Delete the Email Address of an Unknown Patron.

You may wish to delete an email address from a WorkingArtist patron record but do not know the name of the patron associated with the email address. This might occur if you send email messages from a Mail List. You subsequently receive messages, each saying that an email cannot be delivered. Although the email address is displayed in the return message, it may not be obvious who the patron is if the email address is something like Colin123@EmailProvider.net

Here are the steps to delete an email address from WorkingArtist when you don’t know the patron:

1. From the Main Switchboard, click on Patrons.
2. Click on Patron Datasheet.
3. Click on All Contacts to display the Contact List screen.
4. Alphabetically sort the Email column (in white) by double-clicking on the Email header:
-- The first time you double-click on the header, the addresses will sort lowest to highest.
-- The second time you double-click on the header, the addresses will sort highest to lowest.
5. Search the email column, highlight and delete the appropriate addresses.

Use an Advanced Filter to Select “Suspect” Emails.

Sometimes you might have email addresses that may or may not be valid. You wish to send out an email as a test. Here are two methods to help determine whether these “suspect” addresses are valid or not. Both methods use Advanced Filters. If you are unsure about creating Advanced Filters, go to the Advanced Filters Knowledge Base article which contains examples.

Use a “Single-Use” Advanced Filter to Select Patrons for a Mail List.

This first method is especially useful if you have had emails returned as “undeliverable” and you don’t know the actual patrons. You can create an advanced filter to select the “suspect’ email addresses. You will then include these addresses in a Mail List that can be used to send out a second email. If an email is again returned as undeliverable, you can then delete the email address as appropriate.

1. Create an advanced filter to sort for “suspect email address”.
a. Starting from the Main Switchboard, click on Patrons.
b. Click on Advanced Filter and create the following filter:

Line One
-- From the And/Or combo box select "AND"
-- From the Paren combo-box, select “(“
-- From the Field combo-box, select “Email”.
-- From the Comparison combo-box, select “=”
-- From the Where combo-box, select "suspect email address", e.g. Colin123@EmailProvider.net )

Line Two
-- From the And/Or combo box select "OR"
-- From the Field combo-box, select “Email”.
-- From the Comparison combo-box, select “=”
-- From the Where combo-box, select "suspect email address"

Repeat until last line

Last Line
-- From the And/Or combo-box, select OR
-- From the Field combo-box, select “Email”.
-- From the Comparison combo-box, select “=”
-- From the Where combo-box, select "suspect email address"
-- From the Paren combo-box, select “)”

c. Click on Get Parameters.
d. Click on Save.
e. Name the filter and Save.

2. Create a Mail List to send emails to Patrons with “Suspect” Email Addresses.
a. From the Main Switchboard, open Mail Lists.
b. Create a new Mail List and save.
c. In Mail Lists, click on Add Patrons.
d. In Add Patrons to Mail List, filter by above filter.
e. Click on Tag filtered only.
f. Click on Save.

You can send a second email to patrons in this group. If emails are returned again, you can delete the appropriate email addresses. After determining whether the email addresses are good or bad, you can delete the filter and the Mail List, if you wish.

The advantages of this method are that it is quick and that you don’t need to know the patron’s name. The disadvantages are that you will have to create a new filter each time and that you must have a list of suspect email addresses to be checked.

Use a “Reusable” Advanced Filter to Select Patrons for a Mail List.

This second method is more suited for handling “suspect” email addresses when you know the names of those patrons whose email addresses are “suspect”.

1. Enter the value “Suspect Email” in the Patron field “Interests”. You can do this in either Patron/ View or Artist Info/Options/Tables/Interests.

2. If a Patron’s email address is suspect:
a. From the Main Switchboard, click on Patrons.
b. Select the Patron and click on Interests.
c. "Suspect email" will be listed on the lefthand side. Select it and click on the arrow to so that it displays on the righthand side.
d. Close out of Interests.

3 Create an Advanced Filter to sort for Patrons with the value “Suspect Email”.
a. Starting from the Main Switchboard, click on Patrons.
b. Click on Advanced Filter and create the following:

Line One
-- From the And/Or combo box select "AND"
-- From the Field combo-box, select “Interests”.
-- From the Comparison combo-box, select “=”
-- From the Where combo-box, select “Suspect Email”

c. Click on Get Parameters.
d. Click on Save.
e. Name the filter "Suspect Email" and Save.

4. Create a mail list for patrons with suspect email:
a. From the Main Switchboard, open Mail Lists.
b. Create a new Mail List and save.
c. In Mail Lists, click on Add Patrons.
d. In Add Patrons to Mail List, select the "Suspect Email" filter.
e. Click on Tag filtered only.
f. Click on Save.

You can send a second email to patrons in this group. If emails are returned again, you can delete the bad email addresses. You should also delete the “Suspect Email” value on the Patron record, Interests tab.

The advantages of this method are that you can reuse the filter and you can mark patrons over a period of time before creating a Mail List. The disadvantages are that you must know the patron’s name and it requires a little more work.

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