Broadcast message

The Broadcast Message page is where you prepare and send one broadcast message: an email to many people at once, such as all your customers in a country or the users with certain roles. Once the message is sent, the page shows what was sent and to whom.

To open a message, select it on the Broadcast messages page (System > Broadcast Messages). A new message opens here as soon as you create it.

A message is a Draft until you send it: you can change it, preview it, send it or delete it. Once it is Sent, it can no longer be changed: see Sent summary.

A message goes out in one of two ways:

• A single broadcast, the default: one email, with every recipient as a blind copy (Bcc), so recipients do not see each other’s addresses.
• A mail merge: one personalized email per recipient, with placeholders such as the recipient’s name filled in. See Personalise.

Write and send a message

1. Check the Subject.
2. Under Recipients, choose who receives the message. See Recipients.
3. To personalize the message, tick Send as mail merge and add placeholders. See Personalise.
4. Write the Message. See Message.
5. Add Attachments, if needed. See Attachments.
6. Select Send Preview Email to receive the message yourself, and check it.
7. Select Send…, check the recipients and select Send. See Send the message.

To stop and finish later, select Save Only.

Subject

The Subject is the subject of the email, up to 100 characters. It cannot contain HTML tags. In a mail merge, it can contain placeholders. TrakIT adds the same prefix to the subject as on its other emails.

Recipients

Select Recipients to show or hide the recipient options. Above each list, the check icon selects all or none of it.

Option	What to choose
Companies	The companies whose entities and users receive the message. At least one is required, even to save the message. The list shows the companies you have access to; a system administrator sees all active companies. A new message starts with your own company.
Include Multi Company	Also include the entities enabled for one of the selected companies on their Per Company tab, and the users with access to one of them, not only the entities and users that belong to it.
Countries	The countries of the entities to include. The list shows the countries of the entities of the companies you have access to; a system administrator sees the countries of all entities.
Entity Type	The types of entities to include, for example customers or transporters.
Include Multi Type	Also include the entities that have one of the selected types as an additional type.
Entity Emails	Which of each entity’s email addresses to send to: General, Finance, Management, or several. General is ticked to start with. When the ticked ones are empty for an entity, its General addresses are used. See Entity.
User Roles	The roles of the users to include. A role that belongs to one company shows the company in brackets.
Workflows	Optional. Only the users with access to at least one of these workflows.
Emails	Any other email addresses, one per line or separated by commas, semicolons or spaces.
Personalise	Send as mail merge: see Personalise.

User Roles lists the roles for all companies and the roles of the companies saved on the message. If you change Companies, save the message and open it again to see the roles of the companies you added.

Include Multi Company and Include Multi Type are not saved with the message. If you open a draft again, tick them again before you send it.

Who receives the message

TrakIT works out the recipients when you send, from the recipient options:

• Entities: the active entities with at least one email address whose type is one of the selected Entity Type entries, whose responsible company is one of the Companies, and whose country is one of the Countries. Each receives the message at the addresses chosen in Entity Emails. No entity is included unless you choose at least one entity type, and then at least one country is required.
• Users: the internal users who are not locked, have an email address and hold one of the selected User Roles, whose own company is one of the Companies, and, if you chose Workflows, who have access to one of them. No user is included unless you choose at least one role.
• Emails: every address you entered.

Each address receives the message once, even if it belongs to several entities or users. Addresses that your installation no longer emails, for example because emails to them bounced, are left out; in a mail merge, a recipient left with no address shows up as failed.

All the system administrators of your installation also receive the message: for a single broadcast, as recipients; for a mail merge, as one copy (see A mail merge).

Personalise

Under Personalise, tick Send as mail merge to send one personalized email per recipient instead of a single broadcast. The Placeholders list then appears above the message.

In a mail merge:

• Each entity receives one email, sent to all its chosen addresses. Each user, and each address in Emails, receives an email of its own.
• The placeholders in the subject and the message are replaced with each recipient’s details.
• The emails are sent in the background after you send the message, and the page shows their delivery.

A mail merge must contain at least one placeholder, and a single broadcast must contain none. TrakIT checks this when you preview or send the message, so that recipients never receive a placeholder as it was typed.

Placeholders

A placeholder is a field name in double braces, such as {{Name}}. In each email, TrakIT replaces it with the recipient’s value.

To insert a placeholder:

1. Place the cursor in the Subject or the Message, where the placeholder should go.
2. Under Placeholders, select the field. It is inserted at the cursor, in the box you used last.

The fields are grouped as Recipient, For Entities, For Users and System. Point to a field to see its placeholder. You can also type a placeholder yourself: the field names are not case-sensitive, and spaces inside the braces are ignored.

Field	Placeholder	For an entity	For a user
Recipient name	{{Name}}	The contact person, or the entity name if there is none.	The first name.
Contact person	{{ContactPerson}}	Contact Person(s).	The first name.
Company / office	{{Company}}	The entity name.	The user’s company.
Email address	{{Email}}	The addresses the email is sent to.	The user’s address.
Phone / mobile	{{Phone}}	Phone Numbers.	The user’s mobile number.
Office	{{Office}}	Responsible Company.	The user’s company.
Entity name	{{EntName}}	Entity Name.	-
Entity code	{{EntCode}}	Entity Code.	-
Address	{{Address}}	Postal Address.	-
Country	{{Country}}	The name of the entity’s country.	-
Entity type	{{EntityType}}	The entity’s main type.	-
Account	{{Account}}	Default Account.	-
Currency	{{CurrCode}}	Base Currency.	-
Tax number	{{TIN}}	TIN.	-
Local name	{{LocalName}}	Local Name.	-
Responsible user	{{RespUser}}	The full name of the entity’s Responsible user.	-
First name	{{FirstName}}	-	The first name.
Last name	{{LastName}}	-	The last name.
Full name	{{FullName}}	-	The full name.
User ID	{{UserID}}	-	The user ID.
Sender name	{{SenderName}}	The full name of the user who sent the message.	Same.
Sender email	{{SenderEmail}}	The email address of the user who sent the message.	Same.
Today’s date	{{Today}}	The date the email is sent, in UTC, for example 23 Oct 2026.	Same.

The entity fields are those of the entity. For an address typed in Emails, only {{Email}}, {{SenderName}}, {{SenderEmail}} and {{Today}} have a value.

When a field is empty

When the recipient has no value for a field, TrakIT uses, in this order:

1. The text after | in the placeholder, if there is one. For example, {{ContactPerson|Sir/Madam}} becomes Sir/Madam for an entity without a contact person.
2. For Recipient name, Contact person, First name and Full name: Sir/Madam.
3. For any other field: nothing.

The name fields are inserted with |Sir/Madam already. To use other words, change the text after |, for example {{FirstName|colleague}}.

Broken placeholders

A placeholder works only if it is typed in one piece. If formatting is applied to part of it, or it was pasted with formatting from another program, it may be split and would not be replaced. TrakIT stops the preview or send and lists the broken placeholders: delete them and insert them again from the Placeholders list.

Message

Write the message in the editor under Message. A new message starts with [Type your message here]: replace it with your text. The toolbar formats text, makes lists, adds links and emoticons, and inserts images. Images you paste or drop into the message are saved in TrakIT, and the email shows them from there.

The message cannot contain scripts or embedded frames. TrakIT also refuses a letter or number directly followed by an opening bracket, such as item(s): add a space before the bracket. Both checks apply when you save, too.

Once the message is sent, the page shows it under Message, as it was written. For a mail merge, the placeholders are shown as typed, not filled in.

Attachments

Attachments lists the files sent with the message, with their title, file name, type, status, expiry date (red once expired), size and who uploaded them. Select the icons to download or preview a file, or to print a PDF or an image.

To add files to a draft:

1. Select Add Files.
2. In Upload Files, enter a File Title, and choose a Document Type, a Document Status and a Document Expiry if needed. Without a title, each file is titled with its file name.
3. Drag the files onto the box, or select Select File(s). The upload starts at once.

Each file can be up to 20 MB, of the types listed under Allowed Files. Every recipient receives the attachments with the email, so keep them small: the page reminds you to keep all the attachments together under 5 MB, to avoid emails bouncing.

To change a file’s details, select its pencil (Modify Document), make the changes in Modify File and select Update. To delete a file, open Modify File, select the cross at the bottom left (Delete File), then confirm.

Attachments can be added, changed and deleted only while the message is a draft.

Save, preview or delete a draft

Button	What it does
Save Only	Saves the subject, recipients and message, and returns to the list. Placeholders are not checked.
Send Preview Email	Saves the message and emails it, with its attachments, to you only, with [PREVIEW ONLY] after the subject. For a mail merge, the placeholders are filled in with your own user details, so entity fields show their defaults.
Delete	Deletes the draft and its attachments, after you confirm, and returns to the list.

A preview needs a subject and a message, and the placeholders must pass the same checks as for sending.

Send the message

1. Select Send…. TrakIT saves the message and works out the recipients. If the message cannot be saved, TrakIT says why instead, and shows no recipients.
2. In Send Broadcast, check who will receive the message:
   • For a single broadcast, the popup says how many recipients the message will be emailed to. Select Show/Hide Recipients to see their addresses.
   • For a mail merge, the popup shows how many personalized emails will be sent. Select Show/Hide preview of first recipient to see the first email, with its placeholders filled in, as plain text.
3. Select Send, or Cancel to go back to the draft.

The number does not include the system administrators, who receive the message as well. If no one matches the recipient options, TrakIT says No Recipients instead.

When you select Send, TrakIT checks the message again: it needs a subject and a message, at least one country if you chose entity types, valid addresses in Emails, and placeholders that match the Send as mail merge option. If a check fails, the message stays a draft and TrakIT says why. See Messages.

A single broadcast

TrakIT sends one email, with every recipient and the system administrators as blind copies, and the attachments. Long recipient lists are sent in several batches. The message’s status then becomes Sent, with the date, and the list opens.

If sending fails with an error that may clear, for example because the email server is not available, TrakIT keeps the email and tries again later; the message is still marked Sent. If it fails for any other reason, the message stays a draft and TrakIT shows the error.

A mail merge

TrakIT:

1. Lists the recipients, using each address once: the entities first, then the users, then the addresses in Emails.
2. Marks the message Sent, sends the system administrators one copy of it, with [MERGE TEMPLATE] after the subject and the placeholders filled in with your own details, and returns to the list.
3. Sends the personalized emails in the background, in batches every minute. Each email is tried up to 3 times.
4. When every email has been tried, emails you a summary, Broadcast Mail Merge Complete, with how many were sent and which recipients failed.

Follow the progress in Delivery.

Sent summary

A sent message opens with < Back to List, which returns to the list, and a badge saying when the message was sent and by whom. Below the subject, the summary shows the recipient options it was sent with:

Field	Shows
Entity Types	The entity types chosen, or -.
Entity Emails	Which addresses of the entities were used. Only when entity types were chosen.
Countries	The codes of the countries chosen, or -.
Companies	The companies chosen.
User Roles	The roles chosen.
Workflows	The workflows chosen, or [ All Workflows ] when users were not limited by workflow.
Emails	The addresses typed in Emails, or -.

The summary does not show whether Include Multi Company or Include Multi Type was ticked. The message and its attachments follow.

Clone a message

System administrators see a copy icon (Clone broadcast message) next to the subject of a sent message, to start a new message from it:

1. Select the copy icon.
2. In Confirm Clone, select Yes.

TrakIT creates a draft with the same subject, message, companies, recipient options, mail merge setting and entity emails, and opens it. The attachments are not copied: the confirmation reminds you if the message has any.

Delivery

For a mail merge, Delivery shows how the personalized emails are going:

Field	Shows
Total recipients	The number of personalized emails to send.
Sent	How many have been sent.
Pending	How many are still to be sent or tried again. Only while there are some.
Failed	How many could not be sent after 3 attempts.

Open the message again to see the latest figures. Failed recipients lists each failed Recipient with the Error. An address that your installation no longer emails shows up as failed.

To try the failed recipients again:

1. Select Retry Failed.
2. Confirm.

TrakIT sends them again in the background, and emails you a new summary when it is done. Retry Failed appears if your role has Create in the BroadCast Messages section.

Messages

Message	What to do
At least one company must be selected.	Tick at least one company in Companies.
At least one country must be selected.	You chose entity types: tick at least one country in Countries.
Subject must be specified, No content specified	Enter a subject, or write the message.
Title contains possible html tags or disallowed text	Remove the HTML tags or special text from the subject.
Content contains invalid content	Remove the script or embedded frame from the message.
Opening bracket must be preceeded with a space	Add a space before each opening bracket that follows a letter or number.
Email … is invalid, Email … is excluded	Correct or remove the address in Emails. An excluded address is one your installation no longer emails.
No Recipients	No one matches the recipient options. Check them.
Broken Placeholder	A placeholder was split by formatting. See Broken placeholders.
Invalid Placeholder	A placeholder names a field that does not exist, for example because of a typing error. Correct or remove it.
No Placeholders	Send as mail merge is ticked, but the subject and the message have no placeholder. Add one, or untick the option.
Placeholders Not Enabled	The subject or the message has placeholders, but Send as mail merge is not ticked. Tick it, or remove the placeholders.
Permission Denied	Your role cannot create or change broadcast messages.
This message has already been sent, Unable to delete message: A sent message cannot be deleted	Someone sent the message after you opened it, for example from another tab. Open it again from the list.
You do not have permission to add files here. Please reload the page and try again.	The page has been open for more than a day. Reload it and add the file again.

Who can use this page

Your role needs these permissions in the BroadCast Messages section:

Permission	Allows you to
Read	Open messages, and download and preview their attachments.
Create	Change, save, preview, send and delete drafts, add, change and delete their attachments, and send to failed recipients again with Retry Failed.

You see the messages for the companies you have access to. System administrators see all messages, and can also clone sent messages.