Avoid Creating Duplicate Names

The Names List is found under Maintenance / Edit Names. If you click "Maintenance" on the top bar of the home screen of Jewel and then click "Edit Names," you will see a long list of names of people and businesses.

This is where Jewel keeps a record of everyone who has donated to your church and everyone who has been paid by your church. Take a minute to look at the list. One of your goals as treasurer is to keep this list free of duplicates and misspellings.

Let's say you are entering an offering (remember, last name first) and you type in a donor name and Jewel says:

You are sure that Doe, John is a regular donor. Maybe you have misspelled the name. Maybe the previous treasurer has misspelled the name. But for whatever reason, Jewel says “Doe, John” is not there so if you click on “Yes” and move on, you have probably just created a duplicate name.

No-o-o-o-o-o!

Duplicate names can cause problems in a number of ways down the road.

So every time this message pops up (for either a donor or when writing a check) unless you know that the donor is brand new or that the church has never written a check to this vendor, click “No."

Then do the following:

1. Delete the name you tried to enter, leaving the donor line blank. (Make sure you do this)
2. Click on the little plus (+) sign that is on the right end of the "Donor ID or Name" box.

This will take you directly to the “Edit Names” page, where you can now look in the left-hand column to see where “Doe, John” went! The names are in alphabetical order, and donor names are supposed to be entered last name first, so scroll down, find the one you are looking for, and click on it. If you believe the name needs to be edited, read this first. For now, just find the one you need and click on it, then click on the green “OK √” in the top right corner. That should take you back to the donor envelope, filled in with the donor name you just selected.

If you see a name on the list, but Jewel doesn't allow you to use it, the name has likely been "deactivated". In Maintenance / Edit Names, click the Edit "Active" Status button, then ensure that the name you want to use has a check mark in front of it.

If you are just starting out as a new treasurer, make it a practice to say “No” every time Jewel says it is a new name. Then go find out if it really is or not. You will quickly become acquainted with your "Names" list this way.

When you are paying bills and writing checks, you will run into the same thing. If Jewel says "This vendor is new" when you know they are not, click on the plus sign and go searching. If you are writing a check to someone who also donates, you may simply need to mark them as a vendor as well as a donor. If that is the case, click the (+), find and select the name in the left-hand column, click the Edit box and then the Vendor box in the center column. Then click OK to go back to your check, filled in with the vendor name you just selected.

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