Dates that read two ways: day first or month first

The date 03/04/2011 is the 3rd of April in most of the world and the 4th of March in the United States. A computer cannot tell which you meant, and a wrong guess would quietly put every member's join and renewal date in the wrong month. So Clubroll does not guess.

What you will see

When it reads your file, Clubroll looks at every date. Any date like 27/04/2011 settles the question, because there is no 27th month. If the file has such dates, Clubroll works out the order by itself and says nothing.

If every date in the file could be read both ways, you see a card called One question about dates. It shows up to three real dates from your file, written out both ways, for example "03/04/2011 is 3 April 2011 if the day comes first, or 4 March 2011 if the month comes first." Below are three choices:

• Day first, as in 3 April 2011.
• Month first, as in March 4, 2011.
• Neither: leave those dates empty. Nobody gets a join or renewal date from that column. You can add them later by hand.

Pick one and press Use this answer and check again. The import button does not appear until you have answered.

If a file mixes both

If some dates in the file are day first and others month first, the card says so. That usually means two people typed the file in different habits. Look at the sample dates, choose the order most rows use, and check the preview: the report lists any date it could not read, so you can fix those on the roll.

Your club's own date style

During the guided setup you also choose whether your club writes dates day first or month first. That choice controls how the setup screens and your test email write a day. It is separate from the question above, which is only about reading a file.

Check the result

After the preview, look at a member you know. Their join date should match what you expect. If not, go back and choose the other order, or undo the import.