Emails

Dolibarr sends emails: a quotation to approve, an invoice as an attachment, a reminder. The sending server is already set up by Libre Master, what is left to you is deciding what your customers see when they receive those messages.

It happens in Setup, entry Emails.

The screen is split into tabs. Three of them concern you, the others belong to the server.

Outgoing emails: what not to touch

The first tab holds the sending method and, depending on the case, the server, the port and the credentials. That is the part we set at delivery so that your messages leave from your domain and actually reach their recipients.

Leave these settings alone

A badly set sending server does not raise a visible error: messages leave and end up in the spam folder, or vanish without warning. If your customers receive nothing, write to me rather than editing these fields.

The address shown as sender

It is set in that same first tab, on the Sender email for automatic emails line, and not in the "Emails sender profiles" tab whose name is misleading. A second line, just below, sets the sender preselected on the sending forms.

The rule is simple: the sending address must match the account that actually sends. Two cases, depending on your installation.

• Sending goes through your hosting server. Then use an address of your own domain, the one you actually watch, for example contact@your-company.com.
• Sending goes through your Gmail account, or another mail provider. Then use exactly the address of that account. Only one is possible: Google refuses to send on behalf of another address, and a message that got through anyway would land in the spam folder.

In both cases your recipients will reply to this address, so someone must read it.

If you are unsure which sending mode your installation uses, ask us rather than trying: an address that does not match the sending account raises no visible error, messages leave and never arrive.

Emails sender profiles: leave it empty

This tab does not define your sending address. Dolibarr says so at the top of the screen:

You can keep this section empty. If you enter some emails here, they will be added to the list of possible senders into the combobox when your write a new email.

So it only serves to offer several addresses to choose from when writing a message, which is only of interest if you write sometimes from contact@, sometimes from accounts@, and if your sending mode allows it.

If your messages leave through a Gmail account, this list is pointless: only one address is possible, the one of the account. Leave the tab empty.

Email templates: saving time

The Email templates tab holds the texts offered when sending a document.

On a fresh installation the list is empty: Dolibarr then sends a minimal message, with the document attached and almost nothing in the body.

Creating two or three templates changes your daily life. The most useful ones:

• sending a quotation: greeting, validity of the offer, invitation to return the signed document;
• sending an invoice: due date and bank details recalled;
• reminder: courteous, with the number and date of the invoice.

Each template has a subject and a body, and accepts variables replaced when sending, such as the document reference or the customer name. The list of available variables appears below the input field while you write.

One language per template

A template is attached to a language. If you write to customers abroad, create the same template in every language you use, otherwise your correspondents will receive the English text.

Checking that everything leaves properly

The first tab offers a test send. Do it towards an address outside your domain, a personal mailbox for instance: it is the only way to see what a customer really receives, including the sender name displayed.

Look in the spam folder too. A message landing there while the configuration is correct is fixed on the server side, so by us.

A question about your installation? Write to me.