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This part of the application enables you
to write and send emails to students, parents,
teachers and other school members who are registered to receive communications
by email. Schoolcomms will automatically list those members who need paper
copies because they or their parents are not registered.
To open the 'Compose an email message'
screen:
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Click the ‘Messaging’ button in the tool bar on the left hand side of the
screen.
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Click the ‘Compose an email message’ button in the left hand side tool bar.
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The screen will display your most recent draft message. If you have no draft
messages, a blank draft message will be displayed.
Selecting recipients:
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Open the ‘Compose an email message’ home screen (see above).
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Click the ‘To parents of..’ or ‘To school members..’ button depending on
whether the message is to go to the individuals and/or their parent. This
screen will appear:
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If your message is to be sent to a group:
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Type the group name or part of the name into the ‘Look for’ box at the
top of the screen.
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Click ‘Find now’.
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Matching groups will be shown in the ‘Select groups and members’ box.
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Click on the required group. It will be highlighted in dark blue.
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Your message can be sent to the students or their parents or both.
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Click ‘To parent of’ if you want to send the email to the parents of students
in the chosen group.
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The names of the group members will be shown in the ‘To parent of’ box.
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Click ‘To school member’ if you want to send your email to the students of
your chosen group.
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The names of the group members will be shown in the ‘To school members’ box.
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If you select an adult school member, the name can only be placed in the ‘To
school member’ box.
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If all members of a group have been selected, you can remove individual names
from the recipient list by selecting them in the right hand box and clicking on
‘Remove from list’.
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You can add and remove further groups or individuals from the recipient boxes
using the ‘Add’ and ‘Remove’ buttons until you are happy with your selection.
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By default, the 'Send to prime parents only' box will be ticked. If you
want all linked parents to receive the message then untick the check box. If
you want only the prime parents to receive the message leave the box ticked.
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If your message is to be sent to an individual:
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Type the individual’s name into the ‘Look for’ box at the top of the screen.
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Click ‘Find now’.
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Any matching names will be shown in the ‘Select groups and members’ box.
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Click on the required member’s name. It will become highlighted in dark blue.
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Click the ‘To parent of’ button and/or the ‘To school member’ button
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The member’s name will be added to the ‘To parent of’ and/or ‘To school
member’ boxes
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If you select an adult school member, the name can only be placed in the ‘To
school member’ box.
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By default, the 'Send to prime parents only' box will be ticked. If you
want all linked parents to receive the message then untick the check box. If
you want only the prime parents to receive the message leave the box ticked.
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Click ‘Save list’ to save your message distribution list.
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The recipients’ names will be shown in the ‘To parents of.’ and/or ‘To school
members’ boxes on the main ‘Compose email message’ screen.
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If you click ‘Cancel’ your message distribution list will not be saved.
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NB: If you only want to send your email to the parents of the
group members, then any teacher/staff member names included in the group
will be shown in the ‘To school members’ box.
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NB: You can alter the distribution at any time before sending
the message.
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Shortcut!
If you need to add several school members or groups to the distribution list
use the shift or control keys so you can highlight them all at once. Then
you only need to press the ‘To school member’ or ‘To parents of’ button once. |
Composing an email message:
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To send an email:
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Open the ‘Compose an email message’ home screen.
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Continue drafting your most recent message. Alternatively, to compose a new
message, click 'Create email'.
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Choose your message recipients.
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Type a title or subject for your message in the ‘Subject’ box.
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Type your email message in the main text box.
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Using the centre toolbar:
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You can format text, move text, edit, and insert objects using the buttons
across the centre of the screen:
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From left to right the buttons allow:
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Bold type, Italic type, Underline, Reduce font size, Enlarge font size, Left
align, Centre align, Right align. Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo last action, Redo last
action, Insert picture and
Insert hyperlink.
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Formatting text:
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Select the text for formatting by left ‘click and hold’ over the required text
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Click on the required button to apply the formatting.
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Cut, Copy and Paste:
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Select the required block of text using the pointer and the left button of your
mouse.
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Left click on the Cut or Copy button of the toolbar.
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Place the cursor in the position that you wish to place the text.
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Click on the Paste button on the toolbar.
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A box will appear warning you to check your message in the preview screen.
Click OK.
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Warning!
When copying content from other applications e.g. Microsoft Word, bear in mind
that the conversion to html may corrupt some of the formatting and layout, and
pictures will not be copied but have to be separately inserted (see below). To
maintain the integrity of your original document it is preferable to attach
it to your email, either as a PDF file, Word etc. Always check the layout of
your message using the preview button before sending.
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Undo and Redo:
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If you have made an error, you can retrace a step by clicking on the undo
button.
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If you wish to repeat an action, use the redo button.
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Inserting objects:
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To insert a picture, place the cursor in the text box where you wish the
picture to be placed.
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Click on the insert picture button.
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Browse to find the picture file that you wish to insert, highlight it and click
on open. The picture will appear in the text box. The picture can be moved
across the screen using the alignment buttons.
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NB. Picture files must not exceed 150 Kb each.
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To insert a hyperlink, place the cursor where you want the hyperlink to appear.
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Click on the hyperlink button.
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Type the name and address of the hyperlink in the box on the screen. Click OK.
The hyperlink name will appear in the text of the email.
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Shortcut!
If you want your school logo to appear at the top of the email, insert the logo
in picture format (jpg) at the top of the text box.
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Shortcut!
If you want to send text in your email that you have in another document, use
‘cut’ and ‘paste’ rather than typing it out again. Highlight the text you want
to copy and right click on your mouse; a list of options will appear. Click
‘Copy’. Return to your Schoolcomms email. Place the cursor in the text box
where you want the text to appear. Click on the ‘paste’ icon and the text you
have copied will be inserted into your email.
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Personalising your message:
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If you want your message to be personalised, then the wild card $SchoolMember$
can be used in the message. For instance if you send ‘$SchoolMember$ was not in
school this morning’, the message will be received by Ben Abbot’s parent as
‘Ben Abbot was not in school this morning’ and by Sarah Abbot’s parent as
‘Sarah Abbot was not in school this morning’.
Attaching files:
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To remove an attachment:
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Click on the 'Attach' button or the 'Attach files' icon.
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Highlight the file that you want to remove.
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Click on ‘Remove file’ and it will tell you that the file has been removed.
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Click Close and you are ready to select another attachment or return to the
Compose email screen.
Spell checking a message:
A spell check will automatically be carried out before you send an email but you
can also choose to spell check your message at any point.
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Click the ‘Spell check’ button in the top tool bar.
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This spelling check box will appear:
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The incorrect spelling will be shown in the ‘Not in Dictionary’ box.
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Click ‘Ignore’ if the word shown is actually correct, a name for example.
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Click ‘Ignore All’ if the word is likely to occur elsewhere in the email, for
example if it is a name you have used several times.
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Click ‘Add’ if the word shown is actually correct and is a word you will
frequently use in your messages.
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The word will be added to the Schoolcomms dictionary.
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The ‘Suggestions’ box will show possible options for correct spellings.
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To choose an option from the ‘Suggestions’ box, click on the correct word.
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It will become highlighted in dark blue and will show in the ‘Not in
Dictionary’ box.
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Click ‘Change’ to change just this occurrence of the error.
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Click ‘Change All’ to correct all occurrences of this error
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If you click ‘Cancel’ you will stop the spell check and any remaining text in
the email will not be spell checked.
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NB: Any attached files need to be checked for spelling
separately in their native application.
Previewing a message:
You can preview a composed message at any time before you send it.
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Click the ‘Preview’ button in the top toolbar.
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Your message will be shown on screen
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Click Print to print the message.
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Click Close to return to the compose email message screen.
Deleting a message:
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Click the ‘Delete draft’ button in the top toolbar.
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Schoolcomms will confirm that you wish to delete the message.
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Click ‘Yes’ if you want to delete the email. Click ‘No’ if you do not
want to delete the email. You will be returned to your email.
Saving a message:
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Click the ‘Save draft' button. Your message will be saved.
Managing draft messages:
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Both email and SMS text messages can be prepared and saved as drafts until you
are ready to send or discard them.
Creating a new draft message:
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Click the 'Create Email' button. You will be prompted to save any changes you
have made to the draft message currently on screen.
Opening a draft message:
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To open an existing draft message, click the 'Open draft' button. Your draft
messages will appear in the order in which they were last edited. The most
recently edited draft message will appear at the top of the list. The drafts
are identified by the date they were last edited and the first few words of the
subject or message body.
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Select the draft message you wish to open and click 'Open'.
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Additionally, draft messages can be deleted by selecting them and clicking the
'Delete' button. Multiple drafts can be selected for deletion at once by
holding down the 'Control' key whilst selecting the messages with the left
mouse button
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To return to the 'Compose an email' screen without opening a draft, click
'Cancel'.
Sending a message:
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NB:
All messages sent by Schoolcomms are
transmitted securely between the school and the
Schoolcomms server. However because someone else could read the email or SMS
message, security cannot be guaranteed
once the messages are dispatched from
the Schoolcomms server to the recipients’ personal mobile phone or email address. Bear this
in mind when sending messages.
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NB:
Before sending a message, always check the preview to ensure that the content,
layout and formatting are as expected. This is particularly important if you
have pasted from another application. Remember that once the messages have been
dispatched, they cannot be retrieved.
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You can choose to send the message immediately or to send it later at a chosen time.
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To send the message now, click the ‘Send Now’ button in the top tool bar.
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To send a message at a chosen later time, click the ‘Send Later’ button.
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Enter the required dispatch date and time in the screen by using the drop down calendar or by selecting the entry and overtyping your choice. You can schedule the send for up to one month ahead. The time and date are for UK local time.
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Note that the message will be sent to those people on the recipient list who are linked at the time of dispatch, not at the time that you prepare the message. There may have been changes to the linked people over this period.
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The message will be sent at the time set. If you wish to cancel the message, go to ‘Sent Items’, highlight the message and click on ‘Cancel Scheduled’.
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For those on the recipient list that don’t have email see ‘Creating printed copies of the message’ below. For a scheduled message you can find the paper list from the ‘Sent Items’ screen.
Creating printed copies of the message for school members and parents who do not use email:
Economise on SMS credits by sending an SMS only to those without email:
Send your message by email, and then send an SMS only to those without a linked email address. This is useful for non urgent messages and minimising printing.
Creating printed copies of the message for school members and parents who do not use email:
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