Formatting email body using Send mail

[ljensen1]

Is there any way to format the body of an email using the Send Mail script step? (FileMaker 11)

[Cabinetman]

Is there any way to format the body of an email using the Send Mail script step? (FileMaker 11)

You mean HTML format plain text?

[agscott27]

Really does anybody have any information on formatting the body of an email using the internal client. The only thing I can do is send and email with a record number. It only lets me use one field. What am I missing? I can't find information on this should I buy a third party plug in.

[IdealData]

Have a look at ScriptMaster by 360Works as it's free and can do formatted email. There are a number of other plugins too.

[bcooney]

I think that we should clarify terms. "Format" an email. As Cabinetman asks, "what do you mean?"

FM's native Send Mail feature does not support html formatting/graphics or more than one attachment. If that's what you mean by "format," then you need a plugin. As Ideal points out, 360works Scriptmaster has a module for sending html email that is free.

However, if what you mean by "format" is to "personalize" an email by including data from your system, then you do not need a plugn. Yes, you can only point to one field for the body of an email. However, that field can be a calculation that pulls data from your system. For example, create a text calc field in your Contacts table:

emailBody = "Dear " & FName & " " & LName & ", " & "<CR><CR>" & "Thank you for you last payment on " & LastPayDate & "."

Then, use the emailBody field in your Send Mail script step.

hth,

Barbara

[agscott27]

I get the sense that the included send mail is extremely inadequate for most purposes. Thanks for both replies and I am definitely taking your advice.

AGS

[bcooney]

Not really. It's quite adequate for most, and I wouldn't jump to a plugin right away. What's nice about building email into your system is that you have a record of the email in the database. I typically create an Activities table for each email.

[FMPierce]

So in the Send Mail script step you can't format such as:

Bold,

Italic

or Underline?

Thanks,

FMPierce

[bcooney]

Right. Plain text only.