> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.deandesk.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Emails

> Send personalized emails to your community from the Communications Hub.

<Info>
  **School-level feature** — managed within your school portal at `yourschool.deandesk.com`. Only administrators can access the Communications Hub.
</Info>

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.

## Opening the Communications Hub

Navigate to **Communication** in the admin sidebar. The Communications Hub has seven tabs:

| Tab                  | What it does                                               |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Compose**          | Write and send or schedule an email                        |
| **Templates**        | Create and manage reusable email templates                 |
| **Scheduled**        | View, edit, or cancel emails scheduled for future delivery |
| **Lists & Contacts** | Manage email lists and their subscribers                   |
| **History**          | View delivery logs for all sent emails                     |
| **Bulk Import**      | Import contacts in bulk                                    |
| **Contact Merge**    | Merge duplicate contacts                                   |

## Composing an email

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Compose tab">
    Go to **Communication** in the sidebar. The Compose tab is selected by default.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter a subject line">
    Type a clear, descriptive subject. This is what recipients see in their inbox.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Send or schedule">
    Click **Send** to deliver immediately, or click **Schedule** to choose a future date, time, and timezone.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## 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.

| Tag             | Replaced 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.

## Email templates

Save time on recurring emails by creating reusable templates.

### Creating a template

<Steps>
  <Step title="Go to the Templates tab">
    In the Communications Hub, select the **Templates** tab.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click Create Template">
    Enter a **name**, **subject line**, and **category** (general, welcome, notification, marketing, transactional, or other).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Design your template">
    Build the email content using the simple or styled editor. Templates support the same merge tags as regular emails.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    Click **Save**. The template is now available when composing future emails.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### 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.

## Scheduling emails

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

<Steps>
  <Step title="Compose your email">
    Write your email and select recipients as usual.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click Schedule">
    Instead of clicking Send, click **Schedule**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Confirm">
    The email is saved with **Pending** status. You can view and manage it in the **Scheduled** tab.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### 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

<Note>
  Once an email moves to **processing** or **sent** status, it can no longer be modified or cancelled.
</Note>

## Email lists and contacts

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

### Creating an email list

<Steps>
  <Step title="Go to Lists & Contacts">
    In the Communications Hub, select the **Lists & Contacts** tab.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.
  </Step>

  <Step title="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.
  </Step>
</Steps>

### 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.

## 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.

## Best practices

<Tip>
  The Communications Hub is for admin-initiated outreach. For course-specific updates, use [Announcements](/communication/announcements). For ongoing group conversations, use [Discussions](/communication/discussions).
</Tip>

* **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.