How To Send Email In Collect!

The Email feature enables email output directly from Collect!.

* Send emails when you are on the Client or Debtor or Operator form.
* Send emails to additional recipients.
* Send attachments with your email.
* Print letters directly to email addresses.
* Send reports directly to email addresses.
* Save email drafts and complete them later.
* Send details or notes to an operator by email.

Requirements

You must be set up to send and receive email through an Email program, typically Outlook Express. If you can send and receive email from your computer, then you can send email directly from Collect!.

Sending Email From The Debtor Form

1. Sign into Collect! as you would normally.

2. Pull down the Browse menu and choose All Debtors.

3. When the list of debtors is displayed, choose one from the list to open a Debtor form for an individual.

4. Locate the Email field and select the small field icon, pointed to by the cursor in the image below.


Email Icon

This will open the Send Mail form where you can compose and send your email directly to a Debtor.

If you have entered an email address for this Debtor, it will automatically display when the Send Mail form opens.

Email Window

Composing Your Email

When the Send Mail form is displayed, press F1 for details about the fields on this form. Compose your email as you would in your other email client, for instance, Outlook Express.

Sending To Multiple Recipients

To send to multiple recipients, simply use a space, comma or semi-colon between each email address you enter in the field labeled Cc in the Send Mail form.

Sending Attachments

To send attachments, Collect! needs the complete path to the attachment entered in the Attachments field. You can enter multiple attachments, separated by semicolons.

If Collect! cannot find the attachment, it does not send the email.

To easily attach files, select the small file field icon in the Attachments field and chose one or more attachments to include. Collect! will automatically enter the complete path to the files you have chosen and they will be sent with your email.

Attaching a File to an Email

Sending Your Email

Press the Send button to send your completed email. If you open your email program, you should see that the email is now displayed in the Sent Items list.

Printing Directly To Email

When you are on the Debtor form, choose Print. Choose a letter to send to this Debtor. When the Print Report form is displayed, choose 'Email' as your choice for output. When you press the Print button, Collect! will compose the letter or report and send it to the Debtor's Email Address. You should see the email in the Sent Items list of your email program.

By default, Collect! will use the name of the report or letter you are printing as the email's Subject. You can modify this by using the report writer @SUBJECT command in your report or letter. Please refer to Help topic, How To Add a Subject When Printing to Email for details.

If you can print to email successfully from a single debtor, you can also print the letter or report in your letter batch. You can print an entire batch of Letter contacts to EMAIL by specifying 'Email' as your output choice when the Print Report form is displayed.

When printing a Client letter batch to Email, please ensure that you are printing letters that 'Start On' "Client."

SMS To Email

SMS (Short Message Service) is available on most digital mobile phones that permit the sending of short messages. When sending emails in Collect!, you can set up your system to transmit messages to a specific phone number for a Client, Debtor or Cosigner using the SMS Email feature. You can send meeting reminders, payment notifications, and status reports to Clients, Debtors or Cosigners as mobile phone SMS (Short Message Service) text messages. Please refer to Help topic, SMS Email Setup for details.

Save Draft

Click the 'Save Draft' button to save your email. This will not send it but will save it so that you can finish it later. An email saved in this way is posted to your WIP list. Choosing the item in the To Do List, opens the Send Mail form.

Save Email Draft

Additional recipients and Attachments are not recorded when you save a draft. These would have to be re-entered when the draft is revisited.

Emails Displayed In The WIP List

The Email switch must be switched ON in the WIP Reload Filters form in order for emails to display in the WIP List.

If you Reload your WIP and do not see Email Contact types displayed, do the following.

1. When the Work In Progress form is displayed, press the Reload button.

2. The Reload Work In Progress List will be displayed. Press the Select Types button to access the WIP Reload Filters form.

3. Switch ON the Email choice.

4. Click OK on all forms until you are at the Work In Progress form again. It should reload with your emails displayed.

WIP List with Email Contacts

When you choose an Email Contact from the To Do List, the Send Mail form will be displayed for that email.

Load Draft

Email drafts can be reopened, worked on and sent. Click on the 'Load Draft" button to display a list of all Email contacts for the current Debtor.

Load Email Draft

The Contact list is displayed with all email contacts. You can select an item in the list to display that email in the Send Mail form.

Emails Saved as Drafts

Sending Email From The Client Form

Email can be sent from the Client form in the same way as the initial steps described above. However, you cannot 'Save Draft' or 'Load Draft' when you are using the Send Mail feature from the Client form. Email must be composed and sent immediately.

Sending Email From The Operator Form

Email can be sent from the Operator form in the same way as the initial steps described above. However, you cannot 'Save Draft' or 'Load Draft' when you are using the Send Mail feature from the Operator form. Email must be composed and sent immediately.

See Also

- How To Setup Sending Email In Collect!
- Print Batch Email in Scheduler