Assigning Categories to Families

A category is only useful once there are families in it. There are four ways to put them there, and which one you reach for depends on how many you are dealing with.

If you haven't set the categories up yet, start with Family Categories Setup.

One Family at a Time

Open the family and go to its Categories tab. The tree on the left is every category you have; check one and the family is in it. The list on the right is what they currently belong to.

Check to add, uncheck to remove. The list on the right carries the dates and notes.

Each assignment on the right can carry a start date, an end date and a note — which is how you record that someone was in Hebrew School for two years, rather than only that they are or aren't now. The pencil edits those; the trash icon removes the family from that category.

Show expired brings back assignments whose end date has passed, and Show full path spells out Donation / Challah Deliveries rather than just the last part — worth leaving on once you have subcategories.

From the Category

Sometimes it is easier to work the other way round: open Categories, select the category, and you are looking at everyone in it.

• + Assign Family adds a family to it.
• The checkboxes select families, and Remove takes the selected ones out.
• Edit changes the dates or the note on the selected assignments.
• Show on Map puts the whole category on a map — which is where a delivery route usually starts.

In Bulk, From a Report

This is the one worth learning. Any contact report can write its result into a category.

1. Build a contact report that finds the families you want — everyone who gave to the campaign, everyone outside the state, everyone with a child in Hebrew School.
2. On the Preview tab, click Update Category.
3. Choose the category, and whether you are adding the families to it or removing them.

Everyone the report found is updated at once. Contact Reports covers building the report itself.

Automatically, From a Form

A web form can put people into a category as their submission is accepted — everyone who registers for the dinner lands in the dinner category without anyone touching it. That is set on the form itself, in its settings.

What Categories Then Give You