When building your church directory, adding symbols to designate different designations among the people in your directory can be a helpful tool to provide additional information to the reader. Shepherd's Staff allows you to add symbols for a variety of different designations for the people on your directory, and the steps to do so are outlined below:
- In Membership, click on "Other Reports", and select "Church Directory by household", if it is not already selected.
- Near the bottom of the report window, you will see a button labeled "Symbols" with an * on it. Click this button
- This will open the "Symbols" window. You will see a section labeled "Symbols for", and inside you will find four different selections. Select the option you want to work with by clicking the button next to that option:
- Membership - These options pertain to a person's membership status at your church, including information for baptism, confirmation, and if a person is a Member or Non-member
- Membership codes - These options pertain to the various membership codes your church may use, to describe what kind of member a person is. Options may vary depending on your church's denomination.
- Participation - Member - These options pertain to the participation field on a member's record. Each option you have in the participation field for members will be represented here.
- Participation - Non-member - These options pertain to the participation field on a non-member's record. Each option you have in the participation field for non-members will be represented here.
- To make changes to the options listed, make sure to check the "Make changes to symbol checkbox".
- Each option listed can have a symbol on your directory. A symbol will be a single character. This can be a letter, number, or special character. Click the box next to the option you want to make changes to, and then type in the character you want to use.
- If you want to clear out all the symbols across all areas of the church directory, click the "Erase all symbols" button.
- Click "Close" when you are finished making changes to your symbols.