29 Jul 2019

Create workflow rules - Automatically send emails

Product Filter HighQ Collaborate
Product Area Filter Workflow

The Send email action sends a customised email when the selected conditions are met.

Select Send email in the Action tab:

Each field is described below:

  • Subject - This is the subject of the email
  • To, Cc and Bcc - These are lists of all of the recipients of the emails

For example, use Cc or Bcc to send a copy to an admin email address that keeps a record of custom emails sent from your site.

  • Email content - This is the content of the email
  • Attachments - You can attach a static file from your site, the triggering document if the trigger is a file, or dynamically attach a file from an iSheet record

To attach a file from an iSheet record, select iSheet record as the trigger and the iSheet must:

  • be a file metadata iSheet, or
  • have one or more attachment columns,

 

Subject

Enter the subject for the email. 

If you need to vary the subject of the email, click Insert variable next to the subject field to display the Insert variable - Subject screen:

In the Variable to be used dropdown, you see all variables available to you. If an iSheet is used as a trigger, columns from that iSheet are available (in this example, we have File author, File name and Recipient name). 

As of April 2023, if you know the name of the variable, you can use the Search field to quickly find the variable from a long list of variables.

Select the variable you want to use, ('file name' in this example) and click Insert. The Subject field looks like this: 

In this case, the field is populated with the name of the file.

 

Email recipients

Add recipients for the email in the To, Cc and Bcc fields. Type a fixed address, or click Insert variable to add addresses from the triggering record.

You can select a user lookup, single line text or multi line text column. 

Click Insert variable next to the email recipients field to display the Insert variable - Email recipients screen:

Select the variable that you want to use, (if your trigger is a file, the only option is 'File author') and click Insert.

If your trigger is an iSheet, any user lookup column can be used as a variable. The Email recipients field looks like this: 

In this example, when the trigger is activated, the author of each file becomes the recipient of the email.

Please note that it is possible to send a BCC copy of all notification emails for audit purposes.

Send emails to user groups

You can also select a group as a recipient:

This ensures that everyone in the group receives the custom email.

Grouping emails or sending them individually

Emails to be sent to people in the To field may be sent as a group or individually. The default setting is to send these as a group, which means that one email is sent to all recipients entered into this field.

Select Send each 'To' recipient a separate email to send emails individually, this means that the recipients receive separate emails and they do not see that each other has received the email.

Recipients in the Cc and Bcc fields receive duplicate emails for each recipient in the To field.

Sending emails - Internal error

If the email server returns an 'Internal error', such as when an incorrect email address is supplied, Workflow attempts to send the email over the next five days. If the email is not successfully sent after five days then the rule stops and reports a failure.

 

Email content

Enter your email content in the Email content field.

Both rich text and plain text are supported.

Click Insert variable to add variables from the triggering record or other fields:

In the Variable to be used dropdown, you see available variables. If an iSheet is used as a trigger, columns from that iSheet are available (in this example, we have File author, File name and Recipient name). 

Recipient name inserts the recipient's full name; select Recipient's first name to insert just their first name.

Select the variable(s) you want to use, (File name, File author and Recipient name in this example) and click Insert.

The Email content field might look like this: 

When the trigger is activated, each of the variables is replaced with the relevant data and sent to the email recipients. 

As of June 2024, you can add a 'Folder link' variable to the email content.

Adding attachments to the email

You can add attachments to the email. You can attach a static file from your site, the triggering document if the trigger is a file, or dynamically attach a file from an iSheet record.

To attach a file from an iSheet record, select iSheet record as the trigger and the iSheet must:

  • be a file metadata iSheet, or
  • have one or more attachment columns

Attachments cannot exceed 25 MB. If the attachment exceeds this size, the email is not sent.

Select Override file permissions and enable attachments, then select Allow iSheet attachment or Allow file attachment.

Override file permissions and enable attachments

This option allows the rule to send the selected attachment to any email recipient, including unregistered users outside your instance. This overrides any permissions set in HighQ.

If you select Allow iSheet attachment, select the attachment column from the dropdown list.

Allow iSheet attachment is only available if iSheet record is selected as the trigger, and the selected iSheet has one or more attachment columns, or if a file metadata iSheet is selected. 

If you select Allow file attachment, click Browse to select a file from the File module.

If the file is updated, the latest version of the file is attached to the email. If the file is moved, the file is still attached, but if the file id deleted the rule fails and the email is not sent.

Click Add action to add further actions.

 

Click Save to save your changes. 

 

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