Frequently Ask Questions (F.A.Q.)

When are email notifications send?

  • Activity, Project, Task, Ticket
    • When "erpal_project_notify_cron" job runs: When that cron job runs email notifications are sent in batches.
    • On a default ERPAL install Cron is triggered every 5 minutes. Not to confuse with exactly every 5 minutes. Triggered means started in batch. This means you can expect that duration to vary depending on your server performance and current load. All of this assumes your site gets regular active users in order to trigger the cron request.
    • You can change that 5 minutes duration to your liking. To do so:
      1. Go to /admin/config/system/cron/settings
      2. Search for "erpal_project_notify_cron" row
      3. Configure it appropriately. Find documentation and how-tos in the Elysia Cron module documentation.
  • Calendar / Date
    • When a full cron runs: When a full cron runs email notifications for Calendar/Date related events are sent in batches.
    • To manually trigger that full cron:
      1. Go to /admin/config/system/cron/settings
      2. Click on "Run cron" button. This might take a while as it runs a full cron.

How to send immediate email notifications?

  • That new feature is under development. Read more and contribute here.
  • To increase performance it's suggested to setup a crontab to request the Elysia Cron "cron.php" script

What triggers sending email notifications?

  • Date/Calendar
    • "Participants": On Date/Calendar item when the "Participants" field is set to a user(s).
    • "Comments": When comment(s) are posted and the "Participants" field is set to a user(s).
  • Task, Subtask, Ticket, Subticket
    • "Assigned To Users" field: On a task, subtask, ticket, subticket when the "Assigned To Users" field is set to a user(s).
    • "Comments": When comment posted and the "Assigned To Users" field is set to a user(s).
    • "notify project" flag: If the user sets the flag "notify project" on the project node view on the right upper corner. That user will get emails notification on all new tasks and tickets as well as on changes.
    • "notify task" flag: Same as above but just for tasks, subtasks, ticket and subtickets.
    • Note that the author of the new content or update will not receive email notification. But subscribed others will receive an email notification. This makes sense as usually the author do not need to be notify for content they created or updated herself/himself.

What is the format of the email notifications?

  • Date/Calendar
    • Individual email notifications are send
  • Task, Subtask, Ticket, Subticket
    • Subscribed user(s) get digest notifications. ERPAL uses digest otherwise if a user changes a field, adds a comment, and do multiple edit in a short period of time you would get too many mails.
  • Send immediate email notification is a new and additional feature under development. Read more and contribute here.

How to customize the message templates?

  • Date/Calendar
    • Navigate to "ERPAL > ERPAL CALENDAR > Calendar notifications". Or go directly to /admin/erpal/calendar
  • Task, Subtask, Ticket, Subticket
    • You can customized those to your liking. To do so:
      1. Go to "Message types" at /admin/structure/messages
      2. Configure them appropriately
    • Note that some message types are concatenated within others. This allows great flexibility, and additional features.
    • You can edit, override, add new message types
    • The email notification are powered by a set of modules called "Message Stack". It's very powerful, flexible, and supported by a large community. Find documentation and how-tos in the message stack handbook.