DocumentationMac

First run

The first time you open Manifest it asks four short things: where the register lives, your plan, what goes on your labels, and how you'd like to start. If you'd rather look round first, the demo opens from the very first screen.

For
Walks through first-run setup on the Mac, screen by screen, and the free demo.
Will not
Where the register lives cannot be changed later without moving your data. Your own register needs a plan, and there's no way past the plan screen without one.
Writes
Where the register lives, your plan, the organisation's name and the asset tag prefix. Nothing of yours is written before you've chosen a plan.
On iPhone
The iPhone asks the same four screens, in the same order and mostly the same words.

Have a look first: the demo

There's no free trial. There's a free demo, and it costs you no screens to reach.

Under the two choices on the first screen is Explore the demo first. It opens a made-up company, Hill Valley Gas and Electric, with 1,000 assets, plus its people, contracts, evidence pack and reports, all filled in. Nothing of yours goes in it, and there’s no card and no account.

It’s free for three days from the moment you first open it, not from install. A banner says it’s the demo and how many days are left. Leave the demo deletes it, and opening it again carries on the same three days rather than starting new ones. You can get back to it from the workspace menu in the sidebar, or from Settings under The demo. When the three days are up it reads The demo has closed, with See plans.

Where should your register live?

Screen one. It's the one answer you can't change later without moving your data, so it's asked first.

  • This Mac and my devices: the register is a file on this Mac, and your iPhone reads it over your own network.
  • Starkive Cloud: the register is held for you, and every device you sign in on sees the same register.

Nothing is picked for you and there are no prices on this screen. Continue stays off until you choose, with Pick one to carry on. beside it. For more on the two, see Where the register lives.

Joining your team

If your organisation already has a register, you join it from the same first screen.

Under the two choices is Your organisation already has a register? with Join it with a code. The screen becomes Join with a code: the Code an admin on a Mac that’s already in reads out to you, Your name, and What this Mac is called. Your organisation has already decided where its data lives, its name and its tag scheme, so this Mac isn’t asked again.

Your plan

Screen two. You meet the cost on the way in, not later.

The heading is Choose your plan, with Every plan includes everything. They differ only in how many assets you keep and how many devices can use it at once. Above it is the side you chose, with Change to go back.

It asks Roughly how many assets do you look after? An estimate is fine. Type a number and the plan that covers it is picked for you; click any other plan to choose that one instead. No plan is picked before you type or click. Beside the list, the chosen plan shows what it gets you, with the price straight from the App Store in your own currency. Going over a plan never stops you recording an asset.

The renewal terms, Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and Restore purchases are on the same screen, before you subscribe. There’s no way into your own register without a plan. If you’re already on one, the screen says You are already on a plan and there’s nothing to pick.

What goes on your labels?

Screen three. Two fields, and neither stops you carrying on.

  • What is this organisation called?, marked can be added later. It goes at the head of your reports and on printed labels. Left blank, the register is named after where it lives until you name it.
  • Asset tag prefix, marked cannot be changed later. Two to six letters or digits, and it starts every tag this register ever mints. A label preview redraws as you type. Left blank, your tags start with STRK, which is ours rather than yours, and the screen says so.

The Mac doesn’t ask your name. It signs your work with the name on your Mac account.

How would you like to start?

Screen four. Two doors, and whichever you pick, the other is still there afterwards.

  • Straight in: open the register now, with the Mac you’re sitting at as its first record, read from the machine itself.
  • Bring my list in: drop a spreadsheet or an export from your old tool. Columns with no home become fields, and people, vendors and contracts each become one record rather than a repeated name. See Bringing in what you have.

Once you’ve named the organisation, the heading uses the name.

Where you are in setup

One quiet line, not a progress bar.

Beside the heading is one line saying how much is left, like Two more after this. On the last screen it says nothing.

After setup

Home picks up where setup left off.

Home shows a Where you got to card: what’s done, like Register made, and what’s still open, each with what it costs you, like Compliance scope not set. Compliance questions aren’t part of first run any more. They’re asked in Compliance, once there’s a register to scope.

A Mac that joined an organisation writes neither the tag prefix nor the organisation’s answers. Both belong to the organisation, and a joiner’s blank answers must not overwrite them.

Where to go next

Setup ends with a register, empty or not. The rest of the documentation picks up from there.