Working through the planner

One question at a time #

The planner asks one thing, waits, then asks the next. What it asks depends on what you have already said, so a plan for a cremation with no service does not walk you through a church order of service.

Answers come in a few shapes. Some are Yes or No. Some are a list of choices to tap. Some are a date, with Continue underneath. Where a date may genuinely not be settled yet there is also a Not yet known option, and choosing it is a real answer, not a skipped one. The rest are a box to type into, with Type your answer… in it until you start.

Choosing how much detail to go into #

At the top there is a control marked Depth with two settings: Main decisions and Every detail.

Main decisions asks the smaller set — the things that have to be settled for a service to happen at all. Every detail asks the fuller set, including the smaller choices some families want to make themselves.

You can switch between them at any point, as often as you like. Neither one is the right answer; pick whichever suits the day you are having.

Your answers save themselves #

Under the question you will see Saving… and then Saved. You do not have to do anything to keep your place. Close the tab, put the phone down, come back tomorrow — the planner opens where you left off.

If something goes wrong you will see Couldn't save — your last answer is held in this tab; please retry. Your answer is still on screen. Try again in a moment.

Changing your mind #

Nothing is fixed. You can go back and change any answer, before or after you generate the plan. If you change something after generating, generate again and the documents refresh.

Some parts sit off to one side #

Photos, speakers, funeral-home quotes and the list of who has been told are separate pages you can open from the planner and come back from. They are optional. Skipping any of them changes nothing else about your plan.

The review screen #

When you reach the end, the planner shows Plan ready. with a Review & download link.

The review screen is headed Review the plan. and reads back everything you told it, grouped under plain headings — who the person was, the immediate steps, the tradition you chose, and so on. Read it through. If something is wrong, Revise an answer takes you back into the questions.

When it looks right, Generate my plan builds everything. After that the same screen reads Your plan is ready., the button becomes Regenerate the plan, and View documents takes you to everything you can download.

Where to go next #

What you end up with describes each of the documents by what it is and what it is for.