Form Notifications

TimelyChurch Forms can send email notifications when new submissions are received. You can notify church administrators, specific staff members, or any email address you choose.

Notification Types

Admin Notifications

When the Notify Admins setting is enabled on a form, an email is sent to all church administrators and the church's contact email address each time a new submission is received.

Who receives admin notifications:

• All users with admin-level access for your church
• The church's primary contact email (if configured)

Custom Notification Recipients

In addition to (or instead of) admin notifications, you can add specific people or email addresses to receive notifications for a particular form. This is useful when a form is managed by someone who is not a church admin.

Configuring Notifications

Enable Admin Notifications

1. Open the form editor.
2. Go to the Settings tab.
3. Check the Notify Admins checkbox.
4. Click Save Settings.

Add Custom Recipients

1. Open the form editor.
2. Go to the Settings tab.
3. Scroll to the Additional Notification Recipients section.
4. To add a recipient, you can:
   • Search for a person by name -- Type their name in the search box, then click on the person from the dropdown results.
   • Enter an email address -- Type an email address in the search box. When a valid email is detected, an "Add Email" button appears. Click it to add that address directly.
5. Added recipients appear in a list below the search box, showing their name and email.
6. To remove a recipient, hover over their entry and click the X button.
7. Click Save Settings when done.

Tip: You can add both Person-based recipients (linked to your People database) and standalone email addresses. Person-based recipients will use the email stored in their profile.

What the Notification Email Contains

Each notification email includes:

• The name of the form that received a submission
• The church name
• A formatted summary of all submitted field values (labels and responses)
• The submitter's information (if available)

The email provides a quick overview so recipients can decide whether immediate action is needed without logging into the admin dashboard.

Notification Behavior

• Notifications are sent asynchronously (queued) so they do not slow down the form submission experience for the respondent.
• If both Notify Admins and custom recipients are configured, all recipients receive the notification. Duplicate email addresses are automatically filtered out.
• Notifications are sent for every new submission, regardless of the submission's approval status.
• If sending fails for any reason, the error is logged but the form submission itself is not affected -- the respondent still sees the confirmation page.

Confirmation Emails for Respondents

Separately from admin notifications, you can configure a confirmation email for the person who submitted the form:

1. Open the form editor.
2. Go to the Settings tab.
3. Check the Send Confirmation Email checkbox.
4. Click Save Settings.

When enabled, the submitter receives an email confirming their form was received.

Confirmation Message

The confirmation message is what the respondent sees on-screen after submitting the form (not the email). To customize it:

1. Open the form editor.
2. Go to the Settings tab.
3. Scroll to the Confirmation Message section.
4. Edit the message using the rich text editor. The default message is: "Thank you for your submission!"
5. Click Save Settings.

Tip: If your church has the AI feature enabled, you can use the AI Assistant to generate or improve your confirmation message.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I send notifications to different people for different forms? A: Yes. Each form has its own notification settings and custom recipient list. Configure them independently on each form's Settings tab.

Q: Do custom recipients need an account on TimelyChurch? A: No. You can add any valid email address as a custom recipient. They do not need to be a registered user or admin.

Q: Will I get duplicate emails if I am both an admin and a custom recipient? A: No. The system automatically de-duplicates email addresses before sending notifications.