The invention relates to a method and to an operating device, wherein at least partially prepared program combinations for program-controlled machine processing of wet or dry laundry treatments can be selected and input. Such prepared program combinations are base programs and associated program data stored in a storage device, and can be displayed on at least one display (5, 12) and entered by at least one selecting action (6, 13 to 17) and activated as a whole by a start action (23), wherein a number of program combinations each suitable for corresponding target groups are combined into a program group packet under a name for the corresponding target group and can be called up by said name, and wherein one of the program group packets is called first and a base program having associated program data is selected from the called program packets and activated.
