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Inactivate Tool

With the Inactivate tool, you can mark the records of individuals or companies that no longer participate in your church.

Warning: There is no way to automatically undo the changes made with this tool. You must manually undo any changes by referencing the Audit Logs of each affected record. Be careful using this tool.
  • The tool is available on the Contacts or Participants page. You can launch the tool on its own, from a selection of records, or from an open record.
  • Using this tool, you can update multiple areas of an individual's record, including:
    • Contact Status.
    • Participant Type.
    • End dates for the participant and current groups.
    • Publications the contact subscribes to.
    • Current Donor Pledges.
    • Current Donor Envelopes.
    • Participant Notes.
  • When you save, the tool updates multiple records, and the Audit Log notes these changes.

Screenshot of the Inactivate tool showing a contact and the options to inactivate

Note: SPoCs can grant user access to this tool.

Inactivate Contact or Participant Records

  1. Go to Contacts or Participants.
  2. Open the record or select records, if needed.
  3. From the Tools menu, select Inactivate Tool.
  4. Select a new status for the Contact record. "Inactive" is the default.
  5. Select a new type for the Participant record.
  6. Enter or select the end date for Participant and Group records.
  7. Select whether to unsubscribe the contact from any publications.
  8. If applicable, select whether to discontinue the donor pledges.
  9. If applicable, select whether to cancel the donor envelopes.
  10. If needed, add any relevant notes for the Participant record. For example, you might indicate why you're inactivating them. MinistryPlatform adds this note to any existing notes.
  11. Click Save.
  12. Click Yes to confirm that you want to inactive the selected record(s).
    A success message displays.
  13. If needed, repeat these steps for another contact or participant.
  14. When you're finished, close the tool.
The tool updates the relevant records.
  • Contact record:
    • Changes the Contact Status on the General tab.
    • Changes the Unsubscribed status of any Publications on the Subscriptions tab.
  • Participant record:
    • Changes the Participant Type on the General tab.
    • Adds a Participant End Date on the General tab.
    • Appends any additional Notes on the General tab.
    • Adds an End Date for any current groups on the Groups tab.
    • Changes current and future registrations to "Cancelled" on the Events tab.
    • Sets Closed to "Yes" for any open responses on the Responses tab.
  • Donor record:
    • Sets Cancel Envelopes to "Yes" on the General tab.
    • Changes Pledge Status to "Discontinued" for any open pledges on the Pledges tab.
  • User record:
    • Removes any security roles from the Roles tab.

The Audit Log notes all changes.

Inactivate a Household

To inactivate an entire household, include each member in your selection when you use the Inactivate Tool.

To do so, you can either:
  • Go to the Contacts or Participants page > select each household member > use the tool to inactivate them individually.

    OR

  • Open the Household record > select all members on the Household Members tab > click the Transfer Selection icon > select the Contacts page and click Transfer > use the tool to inactivate them as a group.

Reverse an Inactivation

Forget to clear your selection? Include the wrong "Bob Smith"? It happens to the best of us! If a record was inactivated and shouldn't have been, reference the Audit Log to reverse the changes.

  1. Open the Contact record.
    1. Expand the Audit Log.
    2. On the General tab, click Edit Record. Change the Contact Status to the previous one listed in the Audit Log, and click Save.
    3. On the Subscriptions tab, open the relevant publication(s), and click Edit Record. For Unsubscribed, select No, and click Save.
  2. Open the Participant record.
    1. Expand the Audit Log.
    2. On the General tab, click Edit Record. Change the Participant Type to the previous one listed in the Audit Log.
    3. Click the X to clear the Participant End Date.
    4. Change the Notes to reflect the previous information listed in the Audit Log. Click Save.
    5. On the Groups tab, open the relevant group(s), and click Edit Record. Click the X to clear the End Date, and click Save.
    6. On the Event tab, open the relevant event(s), and click Edit Record. Change the Participation Status from "Cancelled" to the appropriate status, and click Save.
    7. On the Responses tab, open the relevant response(s), and click Edit Record. For Closed, select No, and click Save.
  3. Open the Donor record.
    1. Expand the Audit Log.
    2. Verify whether there was a change to the Cancel Envelopes field before the inactivation. If so, on the General tab, click Edit Record. For Cancel Envelopes, select No, and click Save.
    3. On the Pledges tab, open the relevant pledge(s), and click Edit Record. Change the Pledge Status from "Discontinued" to the appropriate status, and click Save.
  4. Open the User record.
    1. On the Roles tab, click New User Security Role, select the security role the user should have, and click Save.