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This How-To covers how to set up Control to automatically send an email for estimate follow-up.

Creating a macro is split up into 3 main parts, creating the macro and configuring the Description, the Trigger, and the Actions.

1. Click on Marketing Home on the main Toolbar.

1. Click on Macro Setup. This will open the Macro Setup Window.

1. Click on Estimate Macros in the left panel.

1. Click on New Macro at the top of the left panel.

1. Enter Email Estimates Created 3 Days Ago as the Macro Name on the Description tab.

1. Click on the Trigger tab.

1. At least for testing, we want to run this macro on the machine you are using.

1. Uncheck the box Run on the server in the background.

1. If you later want to change this please verify your email settings under Setup | System Setup are set to Internal with the proper mail server settings. If you do not set this settings correctly all emails will fail to send.

1. Choose Run this macro manually or on a schedule. This macro will be executed based on a schedule since we only want to email estimates that were created 3 days ago and are still in a Pending status. We will create a query that identifies those specific estimates so that our macro knows who should get emails.

1. Under the Query: choose (Custom Query) and click the View/Modify Query button.

1. A Macro Query window will appear, click the Clear button at the top to remove any pre-existing criteria.

1. Expand the Estimate Criteria section by clicking the + sign.

1. Expand the Estimate Dates section by clicking the + sign.

1. Click on the Estimate Created Date criteria, in the middle column double-click on Equal to… and enter 3 in the days ago field. Be sure to verify the Shift dates if run in the future checkbox is enabled and click OK. You have now added the 1st criteria to our query.

1. Click on the Status section under Estimate Criteria and double-click on Pending to add that criteria.

1. Click OK on the Macro Query window to save our query.

1. If you want to be able to run this macro manually on an order from within the Order Explorer, check the Allow this macro to appear in the menu and be manually run for an individual order checkbox.

1. Click on the Actions tab.

1. Add an action to send the email. In the center panel is a list of macro actions, click on E-Mail Macro and click the Add button above it. This will add a new action on the right.

1. Fill in these fields in the E-Mail Macro action section:
   • Replace To: Field with the email address of:

Set this option to the Order/Estimate/Service Ticket Contact. This may change if instead you wish to email the salesperson or the person that entered the order.

  * **Replace contact with:**

Set this option to the Order/Estimate/Service Ticket Contact

  * **Subject:**

Modify the subject to your liking, be sure to use merge fields where appropriate.

  * **Message**:

Modify the subject to your liking, be sure to use merge fields where appropriate.

1. Optional: Click on the Prompt to Begin macro action and click the Delete button to remove it.

1. Optional: Click on the Notify of Completion macro action and click the Delete button to remove it.

1. Save the Macro by clicking Save on the right-side action toolbar.

1. Click on Marketing Home on the main Toolbar.

1. Click on Schedule Macro and a Macro Activity window will open.

1. In the Description field type in Email Estimates Created 3 Days Ago.

1. In the Macro drop-down select the Estimate Estimates Created 3 Days Ago macro.

1. Change the Scheduled Date to first date you would like the macro to run.

1. In the Automatically Run section select On Server (In Background).

1. In the Schedule to Run section specify the time of day. I would recommend running it in the evening or morning hours.

1. Click the Make Recurring button and click Yes when prompted to save the macro. A Macro Recurrence Schedule will appear in a popup window.

1. Click on the Daily button and set the Recur Every to 1 day(s).

1. Check the Weekdays Only option if preferred.

1. In the Start field select the preferred start date for the schedule macro.

1. In the Schedule Ahead field select to schedule ahead 1 months.

1. In the End Date section select No end date and click OK.

Contributor: Brandon, Cyrious Software

Date: 2/28/2011

Version: Control 4.0 and higher

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