Question

How does the Circulation Client "E-mail Control Button" work?

Answer

If a patron has an active e-mail address in their patron record, the E-mail Control Button is available.

If there is no active e-mail address the button is inactive (grayed out):

Before an operator can send an email from the Circulation Client using the control button, he or she must have a valid email address and an e-mail program (like Outlook) installed on the computer.

When the operator clicks on the E-mail Control Button, the system creates a mailto URL using the text of the patron's email address.

The format is something like this:

The system will validate that the @ symbol in in the e-mail address, but does no other validation.

The Windows URL Handler is responsible for accepting the URL appropriately. It uses the e-mail program configured on the local computer. Therefore, e-mail is "sent" by the local computer user.

After creating the mailto URL, the Voyager Circulation Client is no longer involved in the process.  

The computer's Operating System contains the instructions on what to do with the mailto URL, and which e-mail program is associated with it.  In other words, the instructions in the Operating System and the configuration of the e-mail client determine what occurs after the mailto URL is generated.

Additional Information

See your Windows Operating System documentation for help with the URL Handler.

See also: What are the characteristics of valid email addresses in Voyager?

• Article last edited: 25-Jun-2020