The Manual in Seven Languages Free for all

The user manual now opens in the language chosen for the screen: Français, Deutsch, Português, Español, Italiano or Polski, besides English. Each edition follows the English manual page for page and shows pictures of the program in its own language.

• Downloaded when needed. The manual button fetches the manual of the screen language the first time it is opened, and keeps it up to date afterwards.
• Baptism book search by year. The Year box on the Baptism Book Panel takes one year (1998) or a range (1995-2000, 1995-, -1995) of birth or baptism dates.

Seven Languages, and the Manual in French Free for all

Parish Record Keeper now speaks English, Français, Deutsch, Português, Español, Italiano and Polski. Open Control Panel → LANGUAGE AND LABELS and choose. Every window, report, button and message follows; the choice belongs to the computer, so each team member can work in their own language on the same datafile. The parish's own records are not translated.

• The manual in French. With French chosen, the manual opens in French, with fresh pictures of the program. The other languages follow and use the English manual until then.
• The parish's own words. The same window lets the parish reword labels, for example “community” instead of “prayer centre”, in each language.
• The daily devotion on the START screen comes in the chosen language.

Card Fronts, Logo and Whole Amounts Free for all

The front of the A6 personal card now carries the parish's own texts, verse and picture, with an optional cover text and picture, set up once for the parish.

• Pictures reach the team. In a workspace, the parish logo and the card pictures travel to the other computers with the normal sync rounds.
• Amounts without cents. Preferences can show money as whole numbers on screens and reports. The amounts stored stay exactly as typed.
• Related families. A clearer window shows a family's other files, its children's own families and the parents, and opens any of them in the family view.
• A second window. SECOND WINDOW on the START screen opens another datafile beside the first, for local work: no server sync and no updates in that window.

Import from SQLite Free for all

A datafile saved with EXPORT FULL DATABASE AS SQLite can now be turned back into a datafile: on the Import screen, type a name and press FROM SQLITE FILE (.SQLITE). The new datafile keeps the Backend ID of the original, so it still belongs to the same workspace.

• Up to date at once. The empty datafile that new datafiles are built on now renews itself whenever the program's tables have changed, so a new datafile no longer asks to update its table definitions when it is first opened.
• Fewer, clearer exports. The old Access mini database and the web text export are gone; the mini Excel stays.

Register Today, Free for a Month Workspace subscribers

A parish no longer waits for its workspace. Confirm your email address, describe the parish and press REGISTER: the workspace is set up there and then and is free for one month, so the team can start working the same day. The contribution is paid within that month, and I HAVE PAID tells the developer.

• Every country, every diocese. Choose your country and then your diocese from complete lists, or OTHER / NOT LISTED to type the name.
• Not only parishes. A workspace can also be registered for an institution, a company or an individual's own accounts, at the same price.
• Renew from the program. Server Actions shows how long the workspace is still valid; one click opens the payment window.

Improved Server Sync Workspace subscribers

Several people can now work on the same parish datafile, each on their own computer, and stay together without carrying whole files around. Only what somebody changed travels: members propose, the administrator lets it in, and every computer takes in the team's work by itself at startup and exit. The workspace keeps one complete, encrypted copy of the parish on the server, so a new computer starts from today's data, deletions reach every computer, and CHECK AGAINST THE SERVER tells you whether your datafile agrees with it.

• One colour, one button. The Server Sync window shows where your datafile stands and offers a button only when there is a step to take.
• Safe. Money is never merged, conflicts are filed for review instead of overwritten, and work left behind in a replaced datafile is offered for merging.
• Made for a slow line. Files travel packed and in chunks, a failed chunk is retried, and publishing runs in the background.

Improved Synonymous Names Integration Free for all

The Synonymous Names table in the control panel holds the spellings that belong together — Chirwa and Chilwa, Joseph and Yosefe. The program now uses it throughout: the Baptism Book search finds a person however the name was written, and the duplicate finder treats the spellings as one name. ADD TO SYNONYMOUS NAMES suggests new pairs from your own records and lets you tick the ones you accept, so the table grows with the knowledge of your parish.

The Baptism Book Keeps All Sacramental Details Free for all

The baptism book is the register in which a person's later sacraments are noted in the margin, and it now holds all of them: first Holy Communion; confirmation with its date, minister, sponsor and church; and marriage with the spouse, the date, the marriage register number, any dispensation, the witnesses and the spouse's own details. PRINT RECORD prints the whole entry in two columns, and when an entry is linked to the Family Files, the dates are carried across to the person's record.

Team Messages Workspace subscribers

Every member and administrator can write a short notice to the team — “Please check the baptism of John Banda”. The other computers show it at their next start, on the START screen in place of the daily verses, with OLDER and NEWER to go through them. Notices stay on the server until somebody deletes them, from the desktop or from the workspace page.

Encryption & Security Workspace subscribers

The parish files on the server are stored encrypted, and a PIN set on a phone encrypts the parish data and the notes kept there. A forgotten PIN can be reset with your parishrecordkeeper.com password, with nothing lost. The workspace page lists every phone that holds a copy; a lost phone, or one whose owner leaves the team, clears its copy by itself the next time it is online. A fact sheet says in plain words what is encrypted, how, and what is not.

Find and Merge Duplicates in the Family Files Free for all

The same person entered twice — registered again at a new station, typed up a second time, or arriving from both sides of a sync — is found by scoring every likely pair. The search uses your Synonymous Names, weighs dates of birth and baptism entries above names, and never offers again a pair marked “not the same”. A merge carries children, contributions and family files across, keeps a history, and can be undone.

The Parish Archive Workspace subscribers

Minutes of the parish and finance councils, pictures of parish events, letters and reports have a place on the server the whole team can reach. Members upload, an administrator sorts the files into folders, a deleted file can be restored for 14 days, and one button copies the whole archive to your computer. It is part of the workspace at no extra cost.

Phone App Workspace subscribers

PRK Admin and PRK Finance bring the parish to the phone, online and offline. Search the Church Files and the Baptism Book, note corrections, enter contributions, and keep the PA-Ledger — Sunday collections, bills paid, money taken to the bank. Everything entered on the phone travels to the office as a note and is never booked twice. An account that belongs to several parishes switches between them with one button, and a treasurer or section leader without an account can be given a shared login that opens only what the administrator allows.

Transport Register Workspace subscribers

One register for the bus or lorry a parish hires for a pilgrimage or a meeting: journeys, pick-up areas with their own seats and fares, passengers, the waiting list and every instalment paid. Catechists book on their phones with one shared username and password, the office works in the TRANSPORT window, and both see the same seats — the last place can never be sold twice.

Copies for the Diocese Workspace subscribers

A diocese can keep a safe copy of the records of each of its parishes on parishrecordkeeper.com — the registers and the closed years of the parish accounts. If a parish computer is stolen, breaks down or is wiped, nothing is lost. It is custody, not sharing: once sent, the parish can no longer see or delete the copy. The parish sends with one button; the diocese runs collections with deadlines and opens any copy in its own Diocese Office window.

Open a diocesan workspace at no extra cost. A diocese that pays centrally buys a bracket of places — up to 20, 40 or 60 parishes at one flat price for a term — the table is in the FAQ.

And a diocese may ask for a free trial first — places for its parishes free for three months. When it ends, the parishes simply go back to contributing for themselves; nothing is deleted and nothing is owed.

Dioceses that would like to open a diocesan workspace, or to ask for the free trial, are welcome to write to developer@parishrecordkeeper.com.

Found a bug? Please tell the developer at developer@parishrecordkeeper.com, so that the next update can put it right.