Introduction
Every booking and every quote has a Manual button that opens a window headed Manual email, where you write an email to the booking's customer and send it through the app. Top to bottom the window holds a Template list, the address boxes Email to, Email from, Email bcc and Email cc, a Subject line, a Body with a small text-formatting toolbar, and the buttons Send email and Cancel.
Type everything yourself, or pick one of your company's email templates to fill it in. A template also decides whether a document from the booking, such as the invoice or the rental agreement, goes with the email.
You would be here because:
- The customer asks you to send the invoice again, and their accountant needs a copy too.
- You want to tell a customer that the van is ready half an hour earlier than planned.
- A standard email went out with a mistake, and you want to send a corrected version with your own note at the top.
- A customer phoned with a question, and you want to confirm your answer in writing.
Use this page for a one-off email about one booking. The emails the app sends on its own are covered in Set up the automatic emails.
How to use
Configuration
Nothing needs setting up: you can always type an email from scratch. The Template list holds your company's booking email templates, which a company administrator writes under Admin → Communicator → Bookings (see Set up the automatic emails). Each has its own subject, body, CC, BCC, language and number format.
Before you start: any staff account that can open bookings can send a manual email. The booking's customer must have an email address on their customer record, because that is where the email goes (see Key details). The Email from box starts with the email address of the booking's pickup location; if that location has no address, ask your company administrator to add one, or type your own each time.
Using the manual email
From the main menu, open Bookings, then Overview, and open the booking. For a quote, open Bookings, then Quotes, and open the quote.
- In the row of pill-shaped tabs on the booking or quote, click Emails.
- Click Manual, the button with a person icon at the bottom of the tab. The Manual email window opens. Email to already holds the customer's email address, and Email from the pickup location's address.
- To start from a template, choose one under Template, for example Invoice or Pickup Reminder. Subject, Body, Email cc and Email bcc are replaced with the template's text, with this booking's details filled in — so choose it before you type anything.
- Fill in or correct the boxes. The table below shows what each one takes.
- Press Send email. You see E-mail sent succesfully! and the window closes.
Cancel closes the window; nothing is sent, and a half-written email is not kept.
The boxes:
| Box | Starts with | What it does | What it accepts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template | Empty | Fills in the text and decides the attachment | One template kind, or none |
| Email to | The customer's email address | Must hold a valid address before you can send; see Key details | One address. Empty gives Please fill in; a wrong one Email is not Valid |
| Email from | The pickup location's email address | Sender address, and where replies arrive | One address. Empty gives Email is empty; a wrong one Email is not valid |
| Email bcc | Empty, or the template's BCC | Hidden copies | Several addresses, separated by a semicolon (;) |
| Email cc | Empty, or the template's CC | Visible copies | Several addresses, separated by a semicolon (;) |
| Subject | Empty, or the template's subject | Subject line | Required. Empty gives Please fill in |
| Body | Empty, or the template's text | The message | Required. Empty gives Please fill in |
A payment request's own Manual email window also shows an Expiry date box at the top. That window is covered in Send a customer a payment request.
Key details
The email always goes to the booking's customer. Whatever you type in Email to, the app sends to the email address on the booking's customer record, with the customer's invoice name as recipient; Email to is only checked for being a valid address. To reach someone else, such as an accountant or a driver, use Email cc. For a different customer address, change it on the customer record first; see Create a customer.
What gets attached. There is no button to add your own file. The attachment comes from the template you chose — always the newest document of that kind already on the booking:
| Template chosen | Attached |
|---|---|
| Booking confirmation (and the two confirmation variants with payment) | The rental agreement, a calendar file for the booking, and your terms and conditions |
| Signed rental agreement | The rental agreement |
| Quote, Quote reminder | The quote |
| Deposit invoice | The deposit invoice |
| Pickup Reminder | The pickup form |
| Pickup completed | The rental agreement with the pickup form, and your terms and conditions |
| Dropoff completed | The drop-off form |
| Invoice, Lease renewal, No show | The invoice |
| Credit invoice | The credit invoice |
| Any other template, or none | Nothing |
If the booking has no document of that kind yet, the email goes without it, and without a warning. To send a single document from the booking's Documents tab, see Find and re-send a document.
Which template text you get. The app looks for a template of the chosen kind in the customer's language first, then in your company's language, then in your own language, and finally one with no language set. A template that has been switched off is still used here.
Placeholders. A template's placeholders, such as ${bookingNumber}, are filled in the moment you choose it; one you type yourself is filled in when you press Send email.
Worked example. Petra de Vries rented a van on booking 2231: 3 days at €89.00 is €267.00, plus 21% value-added tax (VAT) makes €323.07. She asks for the invoice again and wants her accountant, boekhouding@devries.example, to have it too.
| Step | Result |
|---|---|
| Open booking 2231, Emails, Manual | Email to shows petra@devries.example |
| Choose Invoice under Template | Subject and body filled in with booking 2231's details |
| Type boekhouding@devries.example in Email cc | |
| Add a line to Body: As requested, a copy for your accountant. | |
| Press Send email | Petra receives the email with the €323.07 invoice attached; the accountant gets a copy |
Had you typed the accountant's address in Email to instead, the email would still have gone only to Petra.
What to do next: if the customer says the email never arrived, see When an email does not arrive.
Q&A
Why did the customer get the email when I typed a different address in Email to? It always goes to the address on the booking's customer record; see Key details.
Why do I see "An error occured" after pressing Send email? The email did not leave; the text after the colon is the sending service's reason. A common cause is a customer record with no email address — typing one in Email to does not help. The window stays open, so copy your text, press Cancel, add the address to the customer record, and send again.
Why is the email I sent from the booking missing its attachment? The template has no attachment, or the booking has no document of that kind yet. Create the document first, for example the invoice, then send again with the matching template.
Why did my typed text disappear when I chose a template? Choosing a template replaces Subject, Body, Email cc and Email bcc. Choose the template first, then edit.
Where do the customer's replies go? To the Email from address, not into the app.
Can I send a manual email from the customer's own screen? No. The Manual button is only on a booking and on a quote. Open one of the customer's bookings and send it from there.
Where can I see what was sent? Every email sent successfully is kept in the sent-email list, which a company administrator opens under Admin → Communicator → Sent Emails. The CC addresses of a manual email are not recorded there. See When an email does not arrive.
Related pages:
- Set up the automatic emails, for writing the templates this window uses.
- Find and re-send a document, for sending one document from the booking.
- Email an insurer or customer about a damage claim, for emails about a damage claim, where you can attach your own files.
- Send a customer a payment request, for re-sending a payment request.