Documentation: The Tools

Other Tools

Role Swapper

theworkingtools.co.uk/tools/role-swapper

After an Installation there are usually a dozen or more Roles to move around, and doing that from each Member's record in turn is slow going. The Role Swapper puts your Members on a single page with their current Active Roles beside them, so you can retire the outgoing Officers' Roles and appoint the new ones in one sitting.

The Table
Each row shows a Member's name (click it to open their record), the Roles they hold as Active, and a dropdown for adding another. Use the Search box at the top to find someone by name or email address, Clear Filter to reset it, and the sort icon beside the Name heading to order the list by surname. Members are shown 30 at a time.

Only relevant Members are listed — those who have Resigned, been Suspended, Ceased, or are recorded as Deceased are left out, so you aren't scrolling past former Members while you work.

Retiring a Role
Beside each Active Role is Set as a 'Past' role. This marks the Role as Past rather than deleting it, so the Member's service is still recorded on their Roles & Ritual tab and in the Role Report. The row updates as soon as you click.

Adding a Role
In the Add New Role column, choose a Role and press Add Role. The dropdown lists your Lodge's Roles in the order set on the Roles tab of the Lodge section, and the Role is assigned as Active straight away. A Member can hold several Active Roles at once — a Secretary who is also the Almoner, for example.

Swap in Pairs
Set the outgoing Officer's Role to Past before adding it to their successor. Nothing prevents two Members holding the same Role as Active, but the Roles tab shows a single current holder for each Role, so retiring first keeps that list accurate.

Roles Already on a Record
If a Member already has that Role on their record — including one marked as Past from a previous year — it isn't added a second time. To bring an old Role back to Active, or to record the Years held, open the Member's Roles & Ritual tab and click the Role.

The Role Swapper assigns the Roles you have already created for the Lodge; it doesn't create them, so set up any new Offices on the Roles tab first. Keeping Active Roles current is worth the few minutes, as they feed the Roles tab, the Active Role filter on the Members page, Role Reports, and Forms sent to the holder of an Office.

Ballots

theworkingtools.co.uk/tools/ballots

Use Ballots to collect votes from Lodge Members on proposals such as accepting a new member, charity donations, or logistical decisions. Create a ballot with options, invite members via email, and track participation and results.

Ballots List
The Ballots page shows your lodge ballots with Title, Status and Created date. Click a ballot to view details.

Create a Ballot
Click Create Ballot and enter a Title and Description. Two default options, Yes and No, are provided. You can add more with Add Option or remove an option with Remove (a ballot must have at least two options). You may choose Anonymous voting if you do not wish to record voter identity.

Open a Ballot
A newly created ballot is in Draft. Press Open Ballot to start accepting votes. While in Draft, you can still edit options. You can use Delete Ballot to remove a ballot at any time; if invites have already been sent, voters who click their link will see a message that the ballot has been deleted.

Invite Members
From the ballot page, use the Invite Members card to select recipient groups (All Members, Active Members, or a Tag group) and/or add specific email addresses for visitors and non-members. Each recipient receives a personalised email with a secure voting link and a clear Cast Your Vote button. Re‑inviting a recipient will reuse their original link to prevent duplicate tokens.

Voting Links
The Voting Links card lists every voting link issued for the ballot, with a Copy button next to each one. Use Generate Link to create a link you can share by hand (for example via WhatsApp or in person) without sending an email.

Voting
Members click the email link, select an option, and submit. Each intended recipient can vote only once. For named ballots, the vote is recorded against the member; for anonymous ballots, only the choice is stored.

Participation
The ballot shows a % Voted figure, calculated as votes cast over invites sent.

Close and Results
Press Close Ballot to stop further votes. The ballot then shows a Result summary with the winning option. In the event of a tie, the tied options are listed.

View Responses
For non‑anonymous ballots, a View Responses button appears on the Actions card to list who voted for which option, with timestamps. This is available while the ballot is open and after it is closed.

Forms

theworkingtools.co.uk/tools/forms

Forms let you collect anything from your Members or Officers — meeting reports (such as an Almoner's report), member detail updates, consents, feedback and more. Recipients receive a secure personal link by email (no login needed), and you can track who has responded, chase overdue responses automatically, and even send a form on a recurring schedule.

Create a Form
Click Create Form for a blank form, or start from a ready-made template (Member Details Update or Almoner Meeting Report) and adjust it. Add questions with answer types of Short Text, Long Text, Dropdown, Checkbox, Date or Number, and mark any as Required. A new form starts as a Draft; press Open for Responses when it's ready, and Stop Accepting Responses when you're done.

Member-Mapped Questions
A question can optionally be linked to a field on the Member record (phone number, address, partner, dietary requirements etc). When a member submits a form containing mapped questions, the response goes into a review queue — nothing changes on the record until someone with member-edit access presses Approve & Apply. This is how members can safely update their own details. The Member Details Update template also asks for emergency contact and family details (partner, children, next of kin) — these aren't applied automatically; review the response and copy them into the member's Welfare tab, where consent for holding third-party details is recorded.

Sensitive Answers
Any question can be marked as a Sensitive Answer. Answers to sensitive questions are hidden — on screen and in the CSV export — from anyone without the Almoner / Welfare permission; they see "Hidden — requires the Almoner / Welfare permission" instead. The Lodge Owner always sees everything. The emergency-contact and family questions on the Member Details Update template are marked sensitive automatically, so a Secretary can review and apply the member-mapped answers on a response while the family details stay visible only to the Almoner. Use it for any question where the answer shouldn't be readable by everyone with Tools access — health questions, next of kin and so on.

Alert Triggers
A Checkbox question can be flagged as an Alert Trigger, and the form can hold a list of Alert Recipient email addresses. If a submission ticks the box (for example, "Are there critical issues requiring attention?"), the Alert Recipients are emailed immediately. Otherwise the response is simply filed.

Sending & Links
Once the form is accepting responses, send it to recipient groups, tags or specific email addresses — each person gets their own single-use link. You can also generate a link by hand to share via WhatsApp or in person. An optional due date feeds the Tracker.

Recurring Schedules
Add a schedule to send the form automatically — monthly on a chosen day, or weekly — to the holders of a Lodge Office (such as the Almoner), specific members, or email addresses. Each schedule has its own due period and chaser policy: when the first chaser goes out, how often to chase, and the maximum number of chasers.

Tracker
The Tracker on the form page shows every send with its status — Awaiting Response, Submitted, or Overdue — along with how many chasers have gone out. Responses can be viewed individually or exported to CSV.

Expenses Tracker

theworkingtools.co.uk/tools/expenses

Record out-of-pocket expenses you incur on behalf of the Lodge. Add items with date, description and amount, attach receipts, track submission/approval, and print a claim summary.

Viewing Expenses
The table lists your expenses with Date, Amount, Description and Status. Click a row to open the expense in a modal, where you can edit details, change status, set the "Date Submitted for Approval", duplicate, delete, and upload receipts/invoices.

Summary
A Summary card shows totals for Unsubmitted, Submitted and Approved amounts. Use the toggle to switch between Outstanding and Reimbursed views.

Add an Expense
Click Add an Expense and enter Date Paid, Description and Amount, then press Add Expense. Dates use day-month-year format.

Statuses
Expenses move through these stages:

Unsubmitted: Newly added; appears on the claim report.
Submitted: You have submitted the claim to the Lodge; optionally set the submitted date.
Approved: Approved by the Lodge but not yet reimbursed.
Reimbursed: Paid back; view these via View Reimbursed Expenses.

Receipts
In the expense modal, use Upload Documents to attach receipt files. If your Lodge storage limit is reached, a notice will appear.

Print & Submit
Click Print Expenses Claim to generate a printable report of Unsubmitted expenses, including a total in your Lodge currency. The report also shows totals already Submitted and Approved (but not yet reimbursed) for reference.

Working Tools Invoices
If your Lodge reimburses your subscription, download your software invoices from the Billing section.

Asset Manager

theworkingtools.co.uk/lodge/assets

The Asset Manager tool, found in the Lodge section, helps keep track of the Lodge's property, assets and valuables.

The table shows a list of Assets in the register, with their name, value and current custodian listed.
You can click on a table row for more information, and to edit the Asset's entry or to delete it.

Custodian
The Custodian field is intended as a reminder of who currently has possesion of the Asset (particularly useful in the case of Past Master's jewels).
For ease, this box has a drop-down suggesting current Members, but this field is free-text, so any person (or place) can be entered.
For example, you may wish to enter 'In Lodge cupboard upstairs' instead of a person's name.

Insured Value
An items approximate value and it's Insured Value may be different, so these can be recorded separately.

Print & Export
You may, for insurance purposes, be asked for an Asset register.
You're able to either export the list as a .CSV file, by clicking Export List or print the list as a report with Print List.

Emailer

theworkingtools.co.uk/tools/email

Send styled emails to Members and Contacts directly from The Working Tools. Select recipients (or groups), compose with basic formatting, attach files from your Document Archive, and keep a record of what was sent.

From & Replies
Messages are sent via The Working Tools using your Lodge identity so recipients recognise you. Replies go to your own email address.

Recipients
Use the Recipients box to search Members/Contacts, or type a new email address. Preset groups are available (e.g. All Members, All Contacts, Active Candidates, Summons/Minutes Contacts, and Tag-based groups). For data protection, each recipient gets an individual email—no CC/BCC.

Attachments
Click Attach files to add one or more files from your Document Archive.

Message Editor
Write your message with a simple editor supporting bold, italic, underline, lists and horizontal rules.

Placeholders (personalisation)
Use the placeholder chips under the Message label, or type tokens such as [[ first_name ]], to personalise each email. Tokens are replaced for every recipient when the message is sent — including in the Subject line. Clicking a chip inserts a highlighted pill in the editor so the placeholder is easy to spot; you can still type or delete next to it as normal, and one backspace removes the whole pill. Recipients never see the pill styling — only the resolved text (for example their name).

Available placeholders:

First name: [[ first_name ]]
Full name: [[ full_name ]]
Surname: [[ surname ]]
Masonic name: [[ masonic_name ]]
Rank: [[ rank ]]
Lodge name: [[ lodge_name ]]
Sender name: [[ sender_name ]]

Token names are flexible: [[ first_name ]], [[ First Name ]] and [[ FIRST_NAME ]] all work the same way. [[ first_name ]] uses a member’s Known As name when set, otherwise their first name. Contacts do not have a first name, so [[ first_name ]] is dropped for them (for example Hi [[ first_name ]], becomes Hi,). Manually typed external addresses get blank person fields. Unknown tokens are left as typed. If two people share an email address, the first match is used.

Check before sending
When you press Send, The Working Tools checks your Subject and Message for placeholders that will not be replaced — for example a typo such as [[ frist_name ]], or an event token like [[ event_date ]] (event details are only available in event invite emails, not the Emailer). A confirmation asks you to Go back and edit, or Send anyway if you meant to leave the text as typed (for example pasted summons-style fill-in blanks from the Event Planner — those are different from email personalisation tokens).

In Sent Emails, the stored preview may still show placeholder pills so you can see what you composed. Send again restores that content into the Emailer, including the pills, ready to edit and resend.

Draft autosave
As you compose, your draft (Subject, Message, Recipients and any selected attachments) is automatically saved in your browser. If you navigate away—for example, to the Document Archive to upload a file you want to attach—your draft will be restored when you return to the Emailer, with a notice letting you know. Click Discard draft in the notice to start fresh instead. Drafts are saved on the device and browser you're using, are cleared once the email is sent, and expire after 48 hours.

Signature
You can set a custom email signature in Lodge Settings under "Email identity for this lodge". The HTML signature you save there will be appended to the end of emails you send from the Emailer.

Preview
Click Preview next to Send to see how the email will look for the first selected recipient, with placeholders filled in — including your lodge logo, email styling, and signature. Nothing is sent when you preview.

File sent message in folder
Beneath the message body you’ll find File sent message in folder.... Use the menu to pick an existing folder, or leave it on — No folder — to leave the message Unfiled. To create a folder without leaving the compose page, click New folder, type a name (for example “Installation 2026”), and click Add — the new folder is added to the menu and selected for this send. You can still create, rename and delete folders later from the Sent Emails page.

Email templates
Save messages you reuse often — for example a summons covering note, a subscriptions chaser, or a welcome letter — so you don’t have to retype them each month. On the Emailer, click Save as template beneath the message, give it a name, and click Save. You can also save a template from a Sent email, or create and edit templates on the Templates tab.

To reuse a template, click the Templates… button at the end of the placeholder chips. Pick a template to fill the Message (and the Subject on the Emailer, when the template has one). Placeholders such as [[ first_name ]] stay in place and fill in for each recipient when you send. If the editor already has text, you’ll be asked to confirm before it is replaced.

Tick Use for invites on a template to make it the starting message for event invite emails (members, contacts, and single invites). Only one template can be used for invites at a time. If you turn it off or delete that template, the invite editors fall back to the usual built-in wording.

Sending
Click Send Email. On free trials, sending may be disabled for security—contact support if you need early access. A copy of the message is emailed to you for reference.

Sent Emails
Use the Sent tab under Tools: Emailer to view a log of sent messages. Each entry shows the Date, Subject, a short Recipients summary, and Delivery badges (e.g. Sent, Failed). Click a row to open the modal with full details, including recipients, attachments and a stored preview of the message. Ballot invites, form sends, event invites, invoices and payment receipts also appear here alongside Emailer messages.

Organising your sent emails
On the Sent Emails page you can filter by type (Emailer, Ballots, Forms, Event Invites, Invoices, Receipts) using the Show list on the right. Under Folders you’ll see Unfiled plus any folders you’ve created, with counts. Create a folder there with the New Folder form, or rename/delete an existing one. You can also file a message when you send it from the Emailer (see File sent message in folder above), or move it afterwards from the Sent list or the Sent modal. Deleting a folder returns its emails to Unfiled — no emails are deleted.

Per‑recipient records
For every email you send, The Working Tools creates a log entry for each recipient. This allows you to see, per person, whether a message was queued, sent or failed. The recipients table is available from the Sent Emails page via the Delivery badges or the Sent modal.

Failed Emails (bounces)
If a send fails, the affected recipient will appear under Failed Emails on your Dashboard and on the right side of the Emailer page. You can view details or Dismiss once reviewed.

Send again
In the Sent modal you’ll find a Send again button. This takes you back to the Emailer and pre‑populates the Subject and Message with the previous content. If the original message included attachments (added from your Document Archive), those will be re‑selected automatically so you can resend quickly.

Importer

theworkingtools.co.uk/tools/importer (for Members)
theworkingtools.co.uk/tools/contact-importer (for Contacts)

If you're bringing in a large number of Members or Contacts, the Importer tools will be invaluable. This allows you to upload a .CSV file of Members or Contacts instead of entering them manually. The process is similar for both, with Contacts having less fields, so we'll cover the Member importer here.

First, download the example file by clicking Download Example.csv which contains headings and a single data row (under the name Hiram).
Your import must match the headings of this example exactly, or the import will fail.

Enter your data into the example import file, being careful to check that dates copy over correctly (Excel has a habit of messing up dates of birth!).
Dates with errors will be skipped, so double check before importing.

Remember to remove the Hiram example row, or he'll be added as a Member too.

Once the data is complete, click 'Choose file' to select your spreadsheet, and Import Members to begin the process.
After a few seconds your Members will be imported.

Next step: tidy with Bulk Edit
After a successful import you'll stay on the Importer page so you can read any warnings. A green Next step card then invites you to open Bulk Edit — a spreadsheet-style grid for fixing DOBs, prefixes and other fields across the Members you just imported, without opening each record. You can also open Bulk Edit anytime from the Members header.

The Contact Importer works the same way and offers the same Next step card, opening the Contacts Bulk Edit grid filtered to the Contacts you just imported. Once you've finished tidying them, Show all contacts drops the filter and shows the rest of your Contacts.

Re-Importing
To batch-update information, you are able to re-use the upload function to update new information into your Member's records.
This process uses the Member's email address to match existing records, and if a match cannot be found a new Member will be added instead.

Candidate Tracker

theworkingtools.co.uk/tools/candidateTracker

The Candidate Tracker holds the people who are on their way to becoming Members, from a first enquiry through to initiation. Keeping them here rather than in your Members list means they don't appear in Member counts, Summons lists or dues until they actually join.

The Candidate record
Each Candidate has their contact details, address and date of birth, plus joining details — how they found you (enquiry source), their Proposer and Seconder, and whether they are an Initiate, Joining or Re-joining Member. A Status moves them through the process: Lead, Potential, Proposed, Balloted, Waiting and finally Closed. Career events record the key dates such as Interviewed, Proposed and Balloted, and you can set Reminders against a Candidate that appear in the diary on the Tracker page.

Bulk Edit
Bulk Edit in the header opens a spreadsheet-style grid for your Candidates, so you can fill in details for several at once instead of opening each record. Status can be changed directly in the grid, which makes it quick to move a group from Lead to Proposed after a meeting. The grid also gives the Tracker its search and status filters. Full details are on the Members & Contacts page.

Deleting and restoring Candidates
Deleting a Candidate now moves them to a Deleted Candidates list rather than erasing them, so a mistake can be undone: click View Deleted on the Tracker, then Restore. Their career events and history come back with them, though their reminders do not, as those are removed when a Candidate is deleted. To clear out several old leads at once, use Bulk Delete at the foot of the Bulk Edit grid, which lets you tick them off a list and confirm before anything is removed. If you need to reuse a deleted Candidate's email address, either restore them or use Delete permanently on the Deleted list. Both are covered in more detail on the Members & Contacts page.

Converting to a Member
When a Candidate is initiated, Convert to Member creates their Member record and carries across their details and career events. The Candidate record is then removed for good, as they now exist as a Member. A Lodge cannot have two Members on the same email address, so if the Candidate shares an address with an existing Member — including a past one who has Ceased, Resigned or is recorded as Deceased — you'll be told which Member holds it and asked to change the Candidate's address first.

Charity Tracker

theworkingtools.co.uk/lodge/charities

Our Charitable work is at the heart of every Masonic endeavour, and the Charity Tracker is designed to help you keep track of donations and goals.

Data
The table on this page displays your Charities, along with a progress-bar towards your Donation Target (if set).
If set, your Primary charity will show the 'Primary' tag.

Charity	Progress
A Great Local Charity Primary	42%

Editing a Charity
Click on a table-row to open that Charity's record.
On the Charity's page, you can edit the name, contact details and add notes about the Charity.
You're also able to assign the Primary tag by pressing Make Primary.

Adding a Charity
To create a new Charity to track, click Add a new Charity on the Charity Tracker page, and fill in the Charity name in the box that appears.

Deleting a Charity
On the Charity's page, click Delete and Delete Charity when the confirmation message appears.
Please note, this cannot be undone and will also remove the records of your donations to the charity too.

Donation Target
From a Charity's record, you can add a Donation Target, which must be entered in whole numbers.

Adding Donations
In the Records card, you can see a table showing all donations to the Charity.
You can use Add a new Record to record a new donation, by filling in the Title (free text), date of the donation and the amount.
The Amount is not required, as you may wish to record non-monetary donations, such as volunteering time.
To edit or delete a donation, click on it's table row.