Creating Emails In Actinic

You can generate an email in Actinic in the following ways:

·      Clicking the 'Mail' button in the 'Line Items' tab of an order. This defaults to an 'Order Shipped' email.

·      Clicking the 'Mail' button in the 'Progress and Payments' tab of an order. This defaults to a 'Payment Received' email.

·      Selecting 'Order Summary' within the 'Email' tab of the 'Report Selection' window. This defaults to an 'Order Received' email.

·      Clicking the 'Send Password' button within the 'Buyers' tab of a customer account. This defaults to a 'Password Email'.

·      Clicking the 'New' or 'Edit' button within the 'Mail' tab of an order (see below).

This brings up the 'Mail' window. The fields within this window are as follows:

 

Field	Meaning
To	The address to send the email to. This may already contain the customer's email address as entered online.
Cc	Enter an optional email address to send a copy of this email to.
Manage Layouts	Opens the 'Email Layouts' window where you can edit layouts, create new layouts, rename layouts and delete layouts.
Subject	You can enter your own subject in this field. If you select one of the templates (see above), this field will be automatically filled in. In this case, the format of the subject line will be <Company Name> : Order <Customer Order Number> : <Relevant message>. This can be edited as necessary.
Main Window:	This contains the message text for the email. If you have used a template (see above) this will contain a summary of the order other relevant information.

The three buttons at the bottom of this window allow you to choose what to do with this email.

·      Send Now - The program will connect to your mail server (as set in 'Web | Network Setup') and attempt to send the email.

·      Done - The email will be saved and kept for later sending and the window will close. You can view and edit the email by switching to the 'Mail' tab for the order. See The 'Mail' Tab - Managing The Customer Emails.

·      Cancel - Closes the window without saving any details about the email. The email will not be sent.

All outstanding emails for all orders can be sent in one go by pressing the   button on the main toolbar or by going to 'Operations| Send Emails'.

The default system emails available in Actinic are:

·      'Order Shipped' - activated by clicking the 'Mail' button in the 'Line Items' tab of an order. The layout for this email is called 'Order Shipped Email', and it can be accessed from the 'Design' tab.

·      'Payment Received' - activated by clicking the 'Mail' button in the 'Progress and Payments' tab of an order. The layout for this email is called 'Payment Received Email', and it can be accessed from the 'Design' tab.

·      'Order Received' - activated by selecting the 'Order Summary' option within the 'Email' tab in the 'Reports, Export and Mail' window (go to 'Operations | Report Selection'). The layout for this email is called 'Order Received Email', and it can be accessed from the 'Design' tab.

·      'Send Password' - for sending passwords to buyers in customer accounts. This is activated by clicking the 'Send Password' button in the 'Buyers' tab of a customer account. The layout for this email is called 'Password Email', and it can be accessed from the 'Design' tab.

·      'Tracking Mail' - for emailing order tracking numbers to customers (Actinic Business/Designer only). This is activated by clicking the 'Tracking Mail' button in the 'Shipping and Handling' tab of an order (when a Shipping Service Provider is installed (see Integration With Shipping Companies). The layout for this email is called 'UPS Tracking Email' and can be accessed from the 'Design' tab.

Creating and Editing Email Layouts

To edit the email layouts available with Actinic, or create new ones, click the 'Manage Layouts' button when writing an email. This brings up the 'Email Layouts' window - which contains the following options:

Button	Description
New	Creates a new email layout and adds it to the list.
Copy	Copies the currently-selected email layout to create a new one. You will need to supply a new name.
Edit	Edits the currently-selected email layout.
Rename	Renames the currently-selected email layout. You can only do this to user-defined email layouts - not the system ones.
Delete	Deletes the currently-selected email layout. You can only do this to user-defined email layouts - not the system ones.

 

Managing Emails in Actinic

The 'Mail' tab within an order is where you can view and edit the emails that have been sent to a customer for an order. Go to The 'Mail' Tab - Managing The Customer Emails for details on this.

There are also two menu options available. 'Operations | List Emails | Failed' and 'Operations | List Emails | All'. The former shows those emails that failed during transmission. The latter shows all emails.