ANTE User ManualSandbox
The Sandbox is a separate practice copy of your company. Use it to test a new setup, train people, or try a risky change without touching real records. Everything you do inside it stays inside it, and email, push notifications, Slack and Multibook are blocked. AI features still call your AI provider.
What the sandbox is
The sandbox behaves like a completely different company, so it can never be confused with the real one. Your user account, your access and uploaded files are shared: you sign in once, keep the same role and permissions, and can view the same files. While you are inside, a coloured strip at the top of every screen says Sandbox — test data only, and the browser tab title starts with [Sandbox].
What is copied, shared and blocked
| Topic | What happens |
|---|---|
| Copied | Everything: people, setup and the last 12 months of records (timekeeping, payroll, filings, tasks, accounting, inventory and notifications). Accounting ledgers are copied in full so balances match. |
| Shared | Your user account and access (sign-in, role, permissions), and uploaded files. Files are read-only in the sandbox: you can view them, and deleting a file there never deletes the real one. |
| Blocked | Multibook, email, push notifications and Slack. AI features are not blocked: they still send content to your AI provider (or ANTE's system AI provider). |
| Not copied | Chat messages and the audit trail. |
Permissions
Two permissions control the feature, and both are granted on a user level (see User Levels). Super admins have both automatically.
| Permission | Lets the user |
|---|---|
| Enter Sandbox | Switch into and out of the sandbox from the profile menu. |
| Sandbox (Settings) | Open this page to create or reset the sandbox. |
Common Tasks
Creating the sandbox
- Open Settings → System Settings → Sandbox
The page shows No sandbox yet.
- Click Create Sandbox
Ante copies your company step by step: core records, inventory, accounting, notifications, then it reconnects records across modules. The page lists each step with its status (waiting, in progress, done) and the number of records copied. You can leave the page; the progress updates on its own.
- Wait for Sandbox is ready
When the build finishes the page shows Sandbox is ready with the created and ready-since dates. If a step fails, the page shows the error and a Retry button.
Entering and leaving the sandbox
- Open your profile menu
Click your name at the top right. Users with the Enter Sandbox permission see Enter Sandbox once a sandbox is ready.
- Click Enter Sandbox
The app reloads on the dashboard of the sandbox, with the sandbox strip across the top.
- Click Exit Sandbox when you are done
Use the button in the strip or in the profile menu. You return to your real company. Logging out from inside the sandbox also signs you out of the real company.
If the sandbox session ends on its own, for example after a reset, Ante returns you to your real company and tells you so.
Resetting the sandbox
- Click Reset Sandbox
Available only when the sandbox is ready and you are in your real company, not inside the sandbox.
- Confirm
Ante builds a new sandbox from your current real setup. When it is ready it replaces the old one.
A reset discards every record in the current sandbox and signs everyone who is inside it out of the sandbox. Your real company is not touched.
How It Connects
Set up first
- User Levels — grant Enter Sandbox to the people who may switch in, and Sandbox (Settings) to those who may create or reset it.
- Company Information — the setup you want to practise on must exist in the real company first, because the sandbox copies it.
Gets its data from
- Users — your user account and access are the only things shared with the sandbox.
Feeds into
- Cloud Credentials — integrations such as Multibook are never used from the sandbox, whatever is configured there.