Dispatch to Email allows a user to pre-populate a form with data and then send it to anyone in the world with an email address. Dispatch to Email is great for sending form-based invoices, quotes, proposals, etc. to people who don't have a doForms account or mobile license. In addition, Dispatch to Email provides real-time notification when a form is emailed, opened, or completed by the recipient. When using Dispatch to Email, you may choose to send the email immediately or according to a set schedule. Note that if you don't want mobile users to have access to Dispatch to Email, you must modify their user permissions on the Manage Mobile Users screen.

Pre-populating the selected form

Click the New button to open a form dispatch (shown below). Refer to the numbered highlights in the image shown below for information on pre-populating the selected form:

1. Click the Send to: Email radio button.

2. Enter the email of the person you want to send the form to. Note that you may only enter one email address. For information on using the address book, see Using the Dispatch to Email address book, below.

3. For information on entering the email's subject and body text, as well as other settings, see Modifying Dispatch to Email settings, below.

4. Enter data into the form.

Using the Dispatch to Email address book

The Dispatch to Email address book allows you to search for and select an email to use for the Dispatch to Email. The address book also allows you to add, edit, and delete email addresses.

To open the Dispatch to Email address book and select an email:

1. Click the address book icon to open the Address book (highlighted in red, below). By default, all email addresses will appear.

2. Click an email and then click Select.

To search for and select an email in the Dispatch to Email address book:

1. Enter a text string to search for within the existing email addresses. In the example, right, the user is searching for all emails containing the string 'ar'.

2. Click the Search button. In the example below, the search has resulted in five email addresses, each containing the string 'ar'.

3. Click an email address.

4. Click the Select button.

To add an email to the Dispatch to Email address book:

1. Click the Add button to open the Add email address window.

2. Enter an email address in the Email field.

3. Click the Save button.

To edit an email address in the Dispatch to Email address book:

1. Click the drop-down arrow for the email address you wish to edit.

2. Click the Edit button to open the Edit email address window.

3. Modify the email address.

4. Click the Save button.

To delete an email address from the Dispatch to Email address book:

1. Click the drop-down arrow for the email address you wish to edit.

2. Click the Edit button to open the Edit email address window.

3. Modify the email address.

4. Click the Save button.

Modifying Dispatch to Email settings

You can modify the default email options in the Dispatch to Email settings window, described below. Note that these settings are specific to each published form.

To modify Dispatch to Email settings for a specific form, refer to the numbered highlights in the image shown below. Note that the bottom diagram -- a sample email containing the form link -- shows how each Dispatch to Email setting corresponds to its header and message fields.

1. Click the Settings icon to open the Dispatch to email settings dialog box.

2. Enter text in the Set email alias field. When the recipient receives the email from you, your email address will appear in the From field as: nnnnn [do-not-reply@mydoforms.com], where nnnnn is the text you entered.

   Example: U-Drive Car Rental [do-not-reply@mydoforms.com]

3. Select an Email subject. When the recipient receives the email from you, the email's Subject will appear as one of the following:

   • Used form name: Select this option to use the doForms name of the form as the Subject.

   • Used record name: Select this option to use fields from within the form to describe the Subject (e.g., CustName, CustAddress, JobDate, etc.).

   • Default: Enter text to have it appear by default as the Subject, each time this form is sent via Dispatch to Email.

   • Custom: Select this option to enable the sender to enter a custom Subject, each time this form is sent via Dispatch to Email.

4. Select an Email message option:

   • Default: Enter text to have it appear by default as the Email message, each time this form is sent via Dispatch to Email. Note that you may use HTML tags in order to break lines, boldface or italicize content, etc.

   • Custom: Select this option to enable the sender to enter a custom Email message, each time this form is sent via Dispatch to Email.

5. Select how you want to link to the form within the email:

   • Link: Embeds a URL into the email.

   • Icon: Embeds an Open icon into the email.

   • Icon and link: Embeds an Open icon and a URL into the email.

   • Click here button: Embeds a Click here button into the email.

   • Click here button and link: Embeds a Click here button and a URL into the email.

6. Select Other settings that will appear at the bottom of the email.

7. Click the Save button to save all changes.

Using Data Names in your custom body message or email subjects

Users can use data names from existing fields in their form to populate their custom body messages. For example, if a user wanted to have the message include the customers name they could use this sentence as an example: Thank You {Customer_Name} for the order (in this example {Customer_Name} is a field in the form where the user would type the customers name). Now every time a new name is entered the body message data name will be replaced with the value entered in the form.

Users can also use data names in their email subjects. Just like with the body message, when in the report settings for an email field and also using the "Custom" option for the email subject, users can create custom strings or sentences using the forms data names. For example, a user could want to identify each email by customer name and by invoice number by adding the data names {Customer_Name} - {Invoice Number} to their custom email subject. In this example the values entered in the form form for customer name and invoice number would be shown on the email subject when the email was received.

Sending the email

After you have pre-populated the form with data, entered the recipient's email address, and entered any other email settings, you may either:

1. Click the Send button (highlighted in red, below) to send the email immediately. Once you click the Send button, the email is sent and you will see a confirmation message.
   

2. Click the Schedule button (highlighted in green, above) to send the email according to a set schedule. After clicking the Schedule button, the Schedule Job window will open (see image, below). Refer to the lettered highlights in the image shown below.

   1. Click in the Job Date field to open the calendar. Browse to the desired date and click it.

   2. Select an hour, minutes, and AM/PM.

   3. Click Schedule. You will see a confirmation message.
      

What the form recipient sees after clicking the form link

After the email is sent, the recipient receives an email containing a link to the form. The recipient clicks the link to open the form in a browser.

If the form opens in a browser in a small mobile device (e.g., smartphone, iPad mini, etc.), the form will automatically open in Full Screen mode, as follows:

If the form opens in a desktop/laptop browser, or in a large mobile device (e.g., tablet) browser, the form will automatically open in Form mode (shown in image, below).

No matter which mode the form opens in, the recipient can toggle modes using the Full Screen/Form Mode button (highlighted in red, below).

The recipient can modify any field in the form. When they are finished entering data, they must click/tap the Submit button (highlighted in green, below) to submit the completed form back to the dispatcher.

To print the form, the recipient may click/tap the Print button (highlighted in pink, below), and then follow any on-screen printing instructions.

Checking the status of a sent email, and opening a returned form

DoForms posts each sent email into the Dispatch screen, allowing you to keep track of emails that have been sent. The Dispatch screen also shows the statuses of sent emails, letting you know which forms have been opened or completed by the recipients. Finally, the Dispatch screen allows you to open returned forms.

To check the status of a sent email (refer to the numbered highlights in the image below):

1. Launch the doForms portal and click Dispatch.

2. Select a Project and a Form.

3. The Status column shows the status of each form that has been sent via Dispatch to Email. In the example below, one form has been Emailed, one form has been Completed, and one form has been Opened.
   

To open a returned form (refer to the numbered highlights in the image below):

1. Click the drop-down arrow for the form you wish to open.

2. Click Edit to open the form.