Getting started

Plya keeps the business side of your studio in one place. This page walks through the first ten minutes.

Sign up and set up your studioCopy Anchor Link

1. Click Get started anywhere on plya.app. A few short pages ask what you make and how many people are in your studio, and for a studio of 3 or more, whether you'd like help with anything, such as moving your data in. Each page has its own address, so Back and refreshing keep your answers.

   • A studio of 1 or 2 goes straight on to sign up.
   • A studio of 3 to 5 sees Get started, with Request a demo under it to book a call first.
   • A studio of 6 or more, or anyone who ticks something they'd like help with, sees Contact sales, with Sign up anyway under it. See contacting sales.

2. Enter your email and click Email me a code. You can also go straight to plya.app/signup.

3. Enter the 8-digit code from the email and click Create account. No password and no card. On a device that supports passkeys, Plya then offers to save one for next time: click Save a passkey or Not now. See passkeys.

4. Tell Plya your name and, if you like, your studio's name. Left blank, it becomes "Your name's studio", which you can change in Settings.

5. Pick what you make: furniture, ceramics, painting and so on, or add your own. Plya uses this to point out opportunities that fit your work. If you already picked what you make on the get-started pages, Plya skips this step. You can change your picks later in Settings → Studio.

6. Choose how much help you'd like: I'm just getting started, I'm finding my footing or I've got this down. You can change it in Settings → Preferences → Guidance.

7. Start with Studio, or stay on Basic. You can change plans later in Settings → Billing. The plan step shows Studio's card on its own, with Monthly and Quarterly prices and what Studio includes. When your studio has an offer, such as the launch deal or a free trial, it's at the top of the card.

   • Continue opens the plan dialog on the billing period you picked on the card. Pay there and Plya opens on Studio. Close the dialog and you're back on the plan step. See upgrading to Studio.
   • No thanks, I'll stick with Basic for now opens Plya on Basic, with no card needed. See what the Basic plan includes.
   • If you signed up from a link with a free trial, the step reads "Try Studio free for 30 days", and the dialog's button is Start free trial. It saves your card and charges $0 today. See free trials.

   If you signed up from Choose Studio on the pricing page, the plan step opens on the billing period you picked there.

Back returns to the step before, with your answers kept. A studio that's already on Studio skips the plan step and finishes with Start using Plya.

The canvas is homeCopy Anchor Link

Plya opens on your canvas. Projects, people, invoices and notes sit on it as cards, next to images, links and text. Double-click a card to open its record beside the board.

A new canvas opens with a welcome line, a card that offers Add a project, and two stickies with tips. When you add the project, its card takes the starter card's place. If you chose more guidance, a Getting started checklist sits beside them with five first steps, and a short tour points out the canvas, the tools, the starter card and Ash, and steps aside while a dialog is open. Everything on the starter board is an ordinary canvas item, so delete whatever you don't need.

Under the project card, Bring in your people offers Import contacts, for a CSV from your email or phone, and Add someone. Add someone turns the card into that person's card, and the card goes once your studio has people. On a phone, the starter board leaves out the two stickies, so both cards fit the first screen.

Add your first projectCopy Anchor Link

A project holds a commission, a collection or a show: its tasks, notes, people, time and invoices. Click New project in Projects, give it a title, and click Create project.

Add the people you work withCopy Anchor Link

Network keeps your galleries, stockists, press and clients. Add them one by one with New contact, or bring in a spreadsheet with Import. A contact sits under their organization, with every project, invoice and note you share.

Send your first invoiceCopy Anchor Link

Create an invoice from a project, and connect Stripe in Finance before you send it. Your client pays online, and the money goes straight to your Stripe account. On Basic, Plya keeps 2% of each online payment. Studio has no Plya fee.

Plya asks you to connect Stripe when you send your first invoice, if you haven't yet.

Ask AshCopy Anchor Link

Ash helps with the admin using your real records. Click Ask Ash in the sidebar, or press ⌘ J, and ask what's due this week.

Find your way aroundCopy Anchor Link

The sidebarCopy Anchor Link

From top to bottom:

Collapse the sidebar with the tab on its edge. Plya remembers whether it's open.

FavoritesCopy Anchor Link

Keep the records you open most in the sidebar. Open a project, contact, organization, note, task, invoice or pipeline, click Open in: … in its header and pick Add to favorites. Right-clicking a record in a list or on the canvas, or its ⋯ menu, offers the same thing.

Each favorite shows the record's current name and opens it the way it always opens. Your favorites are yours alone: other people in your studio see their own. An archived record leaves the list until you restore it. To remove one, right-click it in the sidebar and pick Remove from favorites.

Empty pagesCopy Anchor Link

A module with nothing in it yet names the first step and gives you a button for it, often with Ask Ash beside it. Under them, a link such as How Projects works opens that module's help page in a new tab, so your place in Plya stays put.

The logo menuCopy Anchor Link

On a phoneCopy Anchor Link

Plya works best on a computer for now, and a phone app is coming soon. Everything still works on a phone. A note at the top of the app says so; tap × to close it, and it stays closed.

The sidebar folds into a menu. Tap Open navigation at the top left to open it. It closes when you pick a page. Records open full screen. Inbox opens from the bottom of the screen.

RelatedCopy Anchor Link