Send an Email
The Message sends within about five minutes of clicking Send (unless you've scheduled it to send in the future).
Want to see who actually received your message after it was sent? Go to and check out the Action Status.
Email - Message Tab
Create and format what you want to say in your email.
- 1 - Message Type
- Select how you'd like to send your message, either by email or text. Note: If your system is not configured to send text messages via Twilio, you won't see the Email or Text Message options. You will only be able to send an email.
- 2 - To
- If launched from a selection, the selected records are grouped here. You can click the search icon to select additional records. Each individual will receive a unique email and cannot see who else received the same message.
- 3 - Recipients
- This list presents records related to Views for Subpages associated with the selected Page. The selected View will be applied to the selection, allowing you to further filter the records you send to. For more information, see Message Recipients.
- 4 - Send to Parents
- Selecting this checkbox sends the message to the parents of the recipients. "Parent" is defined as any household member with the Household Position of "Head of Household" who has a valid email address and is not inactive/deceased. It also includes any Heads of Household associated via Other Households with the Household Type "Non-Custodial Parent" unless the relationship is end-dated. If the selected recipient is a Head of Household, they will not receive an email, nor will the other Head in their Household.Note: If the parent has opted out of receiving bulk emails, they are not included when the message is sent. To include them, you may consider selecting the Include recipients who have opted out of bulk email option on the Advanced tab.
- 5 - Subject Line
- The subject of the message. A subject line is required for sending an email.
- 6 - Formatting Options
- You can format the content of your message. This includes bold, italics, underline, strikethrough, numbered list, bullet list, indent, outdent, align left, align center, and align right. You can also create a link, remove a link, insert an image, toggle full screen, and view the HTML source of the message. Note: If you view the HTML source, be sure to switch it back to the text before sending. Otherwise, everyone receives the HTML version of your email, which might make it challenging to read.
- 7 - Insert Menu
- Click Insert to see the following options.
Templates:
You can select a Template as a starting place for your message. This list is organized based on the Template's Pertains to Page and the Page your recipient list was selected from. Any edits you make to a Template in the New Message Tool only apply to this specific Message and do not update the Template record. Templates are available to users with at least Read level permissions on the Templates page. Users will see Templates they have access to based on the Template User and Template User Group fields on the Template record. For more information on using templates, see Templates.
Snippets:
You can include pre-written HTML text that can be reused over and over again. For more information on using snippets, see Snippets.
Fields:
You can include different types of merge fields in your message.- With Contact Fields, you can personalize your message for the Recipient. For example, the [Nickname] field automatically adds the Recipient's Nickname to the message.
- The From User Fields are similar to Contact Fields but they merge in values related to the Sender (the current authenticated user or delegate of user) rather than Recipient. For example, the [From_User_Nickname] field automatically adds the Sender's Nickname.
- With Data Fields, you can add page-specific data to a message.
For more information on using these fields, see Contact, From User, and Data Fields.
- 8 - Send / Save
- Click the Send menu to make the following options available:
- Save as Draft - Saves a draft of your message. To view drafts, go to tab, and select the My Drafts View.
- Send to Me - Sends a copy of the message to yourself for review before sending it to your recipients. You'll receive a copy of the message. If you included merge fields, they will be rendered using the first Recipient's information, giving an accurate preview of what you're about to send. Files added as Attachments are included, but files added as Links are not included.
- Send - Sends the message to the selected Recipients. Note that if no Contact Fields or Data Fields are used in the Message, duplicate emails will automatically be removed. The Send count shown is calculated prior to duplicates being removed. For more on this, see Duplicate Messages.
Email - Attachments Tab
Add files to send with your email.
On the Attachments tab of the New Message Tool, you an attach, resize, and remove file attachments. There is a 20 MB file size restriction per file. Additionally, the receiving systems (and possibly your sending system/SMTP server) may have smaller file size restrictions. If so, those restrictions may prevent your email from being successfully delivered.
- Attachment: Adds the file as an attachment to the message. The file is saved on the Message record.
- Link: Adds a bulleted list of links (one link for each attachment) to the bottom of the message body. These links are not visible on the Message record inside the tool, but the file is saved on the Message record. The recipient can click the link to open the attachment in their browser. The link pulls the attachment from your MinistryPlatform server.
When at least one attachment has been added, a count of attachments displays in the badge icon on the Attachments tab. This icon also displays a count if a selected Template contains attachments.
Email - Advanced Tab
Manage details of your email or schedule it for later.
- 1 - From
- Indicates who is sending the Message. If a SPoC has granted a User rights to send on behalf of someone else, the From drop-down list includes additional names. For details, see Change the From or Reply To.
Note: If a From Contact is indicated on a Template you use, the sender of the email needs to be a delegate for that value to be honored.
- 2 - Reply To
- Indicates who should receive replies to the Message. If a SPoC has granted a User rights to indicate someone other than themselves, the Reply To drop-down list includes additional names. For details, see Change the From or Reply To.
Note: If a Reply To Contact is indicated on a Template you use, the sender of the email needs to be a delegate for that value to be honored. Because email clients often handle out-of-office messages differently than replies, these messages may be returned directly to the sender indicated in the From drop-down list.
- 3 - Schedule Send
- Schedule the email to be sent at a future date/time according to the authenticated user's timezone set in their user account. If no value is set for the user, the Domain timezone is used. You can schedule Messages to send within the next 6 months. For steps, see Schedule a Message.
- 4 - Bulk Email
- If absolutely necessary, select this check box to include recipients whose contact records have Bulk Email Opt Out set to Yes. By default, this option is cleared and these recipients are not included. For more information, see Opt Out of Messages.
CAUTION: We recommend you do this sparingly or only for very important messages that those who have opted out really need to be aware of.