The most common way to make backups of the program's database is via the Backup/Restore à Backup Database menu option, which saves backups onto your hard drive, or a drive accessible from your PC (such as a writeable CD or DVD, a USB memory key, or a network drive).
However, another option is the Backup/Restore à Email Backup menu option. This allows you to email a database backup as an attachment, either to yourself, or to someone else. This can be helpful when you are moving the program from one computer to another, transferring your data between multiple computers on which you have installed DONATION, or you just want to have an "off-site" backup, sitting in the servers of your web mail provider (such as Hotmail, GMail or Yahoo Mail) or in an email program that you have on another computer.
N.B. Email Backups are not available with the free Lite version of DONATION.
Before you can use this menu option, the Maintenance à Email Sending Configuration menu option must have been used, to set up how emails are sent from DONATION.
The database backups that are sent by email are compressed (made smaller, to make them email more quickly) and encrypted (scrambled, with a password that you provide, for better security). IMPORTANT: If you forget the password that you specify for encrypting your emailed database (in the steps below), we cannot help you restore that database. So you must remember that password yourself. The passwords are case-sensitive.
Databases that you have emailed can only be restored to a DONATION program by using the Backup/Restore à Restore Emailed Backup menu option. There is no other way to open them or to access the data in them. Merely double-clicking on the file will just give a weird error message of some sort.
When you select Backup/Restore à Email Backup, the program first creates the database backup, storing it in a standard folder and filename, with no prompting. Next, it brings up the following window for you to specify the password that you want to use for the encryption of the database. If you want to be sure you know what you are typing in, click the "Make password visible rather than stars" checkbox.
After you click OK, followed by a short pause, a message comes up indicating that the encryption was successful. Next, the following email sending window comes up:
(Of course, it will have your details in the From Name and Email fields.) All you have to do is fill in the To Name and Email address, to determine who the email is to be sent to (generally yourself or a colleague in your organization), and click Send. If you have used Backup/Restore à Email Backup successfully before, the To Name and Email will even be memorized for you, and restored to this window when it comes up, so that unless you want to send it to someone different, all you have to do is click Send.
The name of the attachment is always DONATION4.DB.S4B, unless you are backing up an alternate database, created with the Database à Switch Database menu option, which has a different file extension. For instance, if the database is named DONATION4.OTHER, the attachment will be DONATION4.OTHER.S4B. ("S4B" stands for Software4Nonprofits Backup!)