We’ve made some major changes to emails, event calendars, and Smart Groups traits related to widows and widowers.
Changes to Preflight Emails
You can now confirm your email list before it is added to your default email client. Select the group you wish to email within the People or Households view. With your list selected, click on the Send Email button.
You will be taken to a screen listing the names and emails of the people you have selected. Deselect any of the addresses you do not wish to email. Any undeliverable emails will be indicated by an alert signal and automatically deselected. Once you have confirmed your list, click Send. The list will be sent to your default email server, where you can compose the content of your email.
This update also applies to emailing Contribution Statements. With your list selected, go to Download, and select Contribution Statements. Click Review and Email. You will be taken to a screen that displays the complete list of people who will be receiving the Email. Confirm your list and click Send. A green box will appear in the upper right hand corner of your screen to let you know that your statements are being delivered.
Multi-Calendar Events
We have also updated the calendars feature so that the same event can be added to more than one calendar. To access this feature from an existing event, simply click on the event name, go over to the calendars section, and add the additional calendar name. To access this feature from a new event, just click on new, add your event information, and type in all the calendars on which you would like this event to appear. Click Add and the event will be added to all these calendars.
Event Instances Can Have Different Names
This calendars update also gives you the ability to rename certain event instances in the same series. To edit a single event title, just click on the name of the event you would like to update. Enter in the new title and click Save. Select Update only this event and click Save again. When you go back to your calendar view, you will see that the one event name has been changed without affecting the entire event series or calendar.
Widow and Widower Traits
There are also two new traits to help you track people who may be widows or widowers in your congregation. The Widow(er)s trait can filter people by whether or not they are currently widowed. People will only appear in this list if they have not been remarried after their first spouse’s death. The Widowed trait, however, organizes people by the date they have been widowed. People who have remarried after their first spouse died can possibly appear in this list, using the “were widowed ever” criteria. You may also change the criteria to find people who were widowed during a certain date range.
We hope these updates will help you as you use emails, calendars, and smart groups! If you have any further suggestions or questions, please contact our support team at support@cts.cph.org or 1.800.346.6120.
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