Downloads

Parish Record Keeper is in active development. The current release is an alpha version — functional and available for testing, but not yet fully mature. We welcome feedback from anyone willing to take part in the testing community.

Prerequisites

Operating System: Windows 10 or Windows 11 (both 32-bit and 64-bit are supported). macOS and Linux are not supported.
Microsoft Access: Either the full version included in Microsoft Office (2016 or later), or the free Microsoft Access Runtime, which can be downloaded from the Microsoft website at no cost.
Licence Agreement: Please read the End User Licence Agreement (EULA) before downloading. By downloading this software you confirm that you have read and accept its terms.

Your System

A web page cannot see which version of Microsoft Office or Microsoft Access is on your computer — and that, not the version of Windows, is what decides which setup file you need. 32-bit Office on 64-bit Windows is perfectly normal and still the commonest installation.

✅ Start here: run the compatibility check It looks at Windows, at Microsoft Office and at Microsoft Access on your own computer, and tells you in plain words which setup file to download — or what has to be put right first. Windows only. It changes nothing and installs nothing.

compatibilityCheck.exe

💡 No Microsoft Office at all? Parish Record Keeper does not need the whole of Microsoft Office. It needs only the free Microsoft Access Runtime, which Microsoft provides at no cost. The setup can install it for you.

Download

Parish Record Keeper · 64 bit & 32 bit

One file for Windows 10 and 11, whatever version of Office you have. The setup looks at your computer, chooses the 32-bit or 64-bit program that matches your Microsoft Office (not Windows), and, if there is no Access, offers to install the free Microsoft Access Runtime first. It stops with a clear message if the Access on the computer is too old (Office 2013 or 2010) and shows the printed sheet for putting that right.

SHA-256 HASH: DB07330B21E6E0D9020F2944486542F7F2C0E2CA88B046F2377551F2D6741260

Version: Parish Record Keeper ALPHA 4.00 | release date: 21/09/2026

Setup_PRK.exe

The Access Runtime is not inside this download (it is about 250–320 MB). If your computer has no Access and no fast internet line, build the memory stick below instead.

Complete memory stick · works on any computer, offline

Run this small program on a computer that is online. It fills a memory stick with everything needed to set up any parish computer without internet: the setup, the free Microsoft Access Runtime (64-bit and 32-bit), the compatibility check, and the printed A4 sheet for removing an old Access 2013/2010. Every program is checked for a valid digital signature. Nothing is installed on your computer. Total about 600 MB, so use a stick of 2 GB or more.

Plug in the memory stick.
Download the program below and run it. Type the drive letter of the stick when asked.

Make-PRK-Stick.exe

Removing an old Access cannot be done automatically, because it means changing the Office that is installed. That is why the stick carries the printed sheet: it takes you through it step by step.

Only if the setup above does not work: the separate 64-bit and 32-bit setups

Read this first Do not choose by the version of Windows. Choose by the version of Microsoft Office (Access) on the computer: 32-bit Office on 64-bit Windows is normal and needs the 32-bit setup. Run the compatibility check first — it says which one you need. These two setups carry only one build and do not contain the Access Runtime; if Access is missing, install the free Microsoft Access Runtime (same bitness) first.

64-bit Office · SHA-256: 64E29C0715C88E53BFA545FDE42DCC1AC1F68E93EA3F8BD18AC1D3BF9E9BC6D2

Setup_PRK_64bit.exe

32-bit Office · SHA-256: 7F8A62311F12909BF1BCFDA2D9EB2AD47B2988F0516ACBBD8074EDB82F91DD1C

Setup_PRK_32bit.exe

💡 Tip If your browser warns you about the file, choose Keep or Keep anyway to allow the download to complete.

🔓 Unblock the file before installing Windows marks files downloaded from the internet as blocked. Before running the installer, right-click the downloaded file, choose Properties, and at the bottom of the General tab tick Unblock, then click OK.

🛡️ Antivirus false positive (Norton, Avast, AVG and others) Some antivirus programs may flag ParishRecordKeeper.exe with a warning such as IDP.Generic or Suspicious file. This is a false positive.

Why does this happen?
Parish Record Keeper is built with Microsoft Access and compiled into a runtime executable (.accde / .exe). Because it is not a commercially signed application from a large publisher, heuristic scanners sometimes flag it simply because the file is uncommon — not because it contains anything harmful. The detection name IDP.Generic literally means "Identity Protection, Generic", i.e. the scanner does not recognise the file and applies a precautionary label.

What you should do
1. Confirm the digital signature: right-click the installer file, choose Properties, open the Digital Signatures tab, and verify that the signer is Bernhard Udelhoven. If the name matches and the signature status shows This digital signature is OK, the file is genuine.
2. In your antivirus software, choose Restore or Allow / Trust this file if the file was quarantined.
3. Add an exception (also called an exclusion or whitelist entry) for the Parish Record Keeper installation folder so the antivirus does not interfere with normal operation.

If you are unsure how to add an exception, search your antivirus help for "add exclusion" or "whitelist a program".

🔒 Verify download (optional) Verify the SHA-256 hash (see below) — if it matches, the file is exactly as published and has not been tampered with.
1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the folder where you saved the installer
2. Click the address bar at the top of the window (the path will be highlighted), type powershell and press Enter — this opens PowerShell directly in that folder
3. Run (copy one of these lines into PowerShell):
Get-FileHash ".\Setup_PRK.exe" -Algorithm SHA256
4. Compare the result with the hash above
→ If they match exactly, the file is authentic and not corrupted

Launcher Update

Parish Record Keeper Launcher

If Parish Record Keeper has notified you that a new launcher is available, you can download it directly here — no need to reinstall the full application.

ParishRecordKeeper.exe

How to install:
1. Close Parish Record Keeper completely.
2. Copy the downloaded ParishRecordKeeper.exe into your Parish Record Keeper installation folder, replacing the existing file.
3. Start Parish Record Keeper normally.

Uninstall

Removing Parish Record Keeper

If you installed with the setup program, the normal way is Windows Settings → Apps → Installed apps (Windows 10: Apps & features) → Parish Record Keeper → Uninstall. Download the program below only if that entry is missing, or if you installed by hand without the setup program.

SHA-256 HASH: 535D167AB542FDB7853CFE3E9850E1C0D2AC054B918D37790CB42A1CCC19CAF2

Uninstaller_PRK.exe

How to use it:
1. Close Parish Record Keeper completely.
2. Right-click the downloaded file, choose Properties, tick Unblock and click OK.
3. Copy Uninstaller_PRK.exe into your Parish Record Keeper installation folder (usually C:\ParishRecordKeeper). It refuses to run from any other folder, so it can never delete anything else by mistake.
4. Double-click it. Type yes to confirm, then yes to keep your parish data (the DataFiles and Exports folders) or no to delete them as well.
5. It removes the programme files, the Access trusted location, the stored settings and passwords and the shortcuts, and then deletes itself.

⚠ Note on automatic updates Our hosting provider occasionally blocks IP address ranges that have been reported as abusive by other users. This can affect shared or satellite internet connections — known examples include Starlink and MTN Zambia — and may prevent the application from checking for or downloading updates (HTTP 403 error).

Your data is never affected. If the update feature stops working, connecting through a reputable VPN service typically resolves the issue. You can also download the latest installer manually from this page at any time.

Documentation

The documentation PDF covers installation, configuration, and all major features of Parish Record Keeper. Reading it before installation is strongly recommended.

View the Documentation (PDF) Download the Documentation (DOCX) Manual Installation Guide (TXT)