How to Import PayPal Donations

Someone with access to the PayPal account needs to log into the PayPal web site 

 Click in Activity/All Reports 

 Click on Activites 

 Click on Activity Report 

 Click on Activity download 

 Select "Balance affecting" 

 

 

 Select a date range for the data.  

 

 I would suggest doing this on a monthly basis and import the prior 2 months.  The range doesn't matter as the system keeps track of the last transaction that it downloaded and will only import data after that date.  

 

 Select CSV format 

 Click on Create Report 

 Under Activity reports you'll see see your requested report showing a status of something like "Requested".  It will change to "Download" when it completes. 

 Click on the Download button once it has completed.  

 

 

 You should find a file named Download.CSV in your Downloads folder. 

 Double-click on the Download.CSV file

 

 This will cause it to open in Excel 

 

 

 

 

 In Excel:

 

 Change the name of the sheet to "Download" if necessary. 

 File/Save As

 

 Change the name to "PayPal" 

 Change the "Save as type" to "XLXS" 

 Click on Save 

 

 

 

 

 Start the Access database 

 Go into the Administrative Tasks tab 

 If you want to change the thank-you letter which will be e-mailed, click on the "Edit External Messages" button.

 

 The interface to this is pretty clunky.  

 Use the Record buttons at the bottom of the screen to advance through the various messages.  

 The message that you want has a "messageType" of "DTY19" 

 Edit the text & when you're happy with it, press the "<" or ">" Record buttons to move to another record. 

 

 

 Press the "Import PayPal" button

 

 You'll see a pop-up message stating how many records it imported 

 It will ask if you want to delete the PayPal.XLS and PayPal.CSV file.  Answer yes if everything worked as expected. 

 

 

 The donation reports and thank-you letters will be e-mailed 

 In Word:

 

 Run the mail merge and print any hardcopy thank-you letters.