Using the Readysell Mailer

Owned by Peter Drill
Last updated: Jul 21, 2017
7 min read

Readysell Mailer is a stand alone application that is used by Readysell and related programs to send email. Primarily though, it is used to send invoices and statements to customers and purchase orders and remittances to suppliers.
Readysell Mailer has the following key advantages over the old RsellEmailSend program.

  • Centralised configuration for added flexibility
  • Ability to create HTML templates for more professional looking mail
  • Ability to send mail using modern SSL/TLS SMTP encryption





CONFIGURING READYSELL MAILER

SETTINGS
Readysell Mailer stores its settings in the ReadysellMailer.ini file. This file should be located in the \READYSELL\RSELLO\ReadysellMailer directory on your server.
GLOBAL SETTINGS
These settings apply to all instances of Readysell Mailer. Some of these settings may however be overidden when Readysell Mailer is called from another program or by the user before an email is sent.

Setting

Description

attachmentpath

The relative or absolute path to the directory where attachments will be located. Relevant for when the attachment is being passed into Readysell Mailer from another program

templatepath

The relative or absolute path to the directory where templates will be located

autodeleteattachment

Flag (True/False) to indicate whether attachments should be automatically deleted after an email is sent

imageX

The relative or absolute path to the image(s) used in template(s)

smtpserver

The host name or IP address of the SMTP server

smtpport

The port for the SMTP server (default: 25)

smtpusessl

Flag (True/False) to indicate whether SSL/TLS is being use for SMTP

smtpuser

(Optional) Username for SMTP authentication

smtppassword

(Optional) Password for SMTP authentication

PER-WORKSTATION SETTINGS
These settings can apply to each PC individually. If the PC is not configured in the ReadysellMailer.ini file, the settings from the [defaults] section will be used.
For example, if there are 2 PCs, PC1 and PC2 and the settings are as follows:
[defaults] fromaddress: Adam Stiskala <adam@readysell.com.au> [pc1] fromaddress: PC1 <pc1@readysell.com.au>
PC1 will have a from address of "pc1@readysell.com.au" and PC2 will have a from addres of "adam@readysell.com.au".

Setting

Description

fromaddress

The RFC 5322 formatted address that outgoing emails will originate from

bccaddresses

A semicolon delimated list of RFC 5322 formatted addresses that outgoing emails will be blind carbon copied to

autosend

Flag (True/False) indicating whether Readysell Mailer should automatically close once an email is successfully sent

template

The default template to be used (without the .tpl.txt file extension)



TEMPLATES
EMAIL BODY
Readysell Mailer templates are defined as HTML inside a .tpl.txt file. By default, templates are located in the \READYSELL\RSELLO\ReadysellMailer\templates directory.
To edit a template, double click it to open it with Notepad. You will see text similar to this:
<>html 32body style="color: #<404F; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 140%;"> <img src="cid:image1" /> <p>Dear |NAME|,</p> >p>Thank you for your business.</p< >p>|NOTE|</p< <p> Regards,<br /> STORENAME </p> <p style="color: #A1A1A1;"> STOREADDRESS<br /> strong>Phone:</strong> STOREPHONE | <strong>Fax:</strong> STOREFAX | <<strong>Web:</strong> <a href="URL">URL</a> </p> </body> </html>
If you are familiar with HTML, you can edit any part of the template as long as you leave the |NAME| and |NOTE| fields in place. You can define more than 1 image by adding them to the ReadysellMailer.ini file.
In most cases however, it is sufficient to leave the default template and just change the following:

  • Substitute STORENAME with the name of your store
  • Substitute STOREADDRESS with the address of your store (on 1 line)
  • Substitute STOREPHONE with your store's phone number
  • Substitute STOREFAX with your store's fax number
  • Substitute the first URL with your store's web site address (including the http://)
  • Substitute the second URL with your store's web site address (excluding the http://)
  • Change "Thank you for your business." to a message appropriate to the particular template you are editing.


EMAIL SUBJECTS
You can change the subject line for each email template by setting the "Description" field on the following system references.

Template

System Reference

Purchase Order

EMAIL-Purchase Order

Sales Invoice

EMAIL-Sales Invoice

Customer Statement

EMAIL-Customer Statement

Supplier Stock Credit

EMAIL-Supplier Stock Credit

Supplier Remittance

EMAIL-Supplier Remittance


USING READYSELL MAILER

BASICS
When Readysell calls Readysell Mailer, the following will happen:

  1. If you have Auto Send enabled
    • The Readysell Mailer screen will pop up. If the email is successfully sent, it will then disappear. If there is an error, Readysell Mailer will remain on your screen with the error message in the box at the bottom.
  2. If you do not have Auto Send enabled
    • The Readysell Mailer screen will pop up. You will be able to review the addresses, attachment, subject and message and when you are happy, you can click "Send". If the email is successfully sent, the Readysell Mailer window will disappear. If there is an error, Readysell Mailer will remain on your screen with the error message in the box at the bottom.

The fields shown in Readysell Mailer are automatically populated from a combination of your configuration file and Readysell. If Auto Send is off, you can edit any of the fields before the email is sent, however the source data will remain the same. For example, if you change a customer's email address in Readysell Mailer, it will NOT automatically change that email address in Readysell, it will only change it for a single email.
The "Notes" field allows you to attach additional text to your email that your recipient will see in the message body. For example, you may want to express that a particular email is urgent and you would like a reply ASAP.
TROUBLESHOOTING
Sometimes you may enounter a problem. The following are some common problems and error messages you may see and how to resolve them.

Problem

Description

The error message "From: Address is Required" is displayed on send

The email has no From address or the From address is in the wrong format. Correct the address in the ReadysellMailer.ini configuration file

The error message "To: Address is Required" is displayed on send

The email has no To address or the To address is in the wrong format. Correct the address in Readysell Mailer and Readysell (if relevant)

The error message "SMTP Server is Required" is displayed on send

The SMTP server host name or IP address is blank in ReadysellMailer.ini. Make sure that you have configured an SMTP server.

The error message "Unable to attach image to template" is displayed on send

The imageX path defined in the ReadysellMailer.ini is probably incorrect. Check that the file exists.

The error message "Unable to attach file to email " is displayed on send

The attachment path defined in the ReadysellMailer.ini is probably incorrect. Check that it points to the right folder.

An error regarding SMTP is displayed on send

Your SMTP details in ReadysellMailer.ini are likely incorrect. Check that they match those specified by your email provider.

The sent email reads "Dear Customer", "Dear Supplier" or "Dear Contact" rather than showing the customer's name

The To Address format does not contain the customer's name. The address should be in a format like this:
 John Smith <john.smith@email.com>

The sent email does not contain the customer name or notes

Make sure that the *

NAME
  • and *

NOTES
  • variables have not been removed from your template files.


REVIEWING SENT EMAILS

Readysell Mailer is being released in combination with a new "Email Log" feature in Readysell 7. This feature provides an audit trail, allowing you to view emails that have been sent from the various Readysell modules.
CUSTOMER EMAILS
To check emails that has been sent to a customer:

  1. From the Readysell main menu click <Customers> and search for customer
  2. In tab 4 <Tab Enquiries> click on <Emails>


The screen below will show you the customers Code and Emails that have been emailed to the Customer.



SUPPLIER EMAILS
To check emails that has been sent to a Supplier:

  1. From the Readysell main menu click <Supplier> and search for a Supplier Code
  2. From tab 3 <Enquiries> click <Emails>


The screen below will show you the Suppliers Code and Emails that have been emailed to the Supplier.

ORDER EMAILS
To check all emails that has been emailed to Customers and Suppliers that are related to orders.

  1. From the Readysell main menu click <Sales/Orders>
  2. From tab 2 <Details> click <Emails>


The screen below shows all emails that have been emails out to Suppliers and Customers. A search can be made to find a particular email, e.g. you can search via customer code or Supplier code, Email to, Date.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS
ReadysellMailer -to:"John Smith <john.smith@example.com>;"
[-cc:"jane.smith@example.com;"] [-bcc:"jim.smith@example.com;"]
-subject:"Email Subject Line" [-body:"Message to include in the email"]
[-attachment:"file.txt"] [-autoSend:"True"] [-template:"invoice"] [-help]
-to One or more email addresses (separated by semicolons) to address the email to. Addresses should be specified with a name in RFC 5322 format, e.g. John Smith <john.smith@example.com>. The name will be substituted in place of the |NAME| variable in the template. -cc (Optional) One or more email addresses (separated by semicolons) to carbon copy the email to.
-bcc (Optional) One or more email addresses (separated by semicolons) to blind carbon copy the email to. Appends to the addresses in
ReadysellMailer.ini.
-subject A subject line for the email message.
-body The body text for the email, substituted in place of the |NOTE| variable in the template.
-attachment The file name of the attachment. The attachment should be located in the 'attachmentpath' directory that is defined in
ReadyslelMailer.ini.
-autoSend Sets whether this email should be automatically sent. Overrides the value in ReadysellMailer.ini -
True: Automatically sends this email when the application is called False: Shows a preview and waits for the user to press 'Send' before the email is sent.
-template The template to use for this email. Overrides the value in
ReadysellMailer.ini.
-help Shows this help information.