Startup Options

If you have already finished the initial setup of DONATION and gotten to the main window, please continue reading this Help page at

the section on Passwords.

Initial Startup Window

The first time you start DONATION after you install it, the program will show you the following window:

It is mostly self-explanatory, if you read it carefully. New users, whose organization has not used DONATION before, should stick with the first option (the default) and just click OK. Users who have a backup database from a previous installation, either because they have to re-install after getting a new computer or having their computer rebuilt, or because they are transferring the program from another user in their organization, should pick the second radio button option and click OK.

If you selected the 2nd option, to restore a backup database, you can see Restoring Backups for more details about the restore process. The startup windows described in the section below will not be shown.

N.B. If you do select this 2nd option, check the filename of the backup that you have received, or that was emailed to you. If it is DONATION4.DB.GBK (or DONATION4.something.GBK), do not check the checkbox below the text for this radio button. However, if the backup was emailed to you as an attachment, and it is named DONATION4.DB.S4B (or DONATION4.something.S4B), do check the "Use emailed backup instead..." checkbox, and refer to the Restoring Emailed Backups page for more information.

Further Startup Windows

In the more usual case where you selected the first option in the initial startup window, for new users, the program will prompt you with three or four additional startup windows before you can start entering donors and donations.

First window:

This defaults to the current year. However, if you have a backlog from before the current year, you can instead enter the prior year that you want to start on here. (For instance, suppose it is early in 2009, and you still haven't done anything with the donations from 2008. When it prompts for the year, enter 2008.)

Second window:

In this window, you enter your organization's basic information (name, address, etc.). You can also come back later and change this basic organization information with Maintenance à Organization Info. For more details on this window, including a discussion of whether or not you should enter anything in the Charitable # field, see Editing General Info.

Third window:

This window prompts you to put in a list of categories for donations. (It is OK to just stick with the default one, General, if that is all you want.) You can also come back later and change or add categories with the Maintenance à Donation Categories menu option.

Fourth Window:

You may receive a message about the receipt country and style having been set based on your computer's Windows Control Panel Regional and Language Options settings. After this, it will put you into the Receipt Options window, where you should check the value it has set in the Receipt Style For drop-down, and fix it if it is incorrect.

You may also be prompted after this about registering DONATION. Registering puts you onto the program's mailing list, so that you will hear about new releases of the program etc. You may already have registered using the form on the REGISTER page on the web site, in which case you can ignore this. Otherwise, if you have Internet access on your computer, you can follow this message's instructions to register via Help à Register by Email.

Licensing and Evaluation Window

If you do not yet have a license key for your organization for DONATION, or have not yet installed it on this computer, the next thing you see will be the Licensing and Evaluation window. Please read the Help on that window for details.

Passwords

You can optionally set up a password for entry to your program by using Maintenance à Change Password à Program Entry Password. (If you started by restoring a backup, any passwords that had been previously set up will already be present.)

The first time you use this menu option (or any of the password setup windows), leave the Current Password field empty, since there is no Current Password. If you have set up a Program Entry Password, you have to enter it on the password window every time the program starts up. It will be displayed as dots as you type it in. If you want to see it as you type it in, you can check the "Make passwords visible rather than dots" checkbox. If you do specify a password, don't forget it! If you do forget it, contact me and I will assist you.

You can also set up a password for more limited users who cannot see all donor or donation details, with Maintenance à Change Password à Limited User Password. For details on the use of this password, see Using a Limited User Password.

You can also set up a password for generating receipts with Maintenance à Change Password à Receipt Password. This can be used to restrict the generation of the receipts to someone that has this password.

Other Initial Setup

Additional setup you may wish to do before you start using DONATION includes:

See also: the Regular Operating Procedures page for an introduction to your daily activities.