User Support Forum

We all know that most people give the same amounts to the same funds each time they give. What I am hoping to find out is, I’ve been missing some simple trick to turning on an "Auto Fill" function of some sort, so that when I enter the Envelope Number and\or Amount, the distribution of Funds auto populates based on its last entry, whether it was a cheque or cash.
We do not have a Cheque Reader, but all that I have been reading suggests that PowerChurch possesses this ability when a cheque is scanned.
Any help out there?

The Cheque Reader screen does have that functionality. You can set the Manual checkbox at the top right to enter contributions without a cheque reader on that screen.

Zorak wrote:The Cheque Reader screen does have that functionality. You can set the Manual checkbox at the top right to enter contributions without a cheque reader on that screen.

Wow! I never knew about this feature! I'll give it a try with this month's offerings!

Eden
(the signature below says it all!)

Eden Whitehead wrote:

Zorak wrote:The Cheque Reader screen does have that functionality. You can set the Manual checkbox at the top right to enter contributions without a cheque reader on that screen.

Wow! I never knew about this feature! I'll give it a try with this month's offerings!

Eden
(the signature below says it all!)

OK - all excited about using the check reader function in the manual mode... until I actually tried to use it and quickly ran into a wall.

First contributor, everything worked like a charm. Next contributor, not so much.

Immediately after entering the amount for the first fund for the first contributor, the Fund No. column disappeared leaving only the Description and the Amount columns. When I tried to enter the second contributor, I had no opportunity to enter the Fund No. The only recourse was to click on Done and then start over.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? How do I get around it?

Thanks,
Eden

EDIT: Hmmm, I ought not to have given up so quickly. Upon further experimenting, I discovered that if I go ahead and enter the amount (last column in the table) for the subsequent contributor, without entering a Fund No. (since that is not possible), then tab - the program re-opens the Fund No. column and gives the opportunity to enter the Fund No. AFTER entering the amount. Is that the way the program is intended to work?

Thanks again,
Eden

Eden Whitehead wrote:

Eden Whitehead wrote:

Zorak wrote:The Cheque Reader screen does have that functionality. You can set the Manual checkbox at the top right to enter contributions without a cheque reader on that screen.

Wow! I never knew about this feature! I'll give it a try with this month's offerings!

Eden
(the signature below says it all!)

OK - all excited about using the check reader function in the manual mode... until I actually tried to use it and quickly ran into a wall.

First contributor, everything worked like a charm. Next contributor, not so much.

Immediately after entering the amount for the first fund for the first contributor, the Fund No. column disappeared leaving only the Description and the Amount columns. When I tried to enter the second contributor, I had no opportunity to enter the Fund No. The only recourse was to click on Done and then start over.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? How do I get around it?

Thanks,
Eden

EDIT: Hmmm, I ought not to have given up so quickly. Upon further experimenting, I discovered that if I go ahead and enter the amount (last column in the table) for the subsequent contributor, without entering a Fund No. (since that is not possible), then tab - the program re-opens the Fund No. column and gives the opportunity to enter the Fund No. AFTER entering the amount. Is that the way the program is intended to work?

Thanks again,
Eden

Essentially, yes. Using the Check Reader contributions entry the first time is a bit of a pain. The system needs to learn what a 'usual' contribution is for each Contributor. Which means you have to go through a bit of a process to be able to have it come up with the data filled in.

Which is why I don't use that version of Contributions entry without a check reader. Even with the contribution data filled in for you, I can probably enter Contributions using the standard Data Entry dialog just as fast, if not faster

NeilZ wrote: Essentially, yes. Using the Check Reader contributions entry the first time is a bit of a pain. The system needs to learn what a 'usual' contribution is for each Contributor. Which means you have to go through a bit of a process to be able to have it come up with the data filled in.

Well, I kind of found a rhythm and got through it - it seemed to me that the behavior of the program is inconsistent - sometimes the Fund No. column showed up and other times it did not. In hope of easier entry once the check reader "learns" the "usual" contributions I'm going to keep on with it for this month. I'll re-evaluate after that.

Thanks as always, Neil, for your valued input.

Eden

What size are your fonts set for on Windows? It seems that if you are using large fonts, this problem can occur.

Zaina wrote:What size are your fonts set for on Windows? It seems that if you are using large fonts, this problem can occur.

Thanks, Zaina. I did have fonts set to "Large" (old eyes) - switched to "Normal" - will test and see what happens!

Eden

What seems to happen in those windows with a grid is that with large fonts, it makes the cells of the grid a little bigger, making the grid not fully fit in the window. If you use the arrow keys < > to navigate the cells in the grid instead of Tab or Enter, the grid scrolls to the right, hiding the far left cell. If you get stuck like that, you should either be able to use the arrow left key to go back to the left cell, or just hit Enter to go to the next line, it should scroll itself back to the left.

As Zaina said, this wonn't happen with normal size fonts.