What is the difference between custom invite mailer, invite forum mailer and custom invite forum mailer?

Support
1

Uner Customize -> Email templates (as well as under Emails -> Templates) there are three very similar sounding templates:

  1. custom invite mailer
  2. invite forum mailer
  3. custom invite forum mailer

(to add to the confusion, the latter two are currently both labelled as “invite forum mailer” in the menu -
as reported here)

Could someone clarify the difference between these, i.e. where each is used. In particular, I would like to know which one I should edit if I want to change the email sent to bulk invitees.

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2

invite mailer

This template is used when inviting a user to a topic.

This template is used when inviting a user to a topic with custom message.

This template is used when inviting a user to a forum.

This template is used when inviting a user to a forum with custom message.

In this case you should edit invite forum mailer.

11 Likes
3

Aaah, so “custom” in these names refers to the custom message the user can enter just before sending the invite, not a message customized by the admin, right?

4

Yes, that is correct.

5

How do I enable the ability to invite people to a topic with a custom message? I see no setting for this, and when I invite someone, I’m only given the option of entering their username.

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6

Do you have SSO enabled?

7

Yes, I do. Is that preventing it?

8

Invites would bypass the parent site auth so that is not possible.

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9

Sorry, I’m not sure what that means. I’m inviting someone to a topic, not as a new member to the site. The invite button works, it just only lets me enter the username. Does not give me the option to share a message with them as well.

10

To post in the topic they must create a new account, yes? Under SSO this means the account must be created at the parent site first, not in Discourse.

Thus invites to new users are not possible with SSO enabled. Disable SSO if you wish to send invites to new users.

1 Like
11

Sorry, to clarify this is to existing users. Not trying to invite new users to the Discourse. Just invite existing, SSO enabled users to the specific topic. In fact I’m only given the option of username (so it wouldn’t be possible to invite new users)

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12

Existing users just get a notification, there is no place for that text to go. New users would get an email which contains a body which could have lots of text. Notifications do not contain anywhere close to the volume of text a full email does.

1 Like
13

Hi, to clarify:

So, if my bulk invite file has:
Column A: email
Column B: multiple groups
Column C: Topic I want them to see first

I want to modify “Invite Forum Mailer” to have the email template for this invite campaign sent to those included in the bulk invite file?

14

When you are including a topic_id in the CSV file, the template you need to edit is the Invite Mailer.

3 Likes
15

Hi,

Here’s a mockup for another approach to group invites:

invitationmockup
invitationmockup.png764×989 143 KB

Design approach:

  • Make it obvious which invite text will go with the bulk invite - much more difficult to send the wrong invitation text to the bulk invited users
  • Enable setting the interface language for invited users (bonus points, helpful for global, multi-lingual communities)
  • Enable saving the settings as a template (“Invite Australian Alumni”) so that the invitation text and interface language can be set and forgotten. Then all the admin needs to do is open that template, add the .csv file, and those group invitations are on their way.
3 Likes
16

Hi. I can see how to invite new users to a topic (there is an “invite” icon), but how do I invite users to the forum (w/o specifying a topic)?
Thanks.

17

It’s under your userprofile.

1 Like
18

Thanks, but when I send an invitation that way (user profile>messages>invites>“send an invite” I get a message with a subject line including a specific topic and the template from a specific topic (seems like it is the “invite mailer” template).

I would have thought that would use the “invite forum mailer” template, but doesn’t seem to. (I guess I could switch the templates, but that seems backwards)

19

Which topic is that?

20

Ahh, I think I figured it out. I am testing the invite system and so sending multiple invitations to the same email address (I only have so many). It looks like the invite link from the user profile “reuses” previous invitations. So, If I invited you to join a topic first, then I send an invitation from the user profile (to the forum)-- you get the topic invitation sent a 2nd time.

I just tried with a new email address and the user profile invitation is to the forum, not a topic.

Thanks for the quick responses.

1 Like