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Send An Email
The Send an Email wizard allows organization officials to send emails from the website. All distribution lists and member email addresses are available from the database. There is also the option to send attachments or to send from your own email client (e.g. Microsoft Outlook).
Note: Emails sent via the website are not private. A copy of every email is held on the database and this can be accessed by the organization officials via the Sent Emails table. Emails sent using "Simple" options are all copied to the default organization email address which is normally handled by the Organization Secretary.
The wizard takes you through 6 steps; which steps you see will depend on the options you choose.
- Step 1 - Simple or Advanced?
- Step 2 - Recipient Selector
- Step 3 - Edit Email Recipients (advanced)
- Step 4 - Are you sure?
- Step 5 - Attachments (advanced)
- Step 6 - Your Message & Send
Step 1 - Simple or Advanced?
The first step is to choose whether you wish to see simple or advanced options. The idea is that less confident users can choose the simple options and not be overwhelmed by the choices. The simple options also eliminate any email faux pas by ensuring that every email gets sent to the organization's default email address (in the To field) with all selected recipients inserted into the Bcc field. This ensures that email headers are not full of hundreds of email addresses and that members' email addresses are not shared with others unnecessarily or accidentally. Any user that is unsure what recipient fields to use should select simple options.
The differences:
| |
Simple |
Advanced |
| Recipient Selector |
Only Bcc (blind copy) recipient field available. |
To, Cc & Bcc recipient fields available. |
| Edit Email Recipients |
N/A |
Yes |
| Attachments |
N/A |
Yes |
| Your Message |
Subject and Message Body fields available |
Hyperlink panel also available |
Step 2 - Recipient Selector
Having selected simple or advanced options, all users are taken to the Recipient Selector.
The user is presented with two list boxes on the left-hand side. The upper box is a list of email distribution lists, the lower box is a list of individual members. Both boxes allow you to select multiple rows at once using Ctrl+click and transfer to the selected recipient boxes on the right-hand side using the buttons provided.
You need not worry about some members or email addresses being selected more than once; all duplicates are removed when the email is sent.
Please be aware that any members that have opted not to be included in Email Distribution Lists will not recieve the email unless you select them as individuals from the lower left-hand list box. Only select individuals if the message specifically applies to them.
The boxes available on the right-hand side depend on the options you chose:
Simple Options
Only a Bcc (blind copy) box is available for recipients. This means the selected recipients will receive a copy of the message but their email addresses will not appear in the email header. Use the "Bcc ->" button to transfer selected distribution lists and individuals to the selected Bcc list on the right-hand side. Use the "<- Remove" button to remove selected recipients. Because the
Advanced Options
There are three selected recipient list boxes: To, Cc & Bcc. All addresses in the To and Cc fields will be visible to recipients in the email header. The Bcc recipient addresses will not appear. Be careful not to put long lists of recipients in To or Cc fields because (a) the message header will be long and untidy and (b) members may not wish for their email addresses to be visible to others. This is why these fields are only available in the advanced options and you should only use them if you are confident that the recipients are happy for their email address to appear in the email header.
To transfer your selections to the right-hand side use the "To ->", "Cc ->" and "Bcc ->" buttons as appropriate. Use the "<- Remove" buttons next to the appropriate right-hand box to remove any selections.
Step 3 - Edit Email Recipients (advanced)
Here you can edit the message header fields: From, To, Cc, Bcc. The recipients you selected in Step 2 will now appear in the appropriate fields.
Recipient addresses can be modified by hand, using a semi-colon for the separator. These fields show you exactly which email addresses you will be sending to. You can enter any address you wish, even addresses for non-members of the organization.
From: Normally your own email address will appear in this field. You may change this to make the message appear to have come from another address, please use this responsibly.
To: It is bad etiquette to send an email with nothing in the To: field. Therefore if you leave the To: field blank, the organization's default email address will be inserted for completeness when the email is sent. The recommended default behaviour is leave the To: field blank and put all the recipients in the Bcc: field.
Cc: If there are members who may be interested in the content of the message but to whom the message is not directed, you may use the Cc: field to ensure they receive a copy.
Bcc: Generally this is used to keep a recipient informed privately. Recipients in the Bcc: field will not appear in the email's header. Also use this field when sending to large numbers or recipients or when recipients email addresses need to be kept private from others. By default your own email address will appear in this field to ensure you get a copy for your records.
Important: Do not put long lists of recipients in the To: or Cc: fields. If in doubt always use the Bcc: field.
Please note: if you leave all recipient fields blank the email message will go to the organization's default email address and no one else!
Step 4 - Are you sure?
If you have left all recipient fields blank you wil recieve a warning. The message will only go to the organization's default email address and may also be copied to you. If this is what you intended click "Next" otherwise click "Back" to return to Step 2 or Step 3 as appropriate and make your selection.
Step 5 - Attachments (advanced)
This step appears if you chose the advanced options. If you do not wish to add any attachments to your email, simply click "Next".
Use the File Uploader to select files for attaching.
To attach your files do the following:
1. Click the Browse button, a "Choose File" window will appear. Here you browse for the file on your computer. You are only allowed to select one file, click "Open". The window closes and the path to your file appears in the Browse textbox. Alternatively you could type the path to your file in the Browse textbox.
2. Click the "Add" button to add the file to the "Files to be attached " list below. You must click the "Add" button because only files in the list below will be attached to the email. The purpose of the list is to allow you to attach more than one file at once.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each file you wish to attach. The full list of files to be attached will appear in the in the "Files to be attached" listbox. You can select a file and click "Remove" to remove it from the list if you wish.
4. Filename - The files you attach are temporarily copied to a location on the website server. In the case that there is already a file with the same name on the website you must choose whether to
- replace the existing file with this one
- allow the computer to create a unique filename for the file to be attached (e.g. change myImage.jpg to myImage_1.jpg). This is the safest option.
or
- skip the file and not attach it.
5. Click the "Next" button.
Step 6 - Your Message & Send
Subject: You must enter a subject for your message.
Message Body: Put your main message here. You must not leave this field blank.
Hyperlink (advanced): If you have selected advanced options an Advanced box will be visible.
If you wish to send your message using your own email program (e.g. Microsoft Outlook), there is a button to create a hyperlink. When you click the "Hyperlink" button a mailto: type hyperlink appears, click this link and an email message will open with the recipients, subject and message body completed. You can now modify your message in any way you please and send it from your local computer.
Notes:
- The hyperlink cannot include your attachments.
- The hyperlink can only work for a limited number of recipients. If it does not work, try going back to the Recipients page and copy and pasting addresses into your own email.
Clear Form: Click in this button to wipe the form clean so you can start your message again.
Send Email: Click this button when you are ready to send the message (assuming you did not use the hyperlink instead).
The email will only be sent to a maximum of 50 recipients at once. Therefore when you have selected more than 50 recipients, the recipients will be batched in groups of 50 and an email sent to each batch. You will receive a success or failure message for each email sent.
e.g. If sending to 134 recipients you should receive the following messages:
Email sent successfully to 50 recipients.
Email sent successfully to 50 recipients.
Email sent successfully to 34 recipients.
All emails sent will appear in the Sent Emails table where club officials can examine all the details.
Click here to access the FREE LIVE DEMO version of The Clubhouse at http://www.the-clubhouse.co.uk/Demo
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