Blocks guide

The Quickmail block is added by default to all modules. Quickmail provides quick access to basic but essential mail options. It allows Lecturers and Programme Administrators to email all or a group of students on a module.  

1. Open the Block drawer on the right.
2. From the Quickmail block, select Compose Module Message.
3. From: Select the sender's email address from the From drop-down menu. Select your e-mail address or noreply@city.ac.uk.
4. To: Add recipients by selecting them from the To menu. We recommend that you choose to select recipients by Role and select Student. This will limit the amount of emails received by staff including Course Officers who are enrolled on the module.
   •  You can also choose to select recipients by:
     • All in course
     • Individual recipients: Select each name from the list
     • Groups: If you have set up groups on your module, you can send a message to an individual group or groups.
5. All the selected recipients, groups or roles appear above the To menu. Remove recipients by selecting the x next to their name.
6. Exclude:
   • If you decide to send to All in course, you will need to Exclude Programme Administrators to limit the amount of emails received by Course Officers enrolled in your module.
   • You can Exclude certain recipients from those you have already added. Select the excluded recipients from the drop-down menu. For example, you could send to Role - student but exclude one group. 

6. Input a title in the Subject field.
   • All subject fields will automatically be prepended with the module shortcode. If you don't want the module code to appear in the subject field, you can change this in the Quickmail configuration.
7. Use the Body to compose the email. You can use the Supported User Date Fields listed below the Body text box to personalise the message. For example, if you enter "Dear [:firstname:] [:lastname:]" the email will be addressed to each recipient.

8. The styles "important text" and "to do" should not be used as students will not be able to view them in the received email.
9. We recommend not including attachments in the Attach files field and providing the attachments on the module page.
10. Select Signature.
11. Send message as: Select from email or Moodle message. Email is recommended.
12. Send at: You can schedule the message to send at a later time and date.
13. Receive a send report: Select Yes to receive an email confirming that the message has been sent.
14. Select Save Draft to edit later, please note that attachments will be removed from draft messages. Select Send Message to send the email to the City email inbox of your recipients.
15. When multiple participants are selected, Quickmail sends an individual email to each one, so they will not be able to see the email address of any other recipients.

1. Select Configuration from the menu.
2. You can choose to include or remove identifying module information in the Prepend Course name drop-down menu. You can choose to prepend with the Module ID number, Module short name, Module full name or no prepend.
3. You can choose which roles can be included and excluded from emails in the Selectable roles menu.
4. The Quickmail block is hidden from students by default. To allow students to send emails to staff and students on the module, select Yes from Allow students to use Quickmail option.
5. Select Save preferences.

Signatures can be useful if you are sending emails frequently. They contain the text for your name and designation at the end of your email.

1. Select My Signatures from Quickmail block on your module page
2. Select Create New.
3. Provide a Title and add the text into the Signature field.
4. Check the Default checkbox if you want this signature to be your default.
5. Select Save when finished. You will see a confirmation message at the top of the page if your signature has been saved.
6. Select Quickmail to return to the Quickmail options and to compose your email.
7. Delete signatures by selecting a signature from the Select Signature To Edit drop-down menu and selecting the Delete button at the bottom of the page.

Edit a signature

To edit an existing signature, open the Select signature To Edit drop-down menu and select the relevant signature. Update your signature and select Update.

• Select View Drafts to view, edit and send previously saved drafts.
• Select View Scheduled to view, send or unqueue previously scheduled messages.
• To edit a scheduled message, unqueue the message. The message will be moved to Drafts where you can edit the content, recipients and scheduled date.
• Select View Sent Messages to view a list of sent messages. Select View next to each message to view the content.

Add additional email addresses which can be selected from the To setting. For example, add a shared inbox or the course office email address.

1. Select Alternate Emails from the Quickmail block.
2. Select Create new.
3. Add the selected Email address.
4. Add a First Name and Surname.
5. Select Who can send from this email address  from the drop-down menu
   • Only me, in any course - you can use this address to send messages in any module.
   • Only me, in MODULE NAME only  - you can use this address to send messages in this module only.
   • All allowed roles in MODULE NAME only - select the roles who may use this address to send messages in any module. Select the roles from the box below.
6. Select Save.

Please note in Moodle 4, that there are inconsistencies in the navigation when using different elements of the Quickmail block.

In the following pages, the contextual navigation menu displays, but does not link to settings for Quickmail.

1. Compose
2. Drafts
3. Quickmail home

To return to the module page when using the Quickmail block, select Module from the contextual navigation menu on the pages where this displays. On the pages where the contextual navigation does not display, select Quickmail from the breadcrumb trail. This returns you to Quickmail home. From here you can select Module from the contextual navigation menu.