Yes- many of the value lists in GENERATIONS have an edit choice built right in where you can select Edit… from the value list when you’re in browse mode. As long as your user account allows editing of value lists, this may be the best way to edit a particular value list. If there is no Edit… choice from the value list in question, you may be able to edit the value list using File/Manage/Value Lists... From the Manage Value Lists dialog, locate the value list that you want to edit and make the desired modification. Do not edit value lists that begin with an underscore or “zz”. These value lists are used for system level functions and changing them may adversely affect the operation of your application. For more complex editing of value lists, consult with iR support.

What do I do if I accidentally delete data from a constituent record?

If it’s the last thing you did, choose Undo Typing from the FileMaker Edit menu. If the Edit/Undocommand is unavailable (grayed out) it means that your changes have already been committed to the server. In this case, your only recourse is to recover from a backup.

How many constituent codes can I have?

There is essentially no limit to the number of constituent codes that you can use with GENERATIONS. Each one is simply an additional field in your CONSTITUENTS data table. There is however a practical limit to the number of constituent codes. For most organizations, it is recommended that you limit the number of constituent codes to somewhere between 15 and 30. Constituent codes answer the question “why is this constituent in my database?”. Each constituent record should have a constituent code assigned to it, some may have more than one. Keeping the total number of constituent codes in use to a manageable size keeps your finds manageable and simplifies your operation.

Is there anything special I need to do to start a new fiscal year?

GENERATIONS was configured with your Fiscal Year End Month and Day during installation and configuration. GENERATIONS will automatically roll over to the new fiscal year based on this schedule. The only thing you’ll need to do when the new fiscal year comes is to perform a complete update to make sure that your giving summary values correctly reflect the actual totals for the current year (without a complete update, your summary totals will be off by one year). With some versions of GENERATIONS prior to v3.0, you may need to open GENERATIONS in so called “single user” mode, removing the files from the server (after a proper shutdown), and opening them with a copy of FileMaker Pro directly. This will set several globals that will enable GENERATIONS to be properly aware of the current fiscal year.

Can I use labels other than the pre-set layouts in GENERATIONS?

Yes. FileMaker Pro supports the use of multiple Avery layouts. To set up for different styles though, you need to create an appropriate layout. The Label Wizard is a great way to create labels quickly.