How to Configure Email Communications

MonuDesk emails your customers automatically at the key moments in an order. This article explains when those emails go out and how to control them.

When MonuDesk emails your customers

MonuDesk emails your customer automatically at the moments that matter: when you save their quote and when you save their confirmed order (both carry the portal link), and when their order needs their attention.

That last one is automatic. When you move an order into a stage that has Action Required turned on, MonuDesk emails the customer a short note with a button to open their portal, so they know to take the next step such as approving a drawing or paying the balance. The order needs a customer email on file, and the email sends once per stage so nobody is double-emailed for the same step.

You can also email a customer when you generate a document on their order. The generate popup has a Notify the customer checkbox: tick it and the customer is emailed a link to view the document. When a document generates without a popup, a small prompt at the bottom left offers the same choice for a few moments. The email goes out only when you choose it.

Uploading a file can email them too. After you add files to the Files card in Notes & Files, a small prompt appears at the bottom left asking whether the contacts on the order should be notified about it. Notify customer makes those files visible in the portal and emails a link to them; No thanks, the X, or leaving the prompt alone for eight seconds answers no, and the files stay internal.

Booking an install day can email them as well. When you schedule an installation for a specific day, from the order popup's Scheduling panel, the calendar or Insights → Installations, a prompt headed Install scheduled for and the date appears at the bottom left. Notify customer emails the family their install date with a link to their portal; No thanks, the X, or leaving it for eight seconds sends nothing. It comes up when an install is newly booked on a single day, not when you rebook, pick a multi-day window or clear the date.

You can also send the portal link yourself at any time. In the order popup, hover Customer Portal and choose Send Portal Link. It goes to every contact on the order, by email to each one with an email address and by text to each one with a mobile number. The menu item reads Sending... and then Link Sent.

To ask for a payment, click Send Payment Link next to Customer Portal. Tick Email, Text message or both and click Send: the family gets a link that opens their portal, where they pay through MonuPay by card, or by bank account once your MonuPay account is approved for bank payments.

Every one of these sends is written to the order's Activity Timeline, one entry per contact: Customer portal email sent ("Customer portal link sent to {first name} via email", "via SMS" when it went by text only, or "via email and SMS") for the automatic send when a quote or a confirmed order is saved, Portal link sent to customer ("{first name} via email", "via SMS" or "via email and SMS") for one you sent by hand, "Payment link sent to {first name} via email", "via text" or "via email and text" for a payment link, for a file notification, 'Portal email (a new file ("Design_v2.pdf")) sent to kim@example.com', and, for an install day, "Install-scheduled email (Tuesday, September 15, 2026) sent to kim@example.com". If a portal link text can't be delivered, the timeline shows "Portal link text message not delivered" with the carrier's reason.

Turning emails off for a specific order

To start every new order with the portal link off, go to Settings → Customer Portal and turn off Send the portal link automatically. New orders then send nothing until you turn the link on for that order, and you can still send it by hand at any time. Accounts start with it on.

To stop the portal link going out for a specific order, open the Review & Create step of the New Quote and turn off Send portal link automatically after order creation before you save. With that off, the portal link is not sent automatically for that order. The switch belongs to order creation, so on an order you are re-opening, send the link by hand from the order popup instead.

The automatic send goes out once when an order is saved with Save as Quote and once when it is saved with Save as Confirmed Order. Saving again with the same status sends nothing more, and editing an order never sends it. To send the link again, use Send Portal Link.

It works for any order with a customer email address or a mobile number. Every contact on the order with a mobile number also gets the link by text, and a customer with only a mobile number gets it by text alone. The text reads "[your company]: view your monument details and approve online here: [link]". Replies to the text don't reach MonuDesk. A service order is shared by hand with Send Portal Link.

You can also decide this per contact. Each additional contact on the Client Information step has a Send portal notifications to this contact checkbox, which becomes available once you have typed an email address containing "@" for that contact.

One thing to know: even when the portal is shared, a customer is emailed whenever their order reaches a stage that has Action Required turned on. So if a contact is getting emails you did not expect, check both this per-order toggle and which of your stages have Action Required enabled.

Where a customer's reply goes

When a customer hits Reply on the portal-link email, the Action Required stage email, the balance reminder, or a document-ready, new-file or install-day notification, it goes to the team member assigned to that order.

If nobody is assigned to the order, replies go to the email address on the order's office instead, and to your company email if that office has none. So when replies are landing in the wrong inbox, check who the order is assigned to first. On the portal-link email and the document-ready, new-file and install-day notifications, a reply goes to the team member who created the quote when none of those has an email address.

Learn more: How to Assign an Order to a Team Member

The portal-link email also carries the details of the office the order belongs to: the office name, phone number and email address, falling back to your company's own details where the office has none.

Which name each email arrives under

Every customer email MonuDesk sends for an order (the portal-link email, the document ready email, the new file added email and the install scheduled email) carries the office the order belongs to: the office name, phone and email first, falling back to the company's own details when the office does not have one. On a single-office company that comes out as your company details.

So if a customer says they were given the wrong branch's phone number on a document notification, check that office's details in Settings > Office Locations, not the company profile.

Related articles:

• How to Manage Your Company Profile

• How to Manage Team Members