How to Work Offline and Take Photos

Field staff often record activities where the signal is poor. DonorDesk keeps what you finish and sends it when you are back online.

Take a photo as evidence

On a phone, the activity form and the evidence upload form have a Take a photo button. It opens the camera; the photo is added to the files to upload. Each photo is named from the time it was taken (for example photo-20270312-141502.jpg), so several photos in a row never replace each other. On a computer the button opens the image chooser instead.

Finish an activity with no connection

1. Fill in the New activity form as usual, add photos, and click Submit activity.
2. With no connection, the page says Saved on this device and shows the activity's title. You can leave the page.
3. A bar at the bottom of the screen shows 1 record is saved on this device and will be sent when you're back online.
4. When the connection returns, the activity is created and its photos are uploaded automatically. If the connection drops half-way, only what is missing is sent next time; nothing is created twice. You can also click Send now.

Click Record another activity to keep going while still offline.

If a saved record cannot be sent

If the server refuses a record (for example a required field is missing), it moves to needs your attention with the reason. Click Try again after fixing the cause, or Discard to delete it from the device. If only some files were refused, the activity itself is saved and the message names the files.

What to know

• Only the new activity form (with its photos) works offline. Other forms need a connection and show You appear to be offline so you can try again.
• Saved records stay on that device and browser, for the person signed in. On a shared phone, one person's records are never sent under another person's login.
• Clearing the browser's site data before the records are sent deletes them. Stay signed in until the bar disappears.
• The page itself must already be open (or loaded) to be used without a signal; opening DonorDesk for the first time offline is not supported yet.
• On a phone, use your browser's Add to Home screen to open DonorDesk like an app.