Newest KB Articles in Emails

MailChimp Integration

Tue, 25 Feb 2014 07:45:58 GMT

Integration Setup

If you don't have a MailChimp Account, you must first create one. Click here to get started.

Get your API Key from MailChimp.
In your MailChimp account, click Account Settings > Extras > API Keys.
Click Create A Key
See more details here
Enter the API Key (obtained from MailChimp) into CMS.
Click Program Setup > Options > Custom
Click the "MailChimp Integration check box.
Enter the API Key (use Ctrl + V to paste).
Create one or more Audiences in MailChimp as need
In your MailChimp account, click Audiences > Create Audience
See more details here
(previously, Audiences were called "Lists")

Use the Integration
In the Contact Report window, choose MailChimp from the Output list. The available lists will populate. Select a List.

IMPORTANT: If you don't want to clear the list before uploading the new emails, be sure to uncheck the Clear List check box..

Clear List Checked:
All subscriber information previously uploaded to this list by CMS will be deleted, and then new information will be uploaded. If anyone subscribed to this list from other sources, they will not be deleted. If you want to completely clear a list consider using a list that is not publicly available to sign up for.

A custom MailChimp Merge Field, called CMS, is used to differentiate between subscribers who were uploaded by the CMS program and those that signed up at other places. If you are relying on this, you must ensure that you don't manually edit this field's data, or delete the field.
Clear List Unchecked:
Subscriber information will not be removed prior to uploading the new information. If an email address already exists in the list, the details of that subscriber (Name, Birthday, Donation info, etc.) will be updated.

Choose any other options and/or criteria available in the Contact Report and click OK.

Send Yahrtzeit and Birthday Reminders by Email

Mon, 11 May 2009 08:15:56 GMT

Send your Yahrtzeit and Birthday Reminders by Email.

Just in time for the US Post Office price increase for regular mail to a whopping .44 cents (!) CMS comes up with yet another way to save you time and money.
Send your occasion reminders by Email. The only downside is that you can't include a yahrtzeit candle...

Here are the steps

Click Reports > Occasions
Choose Occasion: Yahrtzeit or Birthday, etc.
Choose Output: Word Merge
In the Include Email field, choose an email address or check the "Use email associated with individual" check box.
(Use this check box if you don't want to use a specific email address type, but rather want to use the email that is associated with the individual whose occasion this is, birthday for example).
Optionally, choose other criteria as needed.
Click OK.

Note: If you are new to Word Merges (you are using the "Built-in" letters for occasions), you'll need to set up a Template in word that has your letter and the fields. There are some sample templates on your computer at C:\Chabad Management System\Sample Templates.

Once word opens, click the Merge to Email button. See http://support.chabadms.com/KB/a308/.aspx for some more details on Merging to Emails where the same principle applies.

For detailed instructions on occasion reports and letters, see

Occasion Reports: http://support.chabadms.com/KB/a363/.aspx
Occasions: http://support.chabadms.com/KB/a365/.aspx

Feature implemented in version 9.5.11

Send Thank-you Letters / Receipts by Email

Mon, 11 May 2009 07:39:02 GMT

Send Thank-you Letters or Donation Receipts by Email*.

Just in time for the US Post Office price increase for regular mail to a whopping .44 cents (!) CMS comes up with yet another way to save you time and money.
Send your thank-you letters by Email. This is especially useful for smaller donations.

Here are the steps:

Click Tasks > Letters & Receipts.
Choose Output: Word Merge
In the Include Email field, choose which Email address to use
Optionally, limit to Amounts (see http://support.chabadms.com/News/73/9511.aspx) or other criteria as needed.
Click OK.

Note: If you are new to Word Merges (you are using the "Built-in" letters), you'll need to set up a Template in word that has your letter and the fields. There are some sample templates on your computer at C:\Chabad Management System\Sample Templates. You don't have to generate all your letters via Word, but to use the email feature, you must output your letters to Word Merge, after that, you can filter to the larger amounts and generate those letters on paper as usual.

Once word opens, click the Merge to Email button. See http://support.chabadms.com/KB/a308/.aspx for some more details on Merging to Emails where the same principle applies.

Feature implemented in version 9.5.11

*Please check with your accountant/tax preparer/lawyer if email receipts in your area are sufficient and what amount threshold, if any, a paper receipt is required for tax deductible donations.

Export emails for Constant Contact

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:56:41 GMT

Firstly, for best integration with CMS, we recommend using MyChabad.org Communicator.
Please click here to see how to set up MyChabad.org Communicator in CMS.

Export Names and Emails for later importing to Constant Contact

Click Reports>Contacts.
On the Report tab, AFTER changing the Output to 'Export' there will be an option for 'Export Phone/Fax/Emails only'.
Doing this will force a separate record for each email address.
Optionally, you can limit this email broadcast to specific contacts on the various other tabs.
Please see Contact Report for more details.
Go to the columns tab and select the email types you wish to include in this email broadcast
Click OK
Once the file is saved, it will open in Excel. You can now remove any columns that are not needed in Constant Contact.
For more information on importing into Constant Contact, please contact them directly.

If you change the 'Report Type' (on the Report tab (pictured above)), to 'Family' you will then get individual family member names for their respective emails.

Note: This relies on having each email address associated to the individual explicitly.
See Phone, Fax and Email Options

Communicator Integration

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:06:53 GMT

CMS Version 18.5.4 or later is required in order to use this integration.

Account Setup

Click Program Setup > Options > Custom tab
Check the Communicator check box.
Click the Settings button

Enter your API Key. You obtain this key from your Communicator account.
Click Create List

Enter a List Name and optionally a Description and click OK.
Once the list is created, choose it from the List drop-down (in previous screen).

Uploading Emails

Click Reports > Contacts

Choose Communicator from the Output option.
Choose any other criteria, to limit the list (Programs, Transactions, etc.).
Choose which List to upload to and click OK.

Tip: If you want the emails to be addressed to the individual contact, you should choose "Individual Family Member" on the General tab (under Options). You would also check the Include Primary check box.
(Limit to Primary can also be clicked if you only want to target primary family members.)

Word Email Merge

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:52:17 GMT

(NOTE: Microsoft Word and Outlook 2003 or higher are required.)

Here is yet another option for generating personalized emails. The benefit of using Word for personalized emails is that it two points:

You don't have to click "Yes" for each email that goes out.
Word support HTML formatted emails.

In the Contact Report screen, choose Word Merge from the Output drop-down and choose Email as the Merge Type.

Choose criteria as needed (on the various tabs), select which email types you want to use (on the 'Columns' tab), and click OK.

Most likely, you don't have a template created, so select the third option 'Create a new Word Document (from scratch)', and click OK.

In Word:
Everything you’ll need to know is on the Mailings menu.

By clicking on 'Mail Merge Recipients' you can view all the people that are included in this merge, you can also sort the merge and even exclude recipients from the merge.
Type up your email, include pictures and more. You might want to also add some personal information that CMS sent with this merge.
Click the 'Insert Merge Fields' button, to insert fields that CMS sent. An obvious use would be to insert the <salu> field and inserting it on top of the email as such: "Dear <Salu>,". (You can choose to include more fields in the merge (phone numbers, for example) in CMS in the Contact Reports 'Columns' and 'Export Fields' tabs before merging - while still in CMS.)
You’ll notice that you don’t see your CMS information in the word document; rather you see the CMS fields. To toggle between the ‘live data’ and the ‘merge fields’ click on the ‘View Merged Data’ button.
Then use the navigation to navigate through the emails.
The final step in the merge would be to ‘Merge to email' by clicking Finish and Merge > Send Email Messages.

This will bring up the following window. Leave the To: Email - this will send an email of each record in the merge, to its respective email address.
Choose an Subject and format for the email and click OK.

Note: The first time you use this feature, it might be advisable to set Outlook to Work Offline (in Outlook click Send/Receipt >Work Offline). You can then browse through your outbox and see how the emails turned out without actually sending it.
Be sure to delete your test emails from the Outbox before setting Outlook to Work Online.