Configuring Alma Letters

Last updated
Save as PDF
Share
1. Share
2. Tweet
3. Share

This page provides an overview of working with letters including configuration, enabling/disabling letters, a list of all the letter types, etc. For specific information on topics such as the available options for overdue notices, the types of print slips and receipt notices that are available, support for sending ad-hoc messages to patrons or patron groups, etc., see Notices.

To configure letters, you must have one of the following roles:

General System Administrator
Letter Administrator

Alma provides a letter system to send highly customizable messages to patrons, librarians, and vendors. Messages include warnings, confirmations, notifications, summary information, orders, fulfillment requests, and so forth. Messages can be sent by email, SMS, ISO protocol, or other means, or they can by printed out via printer or an external system to be sent by mail. Every letter that can be sent to a printer/email can be printed out using Quick Printing.

Alma includes a list of letter types, where a single letter type can be used to send multiple letters that use the same structure. Alma constructs a letter by combining dynamic XML fields generated by Alma (data), labels (static text), and a template (formatting). The static labels and template (XSL style sheets) are included with Alma but may be configured by the user. For institutions whose users prefer languages other than English, label sets are provided in multiple languages.

Most letters are sent automatically by Alma at the appropriate stage in a workflow. For example, Alma sends a letter to a patron after an item borrowed by the patron is marked as overdue. Some letters can be sent by a user at any time, such as a query to a vendor or a patron.

Alma does not use the letter subsystem for certain types of protocol-specific communication with supporting entities, such as ERPs or other ILSs. For example, Alma can use electronic data interchange (EDI) in place of email to communicate with supporting vendors.

For a video showing the entire letter configuration process in Alma see Letter Configuration in Alma.

For an overview of configuring Alma letters watch the Configuring Letters in Alma video (5:38 minutes).

Accessing and Configuring Alma Letters

All Alma letters appear on the Letters Configuration page (Configuration Menu > General > Letters > Letters Configuration).

Letter Emails

You can view specific groups of letters by using the filters above the list of letters.

The Description text is hard-coded and cannot be configured.

In addition you can perform the following actions:

Enabling/disabling letters
Setting retention periods
Updating templates to set the content and formatting for letters
Updating labels (fields/strings of text that are used in the letter and can be translated)
Updating and Previewing Example Letters for Testing
Contributing Letter Customizations to the Community Zone

You will need to assign the Letter Administrator role to users who will customize or maintain the email letters. For more information on assigning roles, see Adding Roles to Users.

If you are working in a sandbox environment or a pre-”Go Live” production environment, add the letter administrators’ email addresses to the allowed email list (see Configuring Allowed Emails).

Enabling/Disabling Letters

Some letters can be activated for different types of notifications, for example SMS and email; the notification type of a letter is listed in the Channel column. If the email version of a letter type is disabled, for example, then email communication is disabled for the relevant scenario.

Alma does not send disabled letters. Attempting to send a disabled letter may result in an error notification when the letter is triggered.

Some notifications may be disabled for specific users or for bulk sets of users. For more information, please see Configuring Library Notices Opt-In.

Select Restore Activation in the row actions menu for a specific letter, to restore the Enabled button to its Out of The Box (OTB) state. If the button is already in its OTB state, this button does nothing.

Restore activation.

Restore Activation

Setting Letter Retention

To indicate that the configured letters are deleted after a certain number of days, add a retention period, in number of days, in the Retention Period field of email letters. If no retention period was defined, then letters sent by Alma are retained indefinitely and available on the Attachments tab of the User Details (see Managing User Attachments).

A weekly job, Letters Purge with Retention, deletes all enabled letters, if they were created more than the configured number of days ago.

In the Letters list, you can restore the default retention period for all letters by selecting the Restore letters' retention table.

Restore letters' retention table

Using Labels to Update the Fields in the Letter

If you want to configure display labels for Primo VE, see Configuring Display Labels.

What are Letter Labels

Two kinds of data are used by the letter before it is sent to the patron, printer, etc: labels and XML data. Labels are static strings of text that you can update and translate. XML data is generated automatically by Alma, and can be updated by configuring the XSL template (see Customizing Letter Templates).

You can use the labels to easily edit a letter without needing to edit the actual XSL template. For example, if you want the letter to state "Item Description" instead of just "Description", then you can change it in the labels:

Label in letter

How to Configure Letter Labels

You can configure the labels for a specific letter as described below.

To configure letter labels:

Select Edit on the row action list of the letter.
Select the Labels button at the top of the page.
Select Customize from the row actions menu. You can update the following:
- Enabled — Use this toggle to activate/deactivate the label for usage in the letter.
- Description — Update the label description that displays on the letter.
  Note that using HTML tags in the Description field is not supported.
- Translation — If another language is enabled in Alma and it is selected in the Filter drop down, you can edit the translation.
- Restore — If the line was modified, the Enabled and Description fields are restored to their default.
- Restore Translation — If another language is enabled in Alma and its Translation label was modified, the field is restored to the default.
Select Customize All to edit all rows.
Select Restore All to restore all rows to their default.
Select Restore Default Translations to restore all translations.
When done, select Save. Any changes made to the Labels List are saved, regardless of the Save/Cancel action selected on the main XSL Preview page.
You can view the changes in the letter preview pane.
To disable a label, see the knowledge base article How can I disable a line in an Alma email letter?

Including Request ID in the Subject Label

Some letters can include the string %reqId% in the description column of the Subject label. This will be replaced with the request’s ID when the letter is generated. The letters that include this option are:

Borrower Overdue Email Letter
Externally Obtained Letter
Ful Cancel Email Letter
Ful Outgoing Email Letter
Ful Renew Email Letter
Lending Recall Email Letter
Query To Patron Letter

Using Templates to Update Letter Formatting and Content

If you have reached this section of the online help while attempting to configure a copyright declaration, see Configuring Copyright Declarations. For information on configuring a resource sharing copyright declaration, see Configuring a Resource Sharing Copyright Declaration.

In addition to editing labels (see Configuring Letter Labels) you can edit the template (XSL style sheet). The XSL template determines which fields and text appear in the letter and is used to format the letter. You can use XSL conditional statements to make decisions about what appears in a letter, and even whether the letter is sent. For an example, see How to use the if condition to configure a letter to not be sent under certain circumstances.docx.

How to Customize Letter Templates

Ex Libris Support is available to assist with issues related to customized XSL stylesheets. However, their troubleshooting effort is within practical limits. If a style sheet is heavily customized, it may require time-consuming analysis to identify a specific error. Such validation cannot be provided by Support for all customized style sheets. The best practice in these situations is for you to eliminate one condition/test/section at a time to determine what causes the problem.

To customize a letter's template (XSL style sheets):

Select Edit on the row action list of the letter.
The XSL and XML information appear to the left of the letter.
To the right of the XML/XSL panes is a preview pane of the actual letter output.

Changes in the XSL/XML are immediately reflected in the preview pane.

Errors that are detected while editing the XSL/XML are marked with a red X on the relevant line.

Note that Due to technical limitations, there might be a gap between the error line number reported on the XSL/XML and the line number reported on the Preview pane.
The editor also marks the XSL segments in color and implements auto-completion. Ctrl+f can be used to find items within the editor.
You can use Ctrl+Shift+f to implement Prettyprint (convert and present the XSL source code with line breaks and indentations to make the code easier to read).
You can use Ctrl+Shift+H to provide the X-Path for a particular XML element when you click on that element within the XML editor textbox. This is especially useful when you need to copy an XML element into the XSL.

X-Path displayed in XML Editor
You can maximize the XML/XSL windows using the full-screen icon.
Update the labels associated with the letter (see Using Labels). Changes to the labels display in the preview pane.
Select Open in new tab to open the preview in a separate browser tab and edit the HTML using accessibility plugins.
Select Visual or HTML to toggle between a visual and HTML view.
Select another language in the Language drop down to view the letter in a different language. The languages that appear depend on the settings configured in Alma.

Some elements, such as the letter name and subject, are extracted from the letter XML and therefore will not change when changing the preview letter language.
Update the Width to visualize the output as it will be displayed in narrow screens or printers. Use px to configure the width in pixels, for example 500px.
Reusable components display in the preview pane (see Reusing Components Across Letters).
Select Save Draft to save your customizations as a draft. Changes done in the draft will not be applied to the real letter. Select Remove Draft to erase the draft and display the last saved XSL. Select Restore to restore the XSL to its original state.

Note that while a draft is active, the Edit Draft and Remove Draft options are available in the row actions menu for the letter.

The draft watermark displays in the preview pane.
Select Save to apply the changes to the real letter. This removes the draft (if one exists for this letter). Note that after saving, the letter remains in the preview window. To return to the full list of letters, select Cancel.
To send an example by email, add an address to the Send example by email field and select Send.
You can view examples of letters by selecting Letter Examples. In the Letter Examples page you can add examples of letters that were sent by Esploro and upload new examples. See Updating and Previewing Example Letters for Testing.

If you use a tag to refer to an outside location such as a template or URL (for example, <xsl:include href="http://{$PathToWeb}/html/xsl/head.xsl">) and the outside source changes, refresh the XSL (by re-saving it) for the new information to be included in the letter.

Conditional Statements

For a description of how to use conditional statements, see How to use the if condition to configure a letter to not be sent under certain circumstances.docx.

General Examples of XSL Customizations

The following examples show what you can do with XSL to customize the output of your letters. For examples of specific letters see Example of Query to Patron Letter Customization and Example of Borrowing Activity Letter Customization.

Output Last Four Digits of a Code

Use the substring and string-length functions to output the last four digits of a code:

<b>@@requested_for@@ :*****

<xsl:value-of select="substring (notification_data/user_for_printing/identifiers/code_value/value,string-length(notification_data/user_for_printing/identifiers/code_value/value) - 3)"/></b>

Add Notes to Vendor and Rush Indicator to Order List Mail Letter

Add notes to the vendor (from the PO line) and the rush indicator to the Order List Mail letter:

<tr>

<td><b>Notes To Vendor: </b><xsl:value-of select="/notification_data/po/po_line_list/po_line/vendor_note"/>&#160;</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td><b>Is Rush? </b><xsl:value-of select="/notification_data/po/po_line_list/po_line/rush"/>&#160;</td>

</tr>

Add Condition for Notes that May Affect Loan

Ensure that the Notes that may affect loan line appears in the On Hold Shelf letter only if there is a block on the patron:

<xsl:if test="notification_data/request/system_notes !=''">

<tr>

<td><b>@@notes_affect_loan@@:</b></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td><xsl:value-of select="notification_data/request/system_notes"/></td>

</tr>

Include Phone Number in All Letters Using this Template

If the following snippet follows the address line in the SenderReceiver.xsl file, you can ensure that the user’s phone number is included in all the letters that use this template.

<tr>

<td><xsl:value-of select="notification_data/user_for_printing/phone"/></td>

</tr>

Include Template Name as Hidden Text

Have the name of the template appear as hidden text in the output by adding the following after the <html> tag:

<html> <xsl:attribute name="data-filename"> <xsl:value-of select="/notification_data/general_data/letter_type"/> </xsl:attribute>

The output will include something like:

<html data-filename=”FulLoanReceiptLetter”> ...

Remove an Element from a Letter

To remove an element from a letter, find the element to be removed. Add comment indicators on either side of the line, such as, .

<th>@@title@@</th>

<!--<th>@@description@@</th>-->

<th>@@author@@</th>

<th>@@due_date@@</th>

<th>@@fine@@</th>

<th>@@library@@</th>

The output table displays without the description column.

Suppress Letters to Users in Specific Group

Suppress a letter being sent to users in a specific user group. Add a terminate clause condition in these two places.

After the initial include lines at the top of the letter, as follows:

<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" border="0">

<tr><td><xsl:for-each select="notification_data">

<xsl:if test="user_for_printing/user_group='STUDENT_GRADUATE'">

<xsl:message terminate="yes">user group is STUDENT_GRADUATE </xsl:message></xsl:if></xsl:for-each></td></tr>
</table>
And below this line:
<xsl:template match="/">

In the above example, the letter is not generated for users in the Graduate Student user group. For a more detailed explanation, see How to use the if condition to configure a letter to not be sent under certain circumstances.docx.

Example of Query to Patron Letter Customization

You can use the enhanced XSL Query to Patron letter to configure alternative versions of query letters that can be sent to patrons when library staff have questions about a particular resource-sharing borrowing request. For general examples of what you can do with XSL to customize the output of your letters, see General Examples of XSL Customizations.

You can define up to 30 versions of the letter, for example, one for a question about the requested item and another for a query about how to handle a problem that has arisen with regard to a request (see Configuring Patron Query Types).

Once the patron query types are configured, a user with the Letter Administrator role can modify the labels and the style sheet of the Query to Patron letter.

To modify the Query to Patron letter:

Confirm that the Query to Patron letter is enabled (see Enabling/Disabling Letters).
Download a copy of the Query to Patron XML fields, as follows:
1. Add a borrowing request for an inventory item (make yourself the Requester; see Adding a Resource Sharing Borrowing Task From a Search).
2. On the Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests page (Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Borrowing Requests), in the row actions of the new request, select Send query to patron (see Managing Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests).
3. Under Email template, select the letter to send, and then select Send Email to send it.
4. Edit the Query to Patron letter (Edit from the row actions menu).
5. Select the Letter Examples button.
6. Select the Add from System Letters button.
7. Select the letter that was sent.
8. In the Letter Examples page make this letter the Default Preview.
9. In the XML preview pane, you will now see the new letter.
10. Select Download to save the XML letter to a file, such as letter.xml.
Modify the labels:
1. On the Letters Configuration page (Configuration Menu > General > Letters > Letters Configuration), locate the Query to Patron letter and open it for editing.
2. Select the Labels button.
  
  Entries whose Codes begin with Type_xx (Type_1, Type_2, Type_3, and so forth) will only be included in the versions of the Query to Patron letter whose patron query types correspond with those numbers (see Configuring Patron Query Types). For example, the Codes of the entries that will only be included in the Type_1_query_name version of the query letter begin with Type_1 (e.g., Type_1_header, Type_1_subject).
3. For each of the entries that are specific to the enabled patron query types, in the row actions, select Customize, and then enter the appropriate text in the Description column.
4. Select Save.
Modify the XSL:
1. In the Xsl pane, modify the relevant XSL to change the format of your letter. The same XSL file is used to format all of the versions of the Query to Patron letter. You can add labels or fields from the XML, use the values of these fields to define conditions, and so forth.
2. For example, a conditional clause looks something like:
 
 <xsl:when test="notification_data/query_type = 'Type_1_query_name'">
 ... special configurations for type 1 queries ....
 </when>
 
 The default template only includes rules for patron query types 1 and 2. If your system has more than two types defined, you must add rules for the additional types to the template before you can configure them. You can do this by copying one of the existing rules and modifying the copy as required for each additional rule.
3. Select Save (or Save Draft as described in How to Customize Letter Templates).
To test your changes, upload the XML (letter.xml) as described in Updating and Previewing Example Letters for Testing.

Example of Borrowing Activity Letter Customization

This example shows how to make the customizations to the Borrowing Activity Letter email. For general examples of what you can do with XSL to customize the output of your letters, see General Examples of XSL Customizations.

This example describes how to do the following:

Change the name of the letter.
Add a library-specific message.
Display the material type in the list of loans.

Select here for an example of how to print a barcode to be a scannable barcode as opposed to numbers in the Borrowing Activity Letter.

To customize the Borrowing Activity letter:

Change the name of the letter to Patron Activity Letter:
On the Letters Configuration page, find and edit the Borrowing Activity Letter (Configuration > General > Letters Configuration and select Edit from the row actions menu).
Select the Labels button.
Select English from the Filter drop-down list. Note that, in addition to changing the names of labels, you can also translate the labels for other languages.
Select Customize in the row actions list containing the letterName code.
In the Description field, change the text to Patron Activity Letter.
Select the Save page action to store the modified values.
Configure the XML output and view the output in the preview pane.
To send a sample letter, enter the email address in the Send Example by Email field in the preview pane and select Send.
Select Save. Note that after saving, the letter remains in the preview window. To return to the full list of letters, select Cancel.

To loan an item to a patron:

On the Patron Identification page (see Managing Patron Services), enter a patron’s name in the Scan patron’s ID or search for patron field and select Go. The Patron Services page appears.
In the Scan item barcode field, enter the item’s barcode and select OK. The item is listed in the Loans tab.
Select Send Activity to send the XML output in an email.
Copy and paste the XML output from the email to an XML file (such as BorrowingActivityLetter.xml).

The receipt letter is triggered only when selecting Done to terminate a session with a patron.

Modify the XSL file to print a message for the Main Library only:

On the Letters Configuration page for the Borrowing Activity Letter, edit the XSL file (in the XML pane).
Use the XML file that you created earlier to determine the full path name of the field that contains the library name.

Library Name Field in XML Output

Based on the nested elements in the above figure, the full path to the library name is the following:

/notification_data/overdue_loans_by_library/library_loans_for_display/item_loans/overdue_and_lost_loan_notification_display/item_loan/library_name
Search for the @@loans@@ placeholder in the XSL file and add the xsl:if clause, shown in bold text shown below:
. . .
<xsl:if test="notification_data/item_loans/item_loan">
<xsl:if test="notification_data/item_loans/item_loan/library_name='Main Library'">
<center>


 Please check due dates by logging in to your library.


</center>
</xsl:if>
<tr>
<td>
 @@loans@@ 
</td>
</tr>
. . .
Alma replaces the placeholders with the labels/translations that are defined in the associated Letters code tables.

While you are still editing the XSL file, add the Type column to the list of loans. Below the @@loans@@ placeholder in the XSL file, add the bold text as shown in the following figure.

. . .

<b>@@loans@@</b>

</td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td>

<table cellpadding="5" class="listing">

<xsl:attribute name="style">

<xsl:call-template name="mainTableStyleCss" /> <!-- style.xsl -->

</xsl:attribute>

<tr>

<th>@@title@@</th>

<th>Type</th>

<th>@@due_date@@</th>

<th>@@fine@@</th>

<th>@@description@@</th>

</tr>

<xsl:for-each select="notification_data/item_loans/item_loan">

<tr>

<td><xsl:value-of select="title"/></td>

<td><xsl:value-of select="material_type"/></td>

<td><xsl:value-of select="due_date"/></td>

<td><xsl:value-of select="fine"/></td>

<td><xsl:value-of select="description"/></td>

</tr>

</xsl:for-each>

. . .

The XML field for the material type was determined by examining the XML file.

A placeholder could not be used for the new column heading because the material_type code is not configurable in the code table.

Select Save.
Test your changes to the XSL file by uploading the XML file that you created previously (see Updating and Previewing Example Letters for Testing).

Working with User Preferred Names in System Notifications and Letters

Some system notifications and letters that incorporate name information can be updated to use a user's preferred name. For system notifications and letters that incorporate name information such as the Mail Reason Letter XSL, the preferred names can be specified using preferred_first_name, preferred_middle_name, and preferred_last_name. See the following example:

<xsl:value-of select="receivers/receiver/user/preferred_last_name"/>

For more information on preferred names, see Managing Users.

For more information on the mailReason.xsl letter, see Reusing Components Across Letters. Configuring Components.

Reusing Components Across Letters

You can reuse components such as headers and footers across letters. See Reusing Components Across Letters.

Updating and Previewing Example Letters for Testing

Overview of Letter Templates

A template (XSL stylesheet) does not look much like the letter it is used to create, but it contains variable elements in a particular order. The template contains text and XML, as well as XSL commands and variables. Language-dependent text is kept out of the template.

The letter data comes from internally generated XML fields and from the labels. Label values and XML fields are substituted into the variables in the templates. For example, if the page POLineClaimLetter contains the label greeting, the value you enter into this label is substituted into <xsl:variable name=greeting> in the POLineClaimLetter template.

If you store the XML output in a file that has an .xml suffix, you can use it to test changes to the letter (see How to download letters as XML files). As an example, here is part of the XML output used to generate a Query to Patron letter.

<notification_data>
<general_data>
<address_c>None</address_c>
<address_c>None</address_c>
<address_from>nosuchmail@no.such.mail.com</address_from>
<current_date>01/08/2017</current_date>
<letter_channel_info></letter_channel_info>
<letter_name>Regarding your request</letter_name>
<letter_type>QueryToPatronLetter</letter_type>
<subject>Regarding your request</subject>
</general_data>
<languages>
<string>en</string>
</languages>
<letter_params>
<address_from>nosuchmail@no.such.mail.com</address_from>
<letter_name></letter_name>
<subject>Regarding your request</subject>
</letter_params>
<letter_texts></letter_texts>
<library>
<address>
<city>chicago</city>
<country>USA</country>
<country_display>United States</country_display>
<create_date>06/20/2014</create_date>
<entity_action></entity_action>
<library_id>12900830000541</library_id>
<library_unit_id></library_unit_id>
<line1>library 2</line1>
<line2></line2>
<line3></line3>
<line4></line4>
<line5></line5>
<note></note>
<originating_id></originating_id>
<postal_code>36500</postal_code>
<preferred>true</preferred>
<segment_types_display>
<string>Billing</string>
<string>Patron Communications</string>
<string>Primary</string>
<string>Shipping</string>
</segment_types_display>
<state_province>IL</state_province>
<user_address_types_display></user_address_types_display>
</address>
<automatic_creation>false</automatic_creation>
<automatically_activate_locate_profile>false</automatically_activate_locate_profile>
<automatically_locate_resource>true</automatically_locate_resource>
<bibliographic_titles></bibliographic_titles>
<cancel_request_on_locate_failure>true</cancel_request_on_locate_failure>
<code>RES_SHARE</code>
<code_rfid></code_rfid>
<create_date></create_date>
<default_acq_loctaion_id></default_acq_loctaion_id>
<default_item_loctaion_id>12900870000541</default_item_loctaion_id>
<default_move_loctaion_id>12900850000541</default_move_loctaion_id>
<default_pickup_loctaion_id>12900830000541</default_pickup_loctaion_id>
<default_printer></default_printer>
<description>Temporarily manages inventory that is sent to or received from resource sharing partners</description>
<digital_objects></digital_objects>
<digital_storage_size></digital_storage_size>
<disable_call_number_calculation>false</disable_call_number_calculation>
<edi_code></edi_code>
<edi_type></edi_type>
<email>
<create_date>03/31/2013</create_date>
<description></description>
<email>nosuchmail@no.such.mail.com</email>
<entity_action></entity_action>
<external_id></external_id>
<library_id>12900830000541</library_id>
<library_unit_id></library_unit_id>
<originating_id></originating_id>
<preferred>true</preferred>
</email>
<entity_action></entity_action>
<ignore_electronic>false</ignore_electronic>
<itemless_library></itemless_library>
<leader_institution_id></leader_institution_id>
<library_id>12900830000541</library_id>
...

Using Example Letters for Testing

On the Letter Examples tab, you can use the available XML examples to preview letters and test changes.

It is recommended to first create a letter example using the regular Alma flow to more closely represent a real letter. Any identifying information should be removed from this example.

How to Access the Letter Examples:

Navigate to Configuration > General > Letters > Letters Configuration.
Select Edit in the row actions menu for the relevant letter.
Select the Letter Examples button.
There is always one default letter that appears, but you can add more examples as described below.

How to add existing letters that were generated in your institution:

In the Letter Examples page, select the Add from system letters button. Note that if this letter has never been sent in the past, as part of the Alma flow, then the Add from system letters button will not display.
The Sent Letters page appears, showing up to 10 of the most recent XMLs from the last 7 days.
Select the letter to add.
The selected letter appears in the Letter Examples page.
Select Save. This letter will now be the one displayed in the XML pane.
You can switch between letters in the XML pane by selecting the relevant letter in the drop down list.

How to download letters as XML files:

In the Letters Configuration page, for the relevant letter select Edit in the row actions menu.
In the XML pane, select the Download button.
Edit the file in an XML editor to make any relevant changes.

Download letter as XML file

A dropdown has been introduced above the XML editor, displaying all available example letters XML files. Users can switch between files by selecting an option from this dropdown. Upon selection, the XML editor content is replaced with the information from the chosen file, and the letter preview is automatically refreshed.

How to add letters that were downloaded as XML files:

In the Letter Examples page select the Upload letter example (XML) button.
Browse to and select the XM file and select Upload.
The added letter is not marked for default preview unless you select it in the Default Preview column.

These examples are subject to the retention policy of the institution. The XML files saved in the system will be retained for seven days and will be removed by the weekly cleanup job. The XML examples added to the XML list from the system are persistent and will not be cleaned by the weekly job. Any identifying information should be removed from these examples.

Contributing Letter Customizations to the Community Zone

You can contribute XSL templates to the Community Zone and you can copy shared XSL templates from the CZ to your institution for local use. You can also preview how a template will work and look before copying it. This makes it much easier to share XSL templates between institutions.

To contribute XSL templates to the Community Zone:

Access the letter you want to contribute to the Community Zone from the Letter Configuration page (Configuration > General > Letters > Letter Configuration).
Select the ... icon in the XSL pane and then select Contribute.
Add a description that will help other users in the Community Zone understand your edits to the configuration, and provide the contact information by which other users can contact you in case they have questions.
By default, your email address appears in the Contact person. You can change this information, for example, to another user's email address or a phone number.
Select Confirm. The XSL template is contributed to the Community Zone.
If you or others from your institution attempt to contribute this same XSL configuration again, you are prompted: "This letter was already contributed for this institution. Are you sure you want to overwrite?", since the new contribution overwrites the previous contribution. Select Confirm to re-contribute.
You can view contributed letters by selecting the ... icon in the XSL pane, and then selecting the Shared XSLs option.

In the row actions menu for the relevant letter, select the Preview option to view the letter.
If at some point your institution decides to stop sharing a letter, select the Shared XSLs on the XSL pane and find your letter version in the list of versions contributed by all the contributing institutions. Select Delete in the row actions to remove the letter.

To copy a contributed XSL template to your institution:

Access the letter you want to copy from the Letter Configuration page (Configuration > General > Letters > Letter Configuration).
In the XSL pane select the ... icon and then Shared XSLs. This displays all of the XSL versions contributed by multiple institutions.
Select the relevant letter to copy to your institution and then use the Select button to add it.

The selected version now displays in the preview window.
Select Save to save the letter locally at your institution.

Configuring the From and EnvelopeFrom Addresses for Outgoing Email

Alma sends emails to patrons, library staff, and vendors.

Every email has two "from" addresses:

From: Appears in the user's mail reader (generally used to determine the reply to address).
SMTP EnvelopeFrom address Used internally by mail relay servers to determine the origin of the message. This field appears as From (without the colon :) at the very top of the email packet when you look at the packet source, but does not normally appear in the user's mail reader. You may want to configure this field in order to catch bounced emails. This field is configured in the mail handling integration profile (see Setting the EnvelopeFrom Address with the Integration Profile).

Setting the From Address

The From address can be configured from the addressFrom label or from the Organization Unit page, as described below.

Setting the From Address with the addressFrom Label

You can configure each outgoing email's From: address by configuring the letter's addressFrom label. The addressFrom label must contain a valid email address. You can also specify an alias for the addressFrom parameter in the following format: alias <actual_email_ID@university.edu>.
Note that for the General mail that you can send when managing a user (see Editing Users), the default From: address is set using the from_address parameter (see Configuring Other Settings).

Purchase order and claim notifications ignore the configured addressFrom field in the letter when an email address is defined in the institution for order response or claim response, respectively. See Configuring Institution/Library Contact Information and Communicating with Vendors.

Setting the From Address for Resource Sharing Letters

For resource sharing letters, the From: address contains the library's preferred email address, if this address is configured. If the address is not configured, the letters use ILL@exlibrisgroup.com as the From address.

When rs_use_addressfrom_letter_param (Configuration > Fulfillment > General > Other Settings) is set to true (default is false), then some letters are sent from the letter configuration for addressFrom (Configuration > General > Letters > Letters Configuration) instead of being sent from the Preferred Email Address set in Configuration > General > Libraries > Add a Library or Edit Library Information > Contact Information tab > Add Address/Edit an existing address. For more information see Configuring Other Settings (Fulfillment). Below is the list of letters that this relates to:

ARTEmail message
Borrower Claim Email Letter
Borrower Overdue Email Letter
Borrower Receive Email Letter
Borrower Return Email Letter
Externally Obtained Letter
Ful Cancel Email Letter
Ful Damaged Email Letter
Ful Incoming Slip Letter
Ful Lost Email Letter
Ful Outgoing Email Letter
Ful Renew Email Letter
General mail Letter
Interested In Letter
Lender Checked-in Email Letter
Lender Email Letter
Lender Reject Email Letter
Lender Response Email Letter
Lender Ship Email Letter
Lender Will Supply Email Letter
Lending Recall Email Letter
OrderListLetter (if any of the library's email addresses are of type 'Order response')
Query To Patron Letter
Resource Sharing Request Confirmation Letter
Resource Sharing Return Slip Letter
Resource Sharing Shipping Slip Letter

See also the documentation regarding Patron Notifications for Fulfillment Library Independence.

Setting the EnvelopeFrom Address with the Integration Profile

The mail handling integration profile can be set up with a SMTP Envelope From address. You can also use the mail handling integration profile to have Alma send all email through the institution's mail relay server. In this case, the mail relay server sets EnvelopeFrom on the outgoing email.

Note that if a recipient's email server (for patrons and staff, this is generally a server run by your institution) has set up a spam filter, the filter checks whether received emails are actually sent by the domain of the address in EnvelopeFrom. When there is a mismatch, emails may be filtered as spam. To prevent this from happening, EnvelopeFrom should remain <something>@exlibrisgroup.com (unless your institution's anti-spam filters and SPF records are configured properly so that this is not an issue). If you are not worried about emails being filtered as spam, you may want to configure EnvelopeFrom in order to catch bounced emails. Emails caught in an email server's spam filter do not generally result in bounced emails. See Mail device configuration on Ex Libris servers and/or applications for more information.

For information on DKIM see Alma Recommendation for Mail Relay and Support Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM).

To configure the mail handling integration profile:

For more information on email handling in Alma, see the Alma Technical Requirements document.

On the Integration Profile List page (Configuration Menu > General > External Systems > Integration Profiles), select Add Integration Profile. Alma allows you to define only one mail handling integration profile. If there is already a mail handling integration profile, select Edit in the row actions list to edit the profile.
Enter a unique code and name for the profile.
In the Integration Type field, select Mail Handling.
Select Next. The second page of the wizard appears. Active is selected by default.
If you want to continue to use Alma's mail server:
1. Select Send directly from Ex Libris (selected by default).
2. Enter a valid email address for SMTP EnvelopeFrom address.
To use your institution's mail relay server:
1. Select Send using institution mail relay. Several additional fields appear.
2. Enter the institution domain name. After you do this, the domain name appears after the SMTP EnvelopeFrom address field as @<domain name>. The domain name can contain up to 63 lower case alphanumeric characters, dashes -, and periods followed by a period and a two to six character lower case alphabetic top-level domain.
3. Enter the institution SMTP mail relay host name. The host name can contain lower case alphanumeric characters as well as any of the characters - ! # $ % & ' * + / = ? ^ _ ` { | } or ~ and a period.
4. Custom SMTP EnvelopeFrom address is selected by default. Enter a username of the address in the unlabeled field below this option. This sets EnvelopeFrom to <username>@<domain name>. The username can contain the same characters as the SMTP mail relay host name.
5. If the mail relay requires a username and password to accept email from Ex Libris, enter the username and password. These can be any ASCII characters.
6. If the mail relay requires encryption, select Use encryption.
 Encryption port is set to 587 for you.
Select Save.

After creating the mail handling integration profile, users are able to test the email configuration. When executed, an email is sent to the preferred email of the logged-in user. In the Mail Handling Definitions section, enter the email address and select Save and Test.

Mail Handling - Test Email

Mail Handling Integration Profile

Alma Recommendation for Mail Relay and Support Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM)

When an email is received by an SMTP server there are several security checks that occur to determine if the email is legitimate or suspicious. If an email is marked as suspicious the SMTP server may delay the delivery of the email, mark the email as ‘spam’ or not deliver the email at all. This article describes how to ensure emails from the Ex Libris cloud will not get marked as suspicious.

Emails can be sent out from Ex Libris products in one of two ways:

1) With a ‘From address’ domain of @exlibrisgroup.com

2) With a branded ‘From address’ for example @institution.edu

For customers using Primo Classic, we recommend changing the value of default.email.form in the 'Send Email and Sms' code table from default "donotreply@exlibris.cloud" to a more appropriate value for your institution, or "donotreply@exlibrisgroup.com".

DKIM is currently supported for both of the above methods. Emails sent from our cloud with a ‘From address’ domain of @exlibrisgroup.com should not be marked as suspicious as they are signed using DKIM and Ex Libris has a DMARC policy. Please note that both the SMTP Envelope ‘From address’ as well as the ‘header.from address’ must use the same domain. The SMTP Envelope from address is configured in the Mail Handling integration profile and the header.from address is configured on each individual letter that is sent out. More information on configuring outgoing mail can be found here.

Since late 2023, email services like GMAIL are gradually encouraging DKIM/SPF compliance (see details here: https://support.google.com/a/answer/174124?hl=en&sjid=15453546060050396344-EU). This may impact your patron’s user experience.

If you want to have a DKIM-compliant setup with a custom domain, the recommended method is to configure the Alma mail integration profile with the "Send using institution email relay" option and implement DKIM on your institutional email relay.

Emails sent from Ex Libris that are branded with the institution’s domain can be implemented securely in the following two ways:

i) Configure the Ex Libris application to pass the email directly to the institution’s SMTP server to be authenticated under the institution’s policies (DKIM + DMARC).

To configure the Alma Platform to pass the email to an external SMTP server, please refer to ‘configure the mail handling integration profile’ in the documentation here. Depending on the firewall policy of the institution your IT may need to open access from Ex Libris cloud to the SMTP server for the relevant port. The outgoing IP range for Alma, Primo VE and Primo Classic can be found here .

ii) Configure the email to be sent from the Ex Libris cloud and be authenticated using the “Sender Policy Framework” (SPF) and DKIM.

SPF is a method of allowing the Ex Libris cloud to send emails on behalf of the institution. When an email is received by a SMTP server, a security check is performed where the IP that had sent the email is compared to the IPs listed in the DNS record for the ‘From Address’ domain. To configure SPF, the DNS administrator of the institution needs to add the Ex Libris mail relay IP’s to the institution’s domain in a TXT record. The Ex Libris mail relay IP’s differ based on the region of the customer so the relevant ‘SPF Include Entry’ should be chosen. The different ‘SPF Include Entries’ for the different regions can be found here.

DKIM, or DomainKeys Identified Mail, serves as an email authentication method specifically designed to identify fraudulent sender addresses in emails, addressing the issue of email spoofing. Once the DKIM functionality is activated for your institution, the Mail-Handling Integration-Profile will include support for DKIM digital signatures in outgoing emails. Configuration instructions can be found here.

For more information, see Outgoing emails configuration.

DKIM Process Diagram

To Enable DKIM:

Mark the DKIM Setup checkbox. This creates the keys and uploads the public key to the Ex Libris DNS. A pop-up window appears with the CNAME details.
Copy the CNAME from the dialogue window and pass it on to your IT, for them to add it to your DNS.
After your IT has added it to the DNS, select the Test DKIM DNS Setup option to test it. If the test passed, a success message will appear. If the test failed for whatever reason, a message will appear with details of the failure.
After successful testing, select the DKIM Active checkbox. From this point on, outgoing emails will include the DKIM signature.

Letter List

The following table lists the letters available in Alma.

Notes regarding the following columns in the Alma Letters table below:

The Translation Eligible column corresponds to the Patron Facing column in the Alma Letters Configuration page. In both cases, a yes, or check mark, in this column means that the letter is eligible for translation for environments using languages other than English.

Alma Letters

Letter Name

Letter Description

Category

Channel

Translation Eligible ('Patron Facing' flag in Alma)

Analytics Letter

Contains an analytics report that is sent to report subscribers. For more information see Scheduling and Subscribing to Reports and Dashboards.

Analytics

Borrowed By Letter

Sent to patrons indicating that a proxy user has borrowed an item on their behalf. For details on working with proxy users, see Managing Proxy Users.

Fulfillment

Yes

Borrower Claim Email Letter

For peer-to-peer partners, the letter is sent when the Automatic Claim field is enabled on the borrowing request and the value of the Time to Claim (days) is reached. See Resource Sharing Partners.

Resource sharing

Yes

Borrower Overdue Email Letter

Sent by the lending institution to the borrowing partner when a resource is overdue. When sent using ISO protocol, the request on the borrowing side is automatically marked as overdue.

Resource sharing

Yes

Borrower Receive Email Letter

Sent to the lending institution when the loaned item has been received at the borrowing institution.

Resource sharing

Yes

Borrower Return Email Letter

Sent to the lending institution when the borrowing institution has returned the loaned item.

Resource sharing

Yes

Borrowing Activity Letter

Sent to patrons with activity; contains a list of the patron’s loans, overdue items, and active fines. If the patron has more than 100 active loans, only the first 100 are included on the letter and a flag is added to the XML - <loans_over_the_limit>true</loans_over_the_limit>. Sent either by a job (Notifications – Send Periodic Fulfillment Activity Report) or by request, for example, the Renew Selected and Renew All actions on the Loans tab of the Patron Services page. For details on configuring the Borrowing Activity Report, see Configuring Fulfillment Jobs.

This letter can be activated to trigger a webhook function. See Webhooks.

Fulfillment

SMS

Webhook

Email - Yes

SMS - Yes

Webhook - No

Cancel Request Letter

An SMS message sent to patrons indicating the reason for the request cancellation. For more information, see the email format for Cancel Request Letter.

If the date by which the request is needed has passed, this letter is no longer sent.

Fulfillment

SMS

Yes

Change Rapido Request Terms Letter

A letter that will notify the patron if the terms that were defined by the previous lender were changed when the request is moved to a new lender.

For a full list of letters used by Rapido, see Rapido Letters.

Rapido

Yes

Cloud IdP User Created Letter

For future use

User management

Yes

Collection Contribution Letter

Sent to users as an initial response to a contribution to the Community Zone. For detailed information, see Contributing Local Electronic Collections to the Community Zone.

Resource management

Collection Contribution Update Status Letter

Sent to users as a follow-up to a contribution to the Community Zone.

Resource management

Conversation Letter

Used to communicate with vendors. See Communicating with Vendors.

The customer parameter: conversation_send_from_logged_in_user_address enables conversation letters to be configured as being sent from the logged in user's email (as address "From") or the library's. See Customer Parameters Mapping Table.

Acquisition

Courtesy Letter

Sent to patrons in a nightly job; contains a list of the patron’s loans that are due soon. Generated when the Notifications - Send Courtesy Notices and Handle Loan Renewals job runs and one of the following occurs:

The conditions of an automatic loan renewal rule are not met (see Configuring Fulfillment Jobs)
A block exists on the patron or item, preventing item renewal (see Configuring Block Preferences)

For short loans, if the short_loan_courtesy_reminder parameter is set, this letter is triggered based on the due date time, less the value of the parameter. The letter will be sent if the item was not returned, is not in Lost or Claim Return status, and the current due date time is the same as the due date time that was on the item when the reminder was triggered. The loan due date time can change due to a renewal, recall, or manual change of due date. See also Configuring Short Term Loans.

In addition to a short loan indicator that is available in the source XML, this letter has a configurable short_loans_message label in the code table. To see this label, you must be using the XSL file in the default, out-of-the-box format. If you have customized the XSL file, the short loan label is not available.

Fulfillment

SMS

Yes

Delivery Registration Status Letter

Sent to patrons by email to notify them when they join the waitlist, when a resource becomes available, and when the grace period expires.

Digital

Yes

Delivery Registration Status Letter

Sent to patrons by SMS to notify them when they join the waitlist, when a resource becomes available, and when the grace period expires.

Digital

SMS

Yes

Deposit Activity Letter

Indicates the status of active deposits. For detailed information, see Configuring the Deposit Activity Report Job.

Digital

Yes

Deposit Status Update Letter

Sent to depositors when their deposit is submitted, approved, declined, returned, or withdrawn.

The fields for the Subject is available in the subject field. The field is set by entering your text within <> + deposit_title. The format is as follows:
<Your Deposit: > deposit_title
deposit_title refers to the Deposit title.

See Configuring Patron Deposit Templates.

Digital

Yes

Document Delivery Notification Letter

When a patron has requested digital material and the send method on the request is Attach Documents - Link, this notification is sent to patrons to provide links to the file. See Attaching Digitized Items To Be Sent To a Patron.

<xsl:if test="notification_data/download_url_saml != ''">
<tr>
<td>@@for_saml_users@@<a>
<xsl:attribute name="href">
<xsl:value-of select="notification_data/download_url_saml" />
</xsl:attribute>@@click_here@@</a>
</td>
</tr>
</xsl:if>

Fulfillment

Yes

Download Digital Titles Inventory Job Letter

Sent after running the Download Digital Titles Inventory job to download the files of a digital title into a zip file (see Download Files). This letter informs you that the job is completed.

Digital

Yes

Download Representation Letter

Sent after running the Download Files job to download the files of a representation.

Digital

Yes

Email Records Letter

Sent to patrons when records are export to email in Primo VE. This template allows you to configure the following information in the email: letter's name, subject, and from address. For information regarding export actions, see Exporting Records from Primo VE.

Primo

Yes

Export User Letter

A way to transfer files via FTP (the FTP receiver mechanism of the letters) used by the student information system (SIS) jobs. Does not contain any fields.

For information about the jobs, see Student Information Systems.

User management

Submission

Externally Obtained Email Letter

Sent to patrons; contains a URL for a requested article obtained through the CCC GetItNow service.

See Adding a Request For a CCC GetItNow Resource.

Resource sharing

Yes

Fine Fee Payment Receipt Letter

Sent to patrons; indicates that payment has been received.

See Viewing Fines and Fees and Receiving Payments.

Fulfillment

Yes

Fines and Fees Report Letter

A report of the fine and fee transactions that have been performed over a 1- to 7-day period. For details on configuring the fines and fees report, see Creating Fines and Fees Reports.

Fulfillment

Yes

Ful Borrowing Info Letter

Sent to patrons; indicates whether a loaned resource sharing item was successfully renewed.

See Managing Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests.

Fulfillment

Yes

Ful Cancel Email Letter

Indicates that a resource sharing request has been canceled. Sent to partners automatically when a resource sharing borrowing request is sent to a partner whose Type = Email.

See Managing Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests.

Fulfillment

Yes

Ful Cancel Request Letter

Sent to patrons; indicates that a request has been canceled and the reason for the cancellation.

See Managing Active Hold Shelf Items and Pickup at Shelf.

This letter can be activated to trigger a webhook function. See Webhooks.

This letter will not be sent if the date by which the request is needed has passed.

Fulfillment

Webhook

Email - Yes

Webhook - No

Ful Citation Slip Letter

A slip that is printed out by library staff of a reading list citation so that the item can be retrieved from the shelf. For details on reading list citations, see Managing Citations. You may include a printable barcode image on this letter.

Courses

Ful Citations Slip Letter

A slip that is printed out by library staff of all course reading list citations so that the items can be retrieved from the shelf. For details on reading list citations, see Managing Citations.

Courses

Ful Damaged Email Letter

Sent to the lending partner to notify them that a resource sharing item has been damaged. See Managing Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests.

Resource sharing

Ful Digitization Notification Item Letter

Sent to a patron who asked for material to be digitized with a send method of Attach Documents - attachment. The letter informs the patron that the digitization request has been completed and informs the patron where the digital material can be viewed. For details on configuring digitization departments for processing digitization requests, see Configuring Digitization Departments.

If Alma automatically attempted to add the file to a citation, the email also includes the status of that attempt.

If the digitization request is for a citation in a reading list, the librarian assigned to the list is also notified. If you are implementing Leganto, the librarian configured for assign_to is also notified. See Configuring Leganto Copyright-Related Procedures.

<tr>
<td>@@reading_list_name@@: <xsl:value-of select="notification_data/request/reading_list_name"/>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>@@citation_id@@: <xsl:value-of select="notification_data/request/reading_list_citation_id"/>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>@@request_creator@@: <xsl:value-of select="notification_data/request/request_creator"/>
</td>
</tr>

Fulfillment

Yes

Ful Fines\Fees Notification Letter

Sent to patrons by a job to inform them of fines or fees they owe.

See Configuring Fines/Fees Notifications.

Fulfillment

SMS

Email - Yes

SMS - No

Ful Hold Shelf Request Slip Letter

When enabled, the letter is printed to the circulation desk printer when the item is placed on the hold shelf, regardless of whether a pick slip was already printed. If printing fails, the item is still placed on the hold shelf but the user receives a warning message that printing failed. This way, it is possible to configure a slip for use for on hold shelf items, that is differnet than the slip that is used to pick the item from the shelf.

By default, the letter has the same attributes as the Pickup Print Slip Report Letter, but it can be configured as needed.

The letter is invoked when scanning in an item and placing it on the hold shelf and when selecting the Activate next function on the expired hold shelf page.

Fulfillment

Ful Incoming Slip Letter

A slip that is printed out by library staff from the Resource Sharing Lending Requests Task List when they need to retrieve an item from the shelf to be shipped to a borrower. You may include a printable barcode image on this letter.

Ful Incoming Slip Letter and Resource Sharing Shipping Slip Letter both use the same Print Slip button in Alma and Rapido.

Resource sharing

Ful Lost Email Letter

Sent to the lending partner to notify them that a resource sharing item has been lost. See Managing Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests.

Resource sharing

Ful Lost Loan Letter

An invoice letter (for the replacement fee) sent to the borrowing patron when a loan is overdue and the item is declared lost, according to the criteria described in Adding an Overdue and Lost Loan Profile. Each letter generated is for a single item.

The letter is sent when manually changing the loan to lost. Additionally, if the switch_to_overdue_and_lost_loan_new_job parameter is set to false (see Configuring Other Settings), the Loans - Overdue and Lost Item job will also generate this letter. However, if the switch_to_overdue_and_lost_loan_new_job parameter is set to true, the job sends the Ful Overdue and Lost letter instead (see below).

Fulfillment

SMS

Email - Yes

SMS - Yes

Ful Lost Loan Notification Letter

A warning sent to patrons when a loan is overdue, before the item is declared lost, according to the criteria described in Adding an Overdue and Lost Loan Notification. Sent by the Loans - Overdue and Lost Item job when the switch_to_overdue_and_lost_loan_new_job parameter is set to false (see Configuring Other Settings).

Fulfillment

SMS

Email - Yes

SMS - Yes

Ful Lost Refund Fee Loan Letter

Sent to patrons when a loan that was declared lost is found. Includes refund if applicable.

Fulfillment

Yes

Ful Outgoing Email Letter

The borrowing request sent to a partner with profile type Email.

Resource sharing

Yes

Ful Overdue And Lost Loan Letter

A message sent to the borrowing patron listing all overdue loans that have been declared lost, according to the criteria described in Adding an Overdue and Lost Loan Notification. It is sent to patrons by the Loans - Overdue and Lost Item job when the switch_to_overdue_and_lost_loan_new_job parameter is set to true (see Configuring Other Settings).

Fulfillment

SMS

Email - Yes

SMS - Yes

Ful Overdue And Lost Loan Notification Letter

A warning sent to patrons listing all overdue loans before the items are declared lost, according to the criteria described in Adding an Overdue and Lost Loan Notification. Sent by the Loans - Overdue and Lost Item job when the switch_to_overdue_and_lost_loan_new_job parameter is set to true (see Configuring Other Settings).

For short loans, the short_loan_overdue_reminder parameter is set, this letter is triggered based on the due date time plus the value of the parameter for multiple items. The letter will be sent if the items were not returned, are not in Lost or Claim Return status, and the current due date time for each item is the same as the due date time that was on each item when the reminder was triggered. The loan due date time can change due to a renewal, recall, or manual change of due date. See also Configuring Short Term Loans.

Fulfillment

SMS

Email - Yes

SMS - Yes

Ful Personal Delivery Letter

Sent to a patron when an item is scanned in for personal delivery from a circulation desk that supports personal delivery.

Fulfillment

Yes

Ful Pickup Print Slip Report Letter

Sent to users. Contains a detailed list of resources to be picked up.

Fulfillment

Yes

Ful Renew Email Letter

Indicates that a resource sharing request has been renewed. Sent to partners automatically when a resource sharing borrowing request is sent to a partner whose Type = Email.

Resource sharing

Yes

Ful Requests Report Letter

A patron report listing all request items, broken down by Not Active, In Process, and On Hold Shelf. For details on running the report for a single patron, see Managing Patron Services. For details on running the report on a schedule, see Configuring Fulfillment Jobs.

Not Active - No items are available for processing the request. It is still in the queue.
In Process - An available item is physically being used to fulfill the request. For example, it is in a pick list for the library staff, or the item is already in transit to the requested pickup location.

Fulfillment

Yes

Ful Resource Request Slip Letter

A slip that is printed out by library staff from the Pick Up Requested Resources page when they need to retrieve an item from the shelf. For details on pickup up items from the shelf, see Pickup at Shelf. You may include a printable barcode image on this letter.

Barcode is populated for item-level requests, not title-level requests. For title-level requests, there could be multiple possible items, so the barcodes appear as optional barcodes, and not a specific barcode linked to the request.

This letter is also printed when an item that had a hold request is returned.

Fulfillment

Ful Transit Slip Letter

Sent by the Create Physical Item Move Requests job when Print Transit Letter is set to Yes. You may include a printable barcode image on this letter.

This letter is also printed out by library staff and is added to an item when it is sent from one place to another.

Inventory

General Assign To Letter

This is used when a staff user assigns a record to another staff user and selects the Send as email option. Possible examples of this are:

when a staff user assigns a cataloging record to another user
when a staff user assigns an electronic resource activation task.

User management

General Message Email Letter

An email sent to the resource sharing partner to alert them of a new general message that has been entered on the request.

Resource sharing

Yes

ILL Email to User

Manually sent from the User Details page.

This letter cannot be customized.

User management

Interested In Letter

Informs the User/patron (who is listed on the Interested Users tab on a PO line and has Notify user upon receiving/activation checked) that the physical item is received, or an electronic item is activated (depending on the resource associated with the PO line).

Acquisition

Yes

Interested Users In Letter

Lists the interested users when Print Interested Users List is selected on the Receiving New Material page. For more information, see Receiving Material.

Acquisition

Invoice Payment Letter

The finance export job requires you to activate the Invoice Payment Letter.

Acquisition

Submission

Item Change Due Date Letter

An SMS message sent to patrons indicating changes to the due date. For details on managing patron activities, see Managing Patron Services. For more information on the letter, see the email format for Item Change Due Date Letter. For the email version of this letter, see Loan Status Notice.

Fulfillment

SMS

Yes

Legal Deposit Annual Receipts Letter

This report presents an annual overview of subscriptions, indicating which issues have been received within the current year and which are still pending, and awaiting claim. This enables customers to track the delivery status of their serialized materials.

For more information, see Working With Legal Deposits.

Acquisition

Legal Deposit Claim Letter

Sent to vendors to remind them of a previous request for a copy of an item as required by law. If this letter is activated, it is sent even when the order type is LEGAL_DEPOSIT_NOLETTER.

For more information, see Working With Legal Deposits.

Acquisition

Legal Deposit Order Letter

Sent to vendors to request a copy of an item as required by law.

For more information, see Working With Legal Deposits.

Acquisition

Legal Deposit Receipt Letter

Sent to vendors to confirm the receipt of a copy of an item requested as required by law.

For more information, see Working With Legal Deposits.

Acquisition

Leganto Detailed Notifications Letter

Sent to instructors when notifications are waiting for them in Leganto. It aggregates the pending notifications by list for a given course into a single letter. Appears only if Leganto is enabled in your institution

Leganto

Yes

Leganto Notifications Letter

Sent to instructors when notifications are waiting for them in Leganto. For more information, see Viewing Scheduled Jobs. Appears only if Leganto is enabled in your institution.

Leganto

Yes

Leganto Upcoming Due Dates Notifications Email Letter

Sent to students nine days before an upcoming due date. Sent only if email_notifications_group value is set to ALL.

Leganto

Yes

Lender Checked-In Email Letter

Sent to the borrowing partner when an item was checked in at the lending institution.

Resource sharing

Yes

Lender Reject Email Letter

Sent to the borrowing partner when the lending partner has rejected a lending request.

Resource sharing

Yes

Lender Renew Response Email Letter

Sent to the borrowing partner when the lending partner responds to a renewal request.

Resource sharing

Yes

Lender Ship Email Letter

Sent to the borrowing partner to indicate that the requested item has been shipped.

Resource sharing

Yes

Lender Will Supply Email Letter

Sent to the borrowing partner when the status of a resource sharing request changes to Will Supply.

Resource sharing

Yes

Lending Recall Email Letter

Sent to the borrowing partner when an item is recalled and must be returned.

Resource sharing

Yes

Lending Requests Report Slip Letter

A slip that is printed out by library staff for the selected requests in the lending task list that lists the availability of the items so that they can be taken off the shelf and shipped to the requester.

For more information see Managing Resource Sharing Lending Requests.

Resource sharing

Yes

License Printout Letter

Used when printing out a license. See Printing Licenses or Amendments.

Resource management

Loan Receipt Letter

This letter is generated for patrons after items are loaned from the circulation desk, renewed, or have their due dates changed when using the Patron Services workbench, as well as when fulfilling a personal delivery request, with automatic background recording of the loan (see Supporting Personal Delivery for Requests).

Any change done to a user's loan generates a Loan Receipt (in addition to any other "designated" letter that is sent). For example, changing the due date of a loan triggers the Loan Status Notice. Selecting Done then initiates a Loan Receipt for the updated loan.

Fulfillment

Yes

Loan Status Notice

Sent to patrons; indicates changes in the status of a loan or the due date as follows:

A recall is issued and the due date changed.
A recall is issued but the due date hasn't changed.
The due date changed, regardless of whether a recall has been issued.
A recall is cancelled and the original due date is restored.
A recall is cancelled and the loan is renewed.
A recall is cancelled and there is no change in the due date.

For the SMS version of this letter, see Item Change Due Date Letter.

For details on managing patron activities, see Managing Patron Services.

This letter can be activated to trigger a webhook function. See Webhooks.

Fulfillment

Webhook

Email - Yes

Webhook - No

Email letter that is sent to a patron for a one time login to Primo. See Primo Login Using Email.

Primo

Yes

Notify E-Activation due Letter

Sent by the Notify E-Activation Due Task job to the assigned operator when an electronic activation task's due date has passed. For more information on the e-activation due date, see Manually Creating a PO Line, Managing Electronic Resource Activation, and Configuring Other Settings.

Acquisition

Notify Upon Renewal Letter

Sent to a user when a continuous PO line with inventory is sent for manual renewal. For more information see Interested Users.

Acquisition

On Hold Shelf Letter

Sent to patrons; indicates that an item is ready for pickup at the hold shelf. For details on picking up items from the hold shelf, see Managing the Hold Shelf.

This letter can be activated to trigger a webhook function. See Webhooks.

For information on customizing the On Hold Shelf letter to display the Notes that may affect loan line only if there is a block on the patron, see Customizing Letter Templates.

Fulfillment

SMS

Webhook

Email - Yes

SMS - Yes

Webhook - No

On Hold Shelf Reminder Letter

Sent to the patron after a set number of days. The letter is sent by the Send Hold Shelf Reminders job. It is possible to configure how many days after being placed on the hold shelf the reminder will be sent, and whether the reminder will continue to be sent at the configured interval until the Hold Shelf expiry.

Fulfillment

Yes

Order List Letter

Sent to vendors; contains a list of ordered items. See Approving and Sending POs.

This letter is not used if the order is done using EDI or another automatic system.

Acquisition

Order Now Letter

Sent to the staff user who selects Order Now, which initiates an immediate order that bypasses the usual procedure. The letter indicates whether the order is successful. See Manually Creating a PO Line, Reviewing PO Lines, and Packaging PO Lines into a PO.

Acquisition

Overdue Notice Letter

Sent to patrons; contains a list of all the patron’s loans due that day. Sent in a nightly job (Notifications – Send Due Date Reminders).

The item details in this letter represent the item at the time of the loan.

Fulfillment

SMS

Email - Yes

SMS - Yes

Overlap and Collection Analysis Letter

Sent to a staff user who runs an overlap and collection analysis job. The letter indicates that the overlap and collection analysis job has completed. For more information regarding overlap and collection analysis, see to Working with Overlap and Collection Analysis.

Resource management

Owner Subscription Letter

Sent to an instructor when added as an owner of a reading list. For more information, see Managing Reading List Owners and Collaborators.

Courses

Patron Welcome Letter

This letter is sent when adding a patron role to a user, whether manually, through a job, or via SIS. The letter is not sent when the patron role is added through a merge or migration.

If you do not wish send the letter if the patron role was added by a linked account, you can do that by adding a condition to the XSL file that will prevent sending the letter in this case. The XML for the letter includes an indicator for if the role was added by a linked account. This indication can be used to stop the letter from being sent the document, How to configure a letter to not be sent under certain circumstances, shows an example of how this can be done.

User management

Yes

PDA Threshold Letter

Sent to the PDA manager (PDA contact person) when the usage of PDA reaches the alert threshold.

See Patron Driven Acquisitions.

Administration

Personal Information Letter

Sent to patrons with an attached file containing the complete XML record of the data stored about the patron in their user accounts, including attachments. The message is sent to the patron's preferred email.

In order to send a Personal Information Letter to a patron, the parameter Send Patron Information Letter must be enabled under Circulation Desk roles'. The parameter Send Patron Information Letter is activated for users with a Circulation Desk role by default. If it is not activated or you wish to
deactivate it, open a ticket with Ex Libris support.

User management

PIN Number Generation Letter

Sent to patrons when a PIN code is set in the user management pages. For details on configuring user details, see Adding Users.

User management

Yes

PO Line Cancelation Letter

Sent to vendors, requesting that an order be canceled. For details on canceling a PO line, see Canceling PO Lines.

Acquisition

PO Line Claim Letter

Sent to vendors when an order does not arrive by the expected date (see Processing Claims), when claims for multiple PO lines are not combined into a single letter (i.e., when the claim_aggregated_letter Customer Parameter is set to FALSE).

The fields for the Subject are available in the new_subject field. The field is set by entering your text within <> + field name. The format is as follows:

<My Title Text: > title <My Ref Num Text: > poline_reference_number <My Item Desc Text: > item_description

Following are the fields that can be used within the subject field:

title
poline_reference_number
item_description - only for Physical Continuous type
identifier_type and item_identifier

Acquisition

PO Line Aggregated Claim Letter

Sent to vendors when an order does not arrive by the expected date (see Processing Claims), when claims for multiple PO lines are combined into a single letter (i.e., when the claim_aggregated_letter Customer Parameter is set to TRUE).

If all claimed PO Lines are from the same owning library, the sender address from the library (instead of the institution) is used.

If claim_aggregated_letter is set to TRUE, but the PO Line Aggregated Claim Letter letter is disabled, no claim letter is sent to the vendor. This parameter does not impact the Legal Deposit Claim letter.

Acquisition

PO Line Renewal Letter

Sent to vendors, requesting that a subscription be renewed.

For details on renewing PO lines, see Renewals. For details on configuring automatic renewal of a PO line, see Configuring Fulfillment Jobs.

Acquisition

Process Bib Export Finished Letter

Sent to a staff user, indicating that a bibliographic export has finished. For details on exporting bibliographic records, see Export bibliographic records in Running Manual Jobs on Defined Sets.

Resource management

Process Creation

Sent upon successfully scheduling some user-submitted jobs — for example, jobs run on the Run a Job page (see Running Manual Jobs on Defined Sets).

This letter cannot be customized.

Administration

Purchase Request Status Letter

Sent to requester of a purchase request when the request is approved or rejected.

For more information, see Purchase Requests.

Acquisition

Yes

Pz System Job Letter

A report sent to the email specified in the API request, which summarizes information from the portfolio loader and MD import jobs that had been triggered via the Provider Zone Job.

Resource management

Query to Patron Letter

Sent to patrons when the user selects Send query to patron from a resource-sharing borrowing request. See Managing Resource Sharing Borrowing Requests.

This letter is only used when the institution is using patron query types; see Configuring Patron Queries.

To configure, see Example of Letter Customization: The Query to Patron Letter.

Resource sharing

Yes

Query to Requester Letter

Sent to requester of a purchase request when the librarian queries him or her for more information.

For more information, see Purchase Requests.

Acquisition

Yes

Rapido Request New Resource Sharing Partnership Letter

This letter is used to contact an identified partner within the directory from the Find Partner workflow, using the Send Rapido Request action, to begin the process of adding the potential partner as a new partner.

Resource sharing

Yes

Receiving Slip Letter

A slip that is printed out by library staff with item information that is put in a new item when it arrives at the library. You may include a printable barcode image on this letter.

Acquisitions

Report a Problem Letter

A feedback sent from a Primo VE user to the feedback administrator. After opening the feedback tool, users must specify an issue type and include an optional problem description and a return email address. Emails include the feedback details, URL of the page from which the feedback was sent, and type of device used to send the feedback.

Discovery

Resend Notification Letter

Sent manually to a patron if the patron did not receive an attachment. For more information, see User Attachments.

Fulfillment

Yes

Reset Password Letter

Sent from various workflows, and includes a link to a page which allows the recipient to change (or create) his or her password.

When the Reset Password letter is sent by the Update/Notify Users job or from the Send Message drop-down list, the link is active for twenty-four hours. When the letter is sent from the Forgot Password? link, it is active for one hour.

User management

Yes

Resource Sharing Receive Slip Letter

A slip that prints automatically when the Automatic Print Slip option is selected on Receiving Items. You may include a printable barcode image on this letter.

Resource sharing

Yes

Resource Sharing Request Confirmation Letter

When configured (Configuration > General > Letters > Letters Configuration > Resource Sharing Request Confirmation Letter), Alma now sends a confirmation email when a request is placed. This letter is disabled by default.

Resource sharing

Resource Sharing Return Slip Letter

Printable when returning a borrowing item to the lender. You may include a printable barcode image on this letter. Printing the letter will take place if:

Scanning in an item triggers a return (including Managing Patron Services and Return Items menu option)
Using the Return option in the task list (see Workflow Actions).

The letter is not relevant for NCIP transactions.

Resource sharing

Yes

Resource Sharing Shipping Slip Letter

Sent to a user when the user selects the Ship Item link for a lending request and then selects Automatically Print Slip = Yes on the Shipping Items page. You may include a printable barcode image on this letter.

See Shipping Items.

For this letter, a shipping address must be defined in the contact information of the Resource Sharing Partner (Fulfillment > Resource Sharing > Partners > [Edit] > Contact Information > Addresses). See Resource Sharing Partners.
Ful Incoming Slip Letter and Resource Sharing Shipping Slip Letter both use the same Print Slip button in Alma and Rapido.

Resource sharing

Restricted Login IP Letter

Sent to managers when a login attempt is made from a restricted IP address. For more information, see Security.

Administration

Return Receipt Letter

Sent to patrons after items are returned to the circulation desk. For details on returning items to the circulation desk, see Returning Items.

Fulfillment

Yes

SAML Certificate Expiration Notification Letter

Sent to users with the General Systems Admin role to remind them their SAML certificate is nearing expiry date and recommend that they consult with their IT department regarding the potential need to replace it.

Sent approximately 60 days and 30 days before expiration.

See Replacing a Signed Certificate.

Administration

Saved Searches Letter

This letter is a weekly letter triggered by the Saved Searches Alerts scheduled job, which sends new results of saved Primo VE search queries to the patron.

The configuration options for this letter are on the Primo (VE) side. The labels can be found in Discovery > Labels > Send Email and SMS Labels.

Primo

Send Rapido Request Letter

Rapido sends a request to a potential lender for a new resource sharing partnership.
For more information about Rapido letter, see Send Rapido Request Letter

Administration

Short Loan Letter

Sent to a patron when loaning an item for a short period (a number of hours), informing the patron of the due date and the fine policy. For details on loaning items, see Loaning Items.

This letter may have to be enabled for some customers.

Fulfillment

Yes

Shortened Due Date Letter

Sent to patrons to notify them that the due date of their loan has been shortened. This happens at the time of loan or renewal. However, at renewal time, the letter is only triggered if the renewal is done by staff from the Manage Patron Services page. If the renewal is done by the patron in Primo, the shortened due date is displayed to the patron immediately. The letter data contains the loan object and the message, The possible messages are:

Please notice that the due date was shortened since the item is recalled
Please notice that the due date was shortened since the patron card is expired before the due date
Please notice that the due date was shortened since the loan conflicts with a booking request

For setting the parameter, shortened_due_date_notifications, see Configuring Other Settings.

Fulfillment

SMS

Email - Yes

SMS - Yes

Social Login Account Attached Letter

Sent after attaching a user account to a social logic provider. For library staff, the email includes a link which can be used to quickly log in to Alma.

User management

Yes

Social Login Invite Letter

An email sent to staff users inviting them to use social network logins instead of the standard Alma login. For more information, see Social and Email Login.

User management

Yes

System Job Letter

Sent when jobs initiated in Alma start and complete (letter is sent to the user who initiated the job). For details on configuring Alma jobs (processes), see Managing Jobs.

Administration

Test Letter

Sent just for testing if emails can be sent. There is a Test button in the Mail-handling Integration-Profile which sends it.

Administration

Trial Letter

Contains a request to evaluate an electronic resource. For details on evaluating resources, see Evaluation Workflow.

Acquisition

Yes

Update Collection Contribution Letter

Sent to users after they update a collection and re-contribute it to the Community Zone. For more information, see Contributing Local Electronic Collections to the Community Zone.

Resource management

User Deletion Letter

Sent to a patron before the patron is deleted, containing details of the patron’s active fines and fees. See Deleting Users.

User management

Yes

User Notifications Letter (New Gen)

Sent to users who elected to receive email notifications via the Notifications interface.

Administration

Yes

User Notifications Letter

Sent to users using the Update/Notify Users job. For more information, see Configuring User Notification Types.

User management

Yes

User Registration Letter

Not in use

User management

Webhook Failure Letter

Sent to all email contacts defined on a webhook integration profile if a webhook message is not successfully sent after 4 attempts (across 10 hours) when a 5XX HTTP response is received. For more information on the retry mechanism, see the Developer Network.

Administration