Documentation
Welcome to Shepherd Documentation
Welcome to the Shepherd documentation! This guide will help you understand how to use Shepherd, a second brain for Field Service Group Overseers.
Use the table of contents on the left to navigate through different sections of the documentation. Click on any topic to view its content.
Quick Start
If you're new to Shepherd, we recommend starting with the section to learn about logging in and creating an account.
Main Features
- Home: Overview of your group's activity, projects, reminders, and tasks
- Publishers: Manage publishers, their details, events, visits, and tasks
- Projects: Create and track projects with multiple publishers
- Attendance: Record and manage meeting and ministry attendance
Getting Started
Login
Sign in with your email and password. A forgot password workflow is available if you need to reset your credentials.
Sign Up
Create a new account by signing up with your email and password.
Home
The home page provides an overview of your group's activity and key information at a glance.
Group Selection
The group name at the top of the page functions as a dropdown menu, allowing you to select a different group or create a new one.
Statistics Overview
View key statistics for your entire group:
- Publishers: Active and inactive counts
- Meeting Attendance: Present, remote, and absent counts
- Ministry Attendance: Present, remote, and absent counts
Projects
If you have any active projects, they are displayed on the home page. Each project shows:
- Due date (if applicable)
- Progress bar indicating completed tasks versus total tasks
Clicking on a project opens a page where you can mark publishers as completed for that project. Use the FAB (Floating Action Button) to edit the project title and due date. The more menu (⋮) provides options to:
- Delete the project (keeping all tasks)
- Delete the project and all associated tasks
Reminders
Reminders appear when an event's anniversary is coming up within 30 days. Each reminder displays:
- Publisher's name
- Event name
- Original event date
- Days until the anniversary
Clicking on a reminder takes you to the publisher's page under the Events tab, where you can tap it again to view or edit the event details.
Pending Tasks
Tasks that are not yet completed are shown on the home page. Each task displays:
- Publisher's name
- Task title
- Due date (if applicable)
Clicking on a task takes you to the publisher's page under the Tasks tab, where you can check it off as completed or tap it again to view or edit the details.
Creating New Items
Tapping the FAB on the home page reveals three options:
- New Task: Opens a form to create a task by selecting a publisher, adding a title, and optionally setting a due date or adding notes
- New Visit: Opens a form to create a visit by selecting a publisher, choosing a date, optionally adding it to your calendar, and adding notes
- New Event: Opens a form to create an event by selecting a publisher, entering a title and date, and choosing whether to be reminded of the event. Events with reminders enabled appear on the home page when their anniversary is within 30 days
Settings
Access settings by tapping the gear icon (⚙️) in the top right corner. Settings are organized into several sections:
General Settings
- Group Settings: Change the name and meeting days/times for the currently selected group
- Submit Feedback: Send comments or questions about the app. You can optionally include your email if you'd like a response
About
- Privacy policy
- Open source licenses
- Installed version number
Account
- Theme selection (Light/Dark/System)
- Logout button
Danger Zone
- Archive specific data
- Reset everything
- Delete your account completely
Publishers
The Publishers page contains a list of all publishers in your group.
Publisher List Features
- Search: Find publishers by name
- Sort: Sort by active/inactive status or alphabetically (ascending/descending)
- Filter: Filter publishers by tag
Each publisher in the list shows:
- Publisher's name
- Active or inactive status
- Past due indicator badge (appears when a publisher has been visited at least once and it's been a year since their last visit)
Bulk Actions
Long-press on a publisher to open the bulk select menu. You can then select multiple publishers and either:
- Delete them
- Move them to another group
Creating Publishers
Tap the FAB to create new publishers. You can create:
- An individual publisher
- Multiple publishers at once
While creating, you can add the publisher's name and select any active projects you'd like to add them to.
Publisher Page
Clicking on a publisher opens their detailed page with four tabs:
Details Tab
Contains editable fields for:
- Name
- Notes
- Tags
- Active/Inactive toggle
- Exclude from attendance toggle (when checked, this publisher won't be included in future attendance records - useful for publishers who attend another congregation for large portions of the year)
The Details tab also includes charts displaying:
- Meeting attendance history
- Ministry attendance history
The charts are line graphs showing dates on the bottom axis and attendance status on the side. A dot on the chart indicates there's a note (either for the group or the individual) for that day. Notes might include information like "Meeting held on zoom" or "Sick today". Press on the vertical line for a specific record to view the notes.
Events Tab
View and manage events for this publisher:
- Tap the FAB to create a new event
- Click on an event in the list to open the event page with fields to edit
- Use the more menu (⋮) in the top right to delete an event
Visits Tab
View and manage visits for this publisher:
- Tap the FAB to create a new visit
- Click on a visit in the list to open the visit page with fields to edit
- Use the more menu (⋮) in the top right to delete a visit
Tasks Tab
View and manage tasks for this publisher:
- Tap the FAB to create a new task
- Click on a task in the list to open the task page with fields to edit
- Click the checkbox next to a task in the list to mark it as complete or incomplete
Projects
Overview
The Projects page shows all existing projects, organized into two groups:
- In Progress: Active projects
- Completed: Finished projects (collapsed by default)
Both groups can be collapsed or expanded. Projects are displayed the same way as on the home page, and clicking on a project allows you to edit the completion status of tasks for each publisher.
Creating Projects
Tap the FAB to create a new project. When creating, you can add publishers to the project by selecting:
- All publishers
- All active publishers
- A custom selection of publishers
Attendance
The Attendance page shows a list of all attendance records from the last six months.
Attendance List
The list can be filtered by type:
- Meeting attendance
- Ministry attendance
- All attendance
Each row displays:
- An icon indicating whether it's a meeting or ministry attendance record
- The date
- A bar chart showing attendance percentages
Viewing and Editing Attendance
Clicking on an attendance record opens the attendance detail page where you can:
- Edit individual publishers' attendance status
- Use the FAB to edit the date, type, and notes for that record
- Use the more menu (⋮) to delete the attendance record
Creating Attendance Records
Tap the FAB on the attendance list page to reveal two options:
- Meeting: Create a meeting attendance record
- Ministry: Create a ministry attendance record
When creating an attendance record, you can:
- Mark each publisher as remote, present, or absent (neither remote nor present indicates absent)
- Add notes for individual publishers by clicking the add note icon (📝) to the left of their name
- Use the "See all groups" option at the bottom to easily take attendance for all groups if desired