Renumbering envelopes for the next year is a common task that many churches will perform at the end of the year. While you do have the option of manually assigning envelope numbers for next year, it can save your church time to have Shepherd's Staff automatically assign envelope numbers for next year. The Auto-number feature of the Renumber next year's envelopes utility can help you do just that.
- Before starting with this utility, you'll want to make sure that each contributor that you do not want to get an envelope for next year has the "Does not use physical envelopes" box checked on their contributor record. This will leave their name out of the renumbering process.
- You can set the "Does not use physical envelopes" status in Contributions under Giving, and then click on the Contributors tab.
- For each contributor that you do not want to receive a physical envelope, double click on the envelope, and check the box for "Does not use physical envelopes" in the window that appears. Click the Save button in the bottom right corner when finished.
- You will also want to be sure that for anyone who should retain their current envelope number and not get a new one, you follow the same steps as above, but click the "Skip this envelope when renumbering" check-box. This will keep both the Contributor's name and their number from being included in the renumbering process.
- To access the Renumber next year's envelopes utility, open the contributions module, click on Tools/Settings and then select "Renumber Next Year envelopes" under Envelope Tools and click "Start".
- In the window that appears, click the "Auto-number" button at the bottom of the window.
- You'll be presented with three choices on how you can renumber your envelopes for next year:
- Use current year envelope numbers for the upcoming envelope numbers - This option will keep your current envelope numbers for next year, but for anyone who has been designated as not receiving a physical envelope will instead get an envelope number in the 100,000 range, indicating that they do not have a current envelope number.
- Assign upcoming numbers incrementally in current envelope number order - This option will let you keep the same envelope number order, but start with a different envelope number, which you pick in the "Start with number" box. So, whoever has your first envelope number in the sequence will still have that first number, but that first number may be a different number. So, for example, if your first envelope number is 100 and it belongs to John Smith, and your church decides that envelope numbers are now going to start from 1, if you use this option, John Smith will now have number 1, and the envelopes will continue in sequence from there (1, 2, 3...) based on who had the next number after John. Those who have been designated as not receiving a physical envelope will instead receive a number in the 100,000 range, indicating they do not have a current envelope number.
- Assign upcoming envelope numbers incrementally in alphabetical order - This option will reassign envelope numbers, starting from the number you enter in the "Start with number" box, alphabetically by last name. Those who have been marked as not receiving a physical envelope, instead of receiving a number in the sequence this utility uses, will instead be assigned an envelope number in the 100,000 range, indicating they do not have a current envelope number.
- Click "Continue" and then on the window that appears, click "Yes" to confirm your choice on how you'll be renumbering your next year's envelopes. Finally, click "Save" at the "Renumber envelope utility" window to finalize your selection.
