Save, manage and return to communication drafts to send later

This article explains how to save, manage, and return to communication drafts in the School and MAT MIS. Users can create drafts for emails, SMS, in-app messages, and letters, manage multiple drafts, schedule messages, and delete drafts. It also outlines permissions required for different user roles and provides instructions for viewing, creating, and deleting drafts.

We've introduced the ability to save, view and manage an unlimited number of message drafts in the School and MAT MIS. You can now: 

• Save drafts for emails, SMS, in-app messages and letters
• Manage multiple drafts at once without losing your work
• Come back to send your draft at a later time
• Schedule the date and time when communications should be sent (School MIS only)
• Discard a draft and set up a new one
• Return to the New Mail Merge page to start a completely new draft, helping to prevent attachments from being sent to unintended recipients

Permissions

• Student: Communications: Administer All/My Students - Create and manage mail merge communication drafts to your students as a teacher
• Send and Administer School Communications: Administer - Create and manage your mail merge communication drafts as an administrator
• Group: Group Communications: Administer - Send emails from the MAT MIS

If you don't have any of the required permissions, ask your school office to give them to you using these instructions.  

Seeing my current drafts

On the MAT MIS, go to Administration > Communications > Email Drafts.

On the school MIS, there is a different draft page for each communication type:

• School > Communications > Email > Email Drafts
• School > Communications > In-App Messages > In-App Message Drafts
• School > Communications > Letters > Letter Drafts
• School > Communications > SMS > SMS Message Drafts

Here you'll see a list of the drafts you have created, in chronological order with the most recently edited at the top.

• For emails, you'll see the Subject line saved for the draft. If no subject has been entered, this field will be blank.
• For SMS and in-app messages, as there is no subject, you'll see the message content. If no message has been entered, this field will be blank.
• Letters will just show the draft creation time and date.

You'll also see the date and time if it has been scheduled, or N/A if it has not.

Click into a draft in the list to continue working on the draft. All the fields will fill with whatever you chose before saving the draft, including any attachments. From here you can edit your draft and send it out, save an updated version, or discard and delete the draft.

Creating a new draft

You can see further information about setting up and sending messages here: emails, SMS, letters and in-app messages.

• On the MAT MIS, go to Administration > Communications > New Mail Merge Email.
• On the school MIS, there is a different draft page for each communication type - go to School > Communications > Communication type > New Mail Merge.

Going to one of these pages will create a brand new draft. From here you can set up and send your message by clicking Proceed. Once you click Send in the next step, the message will be removed from your drafts list as it has been sent.

Click Discard Draft to delete your draft and be taken to the Drafts page. If you want to create a new draft without discarding this one, click New Mail Merge from the left-hand menu.

If you want to make changes but aren't yet ready to send out the message, just click the Save Draft button. 

Deleting a draft

If you've accidentally created a draft by visiting the New Mail Merge page, or want to delete a draft if it is no longer needed, just go to the drafts page for the communication type.

Please note that deletions cannot be restored - you'd need to set up the draft again.

Deleting your drafts in bulk

Please note that this is only currently available on School MIS communication drafts, not MAT MIS email drafts.

Click the boxes next to the drafts you want to delete. Click Bulk action, then select Delete drafts.

Deleting a single draft

Click into the draft.

Scroll down to the bottom of the new page, and click Discard draft.

You'll be returned to the Drafts page where you can see the draft has been deleted.

FAQ

Can we create drafts for non-mail merge messages?

No, you can only create and manage drafts for mail merge emails, SMS, letters and in-app messages. You cannot save drafts in other areas of the MIS, such as when sending communications directly from within student or guardian profiles.

Can we queue messages to be sent at a later time?

Yes you can - please see these instructions: Schedule an email, SMS or in-app message to send later on

Can we see other people's message drafts?

No, you can only view your own communication drafts. This is to help prevent users from editing drafts at the same time and sending out messages still being edited.

Can I copy a draft?

Before sending, you can click into your draft, make changes and then save it to create a new version. It isn't possible to copy a message already sent into your drafts. If you find you're often sending this type of message, you can set up a Communication Template.

What are the default settings?

Using the editor, the default font is PT Sans with a size of 14. It isn't possible to set this centrally, so you would need to amend it for each new draft or template. When returning to a draft, the settings already selected will remain applied, and won't revert to the default.