Virto Web Part Alerts Customizer — Installation and User Guide · SharePoint users often need to send group and individual notifications and alerts about creating, deleting or changing

Virto Web Part Alerts Customizer

for Microsoft SharePoint

Release 4.3.0

User and Installation Guide

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Copyright © 2009 All rights reserved. www.virtosoftware.com

Table of Contents

OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................................................................................... 3

SHORTLIST OF VIRTO ALERTS CUSTOMIZER KEY FEATURES ....................................................................................................... 3

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ............................................................................................................................................................. 4

OPERATING SYSTEM .............................................................................................................................................................................. 4 SERVER ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5 BROWSER ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 5

INSTALLATION .............................................................................................................................................................................. 5

INSTALLING VIRTO WEB PART ALERTS CUSTOMIZER FOR SHAREPOINT ........................................................................................................ 6 INSTALLING VIRTO WEB PART ALERTS CUSTOMIZER FOR SHAREPOINT 2010 ............................................................................................... 9 LICENSE ACTIVATION ............................................................................................................................................................................ 14 UNINSTALLING VIRTO WEB PART ALERTS CUSTOMIZER ........................................................................................................................... 14 UPGRADING VIRTO ALERTS CUSTOMIZER ............................................................................................................................................... 14

ADMINISTRATION AND USAGE ................................................................................................................................................. 15

ADDING THE WEB PART TO A PAGE ....................................................................................................................................................... 15 ALERTS CUSTOMIZER WEB PART ADMINISTRATION ................................................................................................................................. 16

Communication Adjustment ..................................................................................................................................................... 16 SMTP Server Adjustment ............................................................................................................................................................................. 17 SMS Adjustment ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 19 Clickatell SMS Gateway ................................................................................................................................................................................ 20 OMS SMS Gateway ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 22 XMPP communication type ......................................................................................................................................................................... 23

Groups with Alerts Creation Rights .......................................................................................................................................... 23 Alert Subscriptions Adjustment ................................................................................................................................................ 24

General Settings ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 25 Recipients Settings ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 28 Sending alerts to AD users ........................................................................................................................................................................... 30 Message Template Settings ......................................................................................................................................................................... 32 Attachments to List Items ............................................................................................................................................................................ 35 External Host Path ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 37 Alerts Processing Schedule .......................................................................................................................................................................... 38 Sending Reminders ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 39 Filtering and Paging ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 41

VERSION RELEASE HISTORY ....................................................................................................................................................... 43

http://www.virtosoftware.com/

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Overview

Microsoft SharePoint technologies are supposed for effective organizing of corporate information, providing quick access to this information, document management and work sharing, using and distributing information within the company and outside of it. SharePoint users often need to send group and individual notifications and alerts about creating, deleting or changing list items (item level alert), documents, lists (list level alert), or document libraries via email. Alerts in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 are quite flexible but often require more comprehensive adjustment in addition. For instance, adding triggers or alert creating settings. Virto Alerts Customizer for SharePoint provides you with additional adjustment features. It allows sending alert and notifications not only by e-mails, but also by SMS or XMPP-Server to Jabber or Miranda Users. Alerts can be managed by users and administrators and customized by developers. User friendly interface allows setting up different terms and conditions for Notifications which makes SharePoint Alert System even more flexible and useful. With Virto Alerts Customizer for SharePoint it’s hard to skip or forget you task and events. In the current version the adjustment of subscriptions and web-part settings can be held only by the Site Administrator. Future versions will allow selecting group of users with rights for adding and editing subscriptions.

Shortlist of Virto Alerts Customizer Key features

Feature Status Send Alerts and Notifications to Email (SMTP)

1.0

Send Alerts and Notifications to SMS (SMPP Server Support)

1.2

Send Alerts and Notifications to XMPP Instant Messengers Users (Jabber, Miranda etc )

2.3

Supported Triggers: Create, Delete or Change Event, Remind About

1.0

User Friendly Interface for Alert Scheduling

1.1

E-mail Alert Recipient: individual user, group of users, SharePoint Users, Lookup field from alert list

1.0

Insert List Columns Values to E-mail Subject or Body

1.0


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Customization of E-mail Content upon your needs, Plain text

1.0

Customization of E-mail Content upon your needs, Rich Text

1.1

Summary Notification

1.1

Frequency of sending Alerts (Immediately, Every Hour, Day, Week)

1.1

Complex Term and Conditions of Sending Alerts

1.1

Send Alerts about upcoming or overdue Events

2.0

Display and e-mail address from which Alert was sent from

1.1

Include attachment into e-mails

2.2

Custom Alert Templates

1.1

Quick Inserts into message templates 1.1

Ability to use more than one smtp connection settings.

1.2

Ability to use SMPP server provider for sms alert sending.

1.2

Ability to use Clickatell Sms Gateway for sms alert sending.

1.2

New license system 1.2

Ability to add lookup contacts 2.0

Office Mobile Service communication 2.1

Ability to add list item attachments to the email alert

2.2

XMPP communication type (jabber, gtalk clients) 2.3

Ability to add AD users and groups to Recipient lists

2.5

Ability to define header and footer for the message template if Combine Alerts into Single Notification is checked.

3.0

System Requirements

Operating System Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP2 and 2008


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Server SharePoint Release 2010: - Microsoft Windows SharePoint Foundation 2010 (Beta) or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2010 (Beta); - Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5;

SharePoint Release 3: - Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services v3 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007; - Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5; Note: This product is not compatible with SPS 2003 and WSS v2.

Browser Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 or higher is required.

Installation This section describes how to install, upgrade, uninstall, or contact Support for the Virto Web Part Alerts Customizer. To install and use Virto Alerts Customizer, running SharePoint Timer Service is required (it is necessary for email messages delivery).


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Installing Virto Web Part Alerts Customizer for SharePoint

Before you begin, you need to make sure you have access to the server and your account must have the appropriate administrative privileges to install applications. The Virto Web Part Alerts Customizer setup program provides links to the various installation components for the Alerts Customizer. To access the Virto Alerts Customizer Setup program download Virto.Alerts.Customizer.WebPart.zip file and unzip it. Open Virto.Alerts.Customizer.WebPart folder and run extracted Setup.exe file. The setup wizard window will appear.

Virto Web Part Alerts Customizer Setup wizard performs a system check prior to the installation. All the system checks must be completed successfully in order to proceed with the installation. After the checks have completed, click “Next”.


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Check “I accept the terms in the License Agreement” and click “Next”.


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Select the web application(s) where you want to install the product. Warning: You must be logged in to the SharePoint server with a Site Collection Administrator account to automatically activate this feature.

Then click “Next”.


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Click “Close” to complete the installation.

Installing Virto Web Part Alerts Customizer for SharePoint 2010

Before you begin, you need to make sure you have access to the server and your account must have the appropriate administrative privileges to install applications. The Virto Web Part Alerts Customizer setup program provides links to the various installation components for the Alerts Customizer. To access the Virto Alerts Customizer Setup program download Virto.Alerts.Customizer.WebPart.2010.X.X.zip file and unzip it. Open Virto.Alerts.Customizer.WebPart folder and run extracted Setup.exe file. The setup wizard window will appear.


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Virto Web Part Alerts Customizer Setup wizard performs a system check prior to the installation. All the system checks must be completed successfully in order to proceed with the installation. After the checks have completed, click “Next”.


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Check “I accept the terms in the License Agreement” and click “Next”. Select the web application(s) where you want to install the product.


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Warning: You must be logged in to the SharePoint server with a Site Collection Administrator account to automatically activate this feature. Then click “Next”.


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Click “Close” to complete the installation.


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License Activation To see full instruction for successful activation of your component, please download “Virto License Manager” PDF instruction from Downloads section of our site or read it in Wiki.

Uninstalling Virto Web Part Alerts Customizer To uninstall the Web Part:

1. Double click the Setup.exe extracted from downloaded Virto.Alerts.Customizer.WebPart.zip file.

2. The program performs the system checks again. Once that has successfully completed, the program prompts you to Repair or Remove the solution. Select Remove, and click “Next”.

Upgrading Virto Alerts Customizer If you already use Virto Alerts Customizer and need to upgrade it to the latest version, download the.zip file from http://www.virtosoftware.com. Unzip the file and run setup.exe as it is described in the Installing Virto Alerts Customizer Web Part section.


http://community.virtosoftware.com/media/g/web-part-userguides/default.aspx

http://community.virtosoftware.com/wikis/


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Note: it is highly recommended to exit License Manager before upgrading. If you need to use License Manager, run it after upgrading. On the step 3 you will see the window as follows check the box “Upgrade” and click “Next”. Note: if you had activated the license while installing the previous Virto Alerts Customizer version, you do not need to activate it now.

Administration and Usage

Adding the Web Part to a Page

Go to SharePoint site where you want to add the web part and open “Site Actions - Edit page”.

You will switch to edit mode. Click “Add a Web Part”.

Select Virto Alerts Customizer for SharePoint at the bottom of the list and click “Add”.


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Once you have clicked “Add” button, use “Exit edit mode” button.

Alerts Customizer Web Part Administration

Once you have added Virto Alerts Customizer to the site page, you have to adjust web part.

Communication Adjustment

First of all, define the list of communication options to be used for email sending. You can define SMTP

servers, SMS (SMPP servers) or additional Clickatell Sms Gateway. Use edit menu and select “Modify

Shared Web Part”.


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Use create “New Communication Settings”. Now you must select one of three possible communication

types: SMTP, SMS, Clickatell or OMS. To add communication type, click “Create New Communications

Settings”.

SMTP Server Adjustment

If you select SMTP Server as communication type, check the box “Use standard SharePoint outgoing

settings”. In case the global server is not adjusted, even if the box is checked email messages will be

impossible to send.

You can adjust SMTP server to be used for notifications sending. In order to do this, uncheck the box

“Use standard SharePoint outgoing settings”. Then fill out the following fields:

1) SMTP server - enter SMTP server (for example, smtp.google.com);

2) Port – enter SMTP server port. 25 is default (for Google, for example, 587);

3) Use SSL checkbox – check it if you need to use SSL (required for Google);

4) From Email – enter address on behalf of which SMTP server will send email messages. Most

servers check this address. So it is required to create an account on the mail server and send

messages on behalf of it.


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5) Use specific user credentials checkbox. If it is unchecked, email sending is organized without

authentication. In case SMTP server requires authentication (for example, Google) check this

box and fill out fields User Name and Password.

Once you have filled out all the required fields, type your email address in the “To” field and use “Test

Letter” to check if the settings are correct and SMTP server works. The message about correct or

incorrect settings will appear.

Save the SMTP settings (”Save” button) and continue adjustment.


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SMS Adjustment

If you select SMS, you have to fill out the following fields (SMS Server Host, SMS Server Port, Contact

Number, Address Range, System ID, and System Password). Fill out the fields with the required values

as it is shown below on the sample picture and click “Save”.

1) SMS Server Host - enter SMS server host (for example, smsserver.com);

2) SMS Server Port – enter SMS server port (2000 on the sample picture);

3) From Contact Number – enter the phone number which will be displayed as a number from

which the SMS was sent.

4) Address Range is defined by SMS provider.

5) System ID and System Password – information of user registered by provider.


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Click “OK” to save the settings of SMS communication.

Note: SharePoint Server needs Internet connection for sending SMS Alerts. Local connection is not

enough for successful operation.

Clickatell SMS Gateway

Clickatell SMS Gateway settings are separate from usual SMS settings block because. Usual package of

Clickatell services is not available for most companies because of too high cost. That is why we organize

liter version of Clickatell services for sending SMS through this source.


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In case you want to use Clickatell as communication type, check the “Clickatell SMS Gateway” box in

the settings when you create new communication. Enter the API ID, name on behalf of which the alerts

will be sent, and user credentials (user on behalf of which the alert will be sent).

Before that you have to:

1) register on www.clickatell.com;

2) register for the HTTP product. Go to the HTTP API page and click on the grey button near the top

right hand corner of the page which reads 'Register for Free';

3) fill in your registration details on the registration form and press "submit". The 3 bits of

information that you will need to send an SMS will be your "username", your "password", and

your API_ID. Your API_ID gets issued immediately upon confirmation of registration.

Note: once you have registered and been activated you will automatically receive 10 FREE SMS credits

which you can use for testing.

Now use the following information for creating Clickatell communication and fill out the displayed

fields:

user: xxxxx

password: xxxxx

api_id: xxxxx

Click “Save” and continue adjustment.


http://www.clickatell.com/

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Note: SharePoint Service needs Internet connection for sending SMS Alert using Clickatell service.

Local connection is not enough for successful operation.

OMS SMS Gateway

You can send long SMS message to specified phone number(s) via Microsoft Office Mobile Service

(OMS). You have to subscribe to a Text Message (SMS) Service from a Service Provider. You can find a

list of Service Providers here .

In case you want to use OMS as communication type, check the “OMS SMS Gateway” box in the

settings when you create new communication.

Then fill enter OMS server Url, user name and password given by OMS provider.


http://messaging.office.microsoft.com/HostingProviders.aspx

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XMPP communication type

You can XMPP communication type for sending alerts – (for example, Jabber and Google Talk clients).

In case you want to use XMPP as communication type, select “XMPP” in the settings when you create

new communication.

Then enter the name of XMPP connection, and fill out the fields:

Server Host – a host to jabber server;

Port – port for connection (default on the screen below);

User Name and Password – user credentials on behalf of which the alerts will be sent.

Groups with Alerts Creation Rights

Only SharePoint site administrators have ability to create alert subscriptions by default. But they can

provide other users with a right of alert creation.


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In order to do this, site administrator should use “Modify Shared Web Part” and roll down to groups

block. Then it is required to check groups of SharePoint users who will be able to create alert

subscriptions. Click “OK” or “Apply” to save the settings.

Note: selected groups will see only self-created alert subscriptions. Alerts created by other users will

not available for them.

Alert Subscriptions Adjustment

After adjusting communications, you have to adjust alert subscriptions. To start adjustment, click “New

Alert Subscription”.

Select one of four communication types: SMTP, SMS, Clickatell SMS Gateway.

Note: SharePoint Server needs Internet connection for sending SMS Alert (using SMPP, Clickatell or

OMS service). Local connection is not enough for successful operation.


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Information form with four tabs will be displayed: “General”, “Recipients”, “Message View” and

“Options”.

General Settings

Open “General” tab.

Fill out the required field “Alert Title”. This is a title of new Alert Subscription. Then select

communication type (SMTP, MS, Clickatell, OMS or XMPP) if they are adjusted and point “Enable” or

“Disable” status. You can disable subscriptions temporary. In this case alerts will not be created and

sent.

Then define SharePoint List according to which alerts will be created. Then select site containing the

required list.

Select action about which the alert will notify. Three actions are available in the current version:

New item in the list was created;

List item was modified;


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List item was created or modified (combines the first two cases together);

List Item Reminder (used when you want to create a Reminder. See section Sending Reminders);

List item was deleted.

Then define the frequency of alerts. Choose one of the following options:

Send Immediately;

Every Hour;

Every Day;

Every Week.

“Combine Alerts into Single Notification” option is available. In case you check this box, if during

notifications delivery time there will be more than one notification, all of them will be combined into

single email instead of being sent in N email messages.

Then you can enable using a filer and define which items should be notified about. For instance, you can

select notifying about Items from a certain SharePoint List View.

You can also use Alerts Custom Filtering. This option allows creating complex terms for sending Alerts.

You can use Or/And Operators, and create your own rules for notifications, e.g. send alerts when task

status is completed or % complete is more than 90%.


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In case you’re using time value templates in Custom filter, you can switch mode and select “Now”,

“Today”, “Yesterday”, “Tomorrow”, “Begin of this Week” instead of selecting required date and time in

the field.

Click “Switch mode”.

Select required time value in the dropdown.

Selected time value will appear in the filter.


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Recipients Settings

Now switch to Recipients tab. The list of recipients who will receive alerts is defined here.

There are five options of recipients’ selection. The first option is Set of users or e-mail addresses.

This option enables to set any amount of addresses separated with a semicolon “;” and add users from

SharePoint site from the list on the right.

The second option is SharePoint Contacts.

In this case you should select a SharePoint site where the contacts list is and then the required contacts

list and List View (if you need). The email message with alert will be sent to contacts with Email field

filled in.


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The third option is SharePoint Site members or Cross-Site Group.

Here the group of SharePoint site should be defined in case you select this option. The message with

alert will sent to all members of this group.

The forth option is Me.

In this case the email message with alert will be sent to a user who created the corresponding

subscription.

The fifth option is Lookup contacts in the Alert List.

This option is used when it is required to organize alerts sending according to meaning of the field in the

event. For example, when you need to send alerts to users who are assigned to work with a task, select

“Lookup contacts in the Alert List” and define field in the Alert list (“Assigned To” field). The alerts will

be sent only to those users who are mentioned in the “Assigned To” field.


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In case you use SMS, Clickatell, OMS or XMPP communication type, you will be have to fill out

additional Phone Number or Jabber-client ID Field. It can be work phone of a SharePoint user or his

Google Talk ID, for instance.

Sending alerts to AD users

Virto Alerts Customizer allows sending alerts to AD users. When you create a new alert subscription,

open “Recipients” tab and select “Set of users or contact list”. Now you need to define users or group of

AD users (enter domain and user AD name or group AD name).


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Note: if AD group contains child groups, alerts will be sent to all users from child groups as well.

Or you can select “Lookup contacts in the Alert list” and “Email To” field. In this case system will define

all the users who have “Email To” field in Active Directory and will send them the alerts.

Domain name of active directory location is define by default. But you can define it manually to change

the settings. Go to “Site action – Site settings” and find “Virto Alerts Customizer” link.


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Now you enter domain name and account details (user on behalf of which you connect to Active

Directory). Click “OK” to save the settings.

Message Template Settings

Switch to Message View tab.


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This tab allows you to define a message template that will be used for sending. As you can see in the

help block, the following values should be defined:

{sitelink} – link on the site with the list which is defined for alerts sending.

{itemlink} – link on added/modified/deleted item.

{subject} – can be used in a Message: in order to repeat Subject value.

{[Column Name]} – you can use columns’ names in order to add their values to a template.

{eventlink} – inserts a link to the event with Title that generated the alert. If event is recurring, template

insert link to the next virtual event.

{eventurl} – inserts a link to the event with Url that generated the alert. If event is recurring, template

insert link to the next virtual event.

For example, every list has Title field. The rest of fields are specific for every list. The site administrator

when adjusting a template should know exact values he can use.


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The result of template adjustment may look this way:

Alert recipients receive email messages as follows:

If “Combine Alerts into Single Notification” is selected, you can define Header and Footer for the alert.

Just type text of header and footer for your alert in the special field.

Text of header:


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Text of footer:

Attachments to List Items

In case you want to alert about list items that contain any attachments, you can include these

attachments into the alert e-mail.

Just check the box “Include attachments in e-mail” in the “Message View” tab.


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As an example, e-mail alert with attachments may look this way.


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Note: there may be an occasion when you e-mail alert contain more than one alert/reminder with

attachments. In this case attachments will be displayed as thumbnails if “All tomorrow events reminder”

type is used (the same way as above); or as links if it is a summary alert.

External Host Path

This optional setting is available in Options Tab. It allows replacing the host portion of the {sitelink},

{itemlink} and {itemurl} tokens that are inserted in e-mail alert messages. It is usually used to provide

SharePoint users logged in from external local domain with a public host path to the SharePoint web

server. For example, if you enter http://wssportal.yourcompany.com/, outside users will receive alerts

with links on item but site links in their e-mail alerts will be changed from

http://YourInternalServerName/ to http://wssportal.yourcompany.com/... and will be available for

those outside of the network.


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Alerts Processing Schedule

Enabling this option, you can create your own custom schedule for sending Alerts, e.g. you can define

period when alerts should be delivered. For instance, you can process alerts only within working hours

(8 AM to 5 PM). You can also define days of a week to send alerts.


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Sending Reminders

Virto Alerts Customizer allows sending reminders. For example, you can use this feature when it is

required to remind users of coming due dates of tasks and events.

The procedure of reminder creating is similar to creating of alert described in previous sections.

However there are some special settings specific for this kind of alert.

To create a reminder you should select “List Item Reminder” in the “General” tab when you define what

the alert will notify about.


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Now define type of reminding settings. You can use one of two types: single event reminder or all

tomorrow events reminder. The second type is used when you want to receive one e-mail alert with

information about all tomorrow events.

Then define the time of reminding e-mail.

If you select “Single event reminder”, fill out two additional fields.

Note: if you define a reminder for a recurrence event, reminder will be sent every day when an event

recurs. For example, if an event recurs 3 days, a reminder will be sent according to settings the first day,

the second day and the third day.

You have to define a list and a field for reminding. Select the field from dropdown list (it is defined

according to the selected list you want to alert on). For example, select “Start Time” field to remind of

the event in 30 minutes before start.


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Recipients, message view and other options are defined the same way as described in sections General

Settings, Recipients Settings, Message Template Settings, External Host Path and Alerts Processing

Schedule.

Filtering and Paging

When the list of alerts subscriptions is too large to find a required item, you can use filter by title.

Enter part of title and click “Search” button. The list of alert subscriptions containing this part in title will

be displayed.

You can also navigate between pages to find required items.


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Version Release History

Release Date

Version Description

09-03-2013 v. 4.0.0 [+] New License Manager.

10-18-2011 v. 3.0.0 [+] Added header and footer for the message template if Combine Alerts into Single Notification is checked. [+] Improve performance. [-] Fixed minor bugs.

03-30-2011 v.2.7.0 [+] Added paging and title filter to Subscription list if Subscription count more then 50 [-] Reminder for repeating events if filter was set

03-01-2011 v.2.6.0 [+] Added 'Now', 'Today', 'Yesterday', 'Tomorrow', 'Begin of this Week' and etc Date Time value templates in Custom Filter. [+] Added "{eventlink}" template. Inserts a link to the event with Title that generated the alert. If event is recurring, template insert link to the next virtual event. [+] Added "{eventurl}" template. Inserts a link to the event with Url that generated the alert. If event is recurring, template insert link to the next virtual event. [-] Fixed url in {itemlink} and {itemurl} for recursive events.

09-08-2010 v. 2.5.2 [+] Ability to add Active Directory (AD) user/group to Recipient List if set "Lookup Contents in the Alert List" Email would send to all users from selected AD group. If AD Group includes sub-group, alert would be sent to all users from sub-group too. [+] Ability to add Active Directory (AD) user/group to Recipient List if set "Set of users or contact list". Email would send to all users from selected AD group. If AD Group includes sub-group, alert would be sent to all users from sub-group too. [+] Virto Alerts Customizer site settings. Site administrator could customize Active Directory default connection settings. [-] Problem with Add, Remove alert event receiver if list has event receivers from other product

04/23/2010 v. 2.4.0 [+] Reminder supports repeating events. [*] Increased reminder perfomance.

01/29/2010 v. 2.3.3 [-] Uninstallation bug was fixed.

01/22/2010 v. 2.3.2 [-] SharePoint localized version bug.

01/22/2010 v. 2.3.1 [-] Bug with parsing emails from Lookup multiline text field. [-] SharePoint localized version bug.

01/22/2010 v. 2.3.0 [+] XMPP communication type (via jabber, gtalks clients). [+] Sender ID parameter for Clickatell communication type.

12/25/2009 v. 2.2.0 [+] All Tomorrow Events Reminder Type. [+] Ability to add list item attachments to the email alert.

11/20/2009 v. 2.1.0 [+] Office Mobile Service communication type (via SMS). [+] Users empowered with an ability to create own alerts.

10/15/2009 v. 2.0.0 [+] Created or Modified List Item Alert Type was added


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[+] Lookup contacts in the Alert List Type for recipients definition was added [+] Reminder functionality was added

08/28/2009 v. 1.2.0 [+] Ability to use more than one SMTP connection settings [+] Ability to use SMPP server provider for sms alert sending [+] Ability to use Clickatell Sms Gateway for sms alert sending [+] New license system

08/14/2009 v. 1.1.0 Production Release

07/10/2009 v. 1.0.0

First Release

[-] bug fixed [+]new features added


Documents

Virto Web Part Alerts Customizer — Installation and User Guide · SharePoint users often need to send group and individual notifications and alerts about creating, deleting or changing