Email Notifications
Dantian Training Hub sends two kinds of email:
- Automatic emails, sent on a schedule — for example, a weekly list of upcoming tutorials for students and trainers, a reminder to a trainer who hasn’t marked attendance, or a weekly summary for coordinators.
- Event emails, sent when something happens — a student is allocated to a clinic, a clinic is cancelled, a recording claim needs review.
This page lists every email, who receives it, when it’s sent, its subject line, and whether you can change its wording. It also covers the test buttons, the Email Log, and how students choose which emails they get.
Who this page is for: site administrators and training coordinators. Trainers and students only need Student email preferences.
Where to find the settings
Training Hub → Settings → Notifications. The tab heading reads Email Notifications & Templates, and a Quick Navigation bar at the top jumps to each section. Clinic booking rules are on the Clinic Settings tab. Every field and its default is listed in 12 — Settings Reference.
All automatic emails are off by default. A new site sends no scheduled email until you turn each one on and click Save Settings.
All dates in emails use your site’s WordPress date format. All send times use your site’s timezone (Settings → General in WordPress).
Before you start: delivery and sender details
The plugin sends mail through WordPress’s standard mail function. Many web hosts deliver this unreliably, so install an SMTP plugin (for example FluentSMTP) to make sure messages arrive.
| Sender setting | Used for | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Sender Name / Sender Email (Notifications → Sender Identity) | Most emails | Site title / site admin email |
| Clinic Email Sender Name / Clinic Email Sender Email (Notifications → Clinic Email Sender & Templates) | Clinic emails | Site title / site admin email |
Two settings decide who can receive student emails:
- Student Email Recipients (Settings → Access & Privacy). If you tick any roles here, only users with those roles receive student-facing emails. Tick none and everyone enrolled is emailed.
- Each student’s own email preferences.
Scheduled emails
| Recipients | When it’s sent | Subject line | Wording editable? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly Admin Summary | Addresses in Recipients | Weekly, on Send Day at Send Time (default Monday 09:00) | Weekly Attendance Summary – Week of date to date | Yes — Weekly Admin Summary Template |
| Upcoming Tutorials Notification | Trainers of each session and/or enrolled students (the Recipients tick boxes) | Weekly, default Friday 09:00 | Upcoming Tutorials – date to date (adds “& Assignments” when assignments are included; “Missed Online Tutorials” when that’s the only content) | Yes — Upcoming Sessions Template |
| Weekly Student Digest | Students | Weekly, on the Upcoming Tutorials day and time | [Site name] Your Weekly Schedule | Yes — Weekly Student Digest Template |
| Pre-Tutorial Reminder | The tutorial’s trainer(s) | Checked every 5 minutes; sent once when the session is within Minutes Before Tutorial (default 20) | Tutorial Starting in N minutes – Course | Yes — Pre-Session Reminder Template |
| Attendance Not Taken Reminder | The tutorial’s trainer(s) | Checked hourly; sent once, Hours After Tutorial (default 48) after the session start, if attendance is still incomplete | Reminder: Mark Attendance for Course – date | Yes — Attendance-Not-Taken Reminder Template |
| Weekly Clinic Reminder (students) | Students allocated to clinics that week | Weekly, default Monday 06:00 | [Site] Upcoming Clinic Reminder – This Week | Yes — Weekly Reminder Templates |
| Weekly Clinic Reminder (supervisors) | The clinic’s supervisor | Weekly, same day and time | [Site] Your Clinic Schedule – This Week | No |
| Clinic Attendance Reminder | The clinic’s supervisor | Checked hourly; sent once, Hours After Clinic (default 48) after the clinic, if attendance is still not marked | [Site] Reminder: Mark Clinic Attendance – Course (date) | Yes — Clinic Attendance Reminder Template |
Weekly Admin Summary
A one-page dashboard for coordinators covering the seven days up to the day before the send day. With the default Monday send, that’s Monday to Sunday of the previous week. It shows the week’s tutorials and clinics, attendance totals, and students who need attention — anyone with fewer attendances than the Low Attendance Threshold (default 2). With Include Ad-Hoc on (the default), it adds a breakdown of ad-hoc and make-up sessions.
Send Test Summary sends the summary immediately to the configured Recipients, covering the current week (Monday to Sunday) so you can see today’s data. Enable Summary must be on, otherwise the test reports “Failed to send test email.” Each click sends a fresh copy, and the scheduled send still happens as normal — so recipients may get more than one summary in a week. That is expected.
Upcoming Tutorials Notification
- Trainers get a list of the sessions they’re teaching.
- Students get the sessions for their courses.
Which week the email covers depends on the day it’s sent. Monday to Wednesday sends cover the current week. Thursday to Sunday sends cover the following week. So with the default Friday send, everyone receives next week’s schedule.
Optional extras:
- Include ad-hoc make-up tutorials when emailing students (default on) — adds make-up sessions a student has been allocated to.
- Include missed online tutorials in student emails (default off) — lists missed online sessions with a link to the recording claims page.
- Pro, when your LMS provides assignments or quizzes: assignment and assessment-quiz reminders for the chosen weeks-ahead window.
The email is sent at most once per week. If it has already gone out for a given week, sending again for that week does nothing.
Caution — “Send Test Notification” sends the real email. The button sends next week’s schedule (Monday–Sunday) to your real trainers and students straight away. It does not send only to you. That counts as next week’s send, so the scheduled run that would cover the same week is skipped. Use it only when you actually want the email to go out early. To preview the content safely, use Debug & Maintenance → Upcoming Tutorials Data Check.
Weekly Student Digest
When Enable Weekly Digest is on, the email types you include (upcoming tutorials and/or clinic reminders) are combined into one weekly email per student, and the matching separate student emails are paused. Your settings for those separate emails are kept, and they start again if you turn the digest off. Each section respects the student’s own preferences: a student who has opted out of clinic alerts gets no clinic section, and a student with nothing to receive gets no digest. If the digest fails to send for a week, the separate emails go out instead, so students are never left without reminders.
Pre-Tutorial Reminder
Sent to each trainer assigned to the tutorial. It shows the session details and, when the session has a Zoom meeting, a Join Zoom Meeting button. It also has a Mark Attendance button linking to your Mark Attendance page, and any notes from the previous session. The subject states the real time left (for example “Starting in 10 Minutes” if the check runs late) rather than the configured lead time. Clinic sessions don’t get this reminder.
Test (Standard) and Test (With Zoom) open a list of upcoming sessions. Pick one, and a sample is sent only to you (the logged-in administrator).
Attendance Not Taken Reminder
Sent once per tutorial to its trainer(s) when fewer students have been marked than are expected. Sessions with no enrolled students are skipped. The window is 24 hours wide: if a reminder can’t be sent in that window (for example because the site had no visitors to trigger the scheduler), it isn’t sent later. Test sends a sample only to you.
Clinic reminders
The weekly student reminder can include a Pre-Clinic Check-In Confirmation button (off by default). It uses the Default weekly reminder template unless a course or clinic has been given another template. Clinic Attendance Reminder works like the tutorial attendance reminder, for clinic supervisors. Its Test button sends a sample only to you.
To test the weekly reminders, use Test Student Email and Test Instructor Email (Clinic Email Sender & Templates). Choose a student or supervisor to simulate and type a Send To address — the test goes only to that address. See 05 — Clinic Rosters.
Event emails
| Recipient | Sent when | Subject line | Wording editable? | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clinic allocation summary | Student | Staff allocate the student to clinic sessions | [Site] Your Clinic Roster for Course | Yes — Allocation Email Template |
| Clinic allocations confirmed | Student | A bulk allocation run places the student | Clinic Allocations Confirmed – … | No |
| Clinic preferences update | Student | Bulk approval of clinic preference requests | Clinic Preferences Update – … | No |
| Waitlist promotion | Student | A spot opens and Auto-Promote from Waitlist offers it | [Site] Clinic Spot Available – You’re Off the Waitlist! | No |
| Clinic cancelled | All allocated students | Staff cancel a whole clinic session | [Site] Clinic Cancelled – … | No |
| Place cancelled | Student | Staff cancel the student’s allocated place | [Site] Clinic cancellation | No — built-in wording |
| Request not approved | Student | Staff reject a student’s clinic preference | [Site] Clinic request update | No — built-in wording |
| Student cancellation notice | Notification Emails (staff) | A student cancels a booking | [Site] Clinic Cancellation – … | No |
| New recording claim | Claim Notification Email | A student submits a recording claim | New Recording Claim from student | No |
| Recording claim not approved | Student | Staff deny a claim (includes reviewer feedback and a Resubmit Claim button) | Recording Claim Not Approved — … | No |
There is no email when a recording claim is approved. The student sees the approval on their claims page. See 06 — Recording Claims.
Pro emails
🔒 Pro feature — requires Dantian Training Hub Pro.
Pro adds the emails below. They’re configured on the Notifications tab (Advanced Assignment Email Templates, Advanced Notification Templates, Scheduled Report Delivery, Early Warning Alerts), the Assignments tab, and the Rubric Grading Suite tab. Full detail is in the linked pages.
| Recipient | Default | More detail | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assignment due date reminder | Student | On, 3 days before | 15 — Assessment Quizzes and Assignment Due Dates |
| Assignment extension granted | Student | On | 15 |
| Overdue assignment admin notification | Weekly Admin Summary recipients, daily at 09:00 | Off | 15 |
| Overdue student email | Student — sent by staff from the Overdue Assignments report, edited before sending | Manual | 15 |
| Assessment quiz reminder / quiz extension granted | Student | Off / On | 15 |
| Extension request approved / declined, plus admin and trainer notifications | Student, admin, trainers | Admin notification on | 15 |
| Support / check-in email | Student — sent by staff | Manual | Settings → Notifications |
| Action plan email (PDF attached) | Student — sent by staff | Manual | 14 — Action Plans |
| Scheduled report delivery (CSV attachments) | Report Recipients | Off | 26 — Scheduled Reports and Early Warning |
| Early warning alert | Early Warning Recipients | Off | 26 — Scheduled Reports and Early Warning |
| Rubric late-submission, daily due-date summary, student grading notification | Trainer / trainer / student | On / Off / Off | 21 — Rubric Grading and Feedback |
| Timetable review request, flag reply and review reminder | Trainers | Manual (sent from the planner); reminders off until Reminder days is set | 20 — Timetable Planner |
| Subject outline review invitation | Nominated reviewers | Manual (sent from the outline’s Email reviewers panel) | 19 — Subject Outlines |
Student email preferences
Students, trainers and other users can choose which categories of email they receive.
What users can switch off
| Category on the preferences page | Includes |
|---|---|
| Weekly Attendance Summaries | The Weekly Admin Summary (for recipients who have a user account) |
| Upcoming Session Reminders | Upcoming Tutorials Notification (trainer and student versions) and the Pre-Tutorial Reminder |
| Clinic Alerts & Waitlist Notifications | Weekly clinic reminders to students, waitlist promotions, clinic cancellations, bulk approval emails |
| Assignment & Assessment Reminders | Pro assignment and quiz reminders, extension and overdue emails |
Everything starts switched on. Emails not listed above — attendance-not-taken reminders, clinic attendance reminders, recording claim emails and allocation summaries — can’t be switched off, because they ask the recipient to take an action. Email addresses that don’t belong to a WordPress user (for example a shared admin inbox) are never filtered.
Setting up the preferences page
- Go to Settings → Pages & Reports → Frontend Pages → Email Preferences Page. Choose a page containing
[dthub_email_preferences], or click Auto-create page. Then click Save Settings. - Optional: on Settings → Notifications → Email Footer, tick “Show a ‘Manage email preferences’ link in email footers” and save.
The footer link appears only when both the tick box is on and a published page is chosen, so it can never be a dead link. The link reads “Manage email preferences” rather than “Unsubscribe”, because these are service emails, not marketing.
What the user sees
The page shows Email Notification Preferences with one tick box per category and a Save Preferences button. After saving, a “Your email preferences have been saved.” message appears. Logged-out visitors are asked to log in and are returned to the page afterwards.
The Email Log
The built-in log keeps a searchable copy of every email the plugin sends. It’s useful for “did the student actually get the reminder?” questions.
Turning it on: Settings → Notifications → Built-In Email Log → Enable Built-In Email Log (off by default). Leave it off if you already log mail with a tool such as FluentSMTP. Only emails sent after you turn it on are recorded.
Where it appears:
- Free only: Training Hub → Email Log.
- With Pro: **Training Hub → Audits → Email Log** tab.
Only administrators (manage_options) can open it.
Using it:
- The table shows Date, Recipient, Subject, Type, Sent By (“System” for scheduled emails, or the staff member who triggered it), Status (Sent or Failed) and Content.
- Filter by type with All types, search by recipient or subject, then click Filter. 50 entries are shown per page.
- Click View to see the email exactly as it was sent.
Retention and purge: every night at about 02:00 (site time), entries older than 90 days are deleted automatically. You can’t change this period on screen.
Privacy: the log holds names, email addresses and full message bodies. A WordPress personal-data export includes a person’s log entries. An erasure request deletes entries sent only to that address — emails sent to several people at once are kept so other people’s records aren’t lost. Turning the log off stops new entries being recorded; existing entries are still purged after 90 days.
Troubleshooting
- An email shows as “On” but never arrives. Check Debug & Maintenance → Cron Schedules. The job should say Scheduled, and the next run is shown in UTC. If the site gets few visitors, ask your host to run WordPress’s scheduler from a real server cron job. Then check the Email Log: Failed means your mail server rejected the message, so install or check your SMTP plugin.
- “Upcoming tutorials email already sent for this week.” Someone already sent that week’s email, possibly with Send Test Notification. It won’t be sent twice.
- Students aren’t getting the upcoming tutorials email, but trainers are. The Weekly Student Digest is probably on and includes upcoming tutorials. Students get it in the digest instead. A notice in the Upcoming Tutorials section says so.
- A student says they don’t get clinic reminders. Check their role is ticked under Student Email Recipients (if you use that filter), and ask them to check Clinic Alerts & Waitlist Notifications on the preferences page.
- The Attendance Not Taken email links to “contact your administrator”. No Mark Attendance Page is set on Settings → Pages & Reports.
Worked example — a weekly rhythm for an RTO cohort
A massage therapy college runs online tutorials on Tuesdays and Thursdays, plus clinic placements.
- On Notifications, the coordinator turns on Upcoming Tutorials Notification (Friday 09:00, both recipients) so trainers and students get next week’s timetable each Friday.
- They turn on Pre-Tutorial Reminder at 20 minutes, so each trainer gets the Zoom link and a Mark Attendance button just before class.
- They turn on Attendance Not Taken Reminder at 48 hours as a safety net.
- In Clinic Emails, they turn on student and supervisor reminders for Monday 06:00, with Pre-Clinic Check-In Confirmation.
- They turn on the Weekly Admin Summary for the student services inbox (Monday 09:00) with a Low Attendance Threshold of 2.
- They turn on the Built-In Email Log so the help desk can answer “I never got that email” questions.
- They publish an Email Preferences page and turn on the footer link, so students can mute clinic alerts outside placement terms.