Waitlist activation and empty lists

Open Events → Events → select your event → Edit Event → Ticketing for guest and ticket capacities. Waitlist configuration is under Edit Event → Waitlist when that page is offered; in the older interface it is the Waitlist section of Ticketing. Use the event’s Waitlist page outside Edit Event to review entries and send invitations.

Waitlist must be enabled and an activation condition must apply: overall guest limit exceeded, a sold-out ticket type marked to trigger waitlist, or an unexpired incomplete waitlist invitation. Check the intended ticket's trigger and the actual public registration flow. Capacity does not automatically put anyone on a waitlist; visitors must submit the waitlist form. An empty list may simply mean no submissions, so inspect both configuration and entries.

Why is Join Waitlist missing even though waitlist is enabled?

Check the registration window as well as capacity. In the public registration flow, a future registration start or a passed registration end is checked before the Join Waitlist button. Enabling waitlist does not reopen closed registration.

Open Events → Events → select the event → Edit Event → Details. Review Registration Start Date/Time, Registration End Date/Time, and the event timezone. If you intend to keep accepting waitlist requests, extend the registration deadline to the intended future time, preserving valid start/end order, and click Save & Next. Check the public page outside administrator preview. The event's end date and registration deadline are different settings.

Keep the intended guest and ticket capacities unchanged unless you also mean to offer additional places. Increasing capacity can change whether the waitlist condition is met; it is not the fix for a registration deadline that has already passed.