This is a Level 7 feature

To reach the Email Set-up page, start at the Main Invoice Screen and select FILE and BASIC PROGRAM SET UP from the Menu Bar. Click on the "Email Set-up " tab on top of the page:

The Email Set-up page will appear.

This feature provides you with a built-in email client which allows you to send invoices to vendors with the press of a button.

IMPORTANT NOTE: the email account that you use must be with an Internet Service Provider (ISP).  AnyOrder's internal email is not designed to work with Yahoo, Gmail, HotMail and other web-based email.  We can customize the program to work with web-based mail, but it does required extra charges in order to do that.  ISP email accounts are very inexpensive (some less than $20 US a year).  You can have multiple accounts and pick your own identifiable domain name. Here's an example that works well and is inexpensive: 1&1

Note that AnyOrder doesn't use a "Send" mailbox to store copies of your sent invoices, but you can send blind copies to another company mailbox as a way of tracking your sent mail.  Also it's important to note that since AnyOrder doesn't currently have receiving capabilities, you'll want to use your normal email program to monitor outgoing mail - or responses to sent mail.

In order to use the email system, you need to enter the follow basic set-up values.

Email Address

Type in the Email Address of the email account that you want to use to send purchase orders to the customer.  This will be the email account that AnyOrder will access with its internal email program.

Company or Name Associated With Email

This is the name that will appear alongside your email address.  In most cases, you'll type in your company name here.  But you may, also, use 'Order Department' or 'Customer Service' - or if it's personal business, you may type in your own name here."

Outgoing Server (SMTP)

AnyOrder needs to have the address of the outgoing email server.  Look in the documentation provided by your Internet Service Provider.  You should find a reference to the name of the outgoing email server.  You are looking for a name similar to:

smtp.company.com

If your company has Microsoft Exchange for it's email system, use the Exchange name.

Type in the name exactly as appears the documentation.

Port

The port number tells AnyOrder which doorway it should use to access the outgoing email server.  It is often port 25, but another fairly common port is 587.  It is also possible that it could be another number.  Check the documentation provided by your Internet Service Provider.

User Name

This is the user name for your email account.  The user name may be provided to you - or it may be a name that you create.  A combination of your user name and password allows you to send emails.  Check your email provider's documentation for details.

Password

This is the password that you use to send emails.  (The password to send - and receive - emails is almost always exactly the same.)  Type the password into this field.

Password NOT Required

This field is almost always left unchecked.  It's very rare for email programs not to require a password for outgoing mail

Send Mail Test

Click this button to test your email settings.  You'll be able to enter an email address.  Use an email address that you can access.  Then try sending an email.  If you do not receive the email, then you'll want to re-check your settings.

"Create or Edit Default Email Message" Button

By the press of a button, you can email a customer a copy of the invoice.  This feature allows you to prepare a standardize message to go along with the invoice.  (The button that you press is the "Auto Send" button found on the Main Invoice Screen near the email address.)

You can also access the standardized message, by clicking on the "Open" button.  This brings up an email form on which you can type a type a personalized message, but, additionally, you'll find a "Defaults" button on the email form which when clicked will insert your standardized message (and CC, BCC, etc).

Here's what the "Auto Send" and "Open" buttons look like on the Main Invoice Screen:

To access the screen which allows you to compose the standardized message, click on the "Create or Edit Default Email Message" button.  You'll find the button on the right side of Email Settings in Basic Program Set-up (shown below).

When you click this button, the following screen appears:

On this screen, you can write short cover letter to go along with invoices being emailed to customers.  Along with the standardized message, you'll also be able to indicate any CC's, BCC's or Reply to addresses you want included.

Note that even if you don't plan to use a default message, it's helpful to set up a simple message.  One advantage is of doing this is that it allows you to designate a BCC to hold "Sent" messages.  AnyOrder doesn't currently support a "Sent" box, and setting up a BCC can be helpful.

You can also use several macro substitution variables in the text of your standardize message.  For example, let's say you want to insert the billing name in your message.  You can do that by entering [NAME]  (all capitals and between two square brackets).  So, if your message looked like this:

Dear [NAME]

And the billing name on the invoice is John Doe, the email message sent to the customer would read:

Dear John Doe

There are several other macro substitution variables.  They include:

[SNAME]  - This inserts the shipping name

[INV#] - This insert the invoice number

[PO#] - This inserts the purchase order number

[SVIA] - This inserts the shipping method

The macro substitution variables work for both the body of the message and the subject line.

Incoming Email Settings

Incoming email features are planned for a future update to the program.

External Email Feature

If you don't have a Level 7 program, you can use an external email client.  Email programs that you can use include Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Pegasus, etc.  By typing in an email address in this blank and clicking the button, you can test to see if AnyOrder is able to activate your email program.  In order to do the test, you need to have an email program installed on your computer.  If the test doesn't work, you may need to make an adjustment in Windows. For trouble shooting information, see Email and Websites.

Check here if you do not wish to use the Email feature.

If you would rather not use the email feature in AnyOrder, you can check this box and whenever you click the button beside an email field, the address will be placed in the clipboard.  You can then open an email program and paste in the email address.