This article is about the Proxi admin app at app.proxi.co.
A welcome screen is a short hello that appears the first time someone opens your directory: what it is, how to use it, and a button to start browsing. Think of a visitor who scanned a QR code on a shop window and landed on a page of 38 business cards — the welcome tells them "Every shop, cafe, and service in downtown Fairhaven" before they start scrolling. We write it for you from the way your directory is set up, you can change any of it, and you can watch it take shape as you type.
It's off until you turn it on.
Where to Find It
Open your directory from the Directories page. In the settings rail on the left, look under Access for Welcome — a small teal dot sits next to it until you've turned it on. On a published directory, the Share button at the top also has a Create a welcome pop-up button at the bottom (it reads Edit your welcome pop-up once you have one).
Turn It On
Flip the switch at the top of the Welcome section, or click Turn on the welcome. The line under the heading tells you what's happening in plain words — "Showing once per person" to start. Everything here saves on its own a moment after you stop typing.
What Visitors See
Your directory's cover image, colors, and logo across the top, with its name, how many listings it has, and a one-line description.
A short How It Works list — two or three steps with little icons, like "Search by name or what you need" and "Filter by type of business."
A button that closes the welcome and shows the directory.
On a phone it fills the screen. On a laptop it's a card in the middle of the page with your listings dimmed behind it, and people can close it with the button, the ✕, the Escape key, or a click anywhere outside the card.
It Writes Itself From Your Setup
The description and the steps come from what your directory actually does: whether search is on, whether you've picked filter fields, how many listings there are, and whether businesses can add themselves. Turn on a filter next week and the steps update to mention it. You'll see an Updates itself tag on the steps while they're in this mode.
Make It Say What You Want
The What it says card is where you take over, one piece at a time. Anything you leave blank keeps using our version.
One line about what this is — the sentence under the directory's name. Type your own, or leave it blank and we'll write one.
Say more (optional) — a few lines if there's more to tell: who runs the directory, how to get listed, a note about the season. Paste a video or web link and use the embed button to show it as a card.
How It Works — click Write my own and the suggested steps turn into rows you can edit. Change the icon and the words, drag to reorder, remove one, or Add a step. Back to suggested hands them back to us.
Button label — what the big button says. "Browse the directory" is the default.
See It the Way Visitors Will
While the Welcome section is open, the preview on the right shows the welcome exactly as a visitor gets it, over your real directory. It follows every keystroke.
Switch between Desktop and Phone at the top of the preview to see the card and the full-screen version.
Tap the welcome's button to close it, just like a visitor would.
Click Show it again to bring it back. This also forgets that you've seen it, so the next time you open the live directory you'll get the welcome once more.
Decide How Often People See It
The When it shows card has two settings:
How often — Once per person is the default: someone sees it the first time and never again on that device. Every visit, Once a day, Once a week, and Once a month are there for directories people come back to, or ones whose instructions matter each time.
Show it inside embeds — most directories live on your own website rather than at a Proxi link, so this one is worth turning on if you want visitors on your site to see the welcome too. It starts off.
Colors, Logo, and Cover Image
The welcome wears your directory's branding — the primary and secondary colors, logo, and cover image from the Branding section, falling back to your workspace's look for anything you've left blank. There's a small Uses your branding note at the bottom of the Welcome section with an Edit link that takes you straight there. See Designing Your Directory: Layout, Cards & Branding.
Good to Know
Turning the welcome off keeps everything you wrote, so you can switch it back on later.
"Once per person" is remembered on the visitor's device, so the same person on a new phone will see it again.
A Saved View is the same directory, so someone opening a View link gets the welcome too.
On the free plan, a small "Made with Proxi" line sits at the bottom of the welcome. Paid plans show a smaller credit or none, following your directory's Hide "Powered by Proxi" setting.
Maps have the very same welcome — see Greet Visitors With a Welcome Screen on Your Map.