Schoolcomms messages can only be distributed to people who are registered to receive email or SMS text messages. Anyone on your message distribution list who is not registered, or who has chosen to be contacted via paper, will be listed on a ‘paper distribution list’.

Distribution list for SIMS Schools:

The optimal way to view the list of people needing printed copies of the message is to click the 'Click to view or save a CSV address and phone list of those people needing a printed copy of this email'. If you would like to view a formatted list that does not use the information in SIMS, please follow the instructions below in the 'Distribution list for Non-SIMS Schools' section.

• The ‘Distribute paper version of this message...’ screen is automatically displayed after a message has been sent. This screen is also available from Sent Items for one month after the message was sent.
  
  

Distributing paper copies:

• Click on the ‘View or save a CSV address and phone list...’ button.
• A report will be displayed showing the people requiring printed copies. This report will list: 
  • Recipients who are not linked to Schoolcomms.
  • Recipients who are linked to Schoolcomms but are unable or have elected not to receive this type of message. 
  • Recipients who have registered to only receive paper messages or have opted out.
  • Manually linked or web registered recipients who have been identified as non resident on the view linked people screen.

• The report will exclude:
  • Recipients that are not linked for this type of message but who share a home address with another receipient who was sent the message.
  • Copies of communication for each linked child in the school; if a parent is linked to several children, they will only be listed on this report once.
  
  
  

• The list shows the Student name with the registration group so that the list can be sorted by group if required by clicking on the column header.
• The example above shows the CSV distribution list for a message sent to parents and students. The students and parents are listed on separate lines where neither are registered to receive this type of message.
• Click Save to save the list.
• Choose a suitable location to save the file and click Save.
• Go to your chosen location to view the file.
• Remember to look for files of the type .CSV
  
  
  
• This file can be used to prepare address labels, generate a mail merge, or simply to identify the non resident parents for mailings. 
• The contact phone numbers will facilitate urgent contact or short messages. 
• The list can be sorted by columns, so that you can use the data as you wish. For example, this enables you to edit out a group of entries like students. 
• When sorting, ensure that you have the whole dataset selected so as not to dissociate data on each row. 
• If a cell is blank, it means that the field in your SIMS database has no entry. 
• Where the cell has the text ‘School to manually look up in SIMS’ this is because the parent is flagged in Schoolcomms as non resident and requiring paper copies. (See notes below on Add/Edit link) Where the same message is to be sent to parents of more than one child in a family, the address or number will appear only once, as long as the addressee details in SIMS are identical.

Printing paper copies of the message:

•  Click the 'Print preview the message' icon.
• You will see the email, or SMS text message that you have sent.
• Click 'Print' to print a paper copy of the message.
• Click 'Close' to close this screen. You will be returned to the ‘Paper distribution’ box.
• To print a paper copy of any attachment to an email, find the attachment on your workstation and print it in its originating application.
• Click ‘Close’ to return to the main ‘Compose email message’ screen or 'Compose an SMS message' screen.

Distribution list for Non-SIMS Schools:

• The ‘Distribute paper version of this message...’ screen is automatically displayed after a message has been sent. This screen is also available from Sent Items for one month after the message was sent.
  
  

Distributing paper copies by 'pupil post':

• Click the ‘View or print a list of people needing a paper version’ button.
• A list of people who require a paper copy of the message will be displayed
• If you do not want your school header to appear on these lists, click on ‘Page setup’. Click on the remove header and footer boxes so that the default settings are overridden.
• Print the paper distribution lists by clicking on the printer button. These lists show the pupils and parents that require paper copies of the message. The lists are organised into registration groups. The total number of copies required for each registration group is displayed to facilitate distribution.
• If you do not need a separate list for each registration group, use the CSV paper list described below.
  
  
  
• To make the list easier to read, adjust the zoom tool at the bottom left corner of the screen.
• Click 'Close' to close this screen.
• The ‘Distribute paper version of this message...’ screen will be displayed.

Printing paper copies of the message:

• Click the 'Print preview the message' icon.
• You will see the email, or SMS text message that you have sent.
• Click 'Print' to print a paper copy of the message.
• Click 'Close' to close this screen. You will be returned to the ‘Paper distribution’ box.
• To print a paper copy of any attachment to an email, find the attachment on your workstation and print it in its originating application.
• Click ‘Close’ to return to the main ‘Compose email message’ screen or 'Compose an SMS message' screen.

Sending an SMS message to recipients that do not have an email address:

If you have sent an email, Schoolcomms can send a 'mop up' SMS text message to those recipient without an email address to reduce the number of people needing manual contact. Please click here to find out how to do this