Send Message

SysAid allows you to send e-mails, SMSes, instant messages, and broadcasts using the Send Message page. You may access the Send Message page by clicking the Send Message icon on the upper menu bar or by clicking from within a service record. Note that in order to send somebody a message from within SysAid, they must be registered in SysAid as either an end user or an administrator.

Following is a brief description of the fields on this page and how to use them.

Fields on the Send Message page (click to expand)

Method

There are four ways you can send a message:

Instant Message: Instant messages may be sent to administrators only. An instant message will pop up in a new browser window on the screen of the administrator the next time that administrator changes pages in SysAid. Popup blockers may interfere with this functionality.
E-mail: Sends an e-mail to the selected recipients. You must have enabled outgoing e-mail integration from Preferences --> Integration --> Email.
SMS: Sends an SMS to the selected recipients. You must have enabled SMS integration from Integration --> SMS.
Broadcast: Sends a message that pops up on the screen of the selected recipients. In order to receive a broadcast, a user must have the SysAid agent installed on his or her computer. This popup does not use a web browser.

From

(E-mail only) This allows you to choose whether to send the e-mail from one of the helpdesk e-mail addresses or from the administrator's personal e-mail. In order for the From field to appear, you must either A) Allow to send messages from admin emails under Preferences --> Integration --> E-mail, and the administrator sending the e-mail must have an e-mail address registered in SysAid or B) have more than one outgoing e-mail address for the helpdesk (Enterprise Edition only).

Select the message recipients. This field accepts user names and not e-mail addresses. You may also enter group names in brackets to send your message to all members of a group. Recipient/group names are separated by commas. You may use the ellipses button to pull up the Select Users page to find users, and you may use the Add Group button to pull up the Select Groups page.

(Instant message, e-mail, SMS) Sends a copy of your e-mail to any user or group you list here. If you are sending the message from a service record, SysAid will record the names in the CC field in the message log.

Severity

(Broadcasts only) Choose info or alert. The only difference is the image that will appear next to the popup message on the user's computer, used to indicate severity.

Subject

(Instant message, e-mail, SMS) This is the subject of your message.

Message

This is the body of your message. The E-mail and Instant Message methods includes a rich text editor. Note that the rich text editor is only enabled if Content type is set to HTML under e-mail integration.

Attachments

(E-mail only) Add attachments to a service record:

Click Add. The Attachments window opens.
Click Choose File and select the file for attachment. You can select up to three attachments at once.
Click Attach Files. Please be patient while your files are attached. The Attachments window closes when the attachments are uploaded. You will see them listed below the Add button.
If you need to add more attachments, return to step 1.

To delete attachments, click the tickbox next to the desired attachment(s) to mark them for deletion and then click Delete.

Add attachments also to the SR

(Only available when sending a message from an SR) After sending your e-mail, any attachments are added to the Attachments field on the service record. They are added with a timestamp indicating when the e-mail was sent.

Add a link to the files instead of attaching them to the message

(Only available when sending a message from an SR) This checkbox is only available after an attachment is uploaded. This stores the attachments on the SysAid Server and includes a link to download them in the e-mail. This can be useful if attachments are blocked on the recipient's end.

Include the details of the Service Record

(Only available when sending a message from an SR) This will append a selection of service record fields to the bottom of the e-mail, below the body. This includes fields such as title, description, etc.

Send to all the child requests of this Service Record

(Only available when sending a message from a parent SR, i.e. an SR that has child SRs) To make it easier to communicate with all involved parties when managing a parent service record, this checkbox allows you to send your e-mail to both the request user of the parent SR and to the request user of every child SR of the parent.

Add/Edit automatic text messages

SysAid allows you to create automatic texts for use in messages. To insert an automatic text:

Click the cursor on the part of your message where you would like to insert the text.
Click the Add/Edit automatic text messages icon to open the list of automatic text messages.
Click on the automatic text you would like to insert. You may also click Automatic Text Settings to open a screen where you can edit these texts.

For complete edit options for automatic texts, go to Help/Service Desk --> Help/Service Desk Settings --> Automatic Texts (tab).

Sending an e-mail from a service record