Inactive people still can receive e-mails in group communication

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Inactive people still can receive e-mails in group communication

Amber McCoy posted 6 Years Ago

Hello, I went through today and updated our member list and changed the status of those who are no longer members. I changed those records to "Inactive", changed their status from member, and put the reason, etc. I noticed it automatically inactivated their serving badge and changed them to "Inactive" in the serving group they were in (yay). My problem/question is when I go to the group they were in, they show inactive but when I go to the bottom of the grid to the communication icon, their name and email still comes up. In my mind, when someone is changed to inactive they shouldn't be receiving the bulk emails, etc anymore. Is there something I need to change in our settings so the inactive people don't receive e-mails? I know I can go in and mark "do not email" on each file but that seems silly and a little redundant to me since they are inactive. Thanks!

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- Wayne Johnson replied 6 Years Ago
We consider someone inactive when we no long expect to take attendance on them. However, we would still want to send them emails so we can stay in touch. As far as I can tell it does require two steps, but it really seems to be two functions.
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We consider someone inactive when we no long expect to take attendance on them.  However, we would still want to send them emails so we can stay in touch.  As far as I can tell it does require two steps, but it really seems to be two functions.
We consider someone inactive when we no long expect to take attendance on them.  However, we would still want to send them emails so we can stay in touch.  As far as I can tell it does require two steps, but it really seems to be two functions.
We consider someone inactive when we no long expect to take attendance on them.  However, we would still want to send them emails so we can stay in touch.  As far as I can tell it does require two steps, but it really seems to be two functions.
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- Amber McCoy replied 6 Years Ago
In our case, or this specific situation, I am thinking about people who are no longer attending the church and were in the prayer team group. Obviously if they are no longer attending the church, we don't want them to continue to get emails with private or sensitive information.
I will play around with the workflows and get something set up that when I change them to inactive, it will automatically change their email to "do not email". In the meantime, I selected all the inactive people and bulk updated them to 'do not email'.
Edit Answer

In our case, or this specific situation, I am thinking about people who are no longer attending the church and were in the prayer team group.  Obviously if they are no longer attending the church, we don't want them to continue to get emails with private or sensitive information.  I will play around with the workflows and get something set up that when I change them to inactive, it will automatically change their email to "do not email".  In the meantime, I selected all the inactive people and bulk updated them to 'do not email'.   
In our case, or this specific situation, I am thinking about people who are no longer attending the church and were in the prayer team group.  Obviously if they are no longer attending the church, we don't want them to continue to get emails with private or sensitive information.  I will play around with the workflows and get something set up that when I change them to inactive, it will automatically change their email to "do not email".  In the meantime, I selected all the inactive people and bulk updated them to 'do not email'.   
In our case, or this specific situation, I am thinking about people who are no longer attending the church and were in the prayer team group.  Obviously if they are no longer attending the church, we don't want them to continue to get emails with private or sensitive information.  I will play around with the workflows and get something set up that when I change them to inactive, it will automatically change their email to "do not email".  In the meantime, I selected all the inactive people and bulk updated them to 'do not email'.   
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Michael Garrison

6 years ago

That's probably the best solution. Have you figured this out? Let us know if you'd like help setting up some triggers to fire off a workflow of this type!

Amber McCoy

6 years ago

Hi Michael- Workflows are not my friend right now. I need to do some more reading on how to set them up and make them work the way I think they should. I worked on it a bit last week and didn't get the results I thought I should (or any results) but had another project come up that I needed to do first. I plan to work on it more this week and at a minimum reading through the documents again. Thanks so much for your help in the past! You Rock!

Michael Garrison · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-19T16:34-07:00

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Michael Garrison replied 6 Years Ago

Amber,

Here is how to set up the Workflow Trigger:

Note that the value of `4` that I used here was based on the DefinedTypeValue of `Inactive` - you can verify that in General Settings -> Defined Types, but it *should* be correct. This will cause the workflow to run every time a person record is saved and their record is inactive. But running it multiple times won't hurt anything, it'll just set their email to inactive again ;-) If you want to include more statuses, you'll need to create additional triggers, I believe.

And here is the workflow itself (note there's no need to persist the workflow automatically unless you want a record of people who have had this run on them)

There are, of course, any number of other options, but this is limited to just what you asked for. Consider alternatives such as copying their existing e-mail address to a note on their profile instead, and blanking out their e-mail address field- that would make it even harder to e-mail them accidentally from sources like Workflows, especially once v7 arrives with it's lists functionality.

Hope that helps!

Edit Answer

Amber,Here is how to set up the Workflow Trigger:<a href="/Content/RockExternal/Users/mgarrison/DoNotEmailInactivePeople-trigger.JPG" target="__blank"><img src="/Content/RockExternal/Users/mgarrison/DoNotEmailInactivePeople-trigger.JPG" style="max-height:50vh;max-width:100%;" alt="DoNotEmailInactivePeople-trigger.JPG"></a>Note that the value of `4` that I used here was based on the DefinedTypeValue of `Inactive` - you can verify that in General Settings -&gt; Defined Types, but it *should* be correct. This will cause the workflow to run every time a person record is saved and their record is inactive. But running it multiple times won't hurt anything, it'll just set their email to inactive again ;-) If you want to include more statuses, you'll need to create additional triggers, I believe.And here is the workflow itself (note there's no need to persist the workflow automatically unless you want a record of people who have had this run on them)<a href="/Content/RockExternal/Users/mgarrison/DoNotEmailInactivePeople-workflow.JPG" target="__blank"><img src="/Content/RockExternal/Users/mgarrison/DoNotEmailInactivePeople-workflow.JPG" style="max-height:50vh;max-width:100%;" alt="DoNotEmailInactivePeople-workflow.JPG"></a>There are, of course, any number of other options, but this is limited to just what you asked for. Consider alternatives such as copying their existing e-mail address to a note on their profile instead, and blanking out their e-mail address field- that would make it even harder to e-mail them accidentally from sources like Workflows, especially once v7 arrives with it's lists functionality.Hope that helps!

<p>Amber,</p><p>Here is how to set up the Workflow Trigger:</p><p><a href="/Content/RockExternal/Users/mgarrison/DoNotEmailInactivePeople-trigger.JPG" target="__blank"><img src="/Content/RockExternal/Users/mgarrison/DoNotEmailInactivePeople-trigger.JPG" style="max-height:50vh;max-width:100%;" alt="DoNotEmailInactivePeople-trigger.JPG"></a></p><p>Note that the value of `4` that I used here was based on the DefinedTypeValue of `Inactive` - you can verify that in General Settings -&gt; Defined Types, but it *should* be correct. This will cause the workflow to run every time a person record is saved and their record is inactive. But running it multiple times won't hurt anything, it'll just set their email to inactive again ;-) If you want to include more statuses, you'll need to create additional triggers, I believe.</p><p>And here is the workflow itself (note there's no need to persist the workflow automatically unless you want a record of people who have had this run on them)</p><p><a href="/Content/RockExternal/Users/mgarrison/DoNotEmailInactivePeople-workflow.JPG" target="__blank"><img src="/Content/RockExternal/Users/mgarrison/DoNotEmailInactivePeople-workflow.JPG" style="max-height:50vh;max-width:100%;" alt="DoNotEmailInactivePeople-workflow.JPG"></a></p><p>There are, of course, any number of other options, but this is limited to just what you asked for. Consider alternatives such as copying their existing e-mail address to a note on their profile instead, and blanking out their e-mail address field- that would make it even harder to e-mail them accidentally from sources like Workflows, especially once v7 arrives with it's lists functionality.</p><p>Hope that helps!</p>

<p>Amber,</p><p>Here is how to set up the Workflow Trigger:</p><p><a href="/Content/RockExternal/Users/mgarrison/DoNotEmailInactivePeople-trigger.JPG" target="__blank"><img src="/Content/RockExternal/Users/mgarrison/DoNotEmailInactivePeople-trigger.JPG" style="max-height:50vh;max-width:100%;" alt="DoNotEmailInactivePeople-trigger.JPG"></a></p><p>Note that the value of `4` that I used here was based on the DefinedTypeValue of `Inactive` - you can verify that in General Settings -&gt; Defined Types, but it *should* be correct. This will cause the workflow to run every time a person record is saved and their record is inactive. But running it multiple times won't hurt anything, it'll just set their email to inactive again ;-) If you want to include more statuses, you'll need to create additional triggers, I believe.</p><p>And here is the workflow itself (note there's no need to persist the workflow automatically unless you want a record of people who have had this run on them)</p><p><a href="/Content/RockExternal/Users/mgarrison/DoNotEmailInactivePeople-workflow.JPG" target="__blank"><img src="/Content/RockExternal/Users/mgarrison/DoNotEmailInactivePeople-workflow.JPG" style="max-height:50vh;max-width:100%;" alt="DoNotEmailInactivePeople-workflow.JPG"></a></p><p>There are, of course, any number of other options, but this is limited to just what you asked for. Consider alternatives such as copying their existing e-mail address to a note on their profile instead, and blanking out their e-mail address field- that would make it even harder to e-mail them accidentally from sources like Workflows, especially once v7 arrives with it's lists functionality.</p><p>Hope that helps!</p>

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Amber McCoy

6 years ago

This is a HUGE help! If I wanted to add their email to a note and blank out their email field, I would just add more to the workflow itself and only check the last one as "Activity completed upon success"? Again- THANK YOU!
Michael Garrison

6 years ago

Amber, glad it helped. If you wanted to blank the email, you'll need to add a Person Note Add action with a value like

When {{ Workflow | Attribute:'Person','NickName' }} was inactivated, their email address on file was {{ Workflow | Attribute:'Person','Email' }}.

Then you can replace the last action with a Person Property Set; choose Email as the property, and leave the value blank. (no need to set it to do not email now, since there's no email address left)

I haven't tested this yet but that should be about right-- let me know if you have any questions!
Amber McCoy

6 years ago

Yes! I figured out the deleting email but I didn't have the lava correct for the person note. It works great now- however- it puts duplicate notes on their page. I have the last action (Delete email) marked as it completes the workflow, is there something else I'm missing?
Michael Garrison

6 years ago

Interestingly, when I tested the first version of this on the demo server yesterday, I found the workflow ran twice. I figured that was because of something I'd done, so I just ignored it - running twice in that case didn't hurt anything anyway. But there must be something that's causing the workflow to actually run twice, which is why you're getting two notes.

Does the second note still have their e-mail address listed? If editing the person (by removing their email address) is what's firing the workflow again, I'd expect the e-mail address to be blank by the time the second workflow is fired. If that's the case, we can ONLY add the note if the email address isn't already blank. (Actually, we should probably do that anyway, so that when a person is inactivated who already has no email address on file, they don't end up with a useless profile note).
Amber McCoy

6 years ago

I have 4 notes, and only the first one has the e-mail address. I have "Ignore Blank Values" marked as "No", and when I change it to "Yes", it still put 3 notes (this time with the email in each note) and it doesn't delete the email like it was before.
Michael Garrison

6 years ago

Create an "Email" type Workflow Attribute. As your second action (directly following the action where you store the person, use a "Lava Run" action to set the value to {{ Workflow | Attribute:'Person','Email' }} . Then on the Note Add step, click the filter and set that action to only run if Email Is Not Blank. Hopefully that will solve the issue...
Amber McCoy

6 years ago

It appears to have worked! I had to set the attribute to email in the lava run spot. Thank you so much for all your help again!
One last question- if I wanted to run this on those who I've already marked inactive, would I check the Automatically Persisted box and then uncheck it after it runs?
Michael Garrison

6 years ago

No, automatically persisted is just going to keep the completed workflows around after they've run. You'd have to add this workflow to the list of workflows available from the profile page "Action" menu, I think, then create a DataView (or group, or etc) of people you've already marked inactive, then middle-click your way down the list (to open each profile up in a new tab). Once all the new tabs are open, Ctrl+Tab your way through each of them in turn and trigger the workflow from the Action menu...
Amber McCoy

6 years ago

Thanks- I ended up making a data view for all inactive then just bulk updated them to inactive and it worked. Thanks again!

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Inactive people still can receive e-mails in group communication

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