Email Templates

Form ID: (SM204003)

You use this form to create and edit notification and email templates. Notification and email templates define the look and content of the emails to be sent to employees or customer or vendor contacts.

To personalize notification emails by using recipients' data, you can insert placeholders—that is, system variables enclosed in double parentheses, such as ((CustomerFullName)). Placeholders can be used in the body of the email template as well as in the email summary settings, such as Subject, To, CC, and BCC.

You can add attachments to a template by clicking the Files button on the form title bar. For details about how to attach files to records, see To Attach a File to a Record.

For details on configuring notification templates, see Email Templates.

Form Toolbar

The form toolbar includes only standard buttons. For the list of standard buttons, see Form Toolbar and More Menu.

Summary Area

The Summary area of the form provides the following elements.


Element	Description
Notification ID	The string that uniquely identifies the template. The system generates the identifier automatically based on the value in the Description box.
Description	Required. A description of the template.
Screen	Required. The form whose elements are used as the source of specific placeholders for this template. You click the magnifier icon in the box to open the lookup table, where you can select the form by searching for it or filtering by title, screen ID, workspace, or category.
From	The system email address from which emails generated for this template should be sent.
To	The email addresses of persons to receive the email separated with semicolons. You can specify an email address as follows: A specific user in the system whom you add on the Emails tab of the lookup table by double-clicking the username (or by clicking the username and clicking Select). The system adds `EMAIL((<username>));` in this box. A specific email address that you manually type in the box, such as `sales@acumatica.com`. A placeholder for an email address stored in the system. On the Screen Fields tab of the lookup table, you select the check box for each database field corresponding to an email address and click Select. The system inserts the placeholder, such as `((customer.DefContactID.EMail))`. The contents of the tab are based on the data entry form or generic inquiry selected in the Screen box of the form.
CC	The additional email addresses of persons to receive a copy of the email, or the placeholders for the email addresses of the recipients. You can specify an email address as follows: A specific user in the system whom you add on the Emails tab of the lookup table by double-clicking the username (or by clicking the username and clicking Select). The system adds `EMAIL((<username>));` in this box. A specific email address that you manually type in the box, such as `sales@acumatica.com`. A placeholder for an email address stored in the system. On the Screen Fields tab of the lookup table, you select the check box for each database field corresponding to an email address and click Select. The system inserts the placeholder, such as `((customer.DefContactID.EMail))`. The contents of the tab are based on the data entry form or generic inquiry selected in the Screen box of the form.
BCC	The additional email addresses of persons to receive a hidden copy of the email, or the placeholders of these persons' email addresses. You can specify an email address as follows: A specific user in the system whom you add on the Emails tab of the lookup table by double-clicking the username (or by clicking the username and clicking Select). The system adds `EMAIL((<username>));` in this box. A specific email address that you manually type in the box, such as `sales@acumatica.com`. A placeholder for an email address stored in the system. On the Screen Fields tab of the lookup table, you select the check box for each database field corresponding to an email address and click Select. The system inserts the placeholder, such as `((customer.DefContactID.EMail))`. The contents of the tab are based on the data entry form or generic inquiry selected in the Screen box of the form.
Subject	The subject of the notification, a placeholder that makes up the subject, or a combination of text and placeholders. The list of placeholders available for selection in the lookup table is based on the data entry form or generic inquiry selected in the Screen box.
Locale	The locale that the system uses to apply region-specific settings to the text, dates, and digits in the body of the notification template and to retrieve translations of values needed to replace placeholders in the body according to the language associated with the locale. The box appears only if multiple system locales are configured on the System Locales (SM200550) form. For details, see Locales and Languages.
Attach Activity	The check box that indicates (if selected) that the system creates an activity while sending an email by using this notification template and links this activity to the entity that a user created by using the data entry form specified in the Screen box. The check box does not appear on the form if the notification template is used as a subscriber of a business event created to monitor data changes collected by a generic inquiry. The Link to Entity box is used instead. If this check box is selected and an activity has been created, a user can view the activity for this entity on the Activities tab of the corresponding form or in the Tasks & Activities dialog box, which opens if you click Activities on the form title bar. For details about activities, see Emails and Activities: General Information. For example, if the Sales Orders (SO301000) form is specified in the Screen box and the notification template is used as subscriber of a business event configured to monitor data changes for this form, the system links the activity to a sales order that triggered the event. If a notification template is not used as a subscriber of a business event, the state of the check box does not affect the system.
Link to Entity	The entity to which the system should link the activity that it creates while sending an email by using this notification template. In this box, you specify a placeholder for a unique identifier of an entity (a NoteID field). The box does not appear on the form if the notification template is used as a subscriber of a business event created to monitor data changes collected by a data entry form. The Attach Activity check box can be used instead. Attention: The list of placeholders is provided by the generic inquiry selected in the Screen box of the form and may not include one that corresponds to an identifier of an entity. If a placeholder is specified and the value of the field in the placeholder is not empty in the results of the generic inquiry of the business event, the system links the email created by the notification template to the corresponding entity. You can then view the activity for this entity on the Activities tab of the corresponding form or in the Tasks & Activities dialog box, which opens if you click Activities on the form title bar. If the notification template is used as a subscriber of a business event, you can fill in a value in any of the following boxes: Link to Account, Link to Contact, or Link to Entity. If no value is specified in any of these boxes, the system does not link the activity to anything when it sends an email by using this notification template. (For details on the business events, see Using Business Events.) If the notification template is not used as a subscribers of a business event, the values in these boxes do not affect the system. For details about activities, see Emails and Activities: General Information.
Link to Contact	The contact to which the system should link the activity that it creates while sending an email by using this notification template. In this box, you specify a placeholder for an identifier of a contact (a ContactID field, such as the default contact of a customer). Attention: The list of placeholders is provided by the data entry form or generic inquiry selected in the Screen box of the form and may include placeholders that do not correspond to an identifier of a contact. If a placeholder is specified and the value of the field in the placeholder is not empty (that is, there is a value for this placeholder in a record created with a data entry form or in the results of the generic inquiry of the business event), the system links the email created by the notification template to the corresponding contact. A user can then view the activity for this contact on the Activities tab of the Contacts (CR302000) form. If the notification template is used as a subscriber of a business event, you can fill in a value in any of the following boxes: Link to Account, Link to Contact, or Link to Entity. If no value is specified in any of these boxes, the system does not link the activity to anything when it sends an email by using this notification template. (For details on the business events, see Using Business Events.) If the notification template is not used as a subscribers of a business event, the values in these boxes do not affect the system. For details about activities, see Emails and Activities: General Information.
Link to Account	The account to which the system should link the activity that it creates while sending an email by using this notification template. In this box, you specify a placeholder for an identifier of a business account record (a BAccountID field), such as a customer record or a vendor record. Attention: The list of placeholders is provided by the data entry form or generic inquiry selected in the Screen box of the form and may include placeholders that do not correspond to an identifier of an account. If a placeholder is specified and the value of the field in the placeholder is not empty (that is, there is a value for this placeholder in a record created with a data entry form or in the results of the generic inquiry of the business event), the system links the email created by the notification template to the corresponding business account. A user can then view the activity for this business account on the Activities tab of the corresponding form, such as the Business Accounts (CR303000), Customers (AR303000), or Vendors (AP303000) form. If the notification template is used as a subscriber of a business event, you can fill in a value in any of the following boxes: Link to Account, Link to Contact, or Link to Entity. If no value is specified in any of these boxes, the system does not link the activity to anything when it sends an email by using this notification template. (For details on the business events, see Using Business Events.) If the notification template is not used as a subscribers of a business event, the values in these boxes do not affect the system. For details about activities, see Emails and Activities: General Information.

Message Tab

You can create a message by using a WYSIWYG text editor with a text box and toolbar. The toolbar of the text editor has formatting tools similar to the ones provided by many popular text editors. For details on the buttons available on the toolbar, see Formatting Toolbar.

By using the editor, you can perform the following actions:

Type the text of the email
Change the font and size for selected text
Copy, cut, and paste selected text
Create a numbered or bulleted list
Insert data fields as placeholders

Attention: If an email template is used as subscriber of a business event of the Trigger by Record Change type and a data field that contains a time value is used as a placeholder, the system converts the time value according to the time zone specified for the admin service user in the Time Zone box on the Personal Settings tab of the Users (SM201010) form or on the User Profile (SM203010) form. Otherwise, the system uses the time zone specified in the Login Time Zone box of the Site Preferences (SM200505) form.

Attached Reports Tab

For notification templates that used as subscribers of business events, you can select a report or multiple reports to attach to the email. On this tab, you can specify the report format and parameters. If the parameter values are not specified, the default value of parameters will be used when the report is generated.

Table 1. Attached Reports ElementThe following element is located at the top of the tab.
Element	Description
Attach Report Opened by Action	The report to be attached to emails sent by the system while processing a subscriber of a business event that uses a data entry form as source. In the drop-down list, the system displays the reports available on the form toolbar of the data entry from specified in the Screen of the form.

Table 2. Reports Attached by Report ID Table (Left Pane)Here you can specify the list of reports to be attached to emails sent by the system while it processes a subscriber of a business event.
The table toolbar includes only standard buttons. For the list of standard buttons, see Table Toolbar.
Column	Description
Report ID	The identifier of a report to be attached to the email.
Report Format	The format of the attached report: Excel, HTML, or PDF. If you select the HTML format, the Embedded check box is available in the row.
Embedded	A check box that indicates (if selected) that the report will be inserted in the email body. The check box is available only for reports sent in the HTML format.

Table 3. Right Pane ElementsYou can use a generic inquiry used by a business event as the source of parameter values for attached reports. If the Use Event as Data Source check box is selected and the Source Table box is filled in, you do not need to add any parameters to the Report Parameters table.
Button	Description
Use Event as Data Source	A check box that indicates (if selected) that the system passes the business event data to the report rather than selecting data from the database during the report generation process. The check box is available and can be selected only if there are any tables that are common to both the generic inquiry and the report. If the check box is selected, the Source Table box becomes available and contains the source tables for selection. The check box is available only if the notification template is used as a subscriber of a business event created to monitor data changes collected by a generic inquiry.
Source Table	Read only. The table to be used as the source of data for the report parameters. If the Use Event as Data Source check box is selected and a table is specified, you do not need to add any parameters to the Report Parameters table.

Table 4. Report Parameters Table (Right Pane)Here you can select the fields of the data entry form or generic inquiry specified in the Screen box that should be passed to a report to be attached to emails. You should specify parameters on this pane for each report you add to the Reports Attached by Report ID table.
The table toolbar includes only standard buttons. For the list of standard buttons, see Table Toolbar.
Column	Description
Parameter Name	The name of the parameter of the report.
Parameter Value	The default value for the selected parameter.
From Schema	A check box that indicates (if selected) that the field will be based on (copied from) the schema field. That is, you can select a specific value to be passed for a parameter in the Parameter Value column (for example, it can be a particular customer account).

Send By Events Tab

You use this tab to view existing business events that trigger the selected notification. You can also create a needed business event by clicking Create Business Event on the table toolbar of the tab.

Tip: The tab is displayed only for saved notification templates.

Table 5. Table Toolbar
The table toolbar includes standard buttons and buttons that are specific to this table. For the list of standard buttons, see Table Toolbar. The table-specific buttons are listed below.
You can add a link to an existing event by clicking Add Row on the table toolbar. The system adds the template as subscriber to the added business event.
Button	Description
Create Business Event	Opens the Create Business Event dialog box, where you specify the name of the new business event. You click OK in the dialog box, and the system opens the Business Events (SM302050) form in the new tab with the new business event for which the template is configured as a subscriber.

Table 6. Table Columns
Column	Description
Event ID	The unique identifier of the business event. You can click the link in the column to open the Business Events (SM302050) form for the selected event.
Description	A description of the business event.
Active	A check box that indicates (if selected) that this business event is active and the system can process the subscribers specified on the Subscribers tab if this business event has occurred.
Type	The type of the business event, which can be one of the following: Trigger by Record Change: The system processes the subscribers specified on the Subscribers tab when the inquiry results or data provided by the data entry form have changed in the ways that meet the conditions specified on the Trigger Conditions tab. The option is available if an inquiry form or data entry form is specified in the Screen box. For details on this type of business event, see Business Events: Data Change Processing. Trigger by Schedule: At the times and frequencies specified on the Schedules tab, the system checks the results of the inquiry and processes the subscribers specified on the Subscribers tab if the inquiry results satisfy the conditions specified on the Trigger Conditions tab. The option is available if an inquiry form is specified in the Screen box. For more information about this type of business event, see Business Events: Scheduled Event Processing. Trigger by Action: The system processes the subscribers specified on the Subscribers tab when a user clicks the action specified in the Action Name box for this business event. The option is available if an inquiry form or data entry form is specified in the Screen box. For details on this type of business event, see Business Events: User-Triggered Processing of Subscribers.