Navigating PowerChurch Plus

There are several different ways to get around in PowerChurch Plus. This article explains the different options that you have.

1. The standard Windows menu bar

This is the traditional means of navigating a program in Windows. The gray menu bar across the top of the screen has top level options of Membership, Accounting, Contributions, Events, and Utilities. Every menu option and every screen is available via the menu bar. You can navigate the menu options via mouse clicks or the ALT key shortcuts. Press the ALT key on your keyboard and Windows will reveal the shortcut keys for each menu option by underlining the letter.

However, the menu bar navigation can often require quite a few clicks or keystrokes to get to a particular menu option. For example, to get to the Payroll Setup Options screen, click Accounting > Payroll > Setup > Payroll Setup or on the keyboard, press ALT > A > P > S > S. The following navigation methods are much more efficient.

2. Quick Menus

Most menus in PowerChurch Plus feature a "Quick Menu" option. This opens a small form on the screen with a few shortcuts to the most common menu options for that particular area of the program. For example, using the Payroll Quick Menu, it only takes one click to get to the Payroll Setup screen.

If you know that you will be working in one area of the program for a while, you can start off by opening the Quick Menu, which gives you one click access to the menu options in that area. You can also specify a list of Quick Menus that you want PowerChurch to open automatically when you start the program. To do this, go to File > Preferences > User Setup Options. Click on the Quick Menus tab and place a check mark next to each Quick Menu that you want to open automatically at program startup.

Here's a video tour of the Quick Menus functionality:

https://www.powerchurch.com/support/379/4/quick-menus

3. The Quick Tasks menu

The Quick Tasks menu is the small window that is docked along the left side of the PowerChurch Plus window. It allows you to set up shortcuts to your most commonly used menu options.

To set up your own customized Quick Tasks, click the gear icon at the bottom right of the Quick Tasks menu or go to File > Preferences > User Setup Options. Click on the Quick Tasks tab. There you can define groups and specify links to each individual data entry screen and/or report that you use on a regular basis. There you can also enable or disable the option for PowerChurch Plus to automatically open the Quick Tasks menu when the program runs. This option can also be set by checking (or unchecking) the "Auto-start" option at the bottom left of the Quick Tasks menu.

Here's a video tour of the Quick Tasks menu functionality:

https://www.powerchurch.com/support/384/4/using-the-quick-tasks-menu