When you log in on Wednesday, you'll see Realm's new look!

Realm's New Look

Since the first mention in the June 1 release notes, we've eagerly awaited this moment. An improved experience with a more efficient design and layout is finally here! We prepared you with an overview video, gave detailed walk-throughs in two live webinars and recordings, and provided a demo page right there in Realm. But in case you missed those, you may have a few questions.

Where's all my stuff? All the data you track in Realm is still there, but now it's organized into more meaningful areas. Everything that was once under "Admin" now displays in the menu so you can get there faster.

Did any functionality or security permissions change? We didn't add, change, or remove any processes or abilities. You can still complete all the tasks you did before the new look. Security is exactly as you set it, where those marked as admins can do everything in Realm, and users with responsibility, leaders, and congregants can only see what an admin has given them access to.

How do I get to other products and services? All of your applications that are connected to Realm now display in the new ministry hub. Click in the top-left corner of any Realm page to open it.

You may notice grayed out icons for products/services that you don't have yet. Click them to learn more and decide if it's right for your ministry.

Where did my settings go? The old "General Settings" section contained options for areas across all of Realm. Now, settings are located in the relevant area they apply to. For example, if you want to set up a new group type, go to Groups > Settings.

Any settings outside of one of these areas are under Settings on the main menu in Realm.

And settings that apply to your account or system as a whole are under the System Settings section in your ministry hub.

Where's the support link? You can access the support page by clicking your name in the top-right corner, then click Support. This is also where you'll find your account and notification settings.

What happened to the Community section? Everything related to your community is now under Connect in your ministry hub. This aligns better with what your congregation knows as the Connect app.

Will congregants see a difference? Congregants who log in on a computer or through our mobile apps will see the new color for Connect. Their menu didn't change, except for the Newsfeed being pulled to the top. They can only see the areas that they have access to.

Need more info? Our webinar covers most questions you may have, and you can always check out the help portal (that's what you're reading now) and MinistrySmart Academy. Click the icons in the top-right corner next to the search bar.

All of our content has been updated to match the new look. If you still have questions, you can reach out to us.

Why make this change? A lot of what you see in Realm has changed, but we also developed much of the back-end. These changes pave the way for exciting enhancements that you've been asking for. We encourage you to continue submitting enhancement requests to guide our decisions and check out the Realm quarterly update to see what we're working on. And of course, we'll let you know what has released and what's coming, here in the release notes.