Email recipients and update email sent datetime

Courier sends one email for each record it processes. This page explains where Courier gets the To, CC, and BCC addresses for each email, including CC addresses taken from a related table, how to set the Reply to address, and how Courier marks each record with the date and time its email was sent. You set these up on the configuration's Email Options tab in the Courier configurator.

Where each address comes from

Only To is required. CC, BCC, and Reply to are optional: if you leave them empty, each email goes to its To addresses only. Each CC and BCC source is optional on its own, so you can use any combination of them, or none. The one exception is Copy email, which is required while the configuration is in Test Mode (see Recipients in Test Mode).

Courier uses every source you set for a recipient type and puts all the addresses in the same email. For example, if you set both Copy email and Copy email field, the email is copied to the fixed addresses and to the addresses on the record.

To

• Select the Email field: the field on the configuration's table that holds the recipient's address. A field can hold several addresses separated by semicolons (;).

• Every record gets its own email, sent to the addresses in that record's field.

• If the field is empty on a record, Courier doesn't send that record's email. The record is counted as not processed in the configuration's activities.

CC

CC is optional. Use any of these sources, in any combination, or leave them all empty:

• Copy email—type one or more addresses separated by semicolons. They're copied on every email the configuration sends. Copy email is required when the configuration is in Test Mode (see Recipients in Test Mode).

• Copy email field—select a field on the configuration's table, or None. The addresses in that field on each record are copied on that record's email.

• Copy email from related table—copies addresses stored in a child table. See the next section.

CC addresses from a related table

Use this option when the people to copy are stored as child records rather than on the record itself—for example, the contacts of a customer, or the members of a project team.

1. On the Email Options tab, select Copy email from related table.

2. In Related table, select a child table of the configuration's table—one with a reference field that points to the configuration's table. If the table isn't related, the configurator shows Please select a table that is related.

3. In Selected field, select the field on the child table that holds the email address.

4. Optionally, enter Query criteria to copy only some of the child records—for example, only the active contacts.

For each record it emails, Courier finds the child records whose reference field matches the Record ID# of the record being emailed, and copies the address from every matching child record. With query criteria, only the child records that also match the criteria are used.

• Query criteria use the Quickbase query format, for example {'8'.EX.'Active'}. Courier combines them with the relationship filter using AND, without parentheses—so if your criteria contain OR, wrap them in parentheses yourself, for example ({'8'.EX.'Active'}OR{'8'.EX.'Pending'}). Field names in square brackets aren't replaced in these criteria. See Components of a query.

• A child record's field can hold several addresses separated by semicolons.

• If no child records match, the email is still sent, without these CC addresses.

• A related table can be used only for CC. To and BCC addresses come from the record itself or from fixed addresses.

Example

A configuration emails Projects records. The Team Members table is a child of Projects, with an Email field and a Status field (field 9). To copy every active team member on each project's email:

• Related table: Team Members

• Selected field: Email

• Query criteria: {'9'.EX.'Active'}

Each project's email is copied to the active members of that project only.

BCC

BCC is optional. Use either source, both, or neither:

• BCC email—type one or more addresses separated by semicolons. They receive a blind copy of every email the configuration sends.

• BCC email field—select a field on the configuration's table, or None. The addresses in that field on each record receive a blind copy of that record's email.

Other recipients don't see BCC addresses.

Reply to

The Reply to address is where a recipient's reply goes when they click Reply. It's optional. Without it, replies go to the address the email was sent from. Setting a Reply to address is especially useful when Courier sends from qbcourier@quickbasetools.com, so that recipients' replies reach you.

In Reply to, select one of these options:

• Enter a Specific Email Address—type the address in Reply to email address. Every email the configuration sends uses this Reply to address. For example, a shared mailbox such as your support or billing address.

• Use an Email Address from a field on the record—select the Reply to email field on the configuration's table. Each email uses the address in that field on its own record. For example, the email of the record's account manager or project owner, so replies go straight to the person responsible.

• You can enter several addresses, separated by semicolons or commas. Recipients' mail apps reply to all of them.

• If you use a field and it's empty on a record, that record's email is sent without a Reply to address.

• When a Reply to address is set, Courier is stricter about invalid addresses—see Address format and invalid addresses.

Address format and invalid addresses

• Separate several addresses with semicolons (;) or commas (,), in fixed addresses and in field values.

• Courier removes spaces around each address and changes it to lowercase.

• Courier checks that each address is a valid email address. An address that isn't valid is left out of the email and listed as an invalid address in the configuration's activities.

• The email is sent if it has at least one valid To address. If none of the To addresses is valid, the email isn't sent, even if it has CC or BCC addresses.

• If the email has a Reply to address, every address in To, CC, BCC, and Reply to must be valid; one invalid address stops the email for that record.

Recipients in Test Mode

When you test a configuration, Courier doesn't email your recipients. It sends one sample email instead, and where that sample goes depends on how you test:

• Test Configuration tab—enter an email address and select Test. Courier sends the sample to the address you entered, even if the configuration's Status is Enabled. For a triggered configuration, the sample is built from the Record ID# you enter; for Scheduled and On Demand configurations, it's built from the first record. If you leave the email address empty, the sample goes to the Copy email addresses.

• Status set to Test Mode—when the configuration runs (on its schedule, on demand, or from its email notification), Courier sends the sample, built from the first record, to the Copy email addresses. This is why Copy email is required in Test Mode: if the configuration's Status is Test Mode and Copy email is empty, the configurator asks you to fill it in.

In both cases, the record's To, CC, and BCC addresses and the related-table CC addresses aren't used. The sample email uses the same Reply to address as a real email.

Sent date and time zones

Courier can record on each record when its email was sent. In Update field, select a date/time, date, or text field on the configuration's table, or None. After a record's email is sent, Courier writes the date and time to that field on the record.

• The field is updated only when the email is sent. Records that are skipped, or whose email fails, aren't updated. In Test Mode, no records are updated.

• Use a date/time field if you want to sort, filter, or report on the sent time. In a text field, Courier writes the date and time as text, for example 10/6/2026 2:15:03 PM.

• Courier needs permission to edit the field. If it can't update the field, the email is still sent, and the configuration's activities show QB Courier is unable to update the update field due to insufficient permissions.

Time zones

Courier's server runs on US Eastern time. Quickbase reads the date and time Courier writes in your app's time zone, so what you see depends on whether your app is also on Eastern time:

• If your app isn't on US Eastern time, select Update datetime in QuickBase application timezone on the Email Options tab whenever you use an Update field.

• Courier converts the time using the app time zone saved with your Courier account. If no time zone is saved, the time isn't converted, even with the option selected.

• Courier can also add a time zone abbreviation after the time—for example, EST. This is an account setting, and it applies only when the option above is selected. The abbreviation is always the standard-time one, even during daylight saving time (for example, EST rather than EDT).

• The time written can be the time the configuration's run started rather than the exact moment each email was sent, so records emailed in the same run can show the same time.

If the times in the Update field look wrong, or you need your app's time zone or the abbreviation setting changed, submit a technical support case.

What's recorded

In the configuration's activities, the total number of emails sent counts each address an email went to—To, CC, and BCC. For example, one email sent to one To address and two CC addresses counts as three. Reply to addresses aren't counted.

For other problems, see Courier troubleshooting.