Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to the most common questions about Parish Record Keeper — its costs, compatibility, system requirements, privacy, and how to get support.

1. What does Parish Record Keeper cost?

The program is free. Install it, use every function, keep as many records as you like — nothing is disabled, time-limited, or locked behind a payment.

If the program is useful to your parish, we do ask for a donation of your choice to Lumimba Parish (Zambia), where this application was developed. Lumimba Parish is situated in one of the poorest rural areas of Zambia, where the Church supports numerous projects in education and health. Instructions on how to donate are provided within the application itself. This is an appeal, not a condition for use.

The one thing that does carry a charge is the optional workspace for your parish on our server. A workspace is the online side of the program: the shared master datafile, the member accounts, the online search, the mobile app, the parish transport register and the shared financial report logins — and it asks a contribution towards the server costs, from ZMW 400 (USD 20) a year, less per year if you contribute for several years at once. The program itself, including its offline sync engine, works whether you subscribe to a workspace or not. See question 8 for the terms on offer.

2. Is Parish Record Keeper compatible with any operating system?

No. Parish Record Keeper runs on Windows only. Both 64-bit and 32-bit Windows environments are supported.

3. Parish Record Keeper depends on Microsoft Access. What does that mean?

Microsoft Access must be installed on your computer for the application to run. This can be either the full version included in Microsoft Office (versions 2016 and later), or the free Microsoft Access Runtime, which can be downloaded from the Microsoft website. Support for earlier versions of Access is planned for future releases.

4. Can Parish Record Keeper be installed on Apple computers if Microsoft Office is installed?

No. Microsoft Access is not available for macOS, as its architecture relies on Windows-specific components.

5. Is there any way to run this application on an Apple computer?

There are two possible approaches, though neither has been tested by the developer. Try them at your own risk.

Virtualisation

This is generally considered the most reliable method. Virtualisation software lets you run a full version of Windows as an application inside macOS, without rebooting your Mac.

• Parallels Desktop — Highly optimised for Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4). Includes a "Coherence Mode" that lets you run Access alongside your regular Mac applications.
• VMware Fusion — Offers a free version for personal use and supports Windows on Apple Silicon.
• UTM — A free, open-source option based on QEMU. Requires more technical setup, but costs nothing.

Cloud-Based & Remote Options

These approaches let you access a Windows environment over the internet, without any local installation.

• Windows 365 (Cloud PC) — Microsoft provides a virtual Windows machine in the cloud, accessible via a web browser or the Windows App.
• Remote Desktop — Use the free Microsoft Remote Desktop application to connect to an existing Windows PC or server.

Practical Tips

• Memory: Allocate at least 8 GB of RAM to the virtual machine for smooth VBA performance.
• File sharing: Keep your .accdb files in a Mac folder; virtual machines can map these directly.
• Access Runtime: Use the free Access Runtime — since you only need to run databases rather than design them, the full version of Access is not required.

6. Can the phone app work on iPhones as well as on Android?

Yes — on both, and equally well. This is the one part of Parish Record Keeper that is not tied to Windows at all, so the Apple restriction described in questions 4 and 5 simply does not apply to it. An iPhone is as good a parish phone as an Android one.

The reason is that the phone app is not the desktop program made smaller. The desktop program needs Windows because it needs Microsoft Access; the phone app has nothing whatever to do with Access. It is a web application that the phone's own browser keeps — Safari on an iPhone, Chrome on an Android phone — and once it has been set up it works with no network at all: the church records, the baptism book, the contributions, the account ledger, the area sheet and the balance sheet are held on the phone itself and searched inside it, and corrections made in the field are stored there until they can be sent to the parish computer.

There is nothing to buy or download from the App Store or from Google Play, and no installation file to approve. A phone is prepared by visiting parishrecordkeeper.com once, logging in, downloading the offline copy on the Data tab, and putting the icon on the home screen:

iPhone and iPad (Safari)

Open the app, tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen. Afterwards always open the app from that icon and not from a Safari tab: iOS clears the stored data of websites that have not been visited for about a week, and apps on the home screen are exempt from that rule.

Android (Chrome)

Open the app, tap the menu (three dots), then Add to Home screen — on some phones it is called Install app. Of the two platforms, Android with Chrome is the more dependable for very long stretches without any network.

Both of the parish's mobile apps — PRK Admin for the parish team and PRK Finance for those who sign in with a shared parish login — are installed in exactly this way on either platform. Question 9 describes what they do.

One thing does not change: the phone app is a companion to the desktop program, not a replacement for it. The records are kept, edited and merged on a Windows computer, and the phone works from a copy of them. So a parish still needs one Windows machine somewhere, even if every phone in the team is an iPhone. The phone app is also part of the optional workspace (question 8), which is what makes the copy on the phone possible.

7. Does the application collect any user data?

By default, no. The application itself does not collect or store any of your data. Every two weeks it connects to the Parish Record Keeper website solely to check for available updates; no system information or personal data is transmitted or recorded in that process, aside from the IP address and server data that any web server automatically logs to keep the service running.

The only exception is if you choose to hire the optional online Workspace described in the next question — its facilities (the shared master datafile, the online search, the phone app, the transport register and the shared report logins) intentionally upload a copy of your data because that is their whole purpose, but only when you actively register for and use them. The same holds for a parish whose diocese keeps copies of its records (question 10): a copy goes to the diocese only when the parish administrator presses the button. Nothing is ever uploaded automatically or without your choosing to do so.

8. What is a Workspace, and what does it give the parish?

A Workspace is the online side of Parish Record Keeper, hired as one package for one datafile and for a term the parish chooses. It is entirely optional and quite separate from the free desktop application, which works in full without it. For a contribution towards the server costs, a parish gets all of the following together:

• a shared master datafile, so several people work on one set of records in turn: each downloads the current master, works on it, and hands their version in for the workspace administrator to merge and republish;
• an account for each member of the parish who needs one;
• the online search, which makes baptism records, church records, contributions and the parish accounts readable in a browser;
• the offline phone app (see the next question);
• the parish transport register, on which catechists take bus bookings from the outstations with one shared login; and
• shared report logins for treasurers or section leaders who have no account of their own.

You choose how long to contribute for, and a longer term costs less per year:

Term	Zambia	From abroad	Per year
One year	ZMW 400	USD 20	—
Three years	ZMW 1,000	USD 50	USD 16.67
Five years	ZMW 1,250	USD 65	USD 13.00

A longer term also survives a change of parish priest, which is when an annual renewal is most often forgotten.

You ask for a Workspace from inside the program, not on this website: install Parish Record Keeper, create your parish datafile, then open Server Actions, which offers to send the request and fills in the datafile's identifier for you. The workspace is created once the contribution has arrived, and it runs for the term you chose — see how to get access for the whole sequence.

To try it first, ask the developer for a free-trial token. Typed in where the program asks for an activation code, it sets up a Workspace free for six months, once per email address. A contribution before the six months are over keeps it, with everything in it.

Uploaded data remains the property of the parish that uploaded it and can be deleted from the server at any time. This Workspace contribution is the only thing that is ever charged — the program itself stays free; full terms are set out in the Cloud Service Agreement and Data Protection Policy.

One thing said plainly, because a parish contributing for five years deserves to hear it: Up to now, Parish Record Keeper was written and is maintained by one person, with help from friends of the project. It is not a company, and it carries no guarantee that it will still be running in five or ten years. Soon, however, we will have a more permanent footing, carried by a respected and lasting institution. Your records, though, are never held hostage — they live on the parish's own computer, in a free program that needs no server and no permission from us to open, and you may download everything the Workspace holds at any time. The present desktop version will work on your computer for as long as you have Microsoft Access installed. If the Workspace were discontinued before your term was out, the unused portion is refunded on request so far as funds and circumstances permit. Both sides give what they can, in good faith; neither gains a claim on the other beyond that.

9. Can I search the database on my phone without internet?

Yes. Workspace members can open the PRK Admin app from the members page and download an offline copy of the parish data onto their phone. The app can be added to the phone's home screen like a normal app (no app store required), and from then on it opens directly — no network and no login needed. Baptism book, church records and contributions remain searchable during long stays outside network coverage, including the extended search for synonymous name spellings.

Changes can also be recorded in the field: corrections to records, new persons, new baptism entries and contributions are stored on the phone as change notes. Nothing is changed in any database at that point. As soon as the phone has a signal again, sending them is one tap — the notes go straight to the parish's Workspace, with no file to export, no cable and no messaging app needed. Back at the parish computer, opening Server Actions in Parish Record Keeper lists the waiting changes; every single one is still reviewed (accept / skip, with a chance to correct a typed value) before it is applied. The next upload then refreshes the online database, and the phone refreshes its offline copy from there.

There are two apps, and most people need only one. PRK Admin is the one described above, for the parish team — people with their own member account. PRK Finance is for those who serve the parish without an account here: treasurers, church council members, section leaders, outstation committees and the catechists who take seat bookings. They sign in with a shared username the parish creates for them, and the app can keep them signed in for 90 days, so the accounts are there whenever they are needed. PRK Admin holds everything PRK Finance holds, so nobody needs both — and if both are installed on one phone, neither signs the other out.

The offline copy is stored on the phone protected by the phone's own security (screen lock) and an optional PIN in the app. The parish decides who may carry offline copies. Full instructions: PRK Admin app documentation and reports logins.

10. Can our diocese keep a safe copy of its parishes’ records?

Yes. A diocese can subscribe to diocesan copies, separately from the workspaces of its parishes. Each linked parish then sends the diocese a copy of its datafile from inside Parish Record Keeper (Server Actions → Copy for the diocese), together with the archive files of its closed accounting years — starting a new year empties the parish ledger, so those years exist only in the archives. The copy is packed first, which makes it about five times smaller.

It is custody, not sharing. Once a copy has been sent, the parish can no longer see, download or delete it; only the diocese can. A parish may send whenever it likes — a new copy simply replaces the previous one until the diocese closes its next collection.

The diocese works in the same desktop program, in its own Diocese Office window: it asks the parishes for copies with a deadline, endorses each collection, and downloads the copies, each of which opens like any other datafile. It keeps its most recent collections and the year-end ones it pins, and a copy with suddenly far fewer records than the one before is flagged and never pushes out the last good copy.

A diocesan workspace costs nothing extra. What it needs is parishes that send: each parish has its own Workspace (question 8), and a parish whose Workspace has run out can no longer send — the Diocese Office shows beside every parish how long it is paid for. A diocese may also pay centrally for all its parishes. It then gets a group reduction on top of the discount a longer term already carries, and every parish is paid for at once:

Parishes paid for together	Reduction	One year, per parish	Three years, per parish	Five years, per parish
1–9	—	ZMW 400 USD 20	ZMW 1,000 USD 50	ZMW 1,250 USD 65
10–19	10 %	ZMW 360 USD 18	ZMW 900 USD 45	ZMW 1,125 USD 58.50
20–39	15 %	ZMW 340 USD 17	ZMW 850 USD 42.50	ZMW 1,063 USD 55.25
40 or more	20 %	ZMW 320 USD 16	ZMW 800 USD 40	ZMW 1,000 USD 52

Dioceses that would like to open a diocesan workspace are welcome to write to developer@parishrecordkeeper.com. Full description: Copies for the diocese.

11. I have already existing parish records. How can I convert them or feed them into Parish Record Keeper?

For most formats there is a way of converting your data into the Parish Record Keeper system. But since the designs of existing records vary widely, there is no automated, one-size-fits-all way of doing this.

The developer can be contacted and will be able to give a definite answer about your specific situation. Where possible, and at a fee, the developer can also carry out the conversion for you.

12. Can I contact the developer for support?

Yes — though please bear in mind that support is offered on a best-efforts basis, not as an obligation. The developer is genuinely interested in feedback and wants to improve the product, but works full-time in a demanding pastoral ministry in a rural parish. Support can only be given in his free time, whenever that becomes available.

You can reach the developer at developer@parishrecordkeeper.com. Patience is appreciated.