Setting up your software

Sage Help Centre

Sage 50 Payroll can do much more than just calculate the tax and national insurance due on your employees' pay.

To get the most out of Sage 50 Payroll there are several settings that make it even easier for you to use the software and get what you want from it.

Securing your software and data

We know that your payroll data is confidential and you don't want any unauthorised access. That's why Sage 50 Payroll has several security features, such as a software password, specific user passwords and different levels of access for each person who accesses the data. You can set access to specific groups of employees and software areas.

To ensure your software and data confidentiality, we recommend that setting up your security is one of the first tasks you do.

Your business, your payroll

Every business is different and the way you use your payroll software may differ too. Sage 50 Payroll has several settings that you can use to customise it to your business needs. You can change the order and look of your employee list, specify your company retirement age, or set up small employer's relief, and there are plenty of ways you can make Sage 50 Payroll your own.

Find out more >>

 

Taking the time to set up your software before you start using it saves you time later on. The following articles will help you get the most out of Sage 50 Payroll.

Software settings

From ensuring your legislation and company settings are correct, to setting up your software security and using the calendar to provide you with specific event reminders, it's easy to set Sage 50 Payroll up. You can also keep a full record of all the activity that happens within the software by turning on the payroll audit trail.

Article name Article number
Sage 50 Payroll - How to set up passwords and access rights 12069
A guide to company settings 22198
A guide to calendars, events and reminders 22489
How to use the automatic software updates feature 22493
The payroll audit trail 11860
Legislation settings 3545
Online legislation updates 15664
Sage 50 Payroll - Multi-company and multi-user licence features 2645
Multi-company tasks 11548
The Options window 13267

Customise your software

You can customise Sage 50 Payroll to suit your business needs and the way you want to use it.

For example, if your business has departments and cost centres, you can set these up and assign employees, then report on this. You can also set up different types of employee groups, such as full or part-time employees, so that you can view and select employees from a specific group on your employee list.

You can even change the look and feel of Sage 50 Payroll and set up the function keys on your keyboard to perform certain tasks.

Article name Article number
Managing your departments and cost centres 13253
Employee groups 22488
How to customise your Sage 50 Payroll desktop and the employee list 13261
How to set up function keys 11437
The Sage 50 Payroll Dashboard 13260
Storing documents in Sage 50 Payroll 12060
How to relocate data to another location on your PC, or over a network 20764

When you talk to us about setting up your software, there are several topics that come up regularly. We've provided links to further information below, but if your query isn't covered, check out our Getting started with Sage 50 Payroll site.

Article name Article number
How to set up or connect to another company in Sage 50 Payroll 534
How to delete a company from Sage 50 Payroll 541
How to check the legislation currently set up in Sage 50 Payroll 863
Sage 50 Payroll - 'You have entered an invalid password' 578
Options are not available to choose from menus or the Tasks panes 1627
Demodata not available on the company list 13094
Employees or directors are missing from the employee list 13262
How to stop non-essential messages 13497
Sage 50 Payroll - Internet Options on the Tools menu isn't working 24646
How to clear historical data 31076
Sage 50 Payroll - Relocate Data - 'Unable to create a new PAYDATA directory' followed by 'One or more files could not be moved. The relocation is incomplete' 566
Sage 50 Payroll - How to repair and compact 11319
How to reduce the size of your backups 11465

Help that you can access from within your software

There's a wide range of support material already built into your software.

To view this, open the area or window where you need help, then press F1. Where relevant, this also links you to any other support material and advice.

Ask Sage

Sage Cover members can visit Ask Sage at any time. Here you can access a range of articles to help and support you with sales, purchases, products, services and any other software query you might have.

Develop your knowledge

Sage Training is a versatile and valuable service that enables you to use your Sage software to its full potential. Quality training benefits businesses by improving staff retention, morale, productivity and, of course, performance.

You can choose from:

  • Classroom based training.
  • E-learning.
  • Self-study

For more information and to book, please visit our UK or Ireland Sage Training site.