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Gift Exchange Mobile Instructions

Exchange list view

When the app is first started it will show a list of any already created gift exchanges. Select an exchange or tap “+” to add an exchange. A pop up will appear to type the exchange name. Type a name such as “Jones Christmas”. It is best to not put the year in the name. The app will automatically create an occurrence name such as “2014 Jones Christmas”.

People list view

Tap iOS_add_button to add people:

Add person from contacts – Select a person from the contact list. Tap the e-mail address to set notify by e-mail or tap the mobile phone number to set notify by text.

Add person manually – Type the name and e-mail address or phone number for the person.

Make sure the cell carrier is selected for each person to be notified by text.

Tap the action button iOS_action_button for tasks:

Draw Names – Make sure all names are entered and if any grouping is desired make sure each person is in the correct group before drawing names. After the drawing is completed a prompt “Send notifications?”will pop up. Tap “Yes” to send the notifications.

Send Notifications – Send e-mail or text notifications to all participants. After sending allow some time and make sure each person got their notification. In some cases the e-mail may go to the recepient’s spam folder. You may re-send to any person by selecting the person and tapping the action button. If there are receive only participants be sure to let people who may draw those names know they may have more than one name to get a gift for.

Set Exchange Complete – After gifts have been exchanged select this to designate the current occurrence of the exchange as complete. The names of who each person had to give a gift to will then be visible in the summary vieew.

Copy for next exchange – This option will be available after the current occurrence is set as complete. Select this to prepare for another occurrence of the exchange based on the same group of people. Select “Options” if desired to change the name of the occurrence or other options. People may be added or removed before performing the drawing.

Person view

To make this person a member of a group tap “Group” and select a group or tap “+” to add a new group. The person cannot draw a name of someone in the same group. Select “Not grouped” for no group limitation.

Make sure an appropriate name is entered.

For notification by e-mail make sure the correct e-mail address is entered. For notification by text make sure the correct cell phone number is entered and select the cell phone carrier. This is necessary because the app uses the carrier’s  e-mail to SMS gatway to send the text. Alternatively, if the “Send Method” in “Options” is set to “Native iOS” this will not be needed and the iOS send message screen will appear when sending to each person.

The “Notify By” option may be selected as “E-mail”, “Text” or “Print”. Printing requires an AirPrint printer, or PC software such as FingerPrint to make a connected printer seem to be an AirPrint printer.

Gift suggestions may be entered or changed, and when “Done” is pressed if names have been drawn the app will prompt whether to notify the person who is to give a gift to this Person.

The “Type” of participation may be selected. A “Give and receive” person participates in the shared exchange. A “Give and rcv, gives to rcv only” person partipates in the  shared exchange, and may also give to receive only participants. A “Gives to rcv only” person is not in the shared exchange, but may give to receive only participants. A “Receive only” person receives a gift but does not give a gift. An “Inactive” person does not participate in this occurrence.

“Gift To” will show the name drawn for this person if the exchange is set as completed.

When the exchange is complete the gift “Received” may be typed in. This will show in the summary history view and the next occurrence e-mails if the option is enabled.

Tap the action button iOS_action_button to send a notification to the selected person. The drawing must have already been performed.

Options view

You may change the ‘Name for this occurrence” if desired. This will be the subject line for e-mail notifications.

Select the type of exchange “Secret” or “Non-secret” (Non-secret everyone can see the names drawn).

The “Limit drawing the same name” may be selected “No limitation”, “Previous exchange” so that people will not draw the same name as the previous occurrence, or “Previous two exchanges” so that people will not draw the same name as the previous two occurrences

The “Status” of the current occurrence will be shown. “Not Yet Drawn”, “Names Drawn”, or “Exchange Complete”. It is not recommended to change this. However, if you set an exchange complete and want to send notifications again you may change it back to “Names Drawn”.

The “Include previous results in messages” may be enabled to include table of the previous occurrences and names drawn in the e-mail notifications.

The “Include reply links for gift suggestions” may be enabled to include a table of participants and gift suggestions in e-mail notifications. Links are included to e-mail gift suggestions back to the exchange organizer.  Links will sometimes increase the chance of  e-mails going to the recipients’ spam folders.

Notification templates may be customized. The template defaults are – e-mail:

Hi <name-to>,

<history><suggestions-all>
The name drawn for you to give a gift to is: <name-drawn>

Text:

<name-to>, Name drawn: <name-drawn> <suggestions>

Suggestion update:

<name-to>, Gift Suggestion update: <name-drawn> <suggestions>

Make sure your tags, such as <name-drawn> are all lower-case and do not have any spaces.

The “E-mail from” should be set to your e-mail address.

The “Send Method” may also be selected “Web Service (names hidden)”, “Native iOS (names visible)” If “Native iOS” is selected the iOS send screen will be displayed and tapping “Send” will be required for each notification. However, it may be more reliable in some cases, especially if you are outside of the USA.

Tap the action button iOS_action_button to share the currently selected Gift Exchange file. Tap the “Mail” icon. The iOS send e-mail screen will appear with the <exchange name>.gx file attached. The file can be opened in the current PC version of Gift Exchange.

The SMTP send option makes use of the MailCore2 library. The MailCore2 license information follows:

MailCore 2
Copyright (C) 2001 – 2013 – MailCore team
All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. Neither the name of the MailCore project nor the names of its
contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
from this software without specific prior written permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS “AS IS” AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGE.

If you have any questions or problems you may take a look at frequently asked questions.