On 26/10/2011, at 11:53 AM, Geoff and Kaye wrote:
> Brett > > On 26/10/2011, at 10:06 AM, Brett Curtis wrote: > >> I have a list of clients with whom I have regular bookings. >> They are all sent physical calendars, but some are not as reliable as others >> in remembering thhe appointments. >> >> Is there a program that I can set up a regular email to be sent to them >> reminding them of an impending appointment? >> >> I have also found that clients who receive these emails are apt to send a >> cancellation or a deferral >> >> Quite often this is done quite close to the booking when it is difficult to >> replace that booking. Can I set up a "Do not reply" email address so that >> it is not quite so easy for them to do this? Often we do a few clients all >> in the same area at the same time of the quarter and to have to return to >> that area the next week costs time and money. > > > When you see a "do not reply" on an email message it is normally because the > message is generated by a script which uses the server's mail program, rather > than a person using a mail program on their computer. There is no way that a > recipient can be prevented from replying to such a message (or any message), > but the reply goes to an address which just ignores it. You could mimic this > behaviour by setting up an account for reminders with a return address which > (using a rule in your mail program) sends any replies straight to the trash. > > As to the first part of your question, we would write a system to do this > from scratch, but I am not sure if you could find anything "off the shelf". I > do not think it is something that a mail program could be set to do, but I > might be wrong about that. Depending on what support your web hosting service > provides, it might be possible to set up a cron job to do it, but this > requires some Unix skills and could get complex. > > Regards > > Geoff > ---------------------- > Geoff and Kaye > [email protected] > One thing I'd be a bit weary of here, and apologies if this sounds "nitpicky or harsh", it's not meant to. But I wouldn't create an account and then have a rule sending it straight to the trash. My reasoning behind that would be, that if the email client is receiving it, then although you're not reading it, the email is being received for the rule to send it to the trash. So from the clients end, even though it might not be a "no reply" account, if they did reply to it saying "I don't need it this week etc thanks"...the email account would still read it and throw it out. So someone could then come back and say...well I did email you and tell you. What a better option would be (as long as you don't have a catch all email address being run on your domain), would be to use something like [email protected]. As long as this isn't a valid email address or a valid mailbox (or the account doesn't have a catch all system), then that address would simply bounce. Therefor it's not received at all. And it's done server end. Any address that is sent and goes through a server system to email to be filed by a rule,..in theory still has been received. So the client at the other end doesn't get notified. Yet a "dead email address" would simply bounce back to the client with a "bounce message". (I hope that makes sense. I don't think I made myself very clear,..lol). I don't know of anything for the reminder off hand though I'm afraid. I know iCal can sent out reminders, but they're normally done at the time of booking in the appointment. You could possibly do something in Automator, similar to this <http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/birthday-alarms-automated-email-notifications-and-ical-mac-only/> But re-writing it to use iCal info to send out email reminders to people. But using an account with a "dead" email address with a name "Do Not Reply". May work,... ;o) Kind regards Daniel --- Daniel Kerr MacWizardry Phone: 0414 795 960 Email: <daniel AT macwizardry.com.au> Web: <http://www.macwizardry.com.au> **For everything Macintosh** -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
