Schedule recurring emails in Thunderbird?

Discussion of features in Mozilla Thunderbird
klassic
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Schedule recurring emails in Thunderbird?

Post by klassic »

Is there any extensions out there that will allow me to set up a recurring email to be sent using Thunderbird. I would like to be able to send to multiple recipients. Ability to set up different schedules such as daily, weekly, monthly, etc. As well as a message with a specific date/time. Also the ability to include attachments in the email.

I have looked around for this and haven't had any success. If anyone knows of something like this I would appreciate help in finding it. This would make part of my job easier.
Anonymosity
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Post by Anonymosity »

Would a template do that? I do not know about the scheduling, but at least you should be able to set up a form letter.
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Rod Whiteley
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Post by Rod Whiteley »

You want to send the same message with the same attachments to the same people every day, week or month? To me, that seems unusual. What are you really trying to achieve?
Rod
klassic
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Schedule recurring emails in Thunderbird?

Post by klassic »

Yes, I want to send the same email to the same people with the same attachment daily. The file contains tracking numbers and is updated daily with new shipments. This email would then be sent daily to customer service so they have updated information.
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Rod Whiteley
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Post by Rod Whiteley »

So the attachment is not really the same—only its name is the same. This means that the entire message is not really "recurring" at all, because a different message is sent each day.

To share information like that, it is usually better to place one copy of the information in a place where many people can read it. For example, you might be able to make it available on a web server.
Rod
klassic
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Post by klassic »

Sorry, there are at least 5 different plugins for Outlook that do exactly what I described. I thought someone may have written something for Thunderbird.

Sure I can FTP it to our server everyday, but that is the same amount of work as sending the email everyday. I was looking for something that would do this automatically. I have many things going on and sometimes I forget to send the email. I guess I will have to look elsewhere.
klassic
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Post by klassic »

There is an extension "Send Later" which might do what I need, but apparently the developer's site has been hacked and the extension does not show on Mozilla's search page. Anyone know how I can get this extension to try it out?
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Daifne
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Post by Daifne »

No. The extension's author disappeared in April. His site is down and he no longer comes here. No idea what happened to him. His extensions have all been abandoned.
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Rod Whiteley
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Post by Rod Whiteley »

If Outlook does what you want, use Outlook! Alternatively (and probably better), schedule the FTP upload by using your operating system's scheduler.
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klassic
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Post by klassic »

Well Rod it helps when you are not rude to people. I am not using Outlook because prefer TB. If I wanted to use Outlook I would. I was simply pointing out the function was available from a number of sources for a very popular email client then logically I thought it might exist for another email client.

I get sick of the people that are "helping others" on this board by bashing them for asking about features that another email client has. Sure the feature I want doesn't exist. Fine. But if I or others don't ask about these things how would someone know that I want it.

Obviously in your mind my request is absurd, and I should do it "this way". I am dealing with customer service people who either A. Don't know enough about computers to access files via FTP. or B. Don't need to be in FTP. I deal with people who have relatively limited computer knowledge and by throwing something new at them will only lead to problems an headaches.
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makaiguy
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Post by makaiguy »

I never thought Rod was being rude, but perhaps you had expectations of this forum that were hard to meet. Please recognize that this is a users-helping-users forum, not an official support forum run by the program's authors. We're all doing the best we can to help people with varying requirements, but we don't always have the answers. And sometimes there just aren't answers.

How about this:

Send the identical message to your clients repeatedly, but include a LINK to the file, rather than attaching the file. That way you could link to a constant filename, but just upload the revised file to the linked server before sending out the message. Each user would probably have to have his own repeated message with his own linked filename. (This may be what Rod was suggesting in his "Alternatively (and probably better).." comment in his previous message.

BTW - Rod's own MailTweak extension provides a Personalize Messages feature so you wouldn't even have to have separate messages for each recipient, but send each his own customized message from one template. You'd probably have to store each client's filename in one of the unused fields in thier addressbook card. One of these days I'm gonna have to install this one myself and give it a go.
http://journal.mozdev.org/mailtweak.html

With a pre-defined mailing list, MailTweaks, and an appropriate template, perhaps you can still have this done daily with only one manual step.

Now your quest is reduced to finding an extension that can send the same message out daily without manual intervention.
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Win10 64bit: FF 115.0.02 64bit, TB 102.12.0 32-bit ║ Android 13/10: FF 115.2.0/115.0.1 ║ No TB for Android available, dammit!
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gosette
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Post by gosette »

MailTweak is great, just installed it so that I could use the Personnalise messages and it's exactly what I needed.
AoD
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Re: Schedule recurring emails in Thunderbird?

Post by AoD »

klassic's request isn't really abnormal. I have a similar need, actually. I need to send an identical email once a month to multiple recipients. The body of the email is identical, as it's asking for a current incremental reading that changes daily. We tabulate the readings every month, on the 19th.

Are there any options for this?
anlin
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Re: Schedule recurring emails in Thunderbird?

Post by anlin »

without the intention of being rude, but you are distributing information the wrong way.
if there is only one file that is updated every day, uploading that to a web server is way better than what klassic wants.
it seems he tries to unscrew a screw with a knive, yes it works, but a screwdriver would be the better tool here.

look at what klassi wants:
manually sending the mail to the customers, generating multiple times the traffic it takes to upload the data file to a web server and bombarding (dare i say spaming) the customers. generate more traffic on the customer side when they download the mail from the mailserver. there is manual interaction in every step, not really necessary imho.

look at Rods suggestion:
a task is set up to run automatically that uploads the data file to a webserver, once the the scheduleler is configured this task requires no further attention on the distributor side. there is no email cluttering the recipts inbox (many ppl use mobile devices for their mails, generating high connection costs). they are not bombarded with status reports on a regular basis (the distributor may not be the only using this system), and have access to the data when they need it, as the link to the file was passed once at the beginning. even better you could set it up to have individual files for each customer.
all completely automated.
AoD
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Re: Schedule recurring emails in Thunderbird?

Post by AoD »

While I understand what you're saying, in my case, that isn't possible. I'm not working with data. I'm requiring the recipient to get up and walk across their office and check a meter and send me a reply with the number. We take the number and bill them accordingly. Unfortunately, there is no way to automate this process, as the meter is digital and needs to be accessed through a menu.

We need the initial email from us to them to be sent every month on the 15'th to make sure they get the reading submit on time (the 19th)

See what I mean?
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