Messages from the contact form

The Contact page has a form people can use to send you a message any time. Each message is emailed to the clinic and kept under Clinic → Messages, so nothing gets lost if an email goes astray. The number in the red circle next to Messages shows how many are new.

What visitors see

The form asks for their name, email, an optional phone number and their message (and a subject, if you've set a list of subjects). When they click Send message they see "Thank you! Your message has been sent. We'll reply as soon as we can." and get an automatic reply by email.

How to read and reply to a message

1. Go to Clinic → Messages. Each row shows the Message (name and subject, with New if it's unread), From, What they wrote and when it was Received.

2. Click the message to open it. You see who it's from, their email and phone, the subject, when it was received, which page it was Sent from, and the message.
3. Click Reply by email to answer in your own email program. Or simply reply to the email the website sent you: it goes straight to the visitor.
4. Click Back to messages when you're done.

Contact form settings

In Clinic → Settings → Contact, under Contact form:

• Subjects to choose from (optional): one per line; leave empty to hide the subject list;
• Automatic reply: the email sent to the visitor straight away (switch it off under Email);
• Review messages after (months): how long messages are kept before they're listed for review;
• When messages are due: List them for review before deleting (recommended) or Delete them automatically each night.

Where messages are emailed is set in Clinic → Settings → Email → Send notifications to. See Clinic settings.

Tidying away old messages

Data protection law asks you not to keep personal data longer than you need it.

1. Go to Clinic → Messages and click Due for review.
2. Look through the list. Nothing is deleted automatically.
3. Tick the ones there's no reason to keep and choose Delete selected, then confirm by typing DELETE. Only administrators can do this.