CP - List Mailer

Overview

The TASS.web Community > List Mailer program displays all lists with two action buttons for each list.

Generate.
Duplicate Address Report.

Generate

This option is used to generate files that can be used to produce personalised letters, emails or labels.

Each option (except for 'Email via SMTP') will extract the following information:

Addresses.
Phone numbers.
Email addresses.
Person 'User Definable'.
Person 'Extended User Defined' (optional).

Sort By

Choose the order in which data will be displayed in your report/export.

Formatting Options

Export to Word Merge

Export to Email Merge

Use Email where possible

The 'Export to Word Merge' and 'Export to Email Merge' will produce a comma-separated values file (CSV) with a .txt extension.

This file can then be used as a data source for merging with letters, emails and label templates.

A suggested methodology for using this:

Where you want to use email for people who have valid email addresses, and
Then create a Word Merge for people who don't have email is:

Select 'Export to Word Merge' and check the 'Use email where possible' option. This will get all of the people who don't have email addresses. Use this merge file to create your letter using Microsoft Word®.
Then select 'Export to Email Merge'. This will get all of the people who do have a valid email address. Use this merge file to create your dynamic email using the email merge within Microsoft Word®. You can use Word® to produce a personalised email for each person represented in the merge file.

Click here for more information on Word Merge files.

Word Merge

Word Merge export files are produced from various TASS.web or Staff Kiosk programs to extract a set of merge field codes and students/parents/employees details in a format required to insert into a Word Merge document.
Word Merge documents can be used for two purposes:

To produce a personalised document for each recipient containing the recipient's own details in place of the merge fields.
Example: School enrolment letters are printed for all incoming families. Each letter includes data extracted from TASS.web and is personalised for each recipient, such as the student and parent names and addresses, entry year group etc.
To attach to an Email Template A PDF is attached as each email is sent containing the recipient's own details in place of the merge fields.
Example: Attendance emails to parents regarding their child's attendance. A PDF attachment is generated and attached at the time of sending the emails, personalised for each recipient.

The PDF Conversion API is required to attach Word Merge Files to Email Templates.
Word Merge documents can be attached to the following Email Template categories: Attendance, Enrolment, Immunisation Register, Parent Accounts, Parent Lounge Licences, Pastoral Care, Student Immunisations, Student Records, and Transfer Notes (WA).

Create a Word Merge document:

Generate the Word Merge export file.
Use the selection criteria from the appropriate program to produce a file that includes the desired merge fields headings and recipient details.
Select the 'Word Merge file' export button, usually found on the Print tab. If no word merge button exists, use the Excel export option and save as a csv file.

A PDF report entitled 'Students with no Communication Rules' will display if there are issues with your selection. These must be fixed before the export can be processed.

Create your Word Merge document.
Follow the steps in Word using the Mailings > Step-by-Step Mail Merge Wizard. Select the word merge export file generated above, and insert merge fields into the document wherever the personalised data will be populated. Preview the document but do not select 'Complete the merge'.
Save the document. Print if desired.
To attach the Word Merge file to an Email Template:
Create an email template and attach the Word Merge document created above.
TASS.web System Admin > Utilities > Email Settings.

Export to Excel

The 'Export to Excel' option will produce an Excel® spreadsheet containing all of the people in the list selected, including their addresses, phone numbers, email address and person user-definable data.

Email via SMTP

You would use this option where you want to send an email to all recipients in this list individually via SMTP format (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).

If you choose this option, you will be forced to key the email 'From', 'Subject' and 'Message' into this program.

TASS.web will initiate the email directly. There is no need to copy email addresses generated into your email product (e.g. Outlook).

This option may assist in certain countries where SPAM filters may stop the production of bulk emails from a single email address, making the 'Use Email where possible' option above unworkable.

'Email via SMTP' creates a separate email for each recipient.

You can include an attachment to emails created this way by adding a 'Correspondence log' and selecting a 'Correspondence item' that has been set up with an attachment.

If you select 'Email via SMTP' an 'SMTP Email Options' section of the screen will be displayed with the following fields:

From	This must be a valid sender's email address.
To	This will display the name of the list from which the emails will be generated. It is not an updateable field.
CC	This is an optional field. It is worth noting that the email address entered here will receive a copy of each email generated. Therefore, if the SMTP email is to 100 recipients, then this email address will receive 100 emails.
Subject	This is the text that will be included in the 'Subject' line of the email. (80 characters)
Message	This is the text that will be included in the message section of the email. (4000 characters).

Use the icons in the Message section to format the text, undo, redo and insert links and images.

Icon	Function	Details
	Bold	Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+B Use this icon to make your text bold.
	Italic	Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+I Use this icon to make your text italic.
	Underline	Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+U Use this icon to underline your text.
	Strikethrough	Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+S Use this icon to put a ~~Strikethrough~~ through your text.
	Font Size	Use this icon to adjust the size of your font.
	Colours	Use this icon to change the colour of your font.
	Paragraph Format	Use this icon to format your text as a Normal paragraph, Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, Heading 4 or code.
	Quote	Use this icon to insert a quote. Use the ‘Increase’ or ‘Decrease’ options to adjust the positioning of your quote in your message.
	Decrease Indent	Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+[ After an increase has been applied, use this icon to decrease the indent and move your paragraph to the left.
	Increase Indent	Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+] Use this icon to increase the indent and move your paragraph to the right.
	Align	Use this icon to align your text to the left, centre, right or justify the alignment evenly across the screen.
	Ordered List	Use this icon to format your text into a numbered list starting at ‘1.’
	Unordered List	Use this icon to format your text into an unordered bulleted list.
	Insert Link	Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+K Use this icon to insert a website link. Enter the URL and the text you want to appear in your message. Choose the ‘Open in a new tab’ checkbox to have a new browser tab open when the email recipient clicks on the link. Then, click ‘Insert’ to add the link to your message.
	Insert Social Media Link	Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+P Use this icon to insert a social media icon with a link into your message. Select the icon of your social media platform (options include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or Google+), enter the URL that will open when the email recipient clicks on the social media icon, and then click ‘Insert’ to add the icon to your message.
	Undo	Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Z Use this icon to undo the last change you made to the message.
	Redo	Keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Z Use this icon to reverse the undo action.
	Insert Image	Use this icon to insert an image into your message. Drag and drop your image into the ‘Drop image’ section, or click on this section to select an image file from your computer, then click ‘Open’ to insert it into your message. The image will appear in your message. You can resize the image by clicking and dragging its corners to your preferred dimensions. Below the image, you will find additional icons that let you replace, align, remove, or add a link to the image. You can also choose to display the image ‘Inline’ within a sentence or ‘Break Text’ around it, add alternative text, and adjust its pixel size.

Correspondence Log options

To add an attachment to this SMTP email, tick the 'Add to Correspondence Log' checkbox and select a 'Correspondence item' that contains an attachment.

Correspondence Items are set up using TASS.web Community > Setup Information under 'Correspondence Items'.

You should check that the attachment is correct before proceeding with the mail out.

Click the 'GO' button to finalise your SMTP mail-out.

The program will provide a message indicating the number of recipients to be included.

Click the 'OK' button to proceed.

Remove Household Duplicates

When selected the system will consolidate entries in the list that have the same Address barcode and 'Household Name' to one entry. It will also substitute the salutation with the common value that is present in the 'Household Name' fields.

Example

An example of where this would get used is when doing a whole of school mail out, and two entries appear in the list that has an identical address (i.e. A Past Student (e.g. Max McGee) is still living with his parents (e.g. Mr & Mrs McGee), who still have a younger child attending the school).

By placing a value of 'The McGee Family' in the Household Address field for all of the person records at that address, the system will then remove the duplicate addresses and consolidate them into one, and addressing the article would then be changed to the Household Name being 'The McGee family'.

To find the duplicate addresses within a mailing list, use the 'Duplicate Address Report' available from this program.

The duplicate address functionality requires each address to bar-coded using Address Matching Approval System (AMAS) software (such as the Postman®).

Exclude Deceased

When ticked, any person defined in the current list who has been flagged as Deceased will be removed from the file produced.

You would only untick this option if you were using the 'Export to Excel' option to generate a report.

Extended UD Area

Select an 'Extended UD Area' from the list, to include those Extended User Definable fields in the file produced, for each person included.

Correspondence Log

If the option to 'Add to Correspondence Log' is selected, then the Correspondence item nominated in this section will be automatically added into the 'Corresp. Log' tab for each of the people who are contained in the file produced.

Duplicate Address Report

This report will compare each address contained in the list selected and provide a report detailing the entries that share the same address.

An example of where two or more people may share the same address is where a Past Student is still living with their parents.

Choose the 'destination' of the report. This can be to Adobe® PDF viewer, Microsoft Excel®, Microsoft Word® or a screen with hyperlinks.

The 'Screen with Hyperlinks' format is best if you need to 'drill-down' to further information.

Refer to the formatting option 'Remove Household Duplicates' (above) for more information regarding this functionality.

The duplicate address functionality requires each address to bar-coded using Address Matching Approval System (AMAS) software (such as the Postman®).