BEGINNING A YEAR At the beginning of the year ChurchReg will detect the change of year, and create a new folder labelled with the year number. It will then ask if you want to import all Member data from the previous year (if any exists). If you answer yes then new Member files are created and contain all information from the top half of the screen, but the financial area at the bottom of the screen will be blank, ready for new input. The previous year's data remains intact in it's own folder. ChurchReg allows you to analyze information from periods throughout all folders and all years. Immediately below the ChurchReg logo in the top left corner of the screen is the current year (displayed in large bold print) for the file you are viewing. The year displayed will always reflect the year of the current file. ENTERING MEMBER RECORDS When you first create a Member record - type in all detail in the top half of the screen and enter any contribution data in the bottom part the screen. When you are finished entering all information for the Member, go to the FILE menu and click SAVE to save the data to file. You can also just click the [SAV] toolbar icon found below the menu. Next, start a new Member file by going to the FILE menu and clicking on NEW or just click the [NEW] toolbar icon found below the menu. After clicking NEW all entries are cleared so you can start entering data for the next new Member. The NEW menu item is only for New Members. To access an existing Member file just select their name from the Listbox by double-clicking it. EDIT FEATURES - TOP AREA There are 15 edit box fields at the top half of the screen for entering Member information. You can enter up to 80 characters in each box. Use the arrow keys to scroll the text in the box. To quickly change the character case of text you type, select and highlight the text then press CTRL+Q to toggle between upper case, sentence case, and lower case characters. Case change does not work unless the text has been highlighted. To toggle the character case of all 15 edit boxes at once (without highlighting) press CTRL+ALT+Q. Fig. 1 - Member Records Info Boxes REQUIRED FIELDS The Envelope, Last Name, and First Name edit boxes denoted with a pink background are required fields. Entries in these 3 fields are used to access all Member files, track Member contributions, for importing of Church Member names in the Family Tree function, and for Searching and Sorting. Care should be taken to ensure that the information in these 3 fields is correct. All other fields are optional. FIELD 1 ENVELOPE NUMBER The Envelope Number field cannot exceed the number 99999. Only numbers are permitted in this field, letters are not allowed. You can enter a number such as 99999 here to denote CASH contributions from unknown members. FIELD 2 LAST NAME If the envelope number is for a Church Member type in the last name of the Member in this field. Be sure the spelling of the Member's name is correct before you save, since the name is used for all future references in ChurchReg. As mentioned above, some donations are received as CASH (from unknown individuals) and so you could type the name CASH in this field. FIELD 3 FIRST NAME As above, if the envelope number is for a Church Member type in the first name of the Member in this field. Be sure the spelling of the Member's name is correct before you save, since the name is used for all future references in ChurchReg. You can also type the name CASH in this field if the donations received are CASH from unknown individuals. FIELD 4, 5, 6, 7 STREET, CITY, PROV-STATE, POSTAL CODE Enter the Member's Street Name and Number, City, Province or State, and Postal Code in the next 4 field boxes. Be sure your entries are accurate as the information in these boxes is transferred to the Tax Receipt printouts. For CASH you can leave these fields blank or enter the word CASH (since a Tax Receipt is not necessary for CASH received from unknown individuals). FIELD 8, 9 HOME PHONE, WORK PHONE Enter the Member's Home and Work phone number in these 2 fields. When the text cursor is placed on a line with a telephone number on it, the number is automatically used as the number to dial in the phone dialing function See PHONE | DIAL A NUMBER in the main menu. FIELD 10, 11 EMAIL, WEBSITE ADDRESSES Enter the Member's Email address and Website address in these 2 fields. When the text cursor is placed on a line with an email or web address you can select Send Email or Go to Website from the File menu or just press CTRL+E for email or CTRL+W for website and your default email program or Web Browser will start automatically using these addresses as the destination. FIELD 12, 13, 14, 15 MISC1, MISC2, MISC3, MISC4 Enter any additional Member information you need to record in these remaining 4 fields. All text you type can be searched, sorted and saved. MEMBER LISTBOX The Member listbox in the top right corner, displays an alphabetical list of all members you have entered. This area is also used to display any Member Pictures that you have added to your file. Below the list on the left side you will see two numbers (e.g. 1/295). The first number represents the Member currently highlighted and the second number is the total number of members. Below the list on the right side is the ENVELOPE NUMBER of the Member currently highlighted. To open a Member file, double left-click on their name in the list. Pressing a LETTER key will move the list to the first name in the list matching that letter. You can also use the scroll bar to move up and down the list. Note that the Member's picture cannot be displayed unless the Member's file has been opened by double left-clicking on their name in the list. After double left-clicking or pressing ENTER on a selected Member in the list, you will be asked to save any changes made for the current Member. Following this - all details and contribution data for the newly selected Member is loaded onto the screen. Right-clicking in the Member List will cause the Sort Box to appear. The Sort box allows you to view information from the 15 Field boxes of ALL Members in a SORTED list. This is useful in searching for similar area codes, similar phone numbers, similar streets, etc. The Sort Box also allows you to dial telephone numbers. For a detailed description of the Sort Box see the sidebar Topics (to the left) under Sorting. DELETING A MEMBER To delete a Member file select FILE | DELETE MEMBER from the menu. In case you have made an error or want to recall the Member file, deleted Member files are automatically saved in a folder named DELETED . If you delete a Member file twice then the first deleted Member file is permanently removed and cannot be recalled. If you select FILE | DELETE MEMBER from the menu and you have not selected any Member, a message will appear at the top of the screen requesting that you make a selection from the Member Listbox. When the member name has been selected and you click on FILE | DELETE MEMBER from the menu, a warning message will appear displaying the Member name and envelope number and the message ARE YOU SURE? The Member's name will also be flashing in the Member Listbox. After responding with YES the Member file is removed from the current folder and placed in the DELETED folder. ERROR MESSAGES Normally error messages appear in a popup window in the middle of the screen notifying you of a condition that exists. There is also a secondary message window. This window appears in the heading over your Church Name on the main screen. For example if you go to the FILE | OPEN menu and try to open a ChurchReg file that does not exist, the message CAN'T OPEN FILE! appears in the heading over your Church Name. Be sure to check this area for messages if the action you are trying to perform does not respond.