Frequently Asked Questions

I can't see a menu item I expected to see. Why?

What you see depends on your role (Administrator, Coordinator, Volunteer or Member) and any custom permission your church has set for you. Ask an Administrator or Coordinator to check Users, Roles & Permissions — either your role needs to change, or a custom permission needs to be granted for that module.

How do I bring in members I already have in a spreadsheet?

Use Import Data under People with your file as it is: Excel (.xlsx, .xls), LibreOffice (.ods) or CSV. You choose what each column fills in and see a preview of exactly what will be created before anything is saved. The preview also checks every row against your directory, so people you already entered by hand can be skipped or updated instead of added twice.

Why is a member's email field locked and I can't edit it?

That member also has a HolyCRM login (they’re a Volunteer, Coordinator or Administrator). Their login email and member-record email are kept in sync automatically, so editing it from the Members form would just get overwritten. Change it from Settings → Users instead — see Users, Roles & Permissions.

How does HolyCRM decide who's a "minor"?

Your church sets a Minor age cutoff in Church Settings (default 18). Any member with a birth date below that age is automatically treated as a minor throughout the app — this is what makes the Guardians field and Kids Check-in eligibility work. A member with no birth date on file falls back to a manual checkbox instead. See Members.

What's the difference between Check-in and Kids Check-in?

They look almost identical, but Kids Check-in only ever allows checking in minors and prints a matching guardian tag, while plain Check-in allows any active member and is meant for services/events open to everyone. Use Kids Check-in specifically for minor-restricted ministries (like a children’s ministry during a service). See Attendance & Check-in.

How do I schedule volunteers for a Sunday service or event?

Set up your Service Roles once (Sound, Greeter, etc.), then create a Rota (Role Requirement) tied to the event or ministry activity saying how many people that role needs — you can do this directly from an event’s panel on the Calendar. Then assign volunteers to fill it. See Rotas (Service Scheduling).

Why does an event show a different time than I expected?

Every schedule is tied to the timezone of its location, not to whatever timezone you happen to be viewing the calendar in. If your viewing timezone is different, the event details show both times so nothing is ambiguous. Check that the event’s Location has the correct timezone set — see Calendar and Church Settings & Locations.

Can I personalize an announcement email with each recipient's name?

Yes — click into a text field in the composer, then click a variable like First name from the toolbar to insert {{first_name}}. It’s replaced with each recipient’s actual value when the email sends. See Announcements & Email Templates.

Is there a limit on how many people I can email at once?

Yes, 500 recipients per send, and the same limit applies to a single Data Import file. If you need to reach more people, split the audience or file into batches.

How do I remove the "Sent with HolyCRM" line from my emails?

You can’t — it’s a small, fixed part of every email sent through the platform. It’s kept deliberately understated and never appears anywhere else in the app.

My church collects offerings in more than one currency. How does that work?

Set a default currency in Church Settings, optionally overridden per Location. Any transaction entered in a different currency needs an exchange rate (entered by hand, as of that date) so totals in Giving & Finance can combine correctly. There’s no automatic exchange-rate lookup.

How do I add a church logo, and where does it show up?

Upload it in Church Settings. It becomes available as a one-click “Insert church logo” button in the Announcements composer.

I forgot my password. What do I do?

On the login screen, use Forgot your password? and enter your email. You’ll always get the same neutral confirmation message, and a reset link if an account exists for that address — this is intentional, so the login screen can’t be used to check whether an email is registered.

Can Members log into HolyCRM themselves?

Only if they’ve been given a login as a Member-role User — most members are records in your directory only, with no login at all. A Member-role login is read-only and mainly sees their own Profile. To give someone a login, see Users, Roles & Permissions.

Can guests sign up for an event themselves online?

Not yet — Event Registrations is currently staff-entered only (a staff member searches for and adds a member who’s already in your directory). Public self-serve signup is a planned future feature.

Something looks broken or I'm stuck on something not covered here. What now?

Reach out to whoever manages your HolyCRM account/support contact at your church or with HolyCRM directly. This Help Center covers how each module is meant to work today; if something behaves differently from what’s described here, that’s worth reporting.