A cashier selects the wrong program, or adds tickets for the wrong time, or opens a constituent record to check a membership, and now wants to get back to where they were. In Altru’s Daily Sales area there is no obvious “go back one step” control, so people reach for the browser’s Back button. Sometimes that works. Sometimes it drops them somewhere unexpected, and occasionally it leaves an order half-finished.
The short version: you can’t add a custom back button to the Daily Sales screen yourself. Altru is a hosted application, and the sales screens aren’t something an organization can edit or extend with new buttons. What you can do is change how staff move around the screen so they rarely need one.
Why the browser Back button is risky here
Daily Sales is built around an order that stays open while you add items, apply discounts, attach a constituent and take payment. The page you see is a view of that in-progress order, not a simple stack of pages. Browser Back doesn’t know about the order; it only knows the last address the browser loaded. Depending on where you are, it can:
- Leave the sales area entirely and land on a page several steps earlier.
- Show an older view that doesn’t match what’s actually in the cart.
- Leave an order in an unclear, half-finished state that someone has to sort out when you reconcile.
Behavior can vary with browser, version and what step you’re on, so treat it as unreliable rather than broken. If you want certainty for your setup, test it in your sandbox or training environment before telling staff it’s safe.
Habits that replace a back button
Fix the cart instead of retracing steps
Most “I need to go back” moments are really “I added the wrong thing.” Remove or adjust the line item in the order itself rather than trying to return to the screen where it was added. Train this as the default move: change the cart, don’t rewind the screen.
Look things up in a second tab
The other common reason people leave the sales screen is to check something: a member’s status, a household, a past order. Have staff open constituent search in a new browser tab (right-click or Ctrl/Cmd-click a link, or keep a second tab permanently open to search). The sales tab stays exactly where it was, and there’s nothing to go back to.
Start over cleanly when it’s truly wrong
If an order has gone sideways, cancelling it and starting fresh is usually faster and cleaner than trying to unwind it. Make sure staff know how your organization wants abandoned or voided orders handled, so cancelling doesn’t create a reconciliation question later.
Bookmark the starting point
Save a browser bookmark (or a pinned tab) for the Daily Sales starting screen on each register. When someone gets lost, the instruction is simple: click the bookmark, don’t click Back. Check that the bookmark still opens correctly after an Altru update.
Put it on one card at the register
Seasonal and volunteer staff won’t remember a training session from three weeks ago. A short printed card next to each station does more than any button would:
- Wrong item? Change it in the cart.
- Need to look someone up? Use the second tab.
- Totally lost? Cancel the order and click the Daily Sales bookmark.
- Never use the browser Back button during a sale.
Clean up what slips through
Even with good habits, a few orders will get stranded. Have someone check for unfinished or unpaid orders at close each day, using whatever reconciliation report or query your administrator already relies on (if you’re not sure one exists for this, ask Blackbaud support what’s available in your version), so they’re resolved while the cashier still remembers what happened. If the same problem keeps showing up with the same person or station, that’s a training note, not a software issue.
If you still want the button
A true in-screen back or previous-step control would have to come from Blackbaud, since the Daily Sales interface is theirs. If it matters to your team, tell Blackbaud support and your account contact how the lack of one affects your desk. In the meantime, the tab, bookmark and fix-the-cart habits above cover most of what a back button would do, and they cost nothing to roll out.
