User Support Forum

I have Powerchurch 11.55 on my personal computer (pastor) and I want to install it on my secretary's also so she can start entering the data. How do we share the info between us? Do we use the backup options and then use flashdrives or email them back and forth?

You can use the Backup and Restore functions to accomplish this, but you will need to be careful to do things in sync so that you don't end up inadvertently losing data. For example, once your Secretary is done entering data and sends the Backup to you she cannot enter any more data until you get done entering your data and send the updated backup to her. For these reasons I would recommend that you consider purchasing a subscription to PowerChurch Online. Because PowerChurch Online is in the "Cloud" both of you can access it from your separate computers, yet be updating the same file. This eliminates the need to do backups and restores to transfer data between the two computers and the related risks of data loss.

We have been using PowerChurch on two computer for 4+ years. The church secretary handles the membership and as treasurer I handle the contributions and finances. Last year I learned about Dropbox. Since I work from home we have found that using Dropbox makes it easy to backup and restore files between computers without the need to use flashdrives or sending the backup files via email. Segregation of duties is critical to keeping the computers in sync. Only one person should be updating any one module. Our worship chairperson is now starting to enter the choir music library into the Record Keeping module. I would love to go to the online system but the cost is prohibited for us.

CranfordUMC wrote:Dropbox makes it easy to backup and restore files between computers without the need to use flashdrives or sending the backup files via email.

Just to make sure this is read in context for future readers of this thread: Having a folder on your computer where you save all your backup files, which is shared via Dropbox on multiple computers is a great idea.

Sharing your PowerChurch Plus program directory via Dropbox is a very, very bad idea and you will eventually corrupt your database and potentially lose information. The way that PowerChurch accesses the database makes it nearly impossible for real-time backup programs, or online sharing services like Dropbox to be able to keep up with all the accessing and updating of the data files.

Thank your for clearing up my post. We do not use Dropbox as the repository for our backups nor do we use it as the program directory. It is strictly used as a more convenient way to transfer information between computers instead of using flash drives or email. Once the file has been used to sync the two computers it is deleted from the Dropbox.