'Canned' messages

'Canned' messages are templates which can be used for creating messages. For example, if different site visitors regularly ask you the same question, it is natural to store the answer to it somewhere on your system and then just cut and paste it into each new message sent in reply to that question. Of course, you can save these frequently used phrases and explanations in any file, but Sales-n-Stats provides a way in which such messages can be handled directly from the Web control and communication center, which is probably more convenient. You only have to enter each typical phrase once creating a 'canned' message, and then you get the ability to access it from any Visitor's profile. To substitute for the operator's name use %name% variable. In this case you will not have to change all your canned messages in case the operator name changes - it will change automatically when you edit it via Tools->System Settings->General->Operator name (Live edition) or in the Operator Profile (Enterprise edition).

When you first install Sales-n-Stats, there are no 'canned' messages in it. To create a new 'canned' message, you need to do the following:

1.	Click Canned in a Visitor's profile. A popup menu will appear (For the first time it will contain a single entry: <configure messages>).

Select <configure messages> from the menu. 'Configure canned messages' dialog will appear. The left side of the 'Configure canned messages' dialog displays the tree of your canned messages. The right side contains two fields (meant for entering the name and the body of a canned message, but inactive at the time you open the dialog.

Adding a canned message

Created 'canned' messages are added to the popup menu which appears when you click Canned button in the bottom left corner of the 'Messages' tab in a Visitor's profile. To insert a 'canned' message into a letter you are creating for a visitor, select the necessary 'canned' message title from there.

Open the 'Configure canned messages' dialog, select the message you want to delete from the message tree and click Delete.

Open the 'Configure canned messages' dialog, select the message you want to edit. It will be displayed in the right section of the dialog, edit the title and body of the message and click Save.

You can export your 'canned' messages to a text file. To do this select Main Menu -> File -> Export settings and clear all the check boxes except ''Canned' messages'. Your messages will be exported to an .sns file which you can import later on.

There are two ways to export 'canned' messages to your system. The first one is to use Main Menu -> File -> Import settings function. This is possible if you have exported some messages earlier. However there is a way to import regular text files and whole directories.

To import text files, in the 'Configure 'canned' messages' dialog click on Import files/directory button. Locate the necessary files or directories and click Open. Directory names are exported as tree node names, file names - as message titles, file text - as message body. If a message is bigger than 10 Kb, you will get a message asking you to confirm if you want to continue importing such a file.