Help

Setting up Allotmin for the first time

The four things to do first, in the order that makes the rest of it work.

Adding members and plots

Putting your plots and the people who hold them into Allotmin.

Importing members or plots from a spreadsheet

Bring your existing list in from Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets without retyping it.

Giving a member a plot

Two ways to do the same thing — from the member, or from the plot.

Member groups

Tag a set of members so you can email them, charge them or discount them together.

Recording something Allotmin does not have a field for

Three spare fields on every member, labelled however you like.

Keeping a record of contact with a member

Phone calls, letters, conversations and complaints, kept with the member they concern.

Running your waiting list

Adding people, keeping them in order, and what happens when a plot comes free.

Letting people join your waiting list online

A link you can put on your website or a noticeboard that adds people to the list for you.

Opening a billing year

How Allotmin works out what everybody owes, and why it only does it once.

Recording who has paid

Marking an invoice paid, taking a part payment, and seeing who still owes you.

Charging for things other than rent

Water levies, membership subs, a bag of manure — extra lines on the same invoice.

Giving members a discount

Concessions — an over-60s rate, a hardship reduction, money off for a group.

Chasing unpaid rent automatically

Let Allotmin send the reminder emails so you do not have to keep a list.

Letting members check their own balance

A private web page per member showing what they hold, what they owe and what they have paid.

Emailing your members

Send to one person, a group, or everybody — with each email personalised.

Sharing documents with members

Keep your constitution, site rules and AGM minutes in one place and attach or publish them.

Recording plot inspections

Walk the site with your phone, record what you find, and email the ones that need chasing.

Keys and deposits

Who has which gate key, how much money you are holding, and getting both back.

Your allotment's website

A public page for your association — photos, notices, documents, contact details and a map.

Giving your committee their own logins

Invite other people to your account, each with their own email and password.

Running more than one allotment site

One account, several sites, each with its own plots, members and billing.

Deleting a site

How to remove an allotment site from your account, including one you added by mistake — and why a site with records in it is protected.

Getting your data out

Download everything you have in Allotmin as a spreadsheet, whenever you like.