Header Elements in System-Generated Email
Some products and features, such as circulation notices and exporting records from the WebPAC, generate email messages automatically. Many of these products and features enable you to customize the following elements of the email headers:
- From address
- Reply-to address
- Subject
- CC address
Some aspects of these header elements are common to all products and features. These common aspects are described below. For feature-specific aspects of email headers and information about how to define each element, see the feature-specific documentation.
When you use a feature that generates automatic emails, check that your library's mail administrator or postmaster is aware of the automatically generated email and has set the local mail server to allow the emails through from the Innovative server to both local and external email addresses.
Innovative Servers Reject Incoming Email
Innovative servers are configured to reject incoming email, including bounced email (that is, undeliverable email that is returned to a sender-designated address).
About the From Address
The value you specify as the from address appears after "From:" in the email header. Because undeliverable email bounces to the from address that you specify, and because Innovative configures servers to reject incoming email, including bounced email, Innovative requires a fully qualified email address as the from address.
When you use a fully-qualified email address as the from address, the email is sent from the Innovative server but appears to the recipient to come from a different server. To use a fully-qualified email address, enter the address including the @[domain]. For example, "bounces@not-iii.org" sends bounced email to the email account "bounces" on the "not-iii.org" server. The fully qualified email address cannot resolve to the Innovative server that originates the email. Fully qualified email addresses are limited to 49 characters.
Monitoring email that bounces to the from address is optional. To monitor email that bounces to the from address, enter as the from address value a non-Innovative account monitored by library staff.
Some products and features allow you to specify different from addresses for different branches or departments using the Branch Addresses table. Consult the feature-specific documentation for more information.
In Sierra 5.2 and later, a display name is added next to the from address in circulation notices. See Sending Circulation Notices via Email for more information.
About the Reply-to Address
The value you specify as the reply-to address appears after "Reply To:" in the email header. Reply-to addresses are optional. If you do not specify a reply-to address, replies are directed to the from address.
For the reply-to address value, enter a fully qualified email address including the @[domain] that is monitored by your library's staff. For example, "replies@not-iii.org" sends bounced email to the email account "replies" on the "not-iii.org" server. The fully qualified email address cannot resolve to the Innovative server that originates the email. Fully qualified email addresses are limited to 49 characters.
Some products and features allow you to specify different reply-to addresses for different branches or departments using the Branch Addresses table. Consult the feature-specific documentation for more information.
In Sierra 5.2 and later, a display name is added next to the reply-to address in circulation notices. See Sending Circulation Notices via Email for more information.
About the Subject Line
The value you specify as the subject line appears after "Subject:" in the email header. You can specify default subject lines for many features.
Words and phrases that appear in SPAM software dictionaries should not be included in subject lines. Including such words and phrases can trigger the SPAM filter on the recipient's email server. Avoid using subject lines that are likely to cause your email to be filtered to a SPAM folder.
Some products and features allow you to specify different default subject lines for different types of email. Consult the feature-specific documentation for more information.
About the CC Address
The value you specify as the CC address appears after "CC:" in the email header. CC addresses are optional. Specifying a value for the CC address when you set up the feature means that you receive a copy of each system-generated email. When deciding whether to enter a CC address, consider the volume of email generated by your system.
For the CC address value, enter a fully qualified email address including the @[domain] that is monitored by your library's staff.
You cannot specify different CC address values for each branch. However, you can direct email copies to email clients with filters and use the client's filters to separate the copies by branch. To use the filtering feature of your email client to separate copies of system-generates email by branch:
- Enter a CC address value for the feature.
- Enter branch-specific from address values for the feature.
- Set up your email client's filter feature so that it filters email based on the CC address and the from address.
For example, your email client could be set to filter all email with a CC address of "library@library.edu" and a from address of "west_branch@library.edu" to a folder called "West Branch CC Notices" and all email with a CC address of "library@library.edu" and a from address of "east_branch@library.edu" to a folder called "East Branch CC Notices".