Customize Notifications

Directory Manager generates a variety of notifications for different events, such as when changes are made to a group, when workflows are triggered, and when profile validation is due for users. Supported languages for notifications are listed in the Localization topic.

Templates for all Directory Manager notifications are available in these languages. You can customize a notification template for the following in each of the supported languages:

• Subject line
• Message (content and format)

By default, notifications are sent to users in the English language. However, a user can opt to receive notifications in a different language by personalizing the language settings from the Settings panel in the Directory Manager portal.

Customize a Notification Template

1. In Admin Center, click Notifications in the left pane. Then click Notification Editor on the Notification Queue page.
   Or
   In Admin Center, click Notification Editor at the bottom of the left navigation pane.

   The editor displays a list of all notifications that Directory Manager generates. Notification names are displayed in English, regardless of the language you select.

2. By default, English (US) is selected, so you can view and customize the notification templates in the English language. To set another language:

   1. Click Filter.
   2. On the Filter(s) dialog box, select a language in the Locality drop-down list.
      This list displays the ISO codes of the supported languages.
   3. Click Apply.

3. You can search for a notification template using the following filters:

   • Select an event in the Categories list to get a list of notifications pertaining to that event.
   • Specify a search string in the search box at the top and press Enter; notification templates that have the string as part of their name or description are displayed. You can also search for a specific notification template by its name.

4. To open a notification template for editing, click Open for it in the Actions column.

5. Select a mode to view the template. Options are:

   • Source code - Click the Source Code tab to view and edit the notification template in the HTML editor.
   • Interactive - Click the Interactive tab to view the template in a user–friendly format. This is how the notification will be displayed to the recipients. You cannot format or edit the template in this view.

6. You can customize the notification template in the following ways:

   • Change the Subject Line
   • Edit and Format the Content
   • Replace the Tags

7. After saving your changes, click Go Back to return to the Notification Editor.

Change the Subject Line

1. In the Source Code view, click the Title tile.
2. In the Edit Title dialog box, change the subject line of the notification and click Update.
3. Click Save on the menu bar.

Edit and Format the Content

You can do the following in the Source Code view:

• Control the notification format. Use HTML tags to format heading styles, change the font and font size, change text alignment, and more.
• Make changes to the message content.
• Replace the tags with other relevant tags. By using a tag, you can display an attribute’s value in the notification.

NOTE: Do not insert tables or custom photos in a notification template.

After making the required changes, click Save on the menu bar.

To aid you in content management, the Source Code view uses the same editor that powers Microsoft Visual Studio; hence, you also have the following options available:

• Use the page navigator in the top right corner of the source code view to scroll through the content. The navigator is divided into sections, enabling you to jump to the beginning, middle and end of the source code.
• Use the options on the Edit menu to search for target text (whether it be a word, phrase, or tag), to cut the selected text, to copy the selected text, and to redo and undo an operation. You can also insert the current date and time in the template.

Replace the Tags

In a notification template, variables are appended with an attribute name and enclosed in percentage signs, to display that attribute’s value in the notification. For example, %TARGETOBJECT_DisplayName% will resolve to the display name of the targetobject; %REQUESTER_mail% will show the email address of the requester, and so on.

To replace a tag:

1. In the Source Code view, click the Dictionary tile to view the recommended tags to replace the default tags with.

   

   Each notification template has its own set of recommended tags.

2. Use the Go To option on the Edit menu to search for a tag you want to replace. Refer to the tag dictionary to know what tags are used in the notification.

3. After replacing a tag in the template, click Save on the menu bar.

Complete List of Tags

Here is a complete list of tags for object attributes. Using tags other than these is not recommended. By using a tag, you can display an attribute’s value in the notification.

	Variable	Description
1.	TARGETOBJECT	Can be any object (user/group/contact) that is under consideration in a notification
2.	REQUESTER	The user object who makes a workflow request
3.	APPROVER	The approver in workflow notifications
4.	ANOTHER_APPROVER	An approver, other than the ‘approver’ above, who performs an action on the workflow request (as there can be multiple approvers)
5.	BEHALFEDPERSON	The user on whose behalf join/leave requests are made by their manager
6.	RECEIVER	The receiver of a notification
7.	AUTHOR	A user who creates/modifies/deletes an object
8.	USER	A user object under consideration in password-related notifications
9.	MASTER	The master account of a user in password-related notifications

Complete List of Attributes

Following is a list of all attributes that can be used with tags in the notification templates: You can also use any custom attributes.

| Attributes | | --------------------- | ------------------------------ | --------------------------- | ---------------------- | | Owner | Member | MemberOf | Manager | | Name | DisplayName | FirstName | LastName | | Title | Company | Department | City | | Office | DistinguishedName | ObjectId | ObjectType | | Alias | SamAccountName | EmailAddress | CommonName | | GroupType | Description | ObjectClass | ObjectCategory | | Telephone | HomeDataBase | TargetAddress | FaxNumber | | LogonName | DLMemRejectPerms | ObjectGUID | UnauthOrig | | AuthOrig | DLMemSubmitPerms | DelivContLength | ExchCoManagedByLink | | HideDLMembership | HideFromAddressLists | RequireAuthToSendTo | ReplyToOriginator | | UserID | AdminDescription | DisplayNamePrintable | ReportToOwner | | ObjectSid | ReportToOriginator | HierarchicalSearchPostfix | TokenGroups | | Info | ManagerCanUpdateMembershipList | Container | ThumbnailPhoto | | Password | ThumbnailLogo | DirectReports | JpegPhoto | | PasswordLastSet | UserPasswordExpirationDate | IsCriticalSystemObject | UserAccountControl | | ModifyTimeStamp | CreateTimeStamp | GroupTypeLocal | GroupTypeGlobal | | GroupTypeSecurity | GroupTypeUniversal | GroupTypeDistribution | GroupScope | | SimpleDisplayName | MsExchRequireAuthToSendTo | ExpansionServerName | OOFReplyToOriginator | | Notes | Country | State | Street | | HomeMDB | Exchange2010AdditionalOwners | ProxyAddresses | DynamicDLFilter | | GroupClassName | ComputerClassName | ContactClassName | UserClassName | | DatabaseMoniker | GroupTypeUniversalSecurity | GroupTypeGlobalSecurity | PublicFolderClassName | | AccountExpires | GroupTypeUniversalDistribution | GroupTypeLocalDistribution | GroupTypeLocalSecurity | | IsDeleted | GroupTypeLocalSecurity_Builtin | GroupTypeGlobalDistribution | AccountDisabled | | LastLogon | PrimaryGroupToken | PrimaryGroupId | SubscribeByMail | | AdPublicDelgateRights | UserPrincipleName | | |

Notifications

Directory Manager generates email notifications whenever certain events are triggered. The notifications are sent to administrators, object owners and other specified recipients.

To enable notifications, you must define an SMTP server for an identity store. Admin Center and the Directory Manager portal, use the SMTP server for the respective identity store to send email notifications.

Templates for all kinds of email notifications are predefined in Directory Manager. These are available in different languages, enabling you to customize a notification template for any language.

Since notification templates are global and work for all identity stores, any customization to a template would change that notification for all identity stores.

Directory Manager also features an email service that maintains a queue of all notification requests generated by different identity stores, and sends them one by one. This is especially helpful when the SMTP server for an identity store is down, as notifications stay in the queue until they are delivered when the SMTP server is up again.

Manage the Notification Queue

Directory Manager maintains a queue of the email notification generated on events that occur in the identity stores, and sends them one by one through the SMTP server configured for the respective identity store. Each new email notification is stacked at the top of the queue.

When the SMTP server for an identity store is down and notifications in the queue cannot be delivered, Directory Manager attempts to re-send them until they are successfully delivered. Successfully delivered notifications move out of the queue.

The Email service is responsible for queuing and sending notifications. You can also manually send notifications as well as delete notifications. Both actions are tracked in Admin Center history.

Directory Manager also features a Notification Editor that lists the notification templates for all notifications that Directory Manager generates on various events. See the Customize Notifications topic for details.

What do you want to do?

• View the Notification Queue
• Send a Notification Urgently
• Delete a Notification

View the Notification Queue

In Admin Center, click Notifications in the left pane. On the Notification Queue page, the following is displayed for a notification:

• Subject: the subject line of the email notification

• Date: the date and time the notification was generated

• To: the notification recipients specified in the To line

• From: the email ID of the sender

• CC: the notification recipients specified in the CC line

• Last Retry: the date and time of the most recent attempt to send the notification

• Retry Count: the total number of attempts to send the notification

• In Progress: displays one of the following statuses for a notification:

  • True: indicates that the notification is currently being processed for sending
  • False: indicates that the notification is not under process

  As Directory Manager processes notifications in batches, all notifications in a batch have the same status.

Filter Notifications

Click Filter to filter the notifications based on their status as either pending or failed.

In the Categories list on the Filter dialog box, select one of the following and click Apply:

• Pending: to view notifications that are queued for sending and the Email service has not yet attempted to send them.
• Failed: to view notifications the Email service attempted to send but failed. The retry count for such notifications is incremented by ‘1’ on every failed attempt.
• All: to view all pending and failed notifications in the queue.

Available Actions

• Click Send for a notification in the Actions column to send it urgently, without waiting for the Email service to send it on its turn.
• Click Delete for a notification in the Actions column to delete it.
• Click Refresh to refresh the notification queue.
• Click Notification Editor to launch the Notification Editor, where you can view and modify notification templates. See the Customize Notifications topic for details.

Send a Notification Urgently

1. In Admin Center, click Notifications in the left pane.

2. On the Notification Queue page, you can send a single notification or multiple notifications urgently, rather than waiting for the Email service to send them in their order of sending. All attempts to send notifications manually are tracked in Admin Center history.

   • Click Send for a notification in the Actions column to send it urgently.

   • To send multiple notifications, select the check boxes for those notifications. To select all notifications, select the check box in the header row. This displays the following icons:

     

     Click the Send icon to send the selected notifications urgently.

Delete a Notification

You can delete a notification in the queue to prevent Directory Manager from sending it. Deletion events are logged in Admin Center history.

To delete a notification:

1. In Admin Center, click Notifications in the left pane.

2. On the Notification Queue page, you can delete a single notification or multiple notifications together.

   • Click Delete for a notification in the Actions column to delete it.

   • To delete multiple notifications, select the check boxes for those notifications. To select all notifications, select the check box in the header row. This displays the following icons:

     

     Click the Delete icon to delete the selected notifications.

See Also

• Notifications
• Email Service
• Admin Center History