The Letter Queue is tied directly to the Workflow Triggers. Letters that are created by a workflow trigger are stored in the queue until a designated person prints or sends the letters. Example: A workflow trigger is set up to create a letter if a student is absent more than 3 days. When a student is absent 3 times, the workflow trigger sends a letter to the queue. The designated person must then pull up the queue and print those letters.
Several other features can send a letter to the queue, such as when a grade is posted or changed; for more information on set up, see System Preferences > School Preferences/Default School Preferences > Grading tab or Students > Print Letters & Send Email.
1. In the Students menu, click Letter Queue.
This navigates to the Letter Queue screen, where a Student Search displays.
2. Enter all applicable search criteria.
3. If student groups have been set up, you can pull a specific group of students using the Student Group pull-down.
4. Select the Search All Schools check box to include students from all schools in your search.
a. Select the Include Inactive check box to include students who do not have an active enrollment record at the selected school or all schools (if Search All Schools is selected).
b. Select the Previous Years check box to include previous year of inactive data in your search, when Include Inactive is enabled.
c. Select the Use Most Recent Enrollment check box to use the most recent enrollment records when conducting a search with Include Inactive enabled.
When you search all schools, and select a student, the student's primary school is selected from the Schools pull-down located in the header automatically.
5. If using a specific Letterhead Template for your letters, select the template from the corresponding pull-down. Note: Letterhead Templates are set up by the district via Setup > Letterhead Templates.
6. Click Search.
See Searching for Students for more information on conducting a student search.
Conducting the student search yields specific results, as shown in the image below via a new Letter Queue screen where additional settings are available.
1. Set a Report Timeframe using the day, month, and year pull-downs or by clicking the calendar icons to select a date. The date selected here will pull students who meet the criteria set up in the Workflow Triggers.
2. Select the check box to Include Printed/Emailed Letters in your Letter Queue; i.e. student letters that have been removed from the queue because they have been printed or emails removed after being sent.
3. Click Update.
Students who meet Workflow Triggers set up within the selected Report Timeframe and student search criteria are listed in the Simple List and Customized List.
To return to the Search Screen to start again and conduct a different student search, click the corresponding tab.
4. Select the Method of how the letters should be distributed, by print or email. Select Print Letters to print physical letter for select students. Select Send Emails to email the letter to select students.
a. If you elect to Send Emails, you must also select the Recipient; options include Email to Student, Email to Primary Contact, or Email to All Custodial Contacts.
5. Select the check boxes next to the Recipient name to delete, preview, print, or email the letter.
Select the check box in the header to select all students listed at once.
6. Once you have selected the appropriate recipients, select the desired action button; options include: Delete, Preview, Print Without Adding Log Entries or Email Without Adding Log Entries, and Print Letters & Add Log Entries or Email Letters & Add Log Entries.
a. Delete: Click the Delete button to delete selected students' letters from the queue.
b. Preview: Click the Preview button to review the letter before printing. When finished, click Return to Focus.
c1. Print Without Adding Log Entries: Click Print Without Adding Log Entries to open the letter in a PDF print preview where you can print the letter without the letter being logged via Students > Student Info > Letter Logging tab.
i. From this screen you have several options including, Rotate clockwise (circular arrow), Download as a PDF (down arrow), Print (printer icon), Fit to page (small inner arrows), Zoom in (plus sign), and Zoom out (minus sign). When finished, click Return to Focus to return to the Letter Queue.
c2. Email Without Adding Log Entries: Click Email Without Adding Log Entries to open a preview of the email sent and view a confirmation message ensuring you that the emails have been sent without the letter being logged via Students > Student Info > Letter Logging tab.
d1. Print Letters & Add Log Entries: Click Print Letters & Add Log Entries to open the letter in a PDF print preview where you can print the letter and record the letter history via Students > Student Info > Letter Logging tab.
i. From this screen you have several options including, Rotate clockwise (circular arrow), Download as a PDF (down arrow), Print (printer icon), Fit to page (small inner arrows), Zoom in (plus sign), and Zoom out (minus sign). When finished, click Return to Focus to return to the Letter Queue.
d2. Email Letters & Add Log Entries: Click Email Letters & Add Log Entries to open a preview of the email sent and view a confirmation message ensuring you that the emails have been sent. Once emailed, a record of the email(s) is stored via Students > Student Info > Letter Logging tab.
ii. If the letter has been printed or emailed with log entries, the letter will be logged in Student Info, as shown in the image below.
From the Letter Log, you can view and edit the Recipient, the Date, the Subject, the Body, the Sender, the Time, and the Recipient Email. You can also download the letter as a PDF (Download File icon) or delete the file generated (Delete File icon). Hover over the (Save to Upload) fields for additional options: Scan, Upload, Take Photo, and expand.
Use the Filter text box located at the top of each pull-down for a quick search. Begin typing the name or number of the desired field.
a. Select the Exact check box to display results that have an exact match only and hide partial matches to the entered text.
Click Check all and Clear for quick selections. In the example shown, data will be pulled for students in all the selected courses.
Click the floppy disk icon to export the listed data to an Excel spreadsheet.
Click any of the headers to sort data. Click once for ascending results; click twice for descending results.
Click Filters to further breakdown data.
a. To add more than one filter to a column, click on the green plus sign.
b. To delete an added filter, click on the red minus sign.
c. Select the gray arrow for more filtering options.
For more information, see Filters.
If looking for specific information housed within the resulting students, type the information in the Search text box provided and press Enter.
To make the list full screen, click on the expansion icon (four arrows) next to the Search text box. Once in full screen mode, click the icon again to exit full screen.
Click the Filter button to add Filter Rules to the resulting students. Start by adding one rule, such as Letter Template contains attendance, as shown in the image. The first pull-down is the listed columns. The second pull-down is the rule, such as contains, equal, starts with, etc. Then enter the information you'd like to filter by in the text box.
a. Click Add Rule to add an additional filter.
b. Click Clear Rules to clear all applied filters.
c. Click Remove to remove the selected filter.
d. Select AND/OR from the pull-down if more than one filter rule is being used.
