Properties Quick Start

Customize Jewel for your church's specific needs by adjusting the properties as needed in Maintenance / Properties.

Church Info

Go to Maintenance / Properties / Church Info tab.

Entity ID: If it is not filled in, you can click on "Select Your Church" to see if the Entity ID is available. If it is not, just leave it the way it is.

Church Name: The exact name of your church, as you wish it to appear on checks and year-end contribution receipts.

Church Address: The church's mailing address.

Church Treasurer: New treasurers should change the treasurer name before printing year-end receipts.

Change Password: You can set or change the password used to access Jewel.

Reset Tips: Clicking this button will "unhide" any Jewel Tips that you have selected to not show again. This is useful for new users who are taking over from an experienced treasurer.

Receipt Signature File: The Receipt Signature File you select at the bottom of this window will be printed out on the year-end donation receipts. This can save you a lot of time at the end of the year! If you would rather sign your receipts manually, simply leave this area blank. If you would like to print your signature, follow these instructions:

1. Sign your name on a blank page of white paper, medium sized.
2. Create a .bmp or .jpg image of your signature. You can use a scanner, a phone camera, or any other device available to you, but use the highest resolution you can, at least 300 DPI.
3. Crop the image to its smallest possible size without clipping out any of your signature. Leave as little white around the edge as possible.
4. Save the file to your computer, noting the location. The Documents\Jewel folder is a good place to store the file.
5. In Maintenance / Properties / Church Info tab, click the "..." button at the end of the Receipt Signature File box, then find and select your signature file.
6. Your signature should now appear in the textbox and will be printed on all contribution receipts.

General

Go to Maintenance / Properties / General tab.

Backup Path

Set the path Jewel will use for monthly and manual backups as follows:

1. Go to Maintenance / Properties / General tab.
2. Click Browse, then locate and select your USB drive or other external media.
3. Click Make New Folder, rename that folder as Jewel Backups, and click OK, then OK again to finalize your selection.
4. When you click Back Up Data on the NextStep button or click on File / Create Backup Copy, the backup will go to the selected location.

General Options

Deposit Slip: Allows you to enter the number of coins and bills received in an offering, as well as a list of checks. Jewel then adds up the amount of the cash and checks to calculate the offering total, and provides a printable slip for use when making the deposit at the bank. Leaving the option off means you will enter the offering total directly to Jewel. See Receiving and Handling Sabbath Offerings for more details.

Allow Transfers Between Conference and Local Accounts: If this is checked, you can access Conference funds in the Transfer Funds and in the General Journal Entry windows. This is only necessary in exceptional circumstances, since by definition all Conference funds are normally forwarded directly to the Conference. You should not use this feature unless are very sure what you are doing, or you have been instructed to do so by your conference or technical support. See Transfers Between Local and Conference Funds for more details.

Show "Print Setup" Before Printing: Unchecked, this feature allows printing without using the "Print Setup" window, which means Jewel will print to the default printer set up in Windows, using that printers default settings. If you are experiencing printer issues, or wish to use a printer other than the default (such as printing to a file via a pdf printer), or settings other than the defaults, check this box. The print setup window on some computers will say "No print preview is available". That's ok, you can still select the printer options you need on that window.

Checks

The first four options relate to how you choose to enter and print checks. See Check Options - Print or Write for more details.

Print New Checks: This option controls whether "Print this Check" is automatically selected or not on the Write Checks screen. Click to put a check mark in the box if you normally want to print the checks you enter into the computer. If you do NOT want to automatically print checks, do not check this box. If you are hand writing your checks, you may not want Jewel to print your checks. The "Cancel Print for Unprinted Checks" button is helpful if checks you don't want to print have been left checked.

Use Date from Previous Check: Jewel defaults to today's date when starting a new check. If you batch enter already-written checks, you may prefer to default to the date of the last check you wrote.

Using Pre-Printed Checks: Check this box if you are printing your checks on Jewel but the checks are preprinted with the bank name, check number, "Pay to the Order of", etc. If you are using the (much cheaper) plain check paper available at any office supply, do not check this option.

Print Memo on Check: Use this option to utilize the check's memo feature on the bottom left hand corner of the check itself, or to turn it off. Either way, the memo will still print on the check stub for your records.

Allow Checks Dated in Next Month: If you wish to enter checks in next month before closing the current month, check this box. Click here for details.

Contributions

Sort Envelopes by Order Entered: Check this box if you wish the Trial Deposit report and the Contribution Report to print out sorted by the order that you entered the envelopes. Leave the box blank to print the envelopes in alphabetical order.

Always Show Donor Address: When you enter envelopes, you can have Jewel show the address of the donor. If this box is not checked Jewel will only display an address for donors with the same last names.

Require Check Numbers for Contributions: Requiring check numbers for contributions makes it easier to search for returned offerings / NSF checks and provides better records to donors on their year-end receipts. Having this box checked (using check #s) will require the check number to be entered each time a donation by check is entered in Contribution Entry. Note that the check number field does allow letters, so you can enter "MO" for Money Order, and thus keep track of other check-like or electronic donations.

Show Donor's Previous Contributions: Selecting this option overrides the selection in Default Order for Contributions on the Properties / Accounts tab. Instead of your chosen default contributions, Jewel will pre-fill the Contribution Entry accounts with the accounts the donor has previously donated to. Deselecting this option makes Jewel use the Default Order for Contributions.

Fiscal Year & Closing Dates

Fiscal Year Begins in: Use the drop-down menu to select the month which starts your church's fiscal year. The fiscal year is the 12-month period (cycle) your church uses for the church budget. Most churches will leave this at January, but some prefer to use a summer date. This has no effect on the calendar year and Donor receipts, which will always print out in January.

Close 20xx Fiscal Year: Click this button to do the annual closing manually. If this button is not on your screen, it is because it is not now time to be performing an annual closing.

At Year-End Closing, Zero Out: Here, you can choose the method you will use to zero out your sub accounts at year-end. Churches on the Combined Budget system usually use "Budget Sub Accounts Only," others zero out "All Sub Accounts", and some prefer to choose "No Sub Accounts" and do the process manually.

• All Sub Accounts. Every sub account will be closed into its parent account. If there is a sub account that should not be set to zero, go to Maintenance / Edit Accounts and edit the account to remove the checkmark in the sub account box before printing the annual reports. After the Annual closing, the account may once again be marked as a sub account.

• Budget Sub Accounts. Only sub accounts listed in the budget will be closed into their parent accounts. Budget accounts are listed in Maintenance / Edit Budget Allocations.

• No Sub Accounts. Every sub account will carry its balance over to the new fiscal year. You will need to close out desired sub accounts manually via Transfer Funds before doing the last Monthly Closing of the year.

Internet

Go to Maintenance / Properties / Internet tab.

Send Month-End Backup to Conference Server: This option keeps your database safely backed up in case of catastrophic loss at your house or church.

Send Remittance Report to Conference Server: This option sends an electronic report of your remittance details to your conference, so they don't have to type it in manually. If you have set up ACH remittance withdrawals with your conference, this report tells them how much to withdraw. If you have not set up ACH, the report tells the conference how much to expect from your church and how it should be distributed among the different conference funds.

ACH Funds Transfer: If you are interested in using ACH, check this box and contact your conference to find out how to get that set up. (Note: Older versions of Jewel asked for your Routing Number and Bank Account Number in this box. Now this information should be given directly to the conference, and those input boxes have been removed.)

Accounts

Go to Maintenance / Properties / Accounts tab.

Default Deposit Account: Click the down arrow and select the bank account where offerings will be deposited. This will generally be your main Checking Account. If you change banks or checking accounts, you will need to adjust these defaults.

Default Checking Account: Click the down arrow and select the bank account where Checks will be written from. (This is usually the same as the Deposit Account.)

Default Remittance Account: Click the down arrow and select the bank account where Remittance Checks will be written from. (This is usually the same as the Deposit and Checking Accounts.)

Remit To: Click the down arrow and select your local Conference for checks to be remitted to each month.

Currency: If you are outside the United States, type in the word for the currency you use (Dollars, Pounds etc). The only place the currency type is used in Jewel is for Checks. The Currency Symbol is set by Windows.

Account IDs: Many conferences have adopted standard 5-digit account IDs for conference funds, and have suggested that churches use 4-digit account IDs for their local funds. Conforming to this standard makes importing from AdventistGiving easier, eases identification of conference funds, and differentiates more easily between conference and local funds.

Default Account Order for Contributions: This section allows you to adapt Contribution Entry to your own personal needs to make the weekly entries faster and easier. The set of fields you see here is exactly what Contribution Entry will look like, the preset order that the accounts will appear in as you enter envelopes. Usually Tithe is first, followed by Combined Budget, etc. You may re-arrange or add to this list according to your needs. Enter only the most-frequently-used accounts, as you will be able to select the less-frequently-used accounts in Contribution Entry when needed. Adjust the account order by using the Insert and Delete buttons, or by editing the accounts already shown.

NOTE: The "Show Donor's Previous Contributions" option on the General tab overrides the selections here.

Reports

Go to Maintenance / Properties / Reports tab.

Select Automatic Reports: Choose which reports and how many copies to print for each time period. Most churches print only the default reports, but your auditor or your church board may wish to see other reports.

Select the period you want, then use the Add or Delete buttons and follow the on-screen prompts to change which reports are printed. Note that for period-end reports, "Last period" means the one you are just finishing, so if you want a June Financial Summary Detail at the end of June, select "Financial Summary - Detail" "Last month".

Click the up or down arrows to increase or decrease the number of copies to print of the selected Report Type. Checking the All Reports button applies the current Copies to Print to all reports in that period.

Report and Check Calibration: If checks (the usual culprit) or reports are printing in the wrong location on the paper, you can adjust the alignment here. If you're having trouble with alignment, print a check on a regular check blank. If the print needs to be moved on the paper, choose a direction and amount using the code on the screen.

Click the Print Calibration Page button to print a test pattern. It will help you determine the need of further adjustments. Repeat this process until the print is properly located.

Show Account ID on Financial Summary: Each account's ID number will be shown to the left of the account name on the Financial Summary report.

Show Subtotals on Financial Summary Detail: When this option is unchecked, the Financial Summary Detail report includes a line for the balance of each sub account and a line for the amount of money directly attributed to the parent account. Checking this option includes an additional line for the total amount in the parent plus the sub accounts. This total amount is the same amount shown for the parent account in the Summary version of the Financial Summary report.

Max Amount for Non-itemized Contributions: This option is no longer relevant.

Pages per Print Job: Lower the number of pages to print at a time in a print job if you are receiving "out of memory error" while printing. All your work will still be printed; the computer will just send fewer pages at a time to the printer. If you are using a pdf printer (printing to a file instead of a physical printer), that means you may have to save more than one file for large print jobs.

Report Format

Go to Maintenance / Properties / Report Format tab

Printed reports can be customized to your needs. Each individual report can be adjusted to how you need it to look. Here, you can change paper orientation, margins, fonts, font size and column width for each printed report. Most treasurers should not change these numbers. If you choose to change them, be sure you take a screenshot or write down the original numbers, so that you can put them back if needed.

• Start by choosing the report you wish to adjust, and then click to place a check mark by Edit.
• Font Name: Choose the desired font. The list you see here consists of the fonts you have installed in Windows.
• Font Size: Select a font size - remember, the larger the number, the larger the size and the more space it will use on the page, requiring wider columns.
• Orientation: Click the Portrait button to print a vertical report or the Landscape button to print a horizontal report.
• Column Widths: Key in a number to use for the width of each column, where 360=1/4" and 1440=1"
• Margins: Type the desired width of each margin (distance from the edge of the paper.) Depending on your printer, there may be various unprintable areas. Be sure to print a test report to ensure all of the report is printed. As in Report & Check Calibration, 360=1/4" and 1440=1"
• Print Test Reports: Click Print Test Reports to print a test report to see how your changes look. If you are not satisfied with the results, continue to adjust the settings again and try another test print.

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