Operations Menu - Activity - Send Calendar Invitation
This page describes the 'Send Calendar Invitation' function on the
Operations menu in the Activity record window. If you are using iOS or Android, the 'Send Calendar Invitation' function is on the Tools menu (with 'wrench' icon).
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The 'Send Calendar Invitation' function allows you to send an invitation to a Customer, Supplier or Contact Person, perhaps for a meeting or a conference. It will be sent to the recipient in iCalendar format as a .ics file. This is compatible with many calendar applications, including Apple's Calendar, Google Calendar, Yahoo! Calendar and IBM Notes. The recipient can import the invitation into their calendar application, and send a reply, which will arrive in your Mailbox as a normal Mail.
To use this function, you must have configured your Standard ERP database to send and receive external mail. You must be using the External Gateway module, you must have configured the Email SMTP Server setting so that invitations can be sent to external email addresses, and you must have configured PO3 Servers and specified External Email Addresses for each Mailbox (or used the Email Addresses setting) to ensure that replies to invitations can be directed to the correct Mailbox. Please refer here for full details about the external mailing facilities in Standard ERP.
Follow these steps to send an invitation:
- Create an Activity in the usual way.
It is recommended that you enter the title of the meeting or conference in the Text in the header of the Activity. The recipient's calendar application will use the Text as the name of the event. Any additional details about the event that you enter in the Text fields on the 'Text' card will also be included in the invitation.
Enter Start and End Dates and Times as appropriate.
Enter the recipient (i.e. the Customer, Supplier or Contact Person you are inviting) in the Contact field, and choose a Contact Person if necessary. The email address to which the invitation will be sent will be chosen as follows:
- If the Contact Person field in the Activity contains a Contact Person who has their own record in the Contact register, the email address in that Contact record (i.e. the Contact Person's personal or direct email address) will be used. If the Contact Person does not have their own email address, an invitation Mail will not be created.
- If the Contact Person field in the Activity contains a Contact Person who does not have their own record in the Contact register or if the Contact Person field in the Activity is empty, then the email address of the Customer or Supplier specified in the Contact field in the Activity will be used. If the Customer or Supplier does not have their own email address, an invitation Mail will not be created.
- Save the Activity.
- Choose 'Send Invitation' from the Operations menu.
- The invitation will be placed in your Mailbox. The Sent box will be ticked.
If you are using the Lock and Send emails Automatically option in the Mail and Conference Settings setting in the Email and Conferences module, the Mail will have been sent automatically and also locked.
If you are not using the Lock and Send emails Automatically option, open the Mail from your Mailbox and select 'Send email' from the Mail's Operations menu. The Mail will be sent, and this time it will not be locked.
- Attached to the Mail will be a .ics file containing the details of the event. The recipient will receive the Mail and can import the .ics file into their calendar application. They will be able to choose a Status (e.g. "Tentative", "Accept", "Refuse") and send a reply containing this Status.
- The reply will be received into your Mailbox as a normal Mail.
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