How to Send Emails

Use the Email feature in ChildFriendly to efficiently communicate with staff and families by composing messages, managing recipients with filters, reviewing history, handling delayed emails, and configuring email signatures.

Last updated About 10 hours ago

Step 1: Access the Email Feature

Navigate to the Email tab under the Communicate module. Once on this screen, you will see four options:

  • Compose

  • History

  • Delayed

  • Settings

You will begin in the Compose area to create a new email.

Step 2: Understand Recipient Type Options

Before composing your email, decide who you want to send it to. Use the question mark icons beside each recipient type for clarification; they explain exactly who will receive the email when that option is enabled.

Recipient options include:

  • Child – Sends the email to the guardians of all selected children.

  • Group – Sends the email to the guardians of children within the selected group.

  • Program – Sends the email to the guardians of children within the selected program.

  • Members – Sends the email to specific selected family members.

  • Staff – Sends the email directly to selected staff members.

Choose the appropriate combination of these toggles based on your communication needs.

Step 3: Select Children and View Guardians

In this example, we will filter by Child to email all the guardians of the children we select.

From the list of children:

  • Select the children you wish to include as recipients.

Next to each child, you will see a number in brackets (e.g., (1) or (2)) indicating how many guardians are on file; this is how many guardians will receive the email for that child.

On the right-hand side, you will see a compiled list of all guardians who will receive the email, including:

  • Guardian name

  • Relationship to the student

  • Guardian status

  • Pickup authorization type

Step 4: Use Filters to Refine Student Recipients

By default, the system filters for children with current status for the date range selected.

To adjust the student status (e.g., Current, Past, Wait-listed, Future), open the status filters:

You can:

  • Show Current children as of the date range selected

  • Show Past children

  • Email Wait-listed children or Pending Children

  • Email Future children who are starting but have not yet begun

  • Email Inactive Children

Remember: status is evaluated as of the selected date range.

You can modify the date range to match your needs.

Experiment with different combinations of status and date range to match your communication purpose.

Step 5: Search, Select, and Review Student Recipients

Once your filters are set:

  • Use the search field to find a specific student by name if needed, then select them.

  • To select multiple recipients quickly, use Select All in Current Page.

Adjust how many items appear per page using the page-size control (e.g., 50, 100, 200, 500 items per page).

Or choose to Select All to include everyone matching the filters on ALL pages.

The system will display a summary of how many children and guardians have been selected (e.g., 67 children, 78 guardians).

At the bottom, a helpful hint summarizes your filters applied.

Step 6: Add BCC Recipients (Staff and Admin)

After finalizing the child/guardian recipients, decide if you want to blind copy (BCC) any internal recipients such as staff or administrators.

  • When searching by Admin, the system displays all administrators; select which admins to BCC.

  • For Staff, similarly select which staff members to BCC.

Staff can be filtered based on whether they are active or inactive during a given period, and you can choose to select all or select all in the current page.

Step 7: Compose and Send the Email

Once you have finalized all recipients:

  • Enter the Subject line.

  • Enter the Body of the email with your message content.

You can enhance your email by:

  • Inserting links

  • Pasting screenshots or images directly into the body

  • Adding file attachments as needed

When you are satisfied, click Send.

After sending:

  • The email will appear in the Email Tasks list with its status (e.g., sent, queued).

  • You can filter by date to review current and past emails and their statuses.

Step 8: Review Email History

Open the History tab to review all emails that have been sent to every recipient in your system.

Within History, you can:

  • Filter by different criteria (e.g., date, recipient, status).

  • See the status of each email (e.g., delivered, in spam, filtered).

Use this tab to audit communications and confirm delivery.

Step 9: Manage Delayed Emails During Initial Setup

Next, open the Delayed section.

This tab is primarily used when setting up your center for the first time:

  • In the Setup module, there is a toggle that can disable email sending.

  • With email disabled, you can still:

  • Create parent accounts

    • Add children

    • Add staff accounts

    • Configure the system

  • However, no emails or portal login invites will be sent while that toggle is off.

In the Delayed tab, you will see all emails that are pending because email sending is disabled. When you later enable the email toggle in Setup, all pending emails will automatically send.

If you need to send a specific email before enabling the global toggle, you can manually override and send individual emails directly from the Delayed tab.

Step 10: Configure Email Signature

Finally, go to the Settings tab to configure your email signature.

To give your communications a professional look, you can upload a JPEG or PNG image file as your signature.

Upload your signature file here; it will be automatically appended to the bottom of all outgoing emails.