Automated & Conditional Emails Extension

Go beyond built-in confirmations. Set up automatic triggers that send the right email to the right people at exactly the right time — no manual effort required after the initial setup.

What’s New in Version 2.0

Preset Email Setups: A new Presets tab lets you create the six most common automated email scenarios in seconds — no need to understand triggers and templates first. Choose a preset, fill in a short form, give it a name, and the system creates the trigger and email template for you. Every preset is fully editable afterward, and you can run each preset multiple times to create variations (e.g., separate reminders for different events).
Sheet Chairs Email List: A new Sheet Chairs mailing list option sends a personalized email to each chair listed on a sheet — using the Chair Name and Chair Email fields stored directly on the sheet. If a sheet has multiple chairs (comma-separated), each one receives their own email showing only their sheet’s data. Chairs do not need to be WordPress users.
Sheet Authors Email List: A new Sheet Author mailing list option sends a personalized email to the sheet Authors, using the Author system introduced recently in the main plugin.
Full V6 Compatibility: Updated to work seamlessly with the V6 core plugin architecture, using the new model classes, global helper functions, and caching system.
Security Hardening: All database queries updated to use parameterized prepared statements, closing SQL injection risks. AJAX handlers now enforce proper capability checks.
License Manager Integration: License key management is now handled through the centralized Licenses page in the main plugin — one place for all your extension licenses.
Bug Fixes: Various edge-case bugs resolved across the trigger processing, email sending pipeline, and admin UI.

Why Use Automated Emails?

Save Hours Every Week: Set it up once and let the plugin handle routine communications automatically — reminders, thank-yous, summaries, and notifications
Keep Everyone Informed: Coordinators, chairs, authors, and volunteers all receive the right information without you having to manually send anything
Personalized at Scale: Send each volunteer an email showing only their own signups, or each chair only their own sheet’s data — automatically
Fully Customizable: HTML or plain text, template tags for dynamic content, and loop templates for multi-sheet or multi-task emails
Safe to Test: Built-in Test Mode redirects all outgoing emails to a test address so you can verify everything before it reaches your volunteers
Replaces Built-in Emails: Disable the main plugin’s confirmation emails and replace them with fully custom HTML templates — same triggers, your design

Six Ready-Made Presets

The Presets tab gets you started in seconds — no configuration expertise required:

Coordinator Signup Summary — A regular weekly or monthly recap of all volunteer signups, sent to your coordinator(s) or any list you choose
Open Spots Reminder — A weekly email about upcoming tasks still needing volunteers, with configurable look-ahead window and minimum open spots threshold
Volunteer Thank You — An automatic, personalized thank-you to each volunteer a set number of days after their task — each person only sees their own signup
Personalized Volunteer Reminder — A weekly email to each volunteer listing only their own upcoming commitments — perfect for keeping people on track
Notify Sheet Chair — Alert each sheet’s chair(s) when someone signs up: choose immediate per-signup notification or a weekly summary
Notify Sheet Author — Alert each sheet’s WordPress author when someone signs up: choose immediate or weekly summary

Every preset creates a fully configured trigger and email template. You can customize either one afterward just like any manually built setup — and you can run the same preset more than once to create separate setups for different events.

12 Trigger Types

Beyond the presets, the full trigger system gives you precise control over when emails are sent:

Weekly on selected days of the week
Monthly on selected days of the month (first day, last day, first Monday, etc.)
X days before first Sheet date
X days before each Task date
X days after last Sheet date
X days after each Task date
On Signup (fires immediately when a volunteer signs up)
On Clear Signup (fires when a signup is removed)
On Sheet Filled (fires when every spot on a sheet is taken)
On Task Filled (fires when every spot on a task is taken)
On X Sheet spots remaining
On X Task spots remaining

Flexible Email List Options

For each trigger, choose who receives the email:

Matching Sheet/Task Signups — Everyone who has signed up for the sheets or tasks that match the trigger conditions
All WordPress Users — Every registered WordPress user on your site
All Signups (database) — All unique email addresses from the signups database
WordPress Users + All Signups — A combined, deduplicated list of both
Individual Signup Email — Only the person whose action triggered the email (for On Signup / On Clear Signup triggers)
Sheet Authors — One personalized email per WordPress sheet author, with data filtered to only their own sheets
Sheet Chairs — One personalized email per chair listed on each sheet, with data filtered to only their own sheets
Custom Email List — Any list you build and manage yourself in the Mailing Lists tab

Powerful Email Templates

HTML (visual editor) or plain text format
Template tags for dynamic content: volunteer name, task name, task date, sheet title, site name, and more
Loop templates for {sheets}, {tasks}, and {signups} — repeat a block of content for each item in the set
Matching Signups Only mode: each recipient sees only the data that belongs to them — ideal for personalized reminders and thank-yous
Custom From name and From email per template
Unlimited templates — reuse the same template across multiple triggers
Manual send: use any template with any list at any time from the Send Emails tab

Smart Scheduling & Conditions

Conditional Days: Limit included sheets/tasks to those within X days of the trigger date — great for weekly summaries that only show events in the coming week
Spot conditions: Filter sheets or tasks by number or percentage of open spots (more than / less than)
Signup date conditions: Filter by signup date range (within next / within previous X days) — perfect for “signups this week” summaries
Efficient CRON processing: A dedicated scheduled-events database table means the hourly CRON job only needs to check what’s due today — no performance impact on large sites
Test any scheduled event on demand without affecting its scheduled send date
Date simulation: Enter any date on the Tests tab to preview which triggers would fire on that day

View Full Documentation →

Screenshots

Automated Emails General Settings — General Settings

Automated Emails Triggers List — Email Triggers List

Automated Emails Emails List — Email Templates List

Automated Emails Mailins Lists List — Custom Mailing Lists

Automated Emails Scheduled Events — Scheduled Trigger Events

Automated Emails Send Emails — Send Emails page

Automated Emails Edit Trigger Weekly Summary — Add/Edit Trigger – Weekly Summary Example

Automated Emails Edit Trigger More Volunteers Needed — Add/Edit Trigger – Volunteers Needed Example

Automated Emails Edit Trigger Thank You — Add/Edit Trigger – Thank You example

Automated Emails Edit Email — Add/Edit Email Template

Automated Emails Tasks Page Notification Form — Tasks Page – Manual Notification Email Form

Automated Emails Edit Custom Mailing List — Add/Edit Custom Mailing List

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