Troubleshoot cash drawer hardware, balance discrepancies, cash-in-hand mismatches, and incomplete shift reviews in Toast Web and on the POS.
Before you begin
Applies to: Toast POS, Toast Web
Permissions needed:
7.1 Terminal Setup — required to access Setup > Device Setup > Open Cash Drawer
3.18 Cash Drawers (Full) — required to view End of Day, Drawer History, and Shift reports
4.1 Sales Reports — required to access Reports > Payments > Payments in Toast Web
4.3 Labor Reports — required to access Shift reports
6.6 Restaurant Operations Setup — required to access UI options for Shift Review settings
1.12 Shift Review Sales Data — required to review detailed sales data in your own or restaurant-wide shift review
4.12 Edit Historical Data — required to update closing balance entries on a closed cash drawer
What you'll accomplish: Identify which cash drawer or shift review issue you're seeing, follow the matching fix, and confirm the result on the Drawer History or Shift report.
Quick fix
Find your symptom in the table below and follow the linked fix.
Symptom | Most common cause | Quick fix | Self-service? |
Cash drawer won't open / not opening | Cable, printer, device setting, or permission issue | See for the full hardware and settings checklist | Yes |
Drawer won't open even with the key | Mechanical jam or broken release | Contact Customer Care for hardware repair | No |
Cash drawer balance is short or over | Starting balance not included at close-out, mistracked payment, or unrecorded entry | Run the Drawer History report and use Update Entries to correct | Yes |
Cash payment showing as cash in hand instead of in the drawer | Device Setup > Open Cash Drawer set to No, or wrong drawer assigned | Reassign device settings, void the misrouted payment, and re-add it | Yes |
Shift review calculates cash incorrectly | Calculate-cash-separately setting or undeclared cash sales | Review Shift Review setup and reconcile with Drawer History | Yes |
Shift review shows open checks but they're closed | Sync delay between POS and reporting | Wait until end of day for sync to complete | Yes |
Shift review left open in the current business week | Employee skipped reconcile or didn't close shift | Reopen the shift on the POS — see Shift Review Overview | Yes |
Shift review left open in a prior business week | POS can't reopen older shifts | Use Drawer History > Update Entries in Toast Web; for shifts older than the current business week, contact Customer Care | Mixed |
Tips paid out look like a cash shortage | Tip Out and Pay Out columns reduce expected cash | Compare Drawer History columns side-by-side | Yes |
Specific dollar discrepancy on a specific date | Backend data investigation required | Contact Customer Care with the date, location, amount, and employee name | No |
Cash drawer not opening
The full troubleshooting flow for a cash drawer that won't open lives in Get Help With Cash Drawers. That article walks through:
Checking the physical key and key hole position
Reseating the cable between the cash drawer and the receipt printer
Verifying printer power and network connection
Confirming Cash Drawers Configuration in Toast Web at Finance > under the Related section, select Settings > Printers and cash drawers
Confirming Allow Cash Payments and Open Cash Drawer are set to Yes in Device Setup on the POS
Confirming permissions 1.6 Apply Cash Payments and 1.7 Cash Drawer Access for the employee
Expected outcome: The cash drawer opens on a No Sale or cash payment after working through the linked checklist.
If the drawer still won't open after the full hardware and settings checklist, see Before you contact Customer Care.
Cash drawer balance is short or over
If the cash in a drawer doesn't match the expected balance, the most common cause is that the starting cash amount was not included in the final count when the drawer was closed. Use the steps below to confirm the source of the discrepancy and correct it.
To confirm the discrepancy:
In Toast Web, navigate to Finance > under the Related section, select Settings > Cash overview > View related reports > Cash drawer history report. The same report is also available at Reports > Cash and loss management > Drawer history.
Set the report filter to the specific date. Date ranges are not accepted.
Compare the Cash Drawer column to the Expected Deposit row to confirm whether the drawer is short or over.
To correct the closing balance (requires permission 4.12 Edit Historical Data):
From the Cash Drawer History report, select View under the cash drawer you need to adjust.
Select Update Entries.
To add a missing cash amount that was physically placed in the drawer but not tracked, select Add Cash In Entry, then Cash Collected. Enter the amount, server, and comments if required.
To remove a cash amount that was tracked but not physically in the drawer, select Add Cash Out Entry. Select one of the three options based on the situation (Cash Out, Tip Out, or Pay Out). Enter the amount, server, and comments if required.
Expected outcome: The Drawer History report shows the corrected closing balance and the Expected/Actual deposit line resolves to no overage or shortage. The change appears as a line entry in the Cash Entries for Cash Drawer section of the report.
Note: Use Update Entries carefully. Mistakes made through this button can complicate the cash record further; the change is logged as a manual adjustment.
If the discrepancy is for a specific dollar amount on a specific date and the steps above don't surface a cause, see Before you contact Customer Care.
Cash payment reported as cash in hand instead of in the drawer
If a cash payment was tracked as cash in hand (also called cash on hand) when it should have gone into a cash drawer — or vice versa — there are two things to check: the device setting that controls the drawer, and the misrouted payment itself.
To check the device setting:
On the POS, navigate to Setup > Device Setup.
Confirm the receipt printer for the drawer you want cash reported to is selected.
Confirm Open Cash Drawer is set to Automatically open drawer when a cash payment is made. If it's set to No, edit the setting and select the Yes option.
To find and correct the misrouted payment (requires permission 4.1 Sales Reports):
In Toast Web, navigate to Reports > Payments > Payments.
Select Show/hide columns and choose Cash Drawer to add a column showing which drawer (if any) each cash payment was reported under. The column is blank for payments tracked as cash in hand.
Locate the payment that was reported incorrectly.
On the POS, pull up the check, void the erroneous cash payment, then re-add the cash payment from a device that has the correct cash drawer settings — either the right drawer, or the server's cash bank if cash in hand is intended.
Expected outcome: The voided payment no longer appears against the wrong drawer, and the re-added payment appears in the right drawer (or as cash in hand) on the next refresh of the Shift Review and Drawer History reports.
Shift review calculates cash incorrectly
A common cause of an incorrect shift review cash amount is the setting that calculates cash in hand and cash in the drawer separately. This setting affects how an employee's shift review calculates cash received and can produce what looks like a discrepancy.
To review the setting, see Customize Shift Review Settings.
Other causes of incorrect shift review cash:
Undeclared cash sales — confirm the employee declared cash sales before closing their shift
Mid-shift split between register and bank — if an employee took some cash payments to a drawer and others to their cash bank during the same shift, cash sales will not match cash in hand
Mismatched dates between sales and shift reviews — a server who completes their shift review for the prior day's shift causes reports to aggregate the cash under the current day
Expected outcome: After confirming the calculation setting matches your operations, the shift review numbers reconcile against the Drawer History report.
Important: Train employees to complete shift reviews and declare cash sales at the end of every shift to prevent calculation errors.
Shift review shows open checks that are closed
During a shift review, some checks may show as open even when they are all closed. This is a syncing issue between the POS and reporting.
Expected outcome: Wait until the end of day for all checks to sync. The checks should reflect their correct status by the next morning.
If checks are still showing as open after the next business day, see Before you contact Customer Care.
Make corrections to a shift review left open
If a shift review wasn't completed, cash may not have been collected or tips paid out. The fix depends on whether the shift is in the current business week or a prior business week.
Shift review in the current business week
Reopen the shift directly on the POS. For step-by-step instructions, see Shift Review Overview > Reopen a shift.
Important: Reopening a shift deletes the previous Tip Out and Cash Collected entries. The employee will need to turn in cash and collect tips again after making any changes.
Shift review in a prior business week
Older shifts can no longer be reopened from the POS. Use Update Entries in Toast Web to correct the cash collected and tips paid out:
In Toast Web, navigate to Reports > Cash and loss management > Drawer history.
Select View under the cash drawer you need to adjust, then select Update Entries.
To add a cash collected amount, select Add Cash In Entry, then Cash Collected. Choose the server, enter the amount, add a comment, and select Submit.
To tip out an employee, select Add Cash Out Entry, then Tip Out. Enter the amount, choose the server, add a comment, and select Submit.
Cash entry definitions:
Cash In Entry — adds a cash amount that was physically placed in the drawer but not tracked there
Cash Out Entry — removes a cash amount that was tracked to the drawer but not physically placed in it
Expected outcome: The Drawer History report shows the new entries on the affected date, and the cash collected and tips paid out are correctly attributed.
The same correction is also possible from the POS. On the new POS Cash Drawers experience, navigate to Cash Management > Cash Drawers > Closed, select the drawer, then select Adjust Closing Entries to add or remove cash entries before re-closing the drawer.
If the shift is older than the current business week and Drawer History does not surface the cash drawer for that date, see Before you contact Customer Care.
Tips paid out look like a cash shortage in drawer history
If the Drawer History report shows a cash shortage on a drawer that balanced correctly during shift review, a common cause is that tips paid out (Tip Out, Pay Out, or Cash Drop entries) reduced the cash in the drawer as expected, but were read as a shortage instead of a planned outflow.
To investigate:
In Toast Web, navigate to Reports > Cash and loss management > Drawer history.
Select View under the affected cash drawer.
Compare these columns side by side:
Cash Payments — payments made with cash
Tips Paid — tips paid out in cash
Pay Out — cash removed from the drawer for a specific reason (e.g., reimbursing an employee, paying a vendor)
Cash Out — cash removed from the drawer not tied to a reason
Cash Drop — cash moved from the drawer to the house (e.g., to a safe)
Expected Closeout Cash — cash expected based on starting cash plus all the above
Actual Closeout Cash — what was counted in the drawer at closeout
If Tips Paid + Pay Out + Cash Out + Cash Drop accounts for the apparent shortage, the drawer balanced correctly — the cash left the drawer through tracked outflows.
Expected outcome: The Drawer History row reconciles when tracked outflows are accounted for. No correction is needed.
For the full list of Drawer History column definitions, see Cash Drawer Reports Overview.
Move or correct a cash payment on a closed drawer
If a cash payment was applied to the wrong cash drawer — for example, a bar receipt closed out under the dining room drawer instead of the bar drawer — the fix is to void the payment and re-add it from a POS that's pointed at the correct drawer.
Important: This change requires permission 4.1 Sales Reports and may also require manager approval depending on your restaurant's settings. Voiding payments on already-closed drawers can complicate the cash record; proceed with caution.
To find and reassign the payment:
In Toast Web, navigate to Reports > Payments > Payments.
Select Show/hide columns and add the Cash Drawer column to see which drawer each payment was reported to.
Locate the payment that was applied to the wrong drawer.
On a POS that has the correct cash drawer assigned in Device Setup, pull up the check.
Void the erroneous cash payment.
Re-add the cash payment from the same POS. The payment now reports to the correct drawer.
Expected outcome: On the next refresh of Shift Review and Drawer History, the payment appears in the correct drawer and the original (wrong) drawer no longer carries it.
If the affected drawer is from a prior business week or the void/re-add path can't be completed, see Before you contact Customer Care.
Troubleshooting issues with cash in hand
Cash in hand (also called cash on hand) refers to cash collected by employees during their shift without using a physical cash drawer. Below are the cash-in-hand issues most often seen with how to resolve each.
Cash in hand exceeds cash sales
If Cash in Hand is higher than Cash Sales, common causes include:
Unrecorded cash transactions
Errors during reconciliation
Another team member handled a cash payment they didn't start
To investigate: Verify all transactions were recorded in the Cash Drawer History report and the Orders report. Check whether a different team member closed a check that another opened.
Cash in hand showing incorrectly
Common causes:
Uncollected cash due to incomplete shift reviews
Mismatched dates between sales and shift reviews
Note: If a server completes their shift review for the prior day's shift, reports aggregate the cash under the current day, which can look like a discrepancy. Train employees to complete the shift review on the same day as the shift.
Voided cash payments
Voiding a cash payment does not reduce the Cash in Hand balance. Handle voided cash payments carefully to avoid misreported amounts.
Bartender transactions
In Cash in Hand mode, bartenders don't close a cash drawer. They reconcile their personal cash banks at the end of the shift, and Toast records the totals under the Cash in Hand category.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my cash drawer have a starting balance amount that I can't account for?
If the starting balance varies each day, it may indicate that the starting balance is not being recorded correctly, depending on how the balance reset settings are configured.
To verify this in Toast Web:
Navigate to Finance.
Under the Related section, select Settings > Printers and Cash Drawers.
Select the appropriate cash drawer.
Scroll down to the Primary Cash Drawer section.
Review the Reset Balance Type setting:
Manual → The restaurant staff must manually enter the starting balance each day.
Automatic → The system automatically resets the balance using the amount configured under Starting Cash Drawer Balance.
The starting balance must be included when you count the drawer at close-out, or the drawer will appear short. For details, see Set Up Cash Drawers.
Where do I find the Drawer History report?
The Drawer History report is available in two locations in Toast Web:
Finance > under the Related section, select Settings > Cash overview > View related reports > Cash drawer history report
Reports > Cash and loss management > Drawer history
For column definitions and what each report shows, see Cash Drawer Reports Overview.
Why are my Expected Deposit and Actual Deposit different?
Expected Deposit is the cash expected based on the starting cash and tracked transactions that are reflected based on the cash payments and cash entries, while Actual Deposit is what was counted and recorded during the deposit. A difference between the two is a deposit overage or shortage. To investigate, compare both numbers in the Drawer History report and check whether tip-outs, pay-outs, cash drops, or unrecorded payments account for the difference. For column definitions, see Cash Drawer Reports Overview.
Before you contact Customer Care
Some cash drawer and shift review issues require backend access or hardware repair that can't be self-served. Contact Customer Care when:
You need to reconcile a specific dollar amount on a specific historical date and the steps in this article don't surface the cause
The shift you need to correct is older than the current business week and Update Entries doesn't surface the drawer for that date
The cash drawer doesn't open even with the physical key, indicating a mechanical jam or broken release
After working through the full Get Help With Cash Drawers checklist (cables, printer, device settings, permissions), the drawer still won't open
To speed up the call, have the following ready:
Restaurant location name (or the specific terminal if multi-location)
Affected date (or date range)
Affected employee or server name (if applicable)
Specific dollar amount of the discrepancy
Each troubleshooting step you've already tried (cables reseated, drawer report run, etc.)
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