TrackEd includes built-in email functionality for sending student profiles, attendance data, and other information to students, parents, and teachers. You can send a single email via Outlook or use the bulk email feature (SMTP) to send to an entire found set at once.
Two ways to send email
The email functionality is found on the pink Email tab on the Profile page. There are two sending methods. The first is a quick email button that opens a single email in Outlook (or apple mail) for the currently displayed student. The second is the bulk email option, which uses SMTP to send an email to every student in your current found set.
For each method, you can choose to send to students, parents, or teachers, and set a To and CC address. For parents, a blind CC (BCC) option is also available. Both methods support mail merge fields (such as inserting the student’s first name) and the option to attach the current profile view.
SMTP and account setup
Before using bulk email, two things need to be configured in Settings. You will need access to the Settings page to do this. Go to Settings > Accounts and Bulk Email. On the right-hand side, enter your SMTP server address. For EQ schools this is smtp.office365.com with port 587. This is done once for the whole school.
Next, find your user account in the accounts list. This is the account you are logged in with when sending emails. Use the “View usage” button to confirm you are still logging in with that account, as some users have auto-login configured to a different one. Then open the Bulk Email Setup section for that account and enter your name and email address.
Sender details and the send-as option
The email must come from a real inbox. You can optionally set a different reply-to address and a different “send as” address. The send-as option allows emails to appear to come from a shared address such as attendance@yourschoolname.eq.edu.au. If you use a send-as address, your school technician will need to configure your account with permission to send from that address in the Microsoft admin portal. This setup happens outside of TrackEd. When sending the email still enter your password details, as the other account is still sending on your behalf.
The email signature field is text only (no graphics). You do not need to add a disclaimer here as the EQ server adds one automatically.
Required imports for email addresses
Email addresses for students, parents, and teachers come from different imports. Student email addresses are added by the Dynamic Student List import. Parent email addresses come from the Parent List import, which respects the “receives correspondence” checkbox in OneSchool. If a parent has that set to “no”, their email address will not be imported. Teacher email addresses are brought in with the Timetable import.
Before doing a bulk email send, make sure the relevant imports are up to date for your found set.
Preparing attendance data for a bulk send
If you are sending attendance information home to students and parents, there are a few extra preparation steps. First, in Settings > General, make sure the “Absence list use alt calculation method” checkbox is ticked and that your local show holiday has been set for the current year. If an “ID Attend user” option is checked, do not uncheck it without first confirming your school is no longer using ID Attend.
Next, run the recommended imports. Start with the Student Summary to add new students and archive leavers. Then run the Dynamic Student List and Absence List together (they are linked). When importing the Absence List, choose “Select period: whole year” instead of the default five weeks. This deletes and replaces all attendance data for the year, picking up any historical changes in OneSchool. For more detail, see Attendance Data Imports Explained.
If you are emailing parents, also run the Parent List import to bring in current parent email addresses. Timing matters: run these imports on a Monday or Tuesday so the previous week’s attendance is fully up to date in OneSchool. If you import on a Thursday or Friday, the current week will be ignored and data will only go up to the previous Friday.
If you have “Send imports to server when possible” enabled, check the import queue to confirm processing is complete. Green means finished, blue means queued, and purple means currently processing.
Configuring the attendance check profile
The Attendance Check alternative profile is the most common view sent home via bulk email. On the Profile page, select the Attendance Check option from the purple menu on the right. This page shows the student’s attendance percentage with colour-coded thresholds (green, yellow, red).
You can choose different display options: year to date, year to date plus approved, by term, by term with year to date, one/three/five week averages, or a selected period. For early in a term, “year to date” is usually best. Later in the term, “by term” works well. You can also select a two-page version that includes a list of individual absences. Most schools set this to show unexplained and unauthorised absences only, excluding late arrivals and early departures.
All text labels on the Attendance Check page can be customised in Settings under “Text labels”. The colour cutoff thresholds for green, yellow, and red can also be adjusted in Settings under “Colour codes”. These settings affect the whole school.
Selecting your found set
The bulk email feature sends to every student in your current found set. Select a cohort from the Home page, or use the Find panel or tags to narrow your group.
Send one cohort at a time rather than the whole school at once. This keeps the number of emails per day manageable (so Microsoft does not flag your account as spam) and spreads out parent enquiries for the office. A common approach is to send one cohort per day across the week.
To test the process, do a test send to a single student. Use the green checkbox on the List page to select that student, then choose Selection Options > Show Selected Only. You now have a found set of one student and can do a full test run safely. It is still a real send, but only to that one student.
Composing the email
On the Profile page, go to the Email tab. Choose your recipients. The most common setup for attendance emails is to send To the student and BCC the parent. This creates one email per student with the parent blind-copied, so parents see the student’s address but not each other’s. This also keeps the total number of emails lower than sending separately to each parent.
Set a subject line. TrackEd automatically adds the student’s name before the subject with a colon, making each subject line unique. This helps with email deliverability and reduces the chance of spam filters rejecting a large batch of identically-titled emails.
Type your message body. You can use the merge field button to insert the student’s first name. If you want to include a generic attachment (such as a letter from the principal), upload it to OneDrive and paste the share link into the email body. Tick the checkbox to include the current profile view, which attaches the student’s attendance check (or whatever profile you have displayed) to their email.
The bulk email feature also works with other profile views and alternative profiles. For example, you can configure the standard profile with achievement, effort, behaviour, and absence data and send that instead.
The bulk send process
Click “Send bulk for found set”. A summary screen shows your chosen options and the number of students in the found set. Check this carefully. TrackEd will then ask for your password. This is your EQ MIS password (not your TrackEd password). TrackEd does not store this password, so you will need to enter it each time you restart TrackEd.
Before sending to everyone, TrackEd sends a test email to you. Open this test email in your inbox. It shows exactly what the first student in the found set will receive, including the profile attachment and all formatting. At the bottom of the test email is a verification code. Copy this code and paste it back into TrackEd. This step is intentional: it forces you to review the email before it goes out to the full list.
Once the code is entered, click to send to all in the found set. TrackEd will send one email per student (plus any CC or BCC addresses) for every student in the found set.
Email log and extras
After sending, the email log on the Email tab records every email sent. The “Extras” area on the Email tab shows the student and parent email addresses that have been imported, which is useful for checking that addresses are present before you send.
