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Find answers to common questions about Tax Receipt Generator

What a test run is

A test run is an ordinary run (project) with test mode turned on. It uses the same import, PDF, and email templates as a live run, so you can validate the full pipeline — import, generate, deliver — before anything touches a real donor.

Test mode is opt-in, and only at creation. When you start a new run from the Dashboard or the Runs page, you choose New test run instead of New run. Once a run has been created, its test-mode status is fixed: you cannot switch a live run into test mode, and a test run only leaves test mode by going live (see below). If you want to test something new, create another test run.

What’s different in test mode

While a run is in test mode, several safeguards keep test activity separate from your real data and your donors’ inboxes:

  • Whole-file import, 10-receipt sample. A test run imports your whole file. Generation makes only the first 10 receipts (after any per-donor merge), enforced on the server, and the Generate page tells you how many more will be made when you go live. The compliance check still covers every record.
  • Watermarked PDFs. Every generated PDF, on every page, is tiled with a diagonal “SAMPLE – NOT A VALID TAX RECEIPT” watermark. Test PDFs can never be mistaken for valid tax documents.
  • Emails redirect to you. Every outbound email — fresh sends and resends — is redirected to your own address instead of the donor’s, and capped at 10 messages. The Distribute page’s Email tab shows an inline confirmation before sending so this is never a surprise.
  • No credits consumed. PDF generation in test mode skips billing entirely; your usage counters don’t move.
  • Separate receipt numbers. Test receipts are numbered from their own counter and every test number minted since 2026-09-12 starts with TEST- (for example TEST-2026-000001). Your organization’s official receipt-number sequence is never advanced by a test run, and discarding test data or going live resets the test counter once no test receipts remain — so a stray test receipt is unmistakable anywhere it turns up, and your live numbering stays gapless.
  • Separate activity log. Test activity is written to a dedicated test activity log rather than the permanent audit log, so your legal audit trail stays clean. You can review it from the “Test activity” tab on the Audit Log page, and purge it manually from there.

Going live

When you’re satisfied the templates and data work correctly, click Finish testing & go live. This clears the run’s test data — test receipts, batches, and PDFs — and then flips the run out of test mode permanently. Your import, its column mapping and per-donor choice, and the run’s Import step are kept, so the live run goes straight to Generate. The run itself isn’t recreated; it’s the same container, now live. This is a one-way transition: a live run can never revert to test mode.

Discarding and auto-cleanup

If a test didn’t go the way you wanted, click Discard test data to clear the current test receipts, batches, PDFs, and imports while keeping the run in test mode — so you can start another test cycle with the same templates.

If you leave test data sitting untouched, it’s cleared automatically: a daily job clears test data older than 7 days. In both cases, only the data is removed. The run’s three linked templates — import, PDF, and email — are never deleted by any of these paths, whether you discard, auto-clear, or go live.

  • Custom Receipt Numbering — configure how live receipt numbers look; test runs use the same format behind a TEST- prefix

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