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For various reasons you may need to move DONATION from one computer to another. This would include changing staff (such as Treasurers) in your organization, upgrading to a new computer, or rebuilding your computer after a hard disk crash. (That's not technically another computer, but since the hard disk has been rebuilt or replaced, it has the same effect as if it was another computer!)
As long as you are up to date on your payments for DONATION, or are using the free Lite version, there is no charge for this - the program is licensed to your organization, not merely for a specific individual or computer.
To move the program, you will need to follow a few steps:
| 1. | On the new computer, download the appropriate installation program for your version of DONATION from the DOWNLOAD page on the program's web site.
Most paid users have the Standalone version; some of you will have the free feature-limited Lite version; a few will be using the the Network Server or Network Client versions. If you still have the program on the old computer, you can confirm which version it is by looking at the Help à About DONATION window.
Run that downloaded installation program to install DONATION on this new computer. |
Note: It does not work to just copy the DONATION program directories (C:\Program Files\Donation etc.) from one computer to the other. You must do the installation on the 2nd computer.
| 2. | Copy your database backup file, DONATION4.DB.GBK or DONATION-YYYY-MM-DD.DB.GBK, from the old computer to the new computer. (The YYYY-MM-DD part of the backup filename, if present, represents the date the backup was made.) Follow the instructions under Transfer your Data between Computers to do this, via backup and restore. (That Help topic also gives other options, which are sometimes easier, of transferring the database between the two computers by using email backups or Internet backups.)
Note: If the old computer was running version 2.70b or earlier of DONATION, installed mid-2007 or earlier, its database file is named donation3.db, not donation4.db. In that case, some extra steps are required. See Restoring Old Backups for instructions on restoring a donation3.db file that you have transferred to your computer.
As long as you have a regular backup or emailed backup (see below) available when you first run the newly installed DONATION program, when its first window prompts you to answer whether you are a new user, or a returning user with a backup, you can select that second option. That will allow you to restore that backup. (See Startup Options for details.) |
| 3. | If you are using the Database à Switch Databases menu option to handle multiple databases on the same computer, you will also have to transfer backups of all of your other database files, named DONATION4.something.GBK or DONATION-YYYY-MM-DD.something.GBK, to the new computer.
In addition, you would first have to copy the file databases.txt from the Data Directory on the old computer to the Data Directory on the new computer, because it lists your databases. Alternatively, use Database à Switch Databases to set up new databases on the new computer with your additional database extensions, and then you can restore the transferred databases.
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| 4. | If you are using a paid version of DONATION (not the free Lite version), you need to install the license key(s) for your database(s). See below for details.
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| 5. | If you use the Letters menu options and have customized your mail-merge letter or receipt files, follow the instructions in Backing up and Restoring Letters Files to copy those files from the old computer to the new computer. |
| 7. | Start up DONATION on both the old and the new computers. Go to Maintenance à Organization Info. Check that all of the settings are the same in both programs. If not, fix them up on the new computer. Do the same with all four tabs of Maintenance à Main Window Options, and with Maintenance à Receipt Options. You may also want to use Maintenance à Email Sending Configuration, which may or may not have the same settings as on the other computer. The reason you have to do these checks is that a few of the settings on those windows are stored in the Windows Registry rather than in the database, and thus they cannot be copied automatically.
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| 8. | If a new user is taking over the program, they should fill in the registration form via the Tools à Register Online menu option form in the program, or the REGISTER page on the web site, to get onto the mailing list, so they find out about new versions of the program coming out, etc. And the old user can let us know whether they want to be removed from the mailing list.
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| 9. | If the new user will also be the new person signing the charitable receipts, they need to change the Receipting Person field in the Maintenance à Organization Info window to show their name. |
That's it. The new computer should now have a copy of DONATION that is identical to the one on the old computer. Just continue your work on the new computer.
Note on Software Licensing
When you have DONATION installed on two computers for the same organization, you can apply the same License Key to both of them. See the section on Software Licensing and Evaluation for more details on License Keys. Alternatively, you can copy the file donsl.txt from the Data Directory on the old computer to the Data Directory on the new computer - it contains your licensing information.
If you don't have a copy of your license key saved, and copying over the donsl.txt file seems complicated to you, just re-request your license key from the Evaluation and Licensing window that comes up when you start the program. I will send it to you, as long as you have paid in the last 12 months. There is no additional charge for this, because as mentioned above, the license is for your organization, not per user or per computer.
The free Lite version does not use or need a license key.
If you are using a paid version of DONATION and have not paid within the last 12 months, you will need to first pay in order to be eligible for your license key. If you have paid within the last 18 months, an Annual Renewal payment will suffice. Otherwise, you will have to make another Full License payment. Full details are on the PRICING/PAYMENT pages on the web site.
Using Emailed Backups
Instead of using regular backups, created with Backup/Restore à Backup Database, and bringing them to the new computer on a USB memory key or in some other way, you can instead email the database backup to an email account that you can access on the new computer, via Backup/Restore à Email Backup. You then restore it there using the Backup/Restore à Restore Emailed Backup menu option.
Using Internet Backups
If the only backup you have access to is an Internet backup made from the other computer, it is possible to restore it, as long as you have a copy of the Unique ID that was used for those backups, and you know the Internet backup encryption password that was used. If you do not have the Unique ID for Internet backups, email Cooperstock Software to ask for it - as long as the previous user accepted the suggestion made when they configured Internet backups to email it to us, we will have a copy of it. We will not have a copy of your password!
You will not be able to restore an Internet backup on the initial window that comes up when you run DONATION for the first time (see Startup Options). Instead, select the option on that window for "I am a first-time user" and continue with the initial configuration windows it prompts you with. Once you get to the main window of the program, with its menu, you can then select Backup/Restore à Backup Frequency and Options to configure Internet backups with your Unique ID and Internet backup encryption password. After that, you can restore the latest Internet backup with Backup/Restore à Restore Internet Backup.
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