Documentation: Initial Setup
Initial Setup
When setting up your Lodge or Unit for the first time, there's quite a lot of customisation you can do in order to save yourself time later.
Setting your Lodge type, creating Ceremonies, Rituals and Roles will unlock some of the more complex functions The Working Tools can offer when you start to manage Events.
Choosing your Lodge Type
theworkingtools.co.uk/lodge - Juristiction card
The Working Tools has been designed to be useful for both Craft Lodges and other Apendant Bodies alike. When setting up your Lodge, you will select from a list of common Types (Craft, Chapter, KT, etc) which will pre-setup parts of the system. For example if you choose a Craft type, roles such as Worshipful Master, the three degree ceremonies etc, will be installed.
Your Lodge Type also supplies the everyday wording your Order uses: prefix suggestions on Member records (Bro. and W.Bro. for Craft, Comp. and E.Comp. for Royal Arch, and so on), the career event that counts as a Masonic Birthday, extra career anniversaries on the dashboard calendar, which Roles are treated as the chair and the secretary on a summons, and — for a new summons with no lodge template of your own — a starting layout and colour theme that matches the Order. Craft lodges that leave these alone keep the familiar Initiation birthday, Bro./W.Bro. prefixes and Worshipful Master / Secretary matching.
You can change this setting later, so if your specific Order's type isn't shown you can simply choose 'Craft' and change these afterwards. Career events and chair/secretary offices can also be customised for your lodge under Settings & Defaults without changing the Lodge Type.
You'll hopefully find areas of The Working Tools quite flexible for any Masonic Order (such as allowing free-text inputs, with suggestions, rather than rigid select lists in forms), but if there are areas that don't fit your needs please let us know and we may be able to assist with new features.
To see a full list of all of the Orders which currently have customisations built in click below.
If you're in an order that isn't listed, get in touch, we can almost certainly accommodate what makes your order special!
Masonic Orders Get in touch
Timezones
theworkingtools.co.uk/settings
Many features in The Working Tools are keyed to times; for example Events or being sent email Reminders.
These times run on the London / GMT timezone by default, so it's worth updating this to your own timezone to make sure all of the dates and times in the system make sense for where you are in the world.
From the Settings page, select your timezone and click Update to change.
The 'system time' is displayed alongside the Timezone field so you can confirm this matches your local time correctly.
Preferred Date Format
theworkingtools.co.uk/settings
You can choose how dates are shown across The Working Tools. Select your preferred date format (DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY) on the Settings page and click Update.
This preference updates how dates display in lists, pages, emails, and PDFs. It also updates date pickers in forms so that when you enter dates, they use your chosen format, while still being stored consistently behind the scenes.
Tip: Users in the USA will usually prefer MM/DD/YYYY.
Member Record Custom Fields
theworkingtools.co.uk/settings/defaults
You can add up to three custom fields to Member records to capture additional information specific to your Lodge's needs.
Setting Up Custom Fields:
- Go to Settings & Defaults
- Click Add a custom field
- Enter a label for your custom field (e.g., "Mother Lodge", "Mentor", "Committee")
- Click Save custom fields
Once enabled, the custom field will appear on Member records (Basic Info tab) where you can enter values for each member.
Searching & Filtering by Custom Fields:
Custom fields can be searched on the Members page. When a custom field is enabled, a search box for that field will appear in the filter options. Type part of the value you're looking for to filter members by that custom field.
When filtering by a custom field, the matching column will automatically appear in the results table so you can see the values at a glance.
Removing Custom Fields:
To remove a custom field, click the ✖ button next to the field label and save. Note that removing a custom field will not delete the data already stored against Members - if you re-enable the field later, the data will still be there.
Degree Progression
theworkingtools.co.uk/settings/defaults
The Degree Progression Report tracks Members through the ceremonies of your Order and highlights who is awaiting their next step. It works out where each Member is by matching their Masonic Career events against an ordered list of progression steps.
Each Order has a sensible default (for Craft this is Initiated → Passed → Raised), so most Lodges won't need to change anything. If your Order progresses differently, or you record your Career events using different wording, you can set your own steps under Settings & Defaults:
- Go to Settings & Defaults and find the Degree Progression card
- Enter your progression steps in order, separated by commas (e.g. Initiated, Passed, Raised)
- Click Save progression
The steps you enter must match the titles used in your Members' Masonic Career events for the report to place them correctly. Leave the field blank to fall back to the default for your Order.
Career Events and Anniversaries
theworkingtools.co.uk/settings/defaults
The Career Events and Anniversaries card in Settings & Defaults is the list of Masonic Career titles your Lodge uses. The card shows whether you are using your Order's defaults or a list customised for this lodge.
Exactly one title is the Masonic Birthday — the date that appears on the dashboard calendar, the printable 90-day planner, and the Member's Masonic Birthdays report. Craft lodges keep Initiated unless you change it. A Royal Arch Chapter typically uses Exalted, and other Orders use the equivalent first step of membership.
Tick Show anniversary in Calendar on any other title you also want to see on the dashboard (for example Installed as Master, or Exalted if that is not already the birthday). Those appear as career anniversaries, separate from the Masonic Birthday.
Editing the list:
- Go to Settings & Defaults and find the Career Events and Anniversaries card
- Add, remove or reorder titles, choose which one is the Masonic Birthday, and tick the ones that should show as calendar anniversaries
- Click Save career events
If you have customised the list, Reset to … defaults puts the Order's list back.
Renaming a title only changes how existing career rows are read — it does not rewrite Members' records. Use the same wording on the Member's Masonic Career tab so the calendar and reports can match them. The titles also appear as suggestions when you add a career event.
Chair and Secretary offices
theworkingtools.co.uk/settings/defaults
The summons and other places that need “the person in the chair” or “the secretary” look up those Roles by name. Craft lodges match Worshipful Master and Secretary automatically; a Chapter, Preceptory or other Order may use First Principal, Eminent Preceptor, Scribe E, and so on.
If your Role names do not match those common aliases, pick the correct Roles on the Chair and Secretary offices card in Settings & Defaults, then click Save offices. Leave the dropdowns on Use default / alias matching if the built-in names already fit. A reset button appears if you have customised them, to put the Order's defaults back.
The Dashboard Calendar
theworkingtools.co.uk/dashboard
The upcoming planner on the dashboard (and the printable 90-day version under Reports) shows Events, Reminders, civil Birthdays, Masonic Birthdays and any extra Career Anniversaries you have ticked in Settings. If you have the Almoner / Welfare permission, it also shows Welfare Event anniversaries you have asked to be reminded about on a Member's Welfare tab. Use the planner's Customise options to show or hide each of those layers.
A Masonic Birthday is the anniversary of the career event you marked as the birthday — Initiation for most Craft lodges, Exaltation for a Chapter, and so on. It only appears if that career event is recorded on the Member's Freemasonry tab, with a title that matches the list in Settings.
A Welfare Event anniversary is the yearly reminder of a pastoral date (for example a bereavement) where Remind me of the anniversary on the 90-day planner is ticked on that event. These entries are only shown to users with the Almoner / Welfare permission, and they continue after the event is marked Resolved. See Members: Welfare & The Almoner.
External Links
theworkingtools.co.uk/dashboard
The External Links card on the dashboard is a set of bookmarks to websites you use often — Provincial portals, payment pages, Solomon, and similar resources. Click Configure to see every link for the Lodge you are currently using, then add a new one or click Remove to delete one you no longer need. The same list appears as buttons on the dashboard, so if a link is showing there it will also appear in the Configure window.
If you have not added any bookmarks yet, a Masonic Charitable Foundation link is shown as a starting point. You can remove it from Configure, or replace it by adding your own links.
Report Branding Colours
theworkingtools.co.uk/settings/defaults
You can brand your printed reports, PDF exports and report charts with your own colours. From the Report Branding card in Settings & Defaults, choose a Primary colour (used for headings and table headers) and a Secondary colour (used for accents), then click Save branding.
These colours are applied across the Reports dashboard charts, the print-friendly report views, and PDF outputs such as the Member PDF Report (available from a Member's Reports tab). If you'd like to go back to the standard The Working Tools navy and gold, click Reset to default.
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