Member Mail (artMail / opsMail)

Member Mail is a way for your staff to send a message to your members and have it land in the member portal, with a record of who opened it, who acknowledged it and who replied. In an art gallery (CartonCrew Studio) it is called artMail. In every other organization it is called opsMail. It is the same extension; only the name changes.

Where it is today: both sides are live. Your staff send from the artMail (or opsMail) item in the sidebar, with four tabs: Compose, Sent, Replies and Report. Each member reads their mail on an artMail (or opsMail) page in the member portal, under Me.

Turning it on

Member Mail is self-serve on every plan (owner decision 2026-10-18, from v2.90):

1. Go to Settings → Extensions.
2. Find Member Mail (catalog category Communications).
3. An Owner or Admin presses Enable.

It is never switched on automatically, and anyone who is not an Owner or Admin cannot switch it on. Disable on the same card switches it off; mail already sent is kept. See Browsing the catalog for how the Extensions tab works.

ChAImp can also switch it on for one named organization on request, from the platform side (never by changing the database by hand); that switch-on is logged with who did it and for which organization.

Who can send

Sending is its own permission on the Roles page, under Website & messages, written as a plain sentence: “can: Send artMail” in a gallery, “can: Send opsMail” everywhere else. It is the role’s Member Mail line, and it also gives the role the artMail item in the sidebar (Use Member Mail). Until v2.90 the same setting sat under the Noticeboard line; the move carried every role’s and every person’s setting across unchanged, so nobody gained or lost it.

• On for Owner and Admin by default.
• Off for every other role.
• An Owner or Admin can switch it on for one person, under Just for that person.

Someone without it does not see the sidebar item, and the server refuses anything they try to send (and the Sent folder, stats and replies).

See Roles and capabilities for the full table.

Sending a message

Sidebar → artMail → Compose.

1. To: All members, A segment, Board Members (only with the Board Portal on and a seat that counts today), A distribution list, or People I pick (search with Find a member and tick each person).
2. The box below says Goes to and the number of people; open it to see the list. It is worked out exactly the way the send is, so the number shown is the number sent. For Board Members or a list, Not sent to names each seat or member it will not reach, why, and what to do.
3. Subject and Message. The message can use bold, italics, headings, lists and links (a link opens in a new tab). Anything else, such as a script, is removed on the server before the message is saved.
4. Files: up to 10, each up to 10 MB. The line under Files says what can be attached: PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, text/CSV or a picture (PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF). The picker offers only those; any other file is refused by name as soon as it is chosen, and nothing is uploaded. Each is uploaded straight to private storage under your organization’s own folder; members download it through the signed-in portal.
5. Urgent, Requires acknowledgement and Send later (with Send at).
6. Send to the number of people, or Schedule, and confirm.

A sent message cannot be edited or deleted. While at least one member has not read it, staff can Recall it or Recall and replace it (see below).

Segments

A segment narrows your members by Membership type (Members, Show artists, Guest artists: their type on the Artists page), Member or guest, In a show (artists with a work in the show or featured in it) and Dues this month (Paid, Due, Overdue, Declined, On an arrangement, Not set, as the dues board shows them). Choosing several narrows by all of them together. Dues this month is offered only to people who can see the dues board; the server refuses it for anyone else.

Save this segment as and Save segment keep it under A saved segment for next time; Delete this segment removes it. A saved segment stores what to narrow by, never a list of people, and is worked out again from your current members each time. A segment can also be Board Members only, with some Board roles.

Board Members

Read from the Board Portal roster (Board → Members): the seats that are active and within their term today, in the gallery’s time zone. Narrow by Board roles, the seat titles in use today (none ticked = the whole board). A seat reaches its holder through their member record and member-portal login; someone on two seats gets one copy. A seat held by a staff login with no member record, or naming a member who cannot receive mail, is listed under Not sent to with how to link it, and nothing is sent or emailed to it. The roster read is always the sending organization’s own.

Distribution lists

Named, hand-picked lists of members (for example Hanging committee), shared by everyone in the organization who can send. Under A distribution list: Create list, then Add a member / Remove, Rename, Delete this list; each change records who made it and when. Only the organization’s own current members can be added (anyone else is refused, nothing saved). A list is worked out again at each send: anyone on it who has left or can no longer receive is shown under Not sent to and skipped. Deleting a list never changes a message already sent to it.

Large sends and scheduled messages

A message to hundreds or thousands of members is written in batches inside one save, so the send returns promptly and every member gets exactly one copy. A message sent with Send later is invisible to members until its time; CartonCrew releases due messages every 5 minutes (at most every 30 minutes outside gallery hours), checks them again for private numbers, and delivers them.

Sent, stats, resend and replies

• Sent lists every message sent or scheduled, newest first, with Sent, Scheduled or Not sent and its numbers.
• Open one to see Who has read it: Sent, Delivered, Opened, Acknowledged, Replied and Not read yet, each with the members’ names, straight from the delivery records.
• A message with files also shows Who downloaded the files: for each file, how many of the members it was sent to downloaded it (“downloaded by 3 of 12 recipients”), and for each member and file Downloaded (Yes or No), First downloaded (in your organization’s time zone) and Downloads (how many times). A download from the member portal counts, including downloads made before this was added; staff viewing a member’s portal never count.
• The button “Resend to the 4 who have not read it” (with the message’s own number) sends a new message (same subject, text, files and flags) to exactly the members who have not opened the original, and logs it with a link to the original. The original is not changed.
• Replies lists members’ replies with their names. Open the conversation and use Reply to the member’s name and Send reply: your answer reaches that member only.

Staff of one organization never see another organization’s sent mail, numbers, replies or segments, and a list or segment naming anyone outside your organization is refused whole, with nothing sent.

Recall and Recall and replace

Staff who can send Member Mail can take a sent message back from every member who has not read it yet, at any time while at least one has not (no time limit). Open the message from Sent; under Who has read it:

• Recall removes it from every inbox where it is unread: it leaves the inbox and the unread count, and the message and its files can no longer be opened, even by a saved link. Members who already read it keep it. Staff are told the result, for example “Recalled from 12; 5 had already read it and keep it”.
• Recall and replace does the same and sends a corrected version: edit the subject and text, keep or drop the original’s files and add new ones. It is checked exactly like a new message (the same limits, file types and private-number block; a refused correction changes nothing). Members who had not read the original get the corrected version in its place (one unread message); members who had read it get it as a new message marked Corrected. Who it goes to, Urgent and Requires acknowledgement stay as the original’s.
• Email copies and texts. Copies and texts not yet sent to the members it was recalled from are cancelled. An email copy that had already been sent cannot be pulled back: staff are shown how many and to whom. On Recall and replace, the corrected version is emailed under the usual email-copy rules (so a member who gets copies receives the correction by email too). No “recalled” or “please disregard” email is ever sent.
• Once everyone has read a message, Recall is not offered and the server refuses it, changing nothing.
• The recalled message stays in your organization’s record (7-year retention, the clean-up and erasure as for any message). Its page and the Sent folder show Recalled or Replaced, when, by whom and from how many inboxes; the corrected version links back to it. Replies members already sent stay in Replies. Staff of another organization cannot recall your mail, and staff without the sending permission are refused.

Printing a message

Members and staff can print a message, or save it as a PDF from the browser’s print window, with Print next to its subject.

• Members print from the message in their portal (and from an email copy). Staff print from Sent, on the message’s page.
• A printout is the whole conversation: the original message and every reply the reader can see, in order, each reply under a line naming who wrote it and when.
• It carries the organization’s logo and name, artMail or opsMail, the subject, Urgent, Corrected or Recalled as words, From, To (the member’s name on a member’s printout, “N recipients” on a staff printout) and Sent. A link prints its address after its text. Files are listed by name and size, never printed. A member’s printout says Acknowledged by you with the time, if they did.
• A staff printout is the message only: no Who has read it, no numbers, no download stats.
• The foot says Printed by and the date; Chrome and Edge also number the pages (“Page 1 of 2”). US Letter, black on white, with the portal’s buttons, menus and reply boxes left off.
• Times in the member’s Inbox and Archived lists, in the staff Sent and Replies lists, on the message page and on the printout are all in the organization’s time zone, with the zone named, so a message reads the same time everywhere.
• Printing makes no extra request: it prints what is already on the reader’s screen, so nobody can print a message they could not open.

What members see

Members read their mail in the member portal: they press Me, then artMail (next to My Profile). It is called artMail in an art gallery and opsMail in every other organization, never both. The page is hidden while Member Mail is off.

• Unread count. A red number on artMail and on the Me button counts the messages the member has not opened.
• Inbox and Archived. The inbox lists messages newest first, with who sent them, when, and whether they are unread. Archived messages move to Archived; Move back to the inbox returns them.
• Opening a message is what counts as read: the first open is recorded once, each later open updates the last-opened time, and every open is logged. A staff member viewing the member’s portal to help them does not count.
• Files download through the signed-in portal; no public link to a file is ever sent to the browser.
• Reply to the gallery sends a one-to-one reply to your staff. Other members who got the same message never see it.
• Acknowledge appears only on a message marked “Requires acknowledgement”. The first press is recorded and logged; a second changes nothing.
• Archive never deletes. Nothing a member does deletes a message.
• Recalled and corrected messages. A message staff recalled before the member opened it disappears from their inbox. A corrected version arrives in its place, or, for a member who had already read the original, as a new message marked Corrected.
• Email copies. While Member Mail is on, a copy of each email the platform sends a member for your organization (a piece sold, an updated sale, a payout, the member’s week of shifts, a shift that needs somebody, a change to their shifts, a gallery notice, an invitation) is kept at send time and listed in that member’s inbox, read only, with its links working. It is our own copy, never read back from the email service. Emails sent before Member Mail was on are not added. Only that member reads their copies: not another member, not another organization, and not your staff. A copy of an invitation links to your portal instead of the one-time invitation link.

The member guide is artMail: messages from your gallery.

Email copy and text nudge

A message lives in the member portal; two optional things tell a member it has arrived.

• Email copy (each member’s choice, off by default). On the artMail / opsMail tab, under How you hear about new mail, a member can tick Email me a copy of each artMail message (opsMail outside galleries). Each message your staff send that member (a broadcast or a one-to-one reply) then also goes by email: the subject, the whole message text and a Reply in the portal button that opens the conversation in the portal. Formatting and files stay in the portal; the email says how many files there are. The setting is per organization: a member of two galleries sets each separately.
• Unsubscribe. Every copy carries a one-click unsubscribe (the email program’s own unsubscribe button, and a link at the bottom). It turns copies off for that organization only and can never turn anything on.
• Urgent messages for everyone. When a sender ticks Urgent, they can also tick Also email it to everyone, including members who have not turned on email copies. The Sent folder then shows Emailed to everyone, and the log records that the sender forced it.
• No text nudge for now. Member Mail sends no text when a message arrives, whatever the organization’s Text Alerts setting. On the member’s artMail / opsMail page, Text me when I have new artMail is shown off and greyed out with the note Text reminders for artMail are set in the Text Alerts section of My Profile., which links to that section (/portal/profile#text-alerts; the old /portal/text-alerts address opens it too), and it cannot be turned on (the server refuses it too). This holds for members who had it on before. Other Text Alerts messages are not affected. The unread reminder is a separate Text Alerts category (AB#14469): where the organization switches artMail notifications on and a member agrees to that wording, the hourly reminder texts about mail unopened for four hours, at most once a day. Since AB#14540 the member’s one control over it is their Text Alerts artMail notifications setting (artmail_pref); the stored value of the switch here (mail_member_prefs.sms_nudge) is kept but no longer decides anything.
• Reading the email is not a read. The email has no tracking; only opening the message in the portal counts.
• Failures never hold up a message. The message is in every member’s portal before any email is sent. A copy the provider refuses is logged as failed and is not sent again. A scheduled message is emailed when it is released.
• Logged. Every copy and setting change is in the Member Mail log, with who sent the message and how it ended; never the address, the number or the message.

Who receives a message. Recipients are always your own organization’s current members who have a member portal login. Archived members and former members never receive it. Guest artists receive messages sent to all members only when the gallery opens Member Mail to guests: Artists → Guest portal → artMail (Owner or Admin; off by default). The server works the list out itself; nothing a sender types about a person is used to decide who gets a message.

Rules it follows

These decisions are built in.

• Replies go to your staff only. A reply is one to one between the member and your staff. There is no reply-all and no member-to-member messaging.
• Read means opened in the member portal. Opening the email never counts as read.
• Requires acknowledgement. A sender can mark a message “Requires acknowledgement”, and the member’s acknowledgement is recorded.
• A sent message cannot be edited or deleted. While someone has not read it, staff can recall it from the unread inboxes or recall it and send a corrected version; members who read it keep it.
• Messages can be scheduled to send later, and members cannot see one before its time.
• Attachments can be up to 10 MB each and are stored privately.
• Members can archive a message but never delete it.
• Email copies are each member’s choice, off until they turn them on; an urgent message can be emailed to everyone. No text nudge is sent for now.
• Everything is logged: every send, schedule, open, acknowledgement, reply, archive, email copy and text nudge.
• One organization never reaches another. One organization can never address or read another organization’s members or mail.

Private numbers are blocked

Member Mail refuses any message that contains a private number. The check runs on the server, before anything is saved, on the subject, the message text and every PDF, Word (.docx) and text attachment. It is a hard block: the message is not sent and there is no override. The sender is told which part of the message held the number (the subject, the message text, or the attached file by name) and what kind of number it looks like. The number itself is never shown back, saved or written to any log.

Prices, dates, phone numbers such as (555) 123-4567, ZIP codes and SKUs are not blocked.

• Attachments. PDF, Word (.docx) and text files are read; pictures are not. A PDF or Word file that cannot be read (a password to open it, a damaged file, or one too large to read in about five seconds) is refused too, so nothing goes out unchecked.
• Scheduled messages are checked when they are scheduled and again just before they go out. One that contains a private number at that point is not delivered, and its text is removed.
• Members’ replies follow the same rule.
• The log. Each blocked message is recorded in the Member Mail log with the organization, who tried to send it, which part held the number, the kind of number and how many: never the number or the message. One organization’s blocks are never visible to another.

The Report

Staff who can send Member Mail open artMail (or opsMail) in the sidebar, then Report. It shows, for the dates chosen in From and To (your organization’s own time zone, from Settings):

• Read rate by message: each message sent, how many it reached, how many opened it, the read rate and how many acknowledged it, plus Files and Downloaded a file (members who downloaded at least one of its files), Status (Sent, Recalled, Replaced or Correction) and Recalled from (how many unread inboxes it was taken back from).
• Read rate by member: messages received and opened per member, with when they last opened one.
• Read rate by month: delivered and opened per month. It needs the organization’s time zone and asks for it until it is set.
• Never read: the members who received mail in the period and opened none.
• Blocked sends: each message refused for a private number: the date, who tried to send it, at which step, which part, what kind of number and how many. Never the number.
• Attachment downloads: one row per member per file sent to them: the message, member, file, Downloaded (Yes or No), First downloaded and Downloads (how many times).

Each table has Export CSV: the same rows and columns as the screen, plus an id column. A cell that begins with =, +, - or @ is saved with a leading apostrophe so a spreadsheet shows it as text. Members, and staff without the sending permission, are refused the report and the export. The report and the export only ever contain your own organization’s mail.

Privacy and retention

• Mail and its log are kept for 7 years. A daily job then deletes each conversation (its messages, recipients and files) 7 years after its last activity, and each stored email copy 7 years after it was sent. Each run is recorded per organization. The log of what was sent, opened and acknowledged is never deleted.
• On an erasure request (handled by ChAImp support), the messages that were the member’s alone (what they wrote, what was sent to them alone) lose their text and files, their name and email on each message are removed, and their email copies are deleted. A message sent to several members keeps its text and files for the others. The log keeps each event, with the person’s identity replaced by a placeholder, so your record of what was sent and when stays whole.
• When a patron is erased, their name and email in members’ stored copies of the sold, updated sold and payout emails are replaced by “Patron details removed for compliance reasons”.
• Attachments are private. They are never reachable by a public link.

Related

• Extensions
• Noticeboard: posts for every member to read, as opposed to messages to members.

Last updated: 2026-10-20 · Applies to: CartonCrew v2.92+