Create custom content for email notifications

You can add custom content to your email notifications. Specifically, you can:

• Style your message

• Create notifications for both single-record and multiple-record changes

• Insert field references and markers

When creating or editing your notification, you can specify custom content in the Email Contents portion of the Create Notification screen. In the Message Type menu, select Custom message. Note that if your custom message will contain some HTML, you'll need to select HTML next to Message Format, otherwise the raw HTML markup will appear in your plain text email.

Style your message

You can style your message using the rich text toolbar. Add visual styling to your notifications to create messages that are actionable, look more professional, and are less likely to be missed in a busy inbox.

Additionally, you can style your message by editing the HTML of its content. To do this, click Source.

Single record and multiple record notifications

With a custom message, you can create notifications that are sent when:

• A single record changes (configured using the Single Record Version tab)

• Multiple records changed at one time, as a result of a grid edit or a search and replace operation

If you want to be notified of both kinds of changes, compose two custom messages. Within the Single Record Version tab, create the email that is sent when a single record changes. Likewise, within the Multiple Record Version tab, compose the message that reports changes to multiple records.

Tip: If you've created custom forms, you can select one to use to display your record in the Single Record Version of the notification email. Within the Single Record Version tab, click the Data Form menu and select the name of the form you want to use.

Limitations on multiple record notifications

• You cannot specify a custom form to display changes to multiple records in a single notification.

• An Open notification that sends a notification to emails in an email address type field (as described in step 4 of To create a record change notification) only works when a single record changes. It does not work as expected when multiple records change at that same time. An email with all the changed records is sent to all email addresses that appear in every changed record.

Insert field references

For some kinds of notifications, you can insert field references. Field references act like variables in your email message. For instance, if you want your email to let recipients know who's made the change they're learning about, you can insert a field reference which draws values from the "Last Modified By" field.

Note: For multi-record notifications, do not include field references because Quickbase displays the field ID and not the value of the field when it sends the notification email. This happens because Quickbase sends one email to notify users of the multi-record change, and the value of the field varies per record.

A field marker is simply the field name enclosed by square brackets ([Last Modified By], for instance.) When you click inside either the Subject or Custom Message box, you'll see a list of valid field references you can use. You can also type these in manually, if you know the field names. but keep in mind, depending on the type of message you're composing, and the insertion point (Subject or Custom Message), certain field markers are not valid.

For example, the sample message just discussed would look something like this: [Last Modified By] has changed Invoice Number [Invoice ID].

You can also use field references to capture the original value from a field (before it was changed) and display it in an email.

To do so, type old. in front of the field name, as in [old.status] or [old.description]. For example, say you've inserted the following custom text in your notification:

The city changed from [old.city] to [city].

If a user were to change the value in the city field from Boston to Paris, this line would display in an email as:

The city changed from Boston to Paris.

Insert markers

You can insert markers into your custom email notification that let you include details about or links to the app. When you click in the Custom Message or Subject fields, the Choose Markers menu appears. Choose a marker in this menu to insert it.

Not all markers are valid for every type of message. For Recipient type notifications, you can insert markers that link back to the app. Since Quickbase knows that all recipients of the notification have access to the app, the link is all you need.

When you send an Open notification, the recipient probably doesn't have access to your app. In these cases, you can embed a copy of the record(s) in the message itself and include %RepeatOn% and %RepeatOff% markers.

Note: Do not use open notifications to send sensitive information. Because open notifications can be sent to individuals who aren't users of your app, Quickbase doesn't check permissions or hide any information from recipients (even if one or more recipients are users of your app). The only way to control what fields display in an open notification is to specify a custom form for the notification (read about forms) or craft a custom notification.

The markers and fields you can insert also depend on whether you're composing the single or multiple record change message. For example, a recipient notification for multiple record changes won't let you insert any field codes. Markers include:

The name of this application

• Appears as—%appName%
• Function—Inserts the full name of the app
  

  Recipient single record		Recipient multiple record		Open single record		Open multiple records
  Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body
  Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

A link to this application

• Appears as—%appLink%
• Function—Inserts a link to the app's Home page
  

  Recipient single record		Recipient multiple record		Open single record		Open multiple records
  Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body
  -	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

The name of this table

• Appears as—%dbName%
• Function—Inserts the name of the table and app in which you saved the notification
  

  Recipient single record		Recipient multiple record		Open single record		Open multiple records
  Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body
  Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

The ID of this table

• Appears as—%dbid%
• Function—Behind the scenes, Quickbase assigns an ID to each table, and this marker inserts that value
  

  Recipient single record		Recipient multiple record		Open single record		Open multiple records
  Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body
  Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

A copy of the changed record

• Appears as—%recData%
• Function—Inserts an image of the changed record in the email body
  

  Recipient single record		Recipient multiple record		Open single record		Open multiple records
  Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body
  -	Yes	-	-	-	Yes	-	Only within repeat markers

A link to the changed record

• Appears as—%recLink%
• Function—Inserts a link that opens the record
  

  Recipient single record		Recipient multiple record		Open single record		Open multiple records
  Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body
  -	Yes	-	-	-	Yes	-	Only within repeat markers

The label of the changed record

• Appears as—%recLabel%
• Function—Inserts the value from the record's key field
  

  Recipient single record		Recipient multiple record		Open single record		Open multiple records
  Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body
  Yes	Yes	-	-	Yes	Yes	-	Only within repeat markers

The ID of the record changed

• Appears as—%recID%
• Function—Inserts the record ID number that Quickbase automatically assigns to each record
  

  Recipient single record		Recipient multiple record		Open single record		Open multiple records
  Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body
  Yes	Yes	Yes	-	Yes	Yes	-	Only within repeat markers

A summary of the records that changed

• Appears as—%summaryView%
• Function
  • For closed, multi-record notifications, inserts a link to a report containing only the changed records
  • For a deleted record notification, this marker returns no results
  • For any other kind of notification, ends a report preview of the changed records with the fields included on the form assigned to Everyone
  • Only include information intended recipients should see
    

    Recipient single record		Recipient multiple record		Open single record		Open multiple records
    Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body
    -	-	-	Yes (Except within repeat headers)	-	-	-	Yes (except within repeat headers)

Begin markers for each record change

• Appears as—%RepeatOn%
• Function—In multi-record change messages, use this marker to precede a snippet of text that will appear for each record that changed
  

  Recipient single record		Recipient multiple record		Open single record		Open multiple records
  Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body
  -	-	-	-	-	-	-	Yes

End markers each record change

• Appears as—%RepeatOff%
• Function—In multi-record change messages, use this marker to precede text that you want to appear once, as a header or footer
  

  Recipient single record		Recipient multiple record		Open single record		Open multiple records
  Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body	Subject	Body
  -	-	-	-	-	-	-	Yes

Marker quick reference

* Only within repeat markers

**Except within repeat headers

Using %RepeatOn% and %RepeatOff% in OPEN multi-record messages

The %RepeatOn% and %RepeatOff% markers give you more flexibility when constructing multi-record messages with the Open Permission Type. See the table above for definitions of these markers. These markers appear as the following in the Choose Markers menu:

• %RepeatOn% - Begin marker(s) for each record change

• %RepeatOff% - End marker(s) for each record change

Important: Field references and markers won't work properly in multi-record messages unless you insert them after a %RepeatOn% marker.

Additional options

If you insert field references in your custom messages, and a field happens to be empty, recipients may be perplexed. Avoid confusion by inserting the word empty when this occurs. To do so, within the Custom Message Options section, beside When a field is blank, insert the word "empty": select Yes.

Related topics:

• About email notifications

• Create a record change notification