Views Email

The ‘Views Send’ module enables you to create personalized mass emails from a view: With this feature, if, for example, a store would like to send an email reminder to all ticket holders for an upcoming event, it can create a view to pull up email addresses associated with orders and send a mass email. For now, the email can only be plain text.

NOTE: To have this module enabled on your site please send a request to [email protected] and we will enable the module and send you confirmation that it has been enabled.

CONFIGURE THE MODULE

Navigate to: Configuration > System > Views Send

1. Configure the settings
   • Cron throttle: Sets the number of messages per cron run. We recommend this be set to no more than 20.
   • Mail spool expiration:  All emails are spooled, this field determines how long messages are retained in the spool after successfully being sent. We recommend this be set to 1 day.
   • Log e-mails: If selected, all outgoing messages are logged in the system log. However, this does not indicate the status of delivery.
2. Save configuration

IMPORTANT VIEW TIPS

1. Clone: If you are not familiar with Views, before making any changes to an existing view, we highly recommend that you "clone" the view and try out your changes on the clone version first.
2. Saving changes: All changes you make to your view on the edit page are temporary until you click Save. For example, if you change the sort criteria and click OK in its window, the change will be lost if you leave the main view edit page without clicking Save. We highly recommend that you save your work frequently - especially when you see the message “All changes are stored temporarily. Click Save to make your changes permanent. Click Cancel to discard your changes.”
3. Administrative names and descriptions: It will help you manage and identify your views and displays if you utilize the fields that allow you to add optional descriptions or names.
4. Apply options: When working in settings, always change the ‘For’ option from ‘All Displays’ to ‘This block (override)’ so that the changes you make only alter the block (or page) you are working on. The ‘Apply’ button should say “Apply (this display)”.

CREATE THE VIEW

Navigate to: Structure > Views > Add New View

1. Enter a name for the view - Example: Send E-mail
2. Enter an additional description for the view (optional but recommended) Example: E-mail customers directly from the site
3. Select what you want this view to display:
   • Show - set to ‘Users’
   • Sorted by - set to ‘Newest First’
4. Confirm ‘Create a page’ is selected and enter the configurations
   • Page title - This will automatically default to the same name you entered previously in step 1. However, you can change it if desired. This title will be used in the display at the top of the page and in various parts of the browser. Example: Send E-mail
   • Path - This will be the path used to navigate to the page you are creating - use the default or set a custom path. We recommend giving this an ‘Admin’ path and placing it under the ‘Reports’ section.  Example: https://www.yoursitename.com/admin/store/reports/send-e-mail
   • Display format - set to ‘Table’
   • Items to display - You can specify the number of items your view displays on a page, with a pager to navigate between them or leave this field blank to display all items. We recommend setting this to 25 for this View.
   • Use a pager  - should be selected for this View
5. Continue & edit
6. Under ‘Page Settings’ select ‘Menu: No menu’
7. Select ‘Normal menu entry’
8. Enter a ‘Title’ - Example: Send E-mail
9. Enter a ‘Description’ - Example: Use to send e-mail to users from the site - Apply
10. Under ‘Page Settings’ select ‘Menu: Normal
11. Set the ‘Menu’ field to ‘Management’ - Apply
12. Under ‘Fields’ confirm ‘User: Name’ is already in place and select it
13. Change the ‘Label’ to Username - Apply (this display)
14. Under ‘Fields’ select ‘Add’
15. Search for ‘email’ and select ‘User: email’ - Apply (this display)
16. On the configuration screen, you may change the label for this column (optional) - Apply (this display)
17. Under ‘Fields’ select ‘Add’
18. Search for ‘global’ and select ‘Global: send email’ - Apply (this display)
19. On the configuration screen, you may change the label for this column (optional) - Apply (this display)
20. Under ‘Filter Criteria’ select ‘Add’
21. Search for ‘Email’ and select ‘User: Email’ - Apply (this display)
22. On the configuration page, select ‘Expose this filter to visitors, to allow them to change it’
23. Set the operator to ‘is equal to’ - Apply (this display)
24. Under ‘Filter Criteria’ select ‘Add’
25. Search for ‘name’ and select ‘User: Name’ - Apply (this display)
26. On the configuration page, select ‘Expose this filter to visitors, to allow them to change it’
27. Set the operator to ‘is equal to’
28. Change the ‘Label’ to Username - Apply (this display)
29. Save

This gives you a basic view in which you can select users and send them emails directly from your site. However, depending on your planned use you may want to make some additional modifications to this view, such as following the next set of steps to add a relationship to orders.

ADD RELATIONSHIP TO ORDERS

USER:ORDERS

1. Expand the ‘Advanced’ section
2. Under ‘Relationships’ select ‘Add’
3. Select ‘User: Orders’ - Apply (this display)
4. Leave the ‘Identifier’ as is and Apply (this display)
5. Save

ORDER:CUSTOMER

1. Expand the ‘Advanced’ section
2. Under ‘Relationships’ select ‘Add’
3. Select ‘Order: Customer’ - Apply (this display)
4. Leave the ‘Identifier’ as is and Apply (this display)
5. Save

ORDER:PRODUCTS

1. Expand the ‘Advanced’ section
2. Under ‘Relationships’ select ‘Add’
3. Select ‘Order: Products’ - Apply (this display)
4. Leave the ‘Identifier’ as is and Apply (this display)
5. Save

You have now created a ‘relationship’ between users and orders and can add order fields to this view.

ADD ORDER FIELDS & FILTERS

Again, depending on your planned use for this view you may want to add different order fields and filters. Below are the steps for some of the more common options.

ORDER ID FIELD

1. Under ‘Fields’ select ‘Add’
2. Search for and select ‘Order: Order ID’
3. Apply (this display)
4. Select ‘Link this field to the order view page’ (optional) - if selected you will be able to select the order and be directed to the order view.
5. Apply (this display)

ORDER BILLING FULL NAME / DELIVERY FULL NAME FIELD

1. Under ‘Fields’ select ‘Add’
2. Search for and select ‘Order: Billing address: First name’ (If you want to display the Delivery first name search for and select ‘Order: Delivery address: First name’)’
3. Apply (this display)
4. Adjust the label to identify which name you are showing - Example: Billing first name
5. Apply (this display)

ORDER BILLING FULL NAME / DELIVERY FULL NAME FILTER

1. Under ‘Filter Criteria’ select ‘Add’
2. Search for and select ‘Order: Billing address: First name’ (If you want to filter by the Delivery first name search for and select ‘Order: Delivery address: First name’)
3. Apply (this display)
4. Select ‘Expose this filter to visitors, to allow them to change it’
5. Set the ‘Operator’ to ‘is equal to’
6. Apply (this display)

ISBN/SKU FILTER

1. Under ‘Filter Criteria’ select ‘Add’
2. Search for and select ‘Ordered product: SKU’
3. Apply (this display)
4. Select ‘Expose this filter to visitors, to allow them to change it’
5. Set the ‘Operator’ to ‘is equal to’
6. Apply (this display)

These are just a few of the fields and filters you could add. Browse through the list of available fields and filters to see what you may want to configure.

NOTE: You can rearrange the order of your fields and filters by clicking the arrow next to add and selecting ‘Rearrange’.