out: the booked count is saved on each date. Cademy works it out again when a booking on the date is made, changed, moved or cancelled, so reload the page after a change.
If the active registrations and the orders still do not explain the difference, contact Cademy Support with the course, the date and the two numbers you see.
Check Who Is and Is Not Counted in a Date’s Numbers
Use this when you expect a different number of places taken, for example 7 instead of 6, and want to find the person or order that is or is not counted.
In Courses, open the course and select the date or block. For a session inside a block, select Expand sessions first.
Open Registrants. At the top left of the list, select the view name (for example Active Registrations, which shows the people who count) and choose All Registrations to see cancelled and draft registrations as well. Check each person’s Status.
System Admins: open the Orders tab and compare the number of places each order bought with the people named on it. Places without a name still count. Course Owners do not see this tab; ask a System Admin to check the orders.
Add up the places held, using the list in “How Booked Places and Places Left Are Counted” above, and compare the total with the date’s booked count.
To free a place that is held by mistake, remove that place from its order or cancel the order: see Cancel a Booking or Part of an Order.
Cancelled Registrations on a Full Course but Spaces Not Showing as Available
If the course was fully booked and you cancelled two registrations, but the two spaces are not showing as available, the places are still held by their order. Cancelling an order-linked registration alone does not remove the order’s reserved places. A registration added by an admin or imported without an order stops counting when it is cancelled.
To free the places, remove them from the order (cancel part of the order) or cancel the whole order. A refund alone does not free them. See Cancel a Booking or Part of an Order before choosing a cancellation or order action. After the change, reload the course page and check the date’s count again.
More Registrations Than the Participant Limit
If the participant limit has been reached but a date has more registrations than its limit, for example 32 on a date limited to 30, places were added past the limit. Customers cannot book a full date online, but admins can:
Admin booking routes can add places beyond capacity. Adding a registration on a full date warns “This date is full. Creating this registration will take it over capacity.” and still lets you continue. A System Admin can also create an order on a full date.
Booking someone from the waitlist with Convert to Booking creates an order, and a capacity warning can appear after it is created.
Lowering Max Spaces below the places already booked keeps the existing bookings. Lowering it from 12 to 10 when 12 places are booked does not cancel two people.
Check the booked total before making a manual booking; do not rely on the public booking limit to prevent it. See Set Up and Manage a Course Waitlist (Waiting List) for the waitlist.
A Block Shows Spare Places but a Session Is Full
The block and its sessions have separate limits and separate counts. A whole-block booking needs a place in the block and in every session, including sessions that have already taken place. If one session has a lower saved limit, or its places are used by single-session bookings, it can be full while the top block card still shows room, and another whole-block booking is refused. Check every session’s Max Spaces and booked count. To change them, see “Change Places for a Whole Block of Sessions” in Set Places and Prices for All Dates or Just One Date.
Raised Max Spaces but the Date Still Shows Sold Out
When a date has no places left, customers cannot book it. It is shown as sold out, or offers Join Waitlist if the course’s waitlist is turned on.
The availability customers see comes from the count Cademy keeps on each date. Cademy also works that count out again, in the background, when the date is saved with a number in Max Spaces, so after saving a new limit allow a moment and reload the public page. Reopen the date’s editor to confirm the new Max Spaces was saved, and for a block check every session’s limit. If the date still shows as sold out, contact Cademy Support with the course and the date.
When a customer submits an order, Cademy checks the places again against the bookings at that moment, and the order is not placed if there is no longer room. Changing a total is not proof that the date can now be booked: its date and time, visibility, block settings and offer sale window still matter. See Why Can't Customers Book My Course or Date?.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does lowering Max Spaces remove existing bookings?
No. The bookings stay, and customers cannot book another place while the date is full.
Do people on the waitlist take up places?
No. A waitlist entry does not hold a place. Places are held only by orders and by registrations added or imported without an order.
Can I add one more person to a full date?
Yes. Raise the date’s Max Spaces, or add the person as an admin and accept the over-capacity warning. See “Add One More Person to a Full Course or Date” in Set Places and Prices for All Dates or Just One Date.