Scheduling emails (and cancelling them)
Scheduling emails, rather than sending them immediately, has distinct advantages, not least because you can set your communications to deliver at a time when they might have a greater chance of being read. It's also helpful when you need to set up some communications ahead of time, e.g. before going on leave. Here's how to schedule emails using ChurchSuite.
Scheduling an email
When working in the email composer, notice the Schedule Email option in the bottom-right corner.
Use the Date Picker and Time Picker tools to select the sending date and time or type a future date and time.
Click to Preview Email in the usual way, select the Recipients and click Schedule Email to submit the email to the scheduled email queue.
Scheduled emails are logged against recipient profile communication logs and the Communication report for the scheduled Date and Time but a hover-over shows when the message was submitted to the queue.
Cancelling a scheduled email
You can cancel a previously scheduled email - perhaps because the content or recipients need to be changed or the email no longer needs to be sent. Scheduled emails can be cancelled at any time up to the time they are due to be sent. Once the scheduled date and time have passed it can no longer be cancelled or retracted.
Scheduled emails are cancelled from the Communication report in the module from which the original email was sent.
- For scheduled emails sent to contacts from within the Rotas, Children (linked parents/carers), Small Groups, Calendar (invitees, sign-ups, check-ins) and Attendance or Address Book modules, head to the Address Book module's Reports section.
- For scheduled emails sent to unlinked sign-ups - head to the Calendar module's Reports section
- For scheduled emails sent to children from within the Rotas, Small Groups, Calendar, Attendance or Children modules, head to the Children module's Reports section
- For scheduled emails sent to unlinked parents/carers of children from within the Children module, head to the Children module's Reports section
- For scheduled emails sent to booking customers, head to the Bookings module's Reports section
- For scheduled emails sent to givers (linked or unlinked), head to the Giving module's Reports section
The example below is from the Communication report in the Address Book. To locate the scheduled message, begin by filtering the report Dates, Methods or Users. The Dates filter is the date the email was submitted to the scheduled email queue, not the date the email will be released from the scheduled queue.
Select Cancel from the communication Actions menu. This option is only available up to the scheduled date/time - after that, an unsent or delayed scheduled email can only be cancelled by the ChurchSuite Support team.
The Cancel Scheduled Email confirmation opens. Agree that you are sure and click Save.
Can I make changes to a scheduled email?
No, it's not possible to edit or make changes to a scheduled email once submitted to the scheduled email queue - security measures prevent emails from being altered or tampered with after submission to the mail queue. It can only be cancelled and a new, amended email scheduled in its place. You can use the Communication report (located in the module's Reports section) to locate and view the original message, perhaps to copy and paste the original content into a new email - BEFORE cancelling the original - which you can further edit and send or reschedule. A scheduled email will be removed from the Communication report when cancelled.
Who is sent a scheduled email?
The recipient list for a scheduled message is fixed at the time of scheduling. For example, if you schedule an email to a particular tag or a list of event signups, the email is only sent to the people in the tag or signup list when the message was scheduled. If the tag or signup list subsequently changes, the recipient list of the scheduled message is unchanged.