# Quick Start Guide:

For those of you who want to use this software right now, without taking the time to read the complete manual.

To start off, lets add a batch. Click the New Batch button in the toolbar. Select a Bird Type and Breed. If you already added a Group, you can select it now or wait until after the batch is added. Enter a Batch Name(some symbols can`t be entered). Select the number of Eggs you are setting. If you want to change the Candle Date, do it before selecting Start or Hatch Date. Finally set either the Start Date or Hatch Date and the other dates get automatically calculated. Click Save.

Now lets look at how to manage batches. Click on a batch in the list, this will populate the Batch Statistics panel with data from that batch. You can now edit the group, # of eggs, # were fertile, # chicks hatched, and add comments. You can also set any date independently for the rest(e.g. If you candled a day early). You will have to click the Update button for any changes to take place. The Batch Statistics Panel is also where you, export a batch that can be imported into another HatchKeeper of the same version or higher, save a text report that can be opened and printed via your favorite text editor, export a Ical file that can be imported into your favorite calendar service including Android Calendar, and last but not least you can delete a batch with the delete button.

A quick look at some other features, switch to the Notifications Panel to see current notifications, the Groups Panel is for managing entire groups, the Schedule Hatch button is for managing scheduled hatch dates that can be used in the Add Batch dialog, the Reminders button is for adding and deleting reminders, manage your Breeds and Bird Types as well as other options from the Settings and the ^Print Selected Month^ button prints a calendar containing all the batch dates for that month.

The Graphs button opens a dialog for displaying graphs with batch or group data. Step 1: select mode. Step 2: select item(s) from the list(use Ctrl or Cmd + Mouse Click to select multiple). Step 3: click Refresh Graph button.

HatchKeeper supports two different styles of notifications, Generic and Native. The generic is a toast notification that looks same under different platforms. Native on the other hand uses the native capability of the platform you are using, for example on Mac they show up as a banner and under Windows 8 or lower they appear as a balloon notification. You can set HatchKeeper to open when a notification is clicked(enabled by default) or dismissed, in the settings. Some native notifications do not recognize when you click and need to be set to open when dismissed.

For a more information on how to use HatchKeeper. Please download the HatchKeeper Manual for your version.

Happy Hatching

The HatchKeeper Team