Customize email notification footer with links to reply privately and see user profiles

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1

To help transition listserv and email users to the online forum, I added the following footer to the reply-by-email notification. I thought I would share.

The email footer

View Thread or reply to this email. Your response will be posted to the site and emailed to the group.

  • Reply to sender privately about this topic.
  • Visit sender’s profile for more info.
  • Update your profile and set your email preferences.
  • View Email Tips for help on posting by email.

How to implement

  • Admin → Customize → Text Content
  • Edit user_notifications.reply_by_email
  • Sample code below uses Discourse shortcodes so should work for everyone.
  • Modify the text portions as needed.

Sample code

> [View Thread](%{base_url}%{url}) or reply to this email. Your response will be posted to the site and emailed to the group.

>* [Reply to sender privately](%{base_url}/new-message?username=%{username}) about this topic.
>* [Visit sender's profile](%{base_url}/users/%{username}) for more info.
>* [Update your profile](%{base_url}/my/preferences) and set your email preferences.
>* View [Email Tips](https://example.com) for help on posting by email.

Additional parameters

These additional two parameters may be useful for email notifications:

  • topic_title_url_encoded: Same as topic_title (which is the title of the topic that the notification is about) but encoded so you can use it in links.
  • site_title_url_encoded: The title of your site, encoded for use in links.

An example:

* [Reply to author privately](%{base_url}/new-message?username=%{username}&title=Your%20post%20in%{topic_title_url_encoded}&body=Regarding%20your%20post%20in%20%{base_url}%{url}).

Notes

  • Uses Discourse shortcodes for site title, site URL, topics, usernames, profile page, and compose message.
  • Uses quote markdown for styling
  • Reply privately to sender link will generate a login prompt for non-logged in users. Message composer loads after login.
  • Current limitation (I couldn’t figure it out): Cannot pull specific topic so email subject line is “Your post at {site_title}” Possibly a good thing since it distinguishes it from other topics.
  • Link to topic is included in body of private reply. Might need to tweak for one-boxing.
  • I changed the wording from “View Topic” to “View Thread” (not exactly accurate if there is only one topic and no replies but trying to shift users to the online forum).
  • You can add your own link to a “View Email Tips” post.
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