Demo mode and sample data

Every new workspace starts in demo mode: it is pre-loaded with a realistic, fully connected sample dataset so you can try every part of pplCRM before adding your own contacts. A banner at the top of the app reminds you that you are looking at demo data, and the Dashboard shows a demo-mode card with the exit button.

What the demo data includes

• 63 people in 25 households at real street addresses in a real city, chosen to match the country you gave at signup, so the household map pins and geocoding chips all work.
• A boundary map already drawn over those addresses, so every sample household sits in a named area and canvassing turfs can be cut along real lines from the first minute — with no address lookups and nothing for you to set up. See Boundary maps.
• 11 companies, with several people linked to them.
• A few duplicates left over from a sample CSV import — three pairs of people, one repeated household, and one repeated company — waiting on the Duplicates page so you can try merging them.
• Tags, issues, support levels, and newsletter consent spread across the contacts, plus three lists, a team, and two volunteer events with sign-ups.
• Canvassing turfs cut along that boundary map (one complete, one being knocked right now, one just assigned, and one still a draft) with real door knocks so the field report and coverage map have something to show.
• Yard-sign deliveries: sign requests waiting to be triaged, approved requests ready to route, and two driving routes (one finished, one in progress) so the requests, planner, and routes pages are all populated.
• Three demo teammates on the Users page, with tasks and inbox emails assigned to them. They cannot sign in; their accounts exist so assignment and triage look real.
• Tasks in every state: overdue, due this week, waiting, and done.
• A working inbox of around twenty messages from sample contacts, in every state a real one has: some nobody has picked up yet, some assigned to you, some assigned to a teammate, some already answered and waiting on a reply, and some closed. A few carry attachments you can actually open.
• Three newsletters, including a sent one with a full engagement report: opens over time, top links, bounces, and unsubscribes.
• Sample form responses on two of the starter forms, so the Forms page shows what collected submissions look like.
• A donations ledger: recorded one-time gifts across this month and last, plus a few active monthly pledges, so the Donations page shows real totals and trends. The two fundraising forms live on that page too, not on the Forms page.
• Receipts: a donation receipt for every sample gift, in every workspace that has sample gifts. Charity and church workspaces add a few official tax receipts on top, last year’s finished year-end run, and the receipting settings already filled in under the sample organization’s name and registration number. Most gifts have no tax receipt on purpose — those are issued at year end. See Donation receipts and giving statements.

Everything is safe to touch

The demo contacts use reserved example.com addresses that cannot receive real email, so nothing you do here can reach a real person. Edit, delete, merge, tag, and explore freely.

While the demo data is in place, every feature is open regardless of plan — the workspace is treated as if it were on the Movement plan so you can try forms, donations, automations, lists, volunteer management, canvassing, deliveries, companion access, the API, and the shared inbox before deciding what to pay for. That is why Billing stays closed during the demo: there is nothing to buy that you do not already have. When you remove the demo data the workspace drops to the Free plan’s features, and choosing a plan is the next step.

Exiting demo mode

1. 1Open the DashboardThe demo-mode card sits at the top of the page.
2. 2Choose Set up my workspaceThis opens Go live, which walks through everything in the order it has to happen: removing the demo data, choosing a plan, your organization details, verifying a mobile number, and sending setup. The card also has a plain "Just remove the demo data" button if that is all you want.
3. 3Remove the demo dataThis comes first and needs nothing beforehand. The wizard lists the exact counts of what will be deleted and what is kept. This cannot be undone.
4. 4Choose a planBilling opens once the demo data is gone, so the plan applies to a workspace holding only your own records. Free is a real plan and does not expire; paid plans are on the Billing page.
5. 5Start freshAnything you did not finish stays on your Dashboard as a setup checklist until it is done. Add your first real contact on People or bring everything in at once with Import data from CSV.

What is kept

• Your six draft forms: volunteer signup, newsletter sign-up, one-time and recurring donations, yard sign request, and the issues survey. Their sample responses are removed with the demo people.
• The starter tags and issues: the tag labels (community leader, lawn sign location, and so on) and the issues list stay as a ready-made vocabulary for your real contacts. They lose their demo attachments and are fully yours to rename, recolor, merge, or delete on the Tags & issues page.
• Your All Subscribers and All Volunteers lists: the two built-in lists on the Lists page cannot be deleted and survive the reset. They empty out along with the demo people, then refill themselves as you add real contacts. The three sample lists seeded with the demo (Volunteer prospects, Main street businesses, Newsletter subscribers) are removed.
• Anything you created yourself while exploring: your own contacts, tasks, notes, and settings survive. A contact you added to a demo household keeps its record; it just loses that address. Tags you applied to your own contacts stay applied.