Sending automatic emails from cases

By using email, you can share information about a case with stakeholders and case participants. Add the Send Email shape to your business process, to control the number of recipients and the message format. For example, you can inform stakeholders about the approval of a job candidate in a hiring process.

  1. Add the Send Email shape to the life cycle of your case:
    1. In the navigation pane of Dev Studio, click Case types, and then click the case type that you want to open.
    2. In the Case life cycle section, in a stage, click Step > More > Automations > Send email.
    3. Click Select.
  2. In the Step panel, identify the email recipients:
    • To send the email to one recipient, in the Send to list, select Email address, and then enter the email address of a user who wants to receive information about your case.
    • To send an email to more than one recipient, enter the email addresses and separate them with commas.
    • To send the email based on the value of a field, in the Send to list, select Field, and then select the name of a field that stores an email address.
    • To send the email based on the value of a user reference, in the Send to list, select User reference, and then select the name of a user reference from your data model.

      At run time, this field stores information about one user only.

    • To send the email to a group of stakeholders, in the Send to list, select Participant, and then select the name of a work party that defines a person, or a part of organization that is a participant of your case.
  3. Optional: To add more recipients, click Add recipient, and then repeat step 2.
  4. In the Subject field, enter the title of the email by entering a string expression.
    You can reference property names in the title to make it more dynamic and meaningful, for example, “The case “+.pyID + “ has been assigned to you”.
  5. Define your message content:
    Choices Actions
    Compose a new message
    1. In the Message list, select Custom.
    Use existing email content for the message
    1. in the Message list, select Correspondence.
    2. In the Correspondence template field, press the Down arrow key and select a template.
  6. If you create a custom message, in the Message content section, click Compose, and then edit the message in the rich text editor:
    Choices Actions
    Compose your own message
    1. Enter and style the text by using the rich text editor toolbar.
      For example: You can create a numbered list or emphasize text with bold font.
    Populate your email message with text from a template
    1. In the Compose message window, click Choose template.
    2. Click a template that you want to use.
    3. Click Select.
      After the template text appears in your email message, you can edit this content.
    Include the value of a field from your case in your email
    1. In the rich text editor, position the text cursor in the place where you want to add a property.
    2. On the toolbar, click the Insert property icon.
    3. Select a property that you want to use.
      For example: You can reference the first and last name in a greeting, or embed a project milestone date within a sentence.
      Tip: To prevent word clusters in your message, include a space before and after your property reference.
    Provide instant access to the case from your email
    1. In the rich text editor, position the text cursor in the place where you want to add a link.
    2. On the toolbar, click the Link icon.
    3. Select the Link to current case check box.
    4. Enter the display text and title for the link.
    5. Click OK.
  7. Click Done.
  8. Optional: To add attachments to the email, select the Include attachments check box, and then select the files that you want to upload:
    Actions Choices
    Include all case attachments
    1. Select All case attachments.
    Include only specific case attachments
    1. Select Choose attachments.
    2. select a category or a field that stores the attachments.
      Categories store groups of attachments with the same business classification, while fields store single attachments.
    3. Optional: To add multiple attachments, click Add attachment, and ten select another category or field.
  9. Click Save.
Result: At run time, when a case reaches the Send Email step, an application sends an email that you create to the recipients that you select.