Knowledge Base

PowerChurch Online - Shortcuts for easy access and performance


It is possible to have the IDS client store information to speed up the login process. You can have it store your username and password, for example, so you are not prompted for it each time. There are also some visual quality tweaks that can be taken advantage of.

The usable command line arguments can be found in the following table:

Argument Description Notes
-h The IDS server address This will always be "online.mypowerchurch.com"
-u The client username pcuXXXXX (XXXXX is the church registration number)
-p The client password Your password
-ac all Determines how printers are initialized at startup "all" will set up all printers, "none" will not set up any, and "default" will set up only the default printer. (This is the default setting)
-mx 32 Determines color depth Allows 8, 16, or 32. 16 is the default. **
-qt 0 Determines image compression Allows a visual quality range of 0 (best) to 100 (worst) **
-a Run a program PowerChurchPlus or PowerChurch Plus will both work
-clientdpi Set DPI scaling Allows 0 or 1


** A note about the visual quality settings:
By default, PowerChurch Online is set to operate with a reduced color palette and high image compression. The default settings garner a huge improvement on system responsiveness and performance. While increasing the color depth and decreasing the image compression will make the program better to look at, you can expect decreased speed and performance as a result.

To use these arguments you will right click on your IDS shortcut, and select properties.
You will receive a dialog box similar to the one below:



You will add the arguments at the end of the target line, after the quotes.

The "-h" and "-c" commands are automatically added if you check the "Create desktop shortcut to the specified server." box.

The following examples are based on the default installation directory. The login information provided is also for the online demo.

Using the following example:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\IDS LLC\IDS\Client\ids.exe" -h online.mypowerchurch.com -c -u demo1 -p demo -ac all -a PowerChurchPlus

The program will launch automatically going to the server "online.mypowerchurch.com" using the username demo1 and password demo. Because the username and password are both supplied the initial login box will never be displayed. The "-ac all" will allow the program to start up with access to every printer that is installed on that machine.


Created: 11/14/2008
Last updated: 05/27/2020