Make a Family Directory
The printed church directory, a timeless classic.
- You'll need the View Details for Individuals permission. Still, some attributes, like those related to Giving, Groups, and Pathways, might not be available, depending on your other permissions. See Responsibilities for more information.
The family directory option is typically used by churches who make printed, often pictorial, membership directories. You can turn the results of any custom query into a family directory.
The directory contains a cross-reference feature that denotes individuals whose last names differ from those of their primary families. Those profiles are marked with an asterisk. Children that are listed in multiple families also have profiles marked with an asterisk. They're listed at least twice in the directory: once as part of the family with whom their profile is listed in Realm, and once as a separate individual. Examples would include a stepchild/foster child with their own last name, or a married couple where a wife retains her original family name. The separate listing displays with the individual's picture if it exists, with no picture if it doesn't.
- Create your custom query. Make sure it contains attributes that filter your search to just the individuals you want in a printed directory. You could restrict the list using Member Status, Date Last Attended, or others if they are available to you based on your permissions.
- Click Show Results.
- By default, the entire list is selected. Clear the check box next to any profiles you don't want included in your directory.
- Click
and select Family Directory.
- Select the options you want.
- Family Photo—If selected, any photo associated with each family will be printed. If there is no family photo, the individual photo of the first primary listed will be displayed.
- Selected only / All—Determines whether all names in the query return list will be included in the directory, or just those next to which you've selected the check box.
- All Contact Info—If selected, each individual's address, phone, and email will be included even if they, themselves, have set the information to display for users with permission only.
- Headers and Footers—If selected, page numbers and a time stamp will be added to the bottom of each page. A header, that reads <Church Name> Family Directory will print at the top of the first page only.
- Birthday, Member Status—If selected, these will be listed for every person in the directory.
- Click Run.
Breaking Down Large Family Directories
Queries might return more records than Realm can easily process into a family directory.
If you receive the message "This Family Directory contains more names than we can save", you'll need to create several, smaller queries and combine the results when printing. Or, since family directories can be exported as PDFs, you can save them as a collection of files. Also, be sure to save each new query if you think you'll need to use them in the future.
Your new queries should return no more than 2000 records each. If there are more, you'll receive the same message again when trying to print a directory. If that happens, you'll need to break the list into even smaller queries.
Query broken down alphabetically
A typical method is to create and save several queries that break your list up alphabetically. One query could include last names from A-J, one from K-R, and one from S-Z. For instance...
To do this select the attributes "Last Name" "starts with" and enter "A". Then click "OR" and repeat with "B", then "C" and so on. Run and save the query when you reach "J". Then create a second query for K-R, then another for S-Z. The one above combines this with a search for only people whose Member Status = Member. You might need to include different or additional restrictions on each line: "Last Name" "starts with" "A" AND "Date Last Attended" "is after" "01/01/2015", for instance. Don't forget that you can also use SHOW and INCLUDE to further restrict the results when you click Edit Report.
Other possibilities
Depending on how you'll use your directory, it may be more helpful to break the list up by other criteria, such as age or date added. But, for a simple, printed directory that will be alphabetized anyway, last name is probably best.