Previewing your automated emails with a test send

Before your patients see an automated email, you can see it yourself. The Messaging page lets you send a real test of any email template to any address.

Sending a test

1. Go to Settings > Messaging and find the Preview your emails card.
2. Enter the address to send to; your own login email is pre-filled.
3. Choose which email from the dropdown, which lists every automated email template.
4. Press Send test.

A confirmation appears when it has gone; check your inbox, and your spam folder the first time.

What the test contains

The test uses your clinic's actual saved wording, your custom version if you have written one, otherwise the built-in default, with the placeholders filled in using sample details (a sample patient name, treatment, date and time). The subject line is prefixed [Test] so it can never be mistaken for a real patient message. The test shows the template with sample links and buttons. It does not create real patient form requests or a real review invitation, and booking-specific details can differ from a live email.

When to use it

• After editing a template, to check your placeholders render correctly and nothing reads oddly.
• When setting up, to see the whole lifecycle from the patient's side; send yourself the confirmation, the reminders and the review request in one sitting.
• To show a colleague what patients receive without waiting for a real appointment.

Tests are email only, with a limit of 20 per clinic per hour. Trial clinics also have a daily outbound-email limit. Only owners can use Messaging settings. For texts, the SMS bodies are short enough to review directly in the template editor, and remember the segment rules: keep them lean.

During a trial, test emails share the clinic's limit of 50 emails in 24 hours with manual patient care emails and individual portal invitations. The 20-test hourly limit applies as well.