{"id":319,"date":"2022-10-21T18:58:46","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T06:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wiki.selmasis.com\/?p=319"},"modified":"2022-10-21T18:58:47","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T06:58:47","slug":"emails-text-messages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/selma-wiki.zestydev0.co.nz\/?p=319","title":{"rendered":"Emails & Text Messages"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comms Templates<\/h2>\n

Navigate to Settings -> Comms Templates<\/p>\n

Whilst you can send a free text email or message out of SELMA to an individual student, the powerful way of using the comms part of SELMA is to create templates. You can create templates for Emails, Email Attachments and Text Messages.<\/p>\n

On the overview grid of all Comms Templates, you can edit, preview, duplicate or delete templates:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To create a new template, click on the \u201cCreate New Template\u201d button and choose to either create an email, email attachment or txt message template.<\/p>\n

In this example, we start with an email template:<\/p>\n

The new template will need a name and you can also set the subject line of the email. The Subject line can contain mail merge fields as well.<\/p>\n

The most important selection however is the \u201cUse case\u201d for the email template. If you choose e.g. \u201cStudent\u201d, the template will be available for sending on a Student record. If you choose \u201cIntake\u201d, the template can be used to send an email to one or many student(s) from an intake:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In below example we selected \u201cStudent\u201d as the use case. Once the use case is selected, the available mail merge fields on the right will change to all fields available in emails sent from the student record. The \u201cuse case\u201d of a comms template cannot be changed once the template is saved.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When drafting the template, you can copy and paste the mail merge fields into your template as in the example above. You can also put a generic email signature into the email including pictures. The rich text editor allows you to use different fonts, styles, colours and alignments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

You can use HTML to design the template by clicking on the <\/> button.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Text Message Templates<\/h2>\n

Text Messages can be sent from a student record, from intakes or from classes. The text message template designed is very similar like the above email designer, however, styling is not possible and you will be limited to 300 characters:<\/p>\n

\"Graphical<\/p>\n

Each text message sent from SELMA will generate a charge, if you sent a text message to a class of e.g. 15 students, it will be 15x the charge of one text message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

\"Icon\n\nDescription<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Technically a text message can be significantly longer if some of the mail merge fields contain a lot of characters (E.g. Programme Title). The text message will still send and present as one big message on the students device, however, you might be charged for more than one message.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

PDF Attachments<\/h2>\n

Like the email body, you can also generate and build a PDF attachment that is automatically built and attached to an email message:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The template name will be the file name once attached to the email. It cannot contain mail merge fields.<\/p>\n

The body of the PDF can be designed using the rich text editor. Advanced skills in HTML might be needed to generate complex PDF\u2019s. The friendly team from helpdesk is happy to support you.<\/p>\n

Sending Emails<\/h2>\n

You can send emails to individuals from a student record or enrolment record. You can also send emails in bulk to an entire class or intake or selected students within these cohorts.<\/p>\n

To send an email from a student, click on Student Action and then \u201cSend Email\u201d. Depending on your access rights and the system configuration, you might not be able to send an email or you may have to go into \u201cEdit Student\u201d mode before the function is available:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Once you click the \u201cSend Email\u201d option, a slide in window will walk you through the process of sending:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In above example, both the message body and the attachment are selected to be templates. You can however draft your own message to the student by selecting \u201cFree-Text\u201d and\/or you can attach documents from your computer. It is possible to attach more than one document by clicking on Browse and then hold down ctrl when selecting documents:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Before sending the email, you have the option to cc yourself into it.<\/p>\n

The email will be sent from the generic address that is setup under Settings -> My Organisation -> Edit -> Email<\/p>\n

Once the email is sent, the message and attachment is stored in the students Event Log:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

From here you can reference the message and download the attachments.<\/p>\n

Similar like the email, you can also send a text message from the Student Actions menu:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For a text message, you may want to use another mobile number if the displayed one is not the one you\u2019d like to use.<\/p>\n

Similar like on the student, you can also send emails from the enrolment record. Remember that a template would have to exist that has the \u201cUse Case\u201d enrolment. You will be able to reference enrolment specific data like attendance % when sending emails from the enrolment. The function is available on the enrolment under \u201cEnrolment Actions\u201d:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sending in Bulk<\/h2>\n

In a class or intake, on the students tab (when in edit mode), you can click on student actions and choose to send an email or text message to everyone in the intake:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

However, before you get the the already familiar composing page for the email, you can select the recipients. In the picture below you can see that SELMA automatically excludes learners that are not active. You can of course overwrite your selection or simply select all:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When clicking on next, the composer page will come up as explained in the previous chapter.<\/p>\n

When sending an email in bulk, an event log message will be added to every single student selected.<\/p>\n

Sending a text message in bulk works very much the same.<\/p>\n

Scheduled Messages<\/h2>\n

On an intake, and in the event scheduler, you can setup emails that are sent automatically upon certain trigger events. E.g. a few days before an enrolment starts. The even scheduler is explained in the Intake manual.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

\"Icon\n\nDescription<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

The event scheduler cannot send emails with attachments but it can send text messages.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Emails & Text Messages<\/h1>\n

Comms Templates<\/h2>\n

Navigate to Settings -> Comms Templates<\/p>\n

Whilst you can send a free text email or message out of SELMA to an individual student, the powerful way of using the comms part of SELMA is to create templates. You can create templates for Emails, Email Attachments and Text Messages.<\/p>\n

On the overview grid of all Comms Templates, you can edit, preview, duplicate or delete templates:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To create a new template, click on the \u201cCreate New Template\u201d button and choose to either create an email, email attachment or txt message template.<\/p>\n

In this example, we start with an email template:<\/p>\n

The new template will need a name and you can also set the subject line of the email. The Subject line can contain mail merge fields as well.<\/p>\n

The most important selection however is the \u201cUse case\u201d for the email template. If you choose e.g. \u201cStudent\u201d, the template will be available for sending on a Student record. If you choose \u201cIntake\u201d, the template can be used to send an email to one or many student(s) from an intake:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In below example we selected \u201cStudent\u201d as the use case. Once the use case is selected, the available mail merge fields on the right will change to all fields available in emails sent from the student record. The \u201cuse case\u201d of a comms template cannot be changed once the template is saved.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When drafting the template, you can copy and paste the mail merge fields into your template as in the example above. You can also put a generic email signature into the email including pictures. The rich text editor allows you to use different fonts, styles, colours and alignments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

You can use HTML to design the template by clicking on the <\/> button.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Text Message Templates<\/h2>\n

Text Messages can be sent from a student record, from intakes or from classes. The text message template designed is very similar like the above email designer, however, styling is not possible and you will be limited to 300 characters:<\/p>\n

\"Graphical<\/p>\n

Each text message sent from SELMA will generate a charge, if you sent a text message to a class of e.g. 15 students, it will be 15x the charge of one text message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

\"Icon\n\nDescription<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Technically a text message can be significantly longer if some of the mail merge fields contain a lot of characters (E.g. Programme Title). The text message will still send and present as one big message on the students device, however, you might be charged for more than one message.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

PDF Attachments<\/h2>\n

Like the email body, you can also generate and build a PDF attachment that is automatically built and attached to an email message:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The template name will be the file name once attached to the email. It cannot contain mail merge fields.<\/p>\n

The body of the PDF can be designed using the rich text editor. Advanced skills in HTML might be needed to generate complex PDF\u2019s. The friendly team from helpdesk is happy to support you.<\/p>\n

Sending Emails<\/h2>\n

You can send emails to individuals from a student record or enrolment record. You can also send emails in bulk to an entire class or intake or selected students within these cohorts.<\/p>\n

To send an email from a student, click on Student Action and then \u201cSend Email\u201d. Depending on your access rights and the system configuration, you might not be able to send an email or you may have to go into \u201cEdit Student\u201d mode before the function is available:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Once you click the \u201cSend Email\u201d option, a slide in window will walk you through the process of sending:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In above example, both the message body and the attachment are selected to be templates. You can however draft your own message to the student by selecting \u201cFree-Text\u201d and\/or you can attach documents from your computer. It is possible to attach more than one document by clicking on Browse and then hold down ctrl when selecting documents:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Before sending the email, you have the option to cc yourself into it.<\/p>\n

The email will be sent from the generic address that is setup under Settings -> My Organisation -> Edit -> Email<\/p>\n

Once the email is sent, the message and attachment is stored in the students Event Log:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

From here you can reference the message and download the attachments.<\/p>\n

Similar like the email, you can also send a text message from the Student Actions menu:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For a text message, you may want to use another mobile number if the displayed one is not the one you\u2019d like to use.<\/p>\n

Similar like on the student, you can also send emails from the enrolment record. Remember that a template would have to exist that has the \u201cUse Case\u201d enrolment. You will be able to reference enrolment specific data like attendance % when sending emails from the enrolment. The function is available on the enrolment under \u201cEnrolment Actions\u201d:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sending in Bulk<\/h2>\n

In a class or intake, on the students tab (when in edit mode), you can click on student actions and choose to send an email or text message to everyone in the intake:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

However, before you get the the already familiar composing page for the email, you can select the recipients. In the picture below you can see that SELMA automatically excludes learners that are not active. You can of course overwrite your selection or simply select all:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When clicking on next, the composer page will come up as explained in the previous chapter.<\/p>\n

When sending an email in bulk, an event log message will be added to every single student selected.<\/p>\n

Sending a text message in bulk works very much the same.<\/p>\n

Scheduled Messages<\/h2>\n

On an intake, and in the event scheduler, you can setup emails that are sent automatically upon certain trigger events. E.g. a few days before an enrolment starts. The even scheduler is explained in the Intake manual.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

\"Icon\n\nDescription<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

The event scheduler cannot send emails with attachments but it can send text messages.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comms Templates Navigate to Settings -> Comms Templates Whilst you can send a free text email or message out of SELMA to an individual student, the powerful way of using the comms part of SELMA is to create templates. You can create templates for Emails, Email Attachments and Text Messages. On the overview grid of … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-04-communication-email-sms","latest_post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/selma-wiki.zestydev0.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/selma-wiki.zestydev0.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/selma-wiki.zestydev0.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selma-wiki.zestydev0.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selma-wiki.zestydev0.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=319"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/selma-wiki.zestydev0.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":375,"href":"https:\/\/selma-wiki.zestydev0.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319\/revisions\/375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/selma-wiki.zestydev0.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selma-wiki.zestydev0.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selma-wiki.zestydev0.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}