Messaging students and other users from Inspire is an easy way to track all communications in one place.
Outlook Integration
Inspire has two-way integration with Outlook, which allows users to easily communicate with students and other DU community members. When users initiate a message in Inspire, the message goes to both the student’s Inspire account and their DU email address. Additionally, once the message is initiated, responses to and from users (i.e. students and advisors) are automatically recorded in the Inspire communication, even if that communication is conducted entirely in Outlook. As such, it is recommended to initiate communication through Inspire so that the communication can be tracked easily in one place.
Sending a Message
You can message a student or group of students in three ways:
1. From the Student Profile
2. From a list of students (either through the Students tab or Groups tab)
3. By clicking "Send Message" in the Quick Actions tile on the user dashboard. Note that the Communication page is the best place to access all of your messages (inbox, sent, draft, and favorited messages).
From any of these three methods, select "Compose Email" to start a new message. A pop-up modal will appear with the following options:
(1) Student or group name in the Recipient(s) field, Subject line (required field), and Engagement Opportunities (if applicable).
Within the message options, users can (2) customize the appearance and (3) personalization of the message to an individual student or to a group of students. When sending a message to a group of students, it is recommended that you use the (3) Personalize mail merge options to personalize the message, which include options for the student’s first name, full name, and preferred name. Note: if a student has not designated a preferred name, the system will default to their first name.
Users also have the option to send a message to their own DU email address by selecting the (4) “send a copy to my email” box below the message.
Sending a message is also one of the four ways to record an advising note for a student or group of students. When you compose a message, simply select the (5) “create an advising note from this message” box to save that message as an advising note.
Lastly, users can also (6) attach documents or materials to a message before sending.
