Reminders

Reminders can be sent if there is a necessity to remind a user about any kind of things that need to be done or any other urgent events. The reminders are sent a few days before/after the due date of such events.

For example, the “My Tasks” reminder has to be sent to the user whom the task is assigned two days before the task due date.

When a reminder is created, the reminder metadata is converted to the pair of a time-dependent trigger and an email alert action. It means that the trigger with the email alert action is added to a database automatically and vice versa the trigger with a sole email alert action that is not reused elsewhere is viewed and edited as the reminder – on a single screen; but these trigger and action are also listed under workflow triggers and actions to allow fine-tuning.

To create a reminder or modify an existing one:

Click the Setup link in the top right corner of the window.

Select a table you need.

From the setup menu select E-mail Notifications > Configure e-mail reminders. The system will display the Reminders form.

Reminder.png

If you want to edit the existing reminder, click the Edit button next to the necessary reminder entry. You can also copy the existing reminders or delete them clicking the corresponding buttons on the form.

Moreover, you can also enable or disable sending the reminders in the common list displayed on the form: select the checkbox next to a necessary record and click the Enable or Disable button. Use the Action check box for multiple selections.

To create a new reminder, click the New button at the top of the form. As a result, the New Reminder form will be displayed.

In the General section of the form enter the reminder general data:

Reminder-General.png

Name

In the Name field enter the name of the new reminder.

From

In the From field specify from whom the e-mail should be sent.

You can use the following options:

Option

Description

notify@teamdesk.net

The notification will be sent from the notify@teamdesk.net email address.

Database Owner

A database owner name and e-mail will be indicated in the From field of the notification.

Me

Your user name and e-mail will be indicated in the From field of the notification.

The User

You can specify a user whose e-mail and name will be indicated in the From field. Furthermore, if there are more than 50 users in the database user list , you should enter some letters or words to find a user you need. By default the first 50 names of users are listed in the dropdown.

The address listed in the column

If there are columns of the E-mail type or User type in a table, you can specify the column name. As a result, the column value will be displayed in the From field of the notification.

Specific e-mail address

You can type-in a specific e-mail address and this e-mail address will be displayed in the From field.

To/Cc/Bcc

In the To field select options defining to whom the notification should be sent. You can specify one or many options described below.

Option

Description

All users with access

The notification will be sent to all users who have the access to the database.

Me

The notification will be sent to your user e-mail. You entered this e-mail, when registered as a database user.

The User

You can specify a user whom the notification will be sent. Furthermore, if there are more than 50 users in the database user list , you should enter some letters or words to find a user you need. By default the first 50 names of users are listed in the dropdown.

All members of the role

You can choose a role and the notification will be sent to the users whom this role is assigned.

The address listed in the column

If there are columns of the E-mail type or User type in the table, you can specify the column name. As a result, the notification will be sent to the e-mail value kept in this column.

Specific e-mail address

You can type-in a specific e-mail address and the notification will be sent to it.

Recipients specified in the Cc and Bcc fields will receive copies of the messages sent to every recipient specified in the To field regardless of their access rights.


In the E-mail Contents section of the form enter the data concerning the e-mail contents:

E-mail Contents.png

Subject

In the Subject field enter the subject of the new reminder. Furthermore, in this field you can use any column placeholder, just write a column name in square brackets [ ], for example [Column Name]. To simplify the placeholder writing, you may type first letters of the column name after the left square bracket sign [ in the notification Body and the columns starting with these letters will be displayed in the dropdown, then you can cut/paste this placeholder from the Body into the Subject field.

Body

In the Body field enter the basic information of the reminder. Note that the body of the reminder may contain placeholders (for example, the name of the action: modifying/adding/deleting table records). To configure the body of the reminder, use the % sign to choose and insert the placeholders you need. Also you can click [ to list all columns of a table and insert column variables you need. Moreover, you can type first letters of the column name after the [ sign and the columns starting with these letters will be displayed in the dropdown.

You are able to select the following placeholders:

%AppName%

The name of this database

%AppOwner%

The owner of this database

%AppLink%

The link to the database

%RecData%

The copy of the record

%RecLink%

The link to the record

%RecId%

The record built in Id

%RecKey%

The record key column

%Recipient%

The notification recipient

When the [ symbol is entered, the columns comprised in the Table are listed in the dropdown.

If the current column value should be inserted into the reminder body, just select the column name from the dropdown.

Access rights for the placeholders/columns in the reminder body are determined by access rights of the user specified in the To field. In case of arbitrary e-mail columns or an arbitrary e-mail address, the access rights of the database owner will be used.

Format

In the Format subsection select the format of the reminder: HTML or Plain Text.

Attach Document

In the Attach Document dropdown select a generated document that should be automatically sent by email.

Attach File

In the Attach File dropdown you can select a File Attachment column name. As a result, the file kept in this column will be attached to the E-mail notification.


In the Reminder section of the form enter the data specifying when the reminder should be sent:

Reminder-Options.png

Date

In the Date field enter the date when the reminder should be sent.

Please note, if there is a formula-date column in a table, such a column can be selected in the Date dropdown only if the formula is "deterministic". – It means that it cannot use Today() or Now() functions.

Offset

In the Offset field enter the period on expiry of which the reminder should be sent.

Filter

In the Filter field specify the conditions that should be met to send the reminder:

  • Select All records if changes should concern all records in the table.
  • Select Only records that meet certain criteria if changes should concern only specific records in the table. Specify necessary conditions using the drop-down lists at the bottom of the Filter subsection.
  • Select the Custom formula option if you want to specify a formula by which the table records will be filtered. More details about the formulas are described in Formula Language Reference.

Notification enabled

Select the Notification enabled check box to enable sending the reminder.

Click the Save button to save the information entered in the form.

To check quickly the filter conditions specified in the reminder and review records that could be affected, go to the reminders list, click directly on the reminder name and use the View Records button displayed on the reminder form.

Reminder-View-records.png

How to set a specific time to send a reminder

Let’s assume you have the “Due Date” column of the date type. The reminder should be sent two days before the Due Date at 9:30 am. So, you need to specify the time for the reminder sending.

In this case you should create an additional Formula-Timestamp column. This column can keep the following formula:

ToTimestamp([Due Date],ToTimeOfDay("09:30:00 am"))

After that you can choose this formula-timestamp column in the Date dropdown of the reminder settings.

As the result, a corresponding user will receive the reminder at 09:30:00 am or some minutes later according to the location and timezone settings chosen in the database properties.

Next: E-mail Notification Extensions