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School-level feature — managed within your school portal at yourschool.deandesk.com. Only administrators can access the Communications Hub.
The Communications Hub is your central place for sending emails to students, parents, teachers, and contacts. Compose one-off emails or build reusable templates, target specific audiences using lists, rosters, or courses, schedule emails for later, and track delivery in the history log.

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Opening the Communications Hub

Navigate to Communication in the admin sidebar. The Communications Hub has seven tabs:
TabWhat it does
ComposeWrite and send or schedule an email
TemplatesCreate and manage reusable email templates
ScheduledView, edit, or cancel emails scheduled for future delivery
Lists & ContactsManage email lists and their subscribers
HistoryView delivery logs for all sent emails
Bulk ImportImport contacts in bulk
Contact MergeMerge duplicate contacts

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Composing an email

1

Open the Compose tab

Go to Communication in the sidebar. The Compose tab is selected by default.
2

Enter a subject line

Type a clear, descriptive subject. This is what recipients see in their inbox.
3

Write your email

Use either editor mode:
  • Simple mode — a rich text editor with formatting options (bold, italic, headers, lists, links, images).
  • Styled mode — a block-based editor for building professional, branded emails with headings, paragraphs, buttons, images, dividers, and spacers.
4

Add recipients

Click Add Recipients to open the recipient picker. You can select recipients from four sources:
  • Users — search and filter by role (admin, teacher, student, parent, applicant). Select individuals or use bulk select.
  • Email Lists — choose from your saved email lists.
  • Rosters — select class rosters to email all students in them.
  • Courses — select courses to email all actively enrolled students.
You can combine multiple sources. DeanDesk automatically deduplicates so no one receives the email twice.
5

Attach files (optional)

Click the attachment button to upload files. You can attach up to 10 files, each under 5 MB. Supported formats include PDF, Word, Excel, images, text, and CSV files.
6

Send or schedule

Click Send to deliver immediately, or click Schedule to choose a future date, time, and timezone.

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Personalizing emails

Use merge tags in your subject line or email body to personalize each email for its recipient. DeanDesk replaces these tags with the recipient’s actual information at send time.
TagReplaced with
{{firstName}}Recipient’s first name
{{lastName}}Recipient’s last name
{{email}}Recipient’s email address
{{username}}Recipient’s username
Example:
Subject: Welcome, {{firstName}}! Body: Hi {{firstName}} {{lastName}}, we’re excited to have you join our program…
Personalization works in both immediate and scheduled emails, and in both editor modes.

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Email templates

Save time on recurring emails by creating reusable templates.

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Creating a template

1

Go to the Templates tab

In the Communications Hub, select the Templates tab.
2

Click Create Template

Enter a name, subject line, and category (general, welcome, notification, marketing, transactional, or other).
3

Design your template

Build the email content using the simple or styled editor. Templates support the same merge tags as regular emails.
4

Save

Click Save. The template is now available when composing future emails.

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Using a template

While composing an email, click Load Template to browse your template library. Selecting a template fills in the subject and content, which you can then customize before sending. You can also duplicate an existing template to create a variation without starting from scratch.

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Scheduling emails

Schedule emails to go out at a specific date and time.
1

Compose your email

Write your email and select recipients as usual.
2

Click Schedule

Instead of clicking Send, click Schedule.
3

Choose date, time, and timezone

Select when the email should be sent. The timezone selector ensures the email goes out at the right local time.
4

Confirm

The email is saved with Pending status. You can view and manage it in the Scheduled tab.

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Managing scheduled emails

In the Scheduled tab, you can:
  • View all scheduled emails with their status (pending, processing, sent, failed, or cancelled)
  • Cancel a pending email before it sends
  • Update a pending email’s content, recipients, or scheduled time
Once an email moves to processing or sent status, it can no longer be modified or cancelled.

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Email lists and contacts

Email lists let you organize contacts into reusable groups for targeted outreach.

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Creating an email list

1

Go to Lists & Contacts

In the Communications Hub, select the Lists & Contacts tab.
2

Create a new list

Click Create List. Enter a name and description. Optionally, enable Requires Marketing Opt-In if this list is used for marketing emails and you need to track consent.
3

Add subscribers

Search for existing users or contacts and add them to the list. You can also add subscribers in bulk using the Bulk Import tab.

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Managing subscribers

  • View subscribers by status: Active or Unsubscribed
  • Add or remove individual subscribers
  • Bulk import subscribers from a file
When composing an email, you can select one or more email lists as recipients. Only Active subscribers receive the email.

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Email history

The History tab shows a log of every email sent from the Communications Hub.
  • Search by subject line
  • Filter by delivery status: Success, Partial, or Failed
  • View details for any email — see the full list of recipients, the HTML content, attachments, who sent it, and when
Use the history tab to verify delivery, troubleshoot failed sends, or review past communications.

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Best practices

The Communications Hub is for admin-initiated outreach. For course-specific updates, use Announcements. For ongoing group conversations, use Discussions.
  • Build templates for recurring emails. Welcome emails, payment reminders, and event invitations are great candidates for templates.
  • Use email lists for segmentation. Create lists like “Prospective Students”, “Alumni”, or “Parent Newsletter” to target the right audience without selecting users one by one.
  • Preview before sending. Use the desktop and mobile preview modes in the composer to make sure your styled emails look good on all devices.
  • Personalize. Emails with the recipient’s name in the subject line and greeting feel more personal and get higher engagement.
  • Check the History tab after bulk sends. Verify that emails were delivered successfully, especially for large recipient lists.