Email Alert Manager (Email Alerts)

Applies To Version(s): v4.0

Overview


The Email Alert Manager Add-on allows administrators to set up email alerts to internal, as well as external, email addresses based on specific rules that they define.

New entries or edits of items in any list or document library may trigger the email. This add-on makes it easy to set up email alert criteria as compared to the native SharePoint alert system.

Presently there is no option to have recurring alerts; specific identical alert criteria items can be setup on the Email Alerts configuration list with differing numbers of days.



Setting Up an Alert


  1. Click the link to the "Email Alerts" found under the Utilities in the Site Administration section of your site.
  2. Click the "New item" button at the top of the page.


Alert Details Section:

  1. Alert Name: A name for your internal use for this alert.
  2. Comments: Use this column to store more detailed information about this alert.


Alert Settings Section:

  1. Active: Use this check box to toggle whether or not this alert is currently running or not. You can use this to turn off an alert for a period of time without deleting it in case you wish to use it again at some future date.
  2. List: Use this drop down to choose which list the alert is triggered from.(note: document libraries are also available as an option so select for alerts)
  3. Content Type: Use this drop down to select which content type or form in the list will trigger the alert. If you want to affect multiple content types you will need to create multiple alerts. 
  4. Alert On: Choose which action will trigger an alert. You can select New Item, Edit Item, or both. 
  5. Field: Leave blank if you wish to have an alert triggered by a change of any column on edit. If you wish to only send an alert if a particular column is edited, choose it here. This is useful for secondary alerts for example where you might want to send an email to a senior staff once a manager/supervisor has signed off on an item.
  6. Field Value: - Choice, Text, Date & Time or Signature column options:
    1. Alert on a Choice or Text FieldConditions can be configured to trigger an email alert on whether a specified field has any change or a specific change. The 'Alert On' setting must be set to;

      1. 'New Item' - if an alert is required when the specified field has the specified value. (Note: If the specified Field Value is left blank, then an alert will be sent every time a new item is created where the field has been left blank in the form.)

      2. 'Edit Item' - if an alert is required ONLY when the form has been edited to change the value of the specified field to the specified value.

      3. 'New Item' AND 'Edit Item' - if an alert is required when the Specified Field has the Specified Value in a new form or the form has been edited to change the Specified Field value to the Specified Value.

      4. Based on Date - if an alert is required when the specified Field Value is a date
    2. Alert on a Choice or Text FieldConditions can be configured to trigger an email alert on whether a specified field has any change or a specific change. The 'Alert On' setting must be set to;

      1. 'New Item' - if an alert is required when the specified field has the specified value. (Note: If the specified Field Value is left blank, then an alert will be sent every time a new item is created where the field has been left blank in the form.)

      2. 'Edit Item' - if an alert is required ONLY when the form has been edited to change the value of the specified field to the specified value.

      3. 'New Item' AND 'Edit Item' - if an alert is required when the Specified Field has the Specified Value in a new form or the form has been edited to change the Specified Field value to the Specified Value.

    3. Alert on a Choice Field: If select a field to trigger an alert which is a choice type column, choose either ‘Any Value’ or a specific value (choice) from that field that you want to trigger the alert.
    4. Alert on a Text Field: If select a field to trigger an alert which is a single line of text or multi-line text type column, a {Field Value} field is exposed. Note: Unless you are expecting a specific value or data entered in the field chosen, leave this blank.
    5. Alert on a Date Field: You can schedule an alert to be sent if you select a date type column to trigger the alert.

      1. An alert can be sent before, after and on a date within a specified date field.

      2. If a Date and Time column is specified in the {Field} dropdown, this setting is not dependent on {Alert On} "New Item" or "Edit Item" being checked. The alert will be sent on the Date settings regardless of these options.

        !NOTE! Date-based Email Alerts are sent out around 4:00 AM EST. The system's date arithmetic used to determine when alerts are sent will match the exact date given. Keep this in mind when scheduling alerts. 

        For example, if a date field has the value of December 31st, and the 'Date Value' is set to -30 (30 days before), the email alert will be sent shortly after 4:00 AM EST on December 1st. It will not send out an alert 29 or 31 days away from the 'Date Value' but rather exactly 30 days.

        ([December] 31-30 = 1)

      3. Create an Alert to be sent before a date in a specified Date column

        1. 'New Item' and 'Edit Item' can be unchecked.

        2. {Date Value} must be a negative integer. That is, to receive an alert 30 days before, enter -30. 

      4. Create an Alert to be sent after a date in a specified Date column

        1. New Item' and 'Edit Item' can be unchecked.

        2. {Date Value} must be a positive integer. That is, to receive an alert 30 days after, enter 30. 

      5. Create an Alert to be sent on the date in a specified Date column

        1. New Item' and 'Edit Item' can be unchecked.

        2. {Date Value} must be '0' (zero).

    6. Alert on a Signature fieldIf select a field to trigger an alert which is a signature type column, choose 'Not Empty' so that the alerts is triggered once a signature is added to the form.



Recipients Section:

  1. Service Alert To: Choose which contact(s) from the program and residence list item you wish to send the alert to. This column will only appear if you choose a list with a Program or Residence column in it and the Program or Residence list has a people and groups column in it.
  2. Fact Sheet Alert To: Choose which contacts from the Individual’s Factsheet that you want to send the alert to. This column will only appear if you choose a list with an Individual column in it and the Fact Sheet list has a people and groups column.
  3. List Alert To: Choose which contacts from the list item to send the alert to. This column will only appear if there are people and groups column(s) in the selected list. 
  4. Additionally Alert Users: Choose other internal users (staff) or groups of users that you wish to alert. You can choose any staff person(s) that are defined in the security system but the alert will only be sent to those that have a valid email address associated with their user account.
  5. Additional Recipients: Type in the email address(es) of people outside the agency you wish to alert. You can type multiple addresses but they need to be separated by a semi-colon (;). Caution - Alerts which include email addresses external to your agency should not include a link to the list item; best practice would be to create separate email alerts for external addresses.
  6. BCC: This is a yes/no selection (checked = Yes). No = Recipients WILL see all recipients names and email addresses in the 'To:' section of the email header. Yes = Recipients WILL NOT see all recipients names and email addresses in the 'To:' section of the email header.

If a users profile has a termination date that is equal to or before today's date, the system will not send then any alerts.




Email Alert Settings Section

  1. Email Subject Text: Type the text you would like to see as the subject line of the email alert. You can include the name of the Individual or Service (if there are columns for either in your list) by using [individual] or [service] where you would like them inserted in the text. 
  2. Email Body Text: Type the information you would like to appear in the body of the email. You can use the rich text editor to format the text. You can also include the name of the Individual or Service (if there are columns for either in your list) by using [individual] or [service] where you would like them inserted in the text. 
  3. Body Fields: Choose which of the columns in the list item you would like to appear in the email alert. Select (All) to have all columns show.
  4. Include List Item Link in Email Body: If checked, the link to the list item in question will appear in the email body. This should not be checked for alerts that are sent to addresses external to the agency as they will not be able to view the item without a ShareVision log in. 





Copy Email alert


Will open an E-mail Alert New Item with all the configurations copied over

The Copy button can be found at the top  of the page and the bottom





Editing an Email Alert


  1. Click the link to the "Email Alerts" found under the Utilities in the Site Administration section of your site.
  2. Find the alert you wish to edit and from the dropdown menu next to its Name choose Edit Item.
  3. Make the desired changes and click the "Save" button.

Viewing the Email Alert Log


The email alert can be log can be viewed at the bottom section of the email alert page or in the Email Alert Log page accessed from the utilities section of the site administration page. More details on this can be found in this article.



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