Welcome Wizard
The first time you log in to MaidCentral Pulse, a Welcome Wizard walks you through a few quick steps to set up your preferences. You can choose your theme, font size, sidebar style, and landing page so the app looks and feels right for you from day one.
The wizard takes less than a minute to complete. Every choice you make can be changed later from your Profile.
Who Sees the Wizard
The Welcome Wizard appears for every new office user on their first login. All office roles see the same wizard steps. Technicians do not see the wizard when they sign in to the technician portal. A person who also has an office role sees it the first time they use the office portal. Once you complete or skip the wizard, it does not appear again, including when you switch to another branch.
This feature may need to be enabled for your company. If the wizard does not appear on first login, contact your administrator to check your onboarding settings.
Wizard Steps
The wizard has seven steps. A progress indicator at the top shows where you are. You can go back to any previous step, skip the entire wizard, or work through each step in order.
Step 1 — Welcome
The first screen greets you and explains what the wizard will do. Click Let's Go to start.
Step 2 — Choose Your Theme
Pick a color scheme for the app. Your choice applies immediately so you can see how it looks.
| Option | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Light | Clean, bright appearance for daytime use |
| Dark | Easier on the eyes in low-light settings |
| Match System | Follows your device's light or dark mode automatically |
The default is Light. Click any option to preview it, then click Next to continue.
Step 3 — Choose Font Size
Pick a text size that is comfortable for you to read. A sample sentence shows the selected size so you can compare.
| Option | Size |
|---|---|
| Small | Compact text for more content on screen |
| Medium | Standard size (default) |
| Large | Bigger text for easier reading |
| Extra Large | Maximum text size |
Use the slider to move between sizes. Click Next when you find one you like.
Step 4 — Sidebar Style
Choose how the left navigation sidebar behaves.
| Option | How It Works |
|---|---|
| Full | The sidebar is always visible with text labels next to each icon |
| Hover | The sidebar shows icons only and expands with labels when you hover over it |
| Collapse | The sidebar stays compact with icons only at all times |
The default is Full. Click Next to continue.
Step 5 — What Do You Mainly Do?
This step suggests a default landing page based on your role. When you log in each day, Pulse opens this page first. If you were sent to the sign-in page while opening a link to a specific page — a bookmark or a link a teammate shared — signing in with your email and password takes you back to that page instead. Signing in with Google or Facebook opens your landing page as usual.
| Role | Suggested Landing Page |
|---|---|
| Operations / Admin | Dashboard |
| Scheduling | Schedule |
| Customer Relations | Contacts |
| Reporting / Finance | Reports |
| Something Else | Pick from a list of all available pages |
Select the role that best describes your daily work. If none of the suggestions fit, choose Something Else and pick any page from the full list.
You can skip this step if you are not sure. The default landing page is the Dashboard.
Step 6 — Help & Support
This step shows you where to get help:
- Help articles — Click this option in the sidebar to open the knowledge base with guides and FAQs in a new tab. It is always available at the bottom of the sidebar.
- MaidCentral Support — To report a problem or ask a question, submit a ticket from the link on this step, or email [email protected].
Click Next to continue.
Step 7 — You're All Set
The final step shows a summary of everything you chose:
- Your theme (Light, Dark, or Match System)
- Your font size
- Your sidebar style
- Your landing page (if you selected one)
Review your choices and click Get Started to save everything and enter the app. Pulse saves your preferences and opens your chosen landing page.
Skipping the Wizard
You can skip the wizard at any time by clicking the Skip button. Skipping uses the default settings (Light theme, Medium font, Full sidebar, Dashboard landing page) and takes you straight to the Dashboard.
The App Tour
After you finish the wizard, a short guided tour may appear on your landing page. The tour highlights three features:
- Your Navigation Hub — The sidebar and how to move between sections.
- Quick Actions — The button for common tasks like adding leads, scheduling jobs, and creating quotes.
- Smart Time Entry — Shortcuts for entering times quickly (for example, typing "3" for 3:00 AM or "930" for 9:30 AM).
You can click through each step or skip the tour at any time. The tour does not appear again after you complete or skip it.
Changing Your Preferences Later
All wizard choices can be updated from your profile:
- Click your name or avatar in the top-right corner of the page.
- Go to Profile > Preferences.
- Change your theme, font size, sidebar style, or landing page.
Changes take effect immediately. Your theme, font size and landing page follow you to every branch you switch to.
Tips and Best Practices
- If you are not sure which theme to pick, try Match System. It automatically switches between light and dark based on your device settings.
- Choose the Hover sidebar if you want more screen space for the main content area.
- Set your landing page to the section you use most. Scheduling teams should pick Schedule. Office managers might prefer Dashboard.
- If you skipped the wizard and want to adjust settings, go to Profile > Preferences at any time.
Troubleshooting
| What You See | Solution |
|---|---|
| The wizard did not appear on first login | The welcome wizard feature may not be enabled for your company. Contact your administrator. |
| I skipped the wizard and want to redo it | The wizard only runs once. Use Profile > Preferences to change any setting you missed. |
| My theme did not save | If you see the wrong theme after logging in again, go to Profile > Preferences and reselect your theme. |
| The app tour did not appear | The tour starts automatically after the wizard. If it was skipped or dismissed, it will not appear again. |
| Font size looks wrong | Check Profile > Preferences and confirm the font size setting. Browser zoom settings can also affect text size. |
Related Articles
- First Week Checklist — What to do in your first week using MaidCentral Pulse
- Keyboard Shortcuts — Speed up your workflow with keyboard shortcuts
- Full-Page Estimate: create leads and quotes, then book the first job