The Program Settings tab allows you to configure general preferences and settings for ChurchTrac. From this tab you can hide main toolbar buttons that you don’t use, choose whether to display years in birthdays, and more.

You can also adjust how often ChurchTrac reminds you to backup your data. It is recommended that you back up your data at least weekly, perhaps more often if you make a lot of changes during the week. Enter a number here, and ChurchTrac will remind you every so often to back up your data.

By default, contributions are assigned to an individual in ChurchTrac, and thus, when you print the contribution statements, the individual’s name appears on the statement. This is adequate to meet IRS regulations regarding contributions for couples who file jointly. However, some churches wish to display the spouse’s name on the contribution statements as well, even though it is not required. You can check the box on this tab to tell ChurchTrac to use the family name instead of the individual name. Please note that this does not provide a legal solution in situations where a married couple contributes and files their taxes separately rather than jointly.

If you don’t use the envelope number or category number fields in ChurchTrac, uncheck the boxes on this tab to hide those fields.

The People Screen Settings tab let you modify your people screen preferences. You can hide the people screen tabs that you don’t use, and configure whether or not you want individual and family picture thumbnails to appear on the General Information tab. This tab also lets you configure your people screen mapping preferences.

The individual and family pictures that you use in ChurchTrac must be stored in a single folder on your hard drive or network. The People Screen Settings tab allows you to specify the location of that folder.

If you leave the Custom Email Path blank, ChurchTrac will use your default (POP3) email program to send messages to people in your congregation. This is the recommended setting for most users.

The Regional Settings tab lets non-US users configure preferences for using ChurchTrac. Note that the Date/Calendar format that you set here should match the Windows Control Panel’s Date format.

The Church Information tab is where you enter your church or ministry’s basic information. For customers who have purchased an unlock code, the church name field must match the church name that you used when you purchased your unlock code. The church name that you enter here will appear on the bottom of most ChurchTrac reports.

The Data File tab shows the location of the data file that you are using, as well as an option to change to a different data file (advanced users only). The window on this tab also displays all the network users who are currently sharing the same data file (this only applies to networks where a single data file is being shared).

The Password Management tab allows you to configure and change passwords and password preferences for ChurchTrac. There are five different passwords that you can set to control access to various parts of the program, including an administrator password that has access to every section of the program. The default password for each item is 1234. If you are using password protection, it is recommended that you change you passwords as soon as possible.

The administrator password is universal--it will work to access any screen where a password is required. You can set optional passwords and assign a different password to each for program startup, as well as for accessing the contributions, budgets, and accounting screens. There is no password protection available for the people screen, groups screen, or attendance screen. If you want to protect these areas, you will need to specify a start up password.

You can turn off password protection for one or more of the screens if you wish. Simply uncheck the box on the password preferences window and enter the administrator password to disable password access. You will no longer be prompted to enter a password on these screens. Note: For networked users, this is a per-computer setting. In other words, you can require a startup password be entered on one computer, but not required on another. You'll have to set up each computer will the access rights you want that computer to have. The password for each screen (or for program startup) will be shared by every computer (two computers can't have two different passwords to access the same screen).

The Color Scheme tab allows you to choose the background color that ChurchTrac will use on all screens. The Report Settings tab allows you to configure general settings regarding reports, such as font, font size, and some limited customization options for some reports. The custom report on the people screen has its own configuration options, and is not set using this report settings tab.