You can have your workflow notifications delivered to you as e-mail messages if your notification preference is set to 'Plain text mail', 'HTML mail with attachments', 'HTML mail', or 'Plain text mail with attachments' in the User Preferences web page and your workflow administrator sets up a notification mailer to run.

If your e-mail reader can only support plain text messages with no attachments, set your notification preference to 'Plain text mail'.

If your e-mail reader can interpret and display HTML-formatting in the body of a message, select 'HTML mail with attachments' or 'HTML mail' as your notification preference. HTML mail can include images and provide direct links to supporting information sources that you may need access to to complete a notification. If you choose 'HTML mail with attachments', the e-mail messages include links to the Notification Detail page as standard attachments. If you choose 'HTML mail', the e-mail messages do not include these standard attachments. If custom attachments have been defined for individual notifications in a process, however, those attachments will still be included.

An HTML-formatted notification can also include an option for you to request more information about the notification from another user before you respond, if the notification is defined to allow such requests. See: #HIDE_MOREINFO Attribute.

If your e-mail reader can only display plain text in the body of a message, but can also display attachments to the message, set your notification preference to 'Plain text mail with Attachments'.

An e-mail notification that requires a response maintains an 'Open' status until you respond to the notification. For e-mail notifications that do not require a response, such as FYI (For Your Information) notifications, your workflow administrator determines how the notification status is updated when setting up a notification mailer. Depending on the setup configuration, either Oracle Workflow automatically updates the status of FYI notifications to 'Closed' after sending you the notifications by e-mail, or those notifications maintain an 'Open' status until you manually close them in the Worklist Web page.

Once you read an FYI message, you can delete it from your inbox. However, if the notification mailers for your organization are set up to keep FYI notifications open after sending them by e-mail, you must also use the Worklist to manually close the notification, even if you have already deleted the notification message from your e-mail inbox.

If you have multiple e-mail addresses stored for your user name in Oracle E-Business Suite, then Oracle Workflow sends a copy of each e-mail notification to each of your addresses. You can respond to the notification from any of these e-mail messages. You only need to respond once. After you have responded, you can delete the relevant e-mail messages from all your e-mail inboxes.

There are two response methods for plain text e-mail notifications: templated response or direct response. Your workflow administrator determines the response method for your organization when setting up a notification mailer. For the templated response method, you reply using the template of response prompts provided in the notification and enter your response values between the quotes following each prompt. For the direct response method, you enter your response values directly as the first lines of your reply.

Both templated and direct response e-mail notifications are based on standard message templates defined in Oracle Workflow Builder. Both describe the syntax the reply should follow and list the information needed to confirm the notification. See: Modifying Your Message Templates.

When you respond to a notification by e-mail, your reply message must include the notification ID (NID) and access key from the original notification message. Notification mailers can process your response properly only if you include the correct NID and access key combination in your response. You can ensure that your reply contains the NID and access key either by including the entire original message in your reply or by using a response template that includes the NID line.

The format of the NID line is as follows:

 NID[9999/999999@XXXXXX]

Some mail clients, notably early releases of Microsoft Outlook Express, may not copy the NID line properly in a reply message. When responding to a notification, you should verify that the NID line is included in full and contains the prefix NID and all the details between the square brackets.

   To Respond to a Plain Text E-mail Notification Using Templated Response:

1. Your plain text e-mail notification includes information that is helpful for you to respond to the notification. Depending on the notification, the information may appear as references to other sources or as attachments. Some attachments, depending on their content may only be viewable if you display your notification using the Notification web pages. See: Viewing Notifications from a Web Browser.

2. To respond to your notification, use the Reply command in your mail application to reply to the original e-mail notification.

3. Include the response template from the original notification in your reply. In addition to the response prompts, the response template includes the special notification ID and access key that a notification mailer requires to identify the notification you are responding to. If your mail application includes an editable copy of the original message when it generates the reply message, you can use that copy to enter your response values. Otherwise, copy and paste from the original message to obtain a copy of the response template that you can edit.

4. Follow the response template instructions and insert your response values between the quotes (" ") following each response prompt. The Notification System interprets your response values literally, so a value in uppercase is interpreted differently from the same value in lowercase.

   Note: When you are using the two double quotes to delimit your response, you can validly use a single quote character within your response value. For example, a response to a Comment prompt could be entered as follows:

    Comment: "This proposal isn't acceptable."

   However, you cannot validly use another double quote character within your response value in the default format. If you want to use the double quote character (") within your response value, you can optionally enter your response in one of the following alternate formats. You can use different formats for different responses within the same response message.

   • You can enter a backslash (\) as an escape character before the double quote. For example, a response to a Comment prompt could be entered as follows.

      Comment: "The \"Equipment\" proposal is approved."

   • You can delete the two double quotes and enclose your response between two single quotes (' ') instead to delimit the response value. For example:

      Comment: 'The "Equipment" proposal is approved.'

   • You can delete the two double quotes and enclose your response between a left bracket and a right bracket ([ ]) instead to delimit the response value. For example:

      Comment: [The "Equipment" proposal is approved.]

5. When you are satisfied with your response, use the Send command of the mail application to send your reply.

   Note: If you send an invalid response, the Notification System sends you an "invalid response" message. If you respond to a notification that has been canceled, you get a message informing you that the notification was canceled. Similarly, if you respond to a notification that was already previously responded to, you get a message informing you that the notification is closed.

6. If another user sent you this notification with a request for more information, include the response template in your reply and insert the information you want to provide between the quotes or other delimiting characters following the response prompt. When you are satisfied with your response, use the Send command of the mail application to send your reply.

   Note: Depending on the configuration of your Oracle Workflow installation, your notification may use either single quotes (' '), double quotes (" "), or brackets ([ ]) as delimiting characters following the response prompt.

   Note: If you send an invalid response to a request for more information, the Notification System sends you a message informing you that your response was not valid. If you respond to a request for more information that was already previously responded to, the Notification System sends you a message informing you that the request has already been answered.

7. If this notification requires a password-based signature or certificate-based digital signature in your response, you cannot respond to the notification through e-mail. In this case the notification informs you that an electronic signature is required and directs you to access the online version of the notification instead. Navigate to the Notification Details web page to submit your response. See: To View the Details of a Notification.

8. If this notification includes sensitive content that cannot be sent in e-mail for security reasons, the notification e-mail message directs you to access the online version of the notification instead. Navigate to the Notification Details page to view the content of the notification and submit your response. See: To View the Details of a Notification.

   To Respond to a Plain Text E-mail Notification Using Direct Response:

1. Your plain text e-mail notification includes information that is helpful for you to respond to the notification. Depending on the notification, the information may appear as references to other sources or as attachments. Some attachments, depending on their content may only be viewable if you display your notification using the Notification web pages. See: Viewing Notifications from a Web Browser.

2. To respond to your notification, use the Reply command in your mail application to reply to the original e-mail notification.

3. Include the text of the original notification message in your reply. This text contains the special notification ID and access key that a notification mailer requires to identify the notification you are responding to.

4. Follow the syntax instructions in the notification message carefully when formatting your reply. The response values must be within the first lines of your reply, where each line represents a separate response value.

   If a response value requires more than one line, then the entire response value must be enclosed in double quotes (" "). Everything enclosed in the double quotes is counted as one line.

   The Notification System interprets your response values literally, so a value in uppercase is interpreted differently from the same value in lowercase.

   If a response prompt provides a default response value, you can accept the default value by leaving the appropriate response line blank.

5. When you are satisfied with your response, use the Send command of the mail application to send your reply.

   Note: If you send an invalid response, the Notification System sends you an "invalid response" message. If you respond to a notification that has been canceled, you get a message informing you that the notification was canceled. Similarly, if you respond to a notification that was already previously responded to, you get a message informing you that the notification is closed.

   If you send an invalid response to a request for more information, the Notification System sends you a message informing you that your response was not valid. If you respond to a request for more information that was already previously responded to, the Notification System sends you a message informing you that the request has already been answered.

6. If this notification requires a password-based signature or certificate-based digital signature in your response, you cannot respond to the notification through e-mail. In this case the notification informs you that an electronic signature is required and directs you to access the online version of the notification instead. Navigate to the Notification Details web page to submit your response. See: To View the Details of a Notification.

7. If this notification includes sensitive content that cannot be sent in e-mail for security reasons, the notification e-mail message directs you to access the online version of the notification instead. Navigate to the Notification Details page to view the content of the notification and submit your response. See: To View the Details of a Notification.

Following is a set of response instructions and examples of three possible responses.

Response Instructions

Example

Valid Response A - Approve

Example

Valid Response B - Reject

Example

Valid Response C - Reject

   To Respond to an HTML E-mail Notification:

1. Your HTML-formatted e-mail notification includes information that is helpful for you to respond to the notification. Depending on the notification, the information may appear as links to other sources or as attachments.

   Important: If your notification preference is 'HTML Mail with attachments', an HTML-formatted e-mail notification always includes one standard attachment. The attachment is called Notification Detail Link and it provides a direct link to your notification in the Notification Details web page.

   Note that your Web browser must support JavaScript and Frames to open this attachment. When you open the Notification Detail Link attachment, it automatically attempts to establish a web session with your web server. In doing so, it authenticates your access, verifies that your notification is still open, and displays a message if the notification is already closed.

   Depending on the configuration of your Oracle Workflow installation, if you are not already logged in, you may be prompted to log in before you can access the Notification Details page. Otherwise, if your configuration allows, you can access the Notification Details page for this notification directly, but you cannot access any other Oracle Workflow features unless you are logged in. See: Responses through the Notification Detail Link Attachment.

   You can respond directly to your notification from the Notification Details page, bypassing the need to process your response through a notification mailer. If you decide to respond from the Notification Details page, skip the remaining steps. See: To View the Details of a Notification.

   If your notification preference is 'HTML mail', then your HTML-formatted e-mail notification does not include this standard attachment. However, if custom attachments have been defined for this individual notification in its workflow process, those attachments will still be included.

2. When you are done reviewing all the information for the notification, click on one of the response links shown at the end of the notification.

   Note: If your workflow administrator has configured the notification mailer that sent this message to use the standard Workflow Open Mail (Outlook Express) message template, or if this notification is defined to use that template, then a link called "Click here to respond" will appear in place of the links for individual responses. The "Click here to respond" link provides access to your notification in the Notification Details web page.

   Note that your Web browser must support JavaScript and Frames to open this link. When you choose the "Click here to respond" link, it automatically attempts to establish a web session with your web server. In doing so, it authenticates your access, verifies that your notification is still open, and displays a message if the notification is already closed. If you are disconnected from your network, however, you will not be able to use the link.

   Once you have accessed the Notification Details page, you can respond directly to your notification from this page. In this case, you should skip the remaining steps.

3. Each response link automatically generates a plain text e-mail reply. The reply contains the correct Reply To: e-mail address as well as a response template in the message body. The response template consists of the required notification ID and access key that identify the notification you are responding to and a response prompt edited with your selected response.

   Important: Do not include any HTML-formatting in the e-mail response.

4. Depending on the notification, the auto-generated e-mail response template may also prompt you for other information in addition to your selected response. Supply responses by editing the response value text between the delimiting characters following each response prompt.

   Note: Depending on the configuration of your Oracle Workflow installation, your response template may use either single quotes (' '), double quotes (" "), or brackets ([ ]) as delimiting characters following the response prompt. Using single quotes or brackets as delimiters accommodates e-mail applications such as Microsoft Outlook Express that cannot process double quotes in the <A HREF="mailto:"> tag for the response link but can accept single quotes or brackets.

   If your response template uses single quotes as delimiters, depending on how your mail application displays these characters, the two single quote characters (' ') following a response prompt may visually resemble one double quote character ("). Ensure that you insert your response between the two quotes, rather than after them.

   If your response template uses two single quotes to delimit your response, you can validly use a double quote character within your response value. For example, a response to a Comment prompt could be entered as follows:

    Comment: 'The "Equipment" proposal is approved.'

   However, you cannot validly use another single quote character within your response value in this format. If you want to use the single quote character (') as an apostrophe within your response value, you can optionally enter a backslash (\) as an escape character before the apostrophe. For example, a response to a Comment prompt could be entered as follows.

    Comment: 'This proposal isn\'t acceptable.'

   If your response template uses double quotes or brackets to delimit your response, you can validly use a single quote within your response value. In this case, if you need to use a double quote or bracket within your response value, you can use the backslash (\) as an escape character before the double quote or bracket.

5. When you are satisfied with your response, use the Send command of the mail application to send your reply.

   Note: If you send an invalid response, the Notification System sends you an "invalid response" message. If you respond to a notification that has been canceled, you get a message informing you that the notification was canceled. Similarly, if you respond to a notification that was already previously responded to, you get a message informing you that the notification is closed.

6. In addition to the response links, an HTML-formatted notification can also include a Request Information link. Choose this link if you want to request more information about the notification from another user before you respond to the notification.

   The Request Information link automatically generates a plain text e-mail reply. The reply contains the correct Reply To: e-mail address as well as a request template in the message body. The request template contains the required notification ID and access key that identify the notification you are responding to. It also contains a prompt for you to enter the user from whom you want to request information, along with a list of suggested users, and a prompt for you to enter the question you want to ask that user. The list of suggested users includes users who have participated in this workflow process or its parent process, and may also include additional users designated as participants for this message. See: #MORE_INFO_PARTICIPANTS Attribute.

   When you are satisfied with your request, use the Send command of the mail application to send your reply.

   Important: Your workflow may include special logic to restrict requesting more information on notifications. If so, the Request Information link is not displayed in the e-mail notification. See: #HIDE_MOREINFO Attribute.

7. If another user sent you this notification with a request for more information, click the response link and enter the information you want to provide between the quotes or other delimiting characters following the response prompt. When you are satisfied with your response, use the Send command of the mail application to send your reply.

   Note: Depending on the configuration of your Oracle Workflow installation, your notification may use either single quotes (' '), double quotes (" "), or brackets ([ ]) as delimiting characters following the response prompt.

   Note: If your workflow administrator has configured the notification mailer that sent this message to use the standard Workflow More Information Request (Outlook Express) message template, or if this notification is defined to use that template, then a link called "Click here to respond" appears in place of the e-mail response link. The "Click here to respond" link provides access to your notification in the Notification Details Web page. If you are not already logged in, you may be prompted to log in before you can access the Notification Details page.

   Note: If you send an invalid response to a request for more information, the Notification System sends you a message informing you that your response was not valid. If you respond to a request for more information that was already previously responded to, the Notification System sends you a message informing you that the request has already been answered.

8. If this notification requires a password-based signature or certificate-based digital signature in your response, you cannot respond to the notification through e-mail. In this case the notification informs you that an electronic signature is required and directs you to access the online version of the notification instead. Navigate to the Notification Details web page to submit your response. See: To View the Details of a Notification.

   Depending on the configuration of your Oracle Workflow installation, the notification may include a "Click here to respond" link that you can select to navigate to the Notification Details page. You must log in to Oracle E-Business Suite before you can access the Notification Details page. See: Confirming Responses with Electronic Signatures.

9. If this notification includes sensitive content that cannot be sent in e-mail for security reasons, the notification e-mail message directs you to access the online version of the notification instead. Navigate to the Notification Details page to view the content of the notification and submit your response. See: To View the Details of a Notification.

   To Respond to a Plain Text E-mail Notification with an HTML Attachment:

1. Your plain text e-mail notification with attachments includes information that is helpful for you to respond to the notification. Depending on the notification, the information may appear inline in the message body, as links to other reference sources or as attachments to the message. In addition, the notification always includes at least two attachments:

   • HTML Message Body-an HTML-formatted version of the notification message.

   • Notification Detail Link-a direct link to your notification displayed in the Notification Details web page.

2. When you are done reviewing all the information for the notification, you can respond to the notification in one of three ways:

   • Use your mail reader's Reply command to respond, following the instructions in the plain text message body. See: To Respond to a Plain Text E-mail Notification Using Templated Response and To Respond to a Plain Text E-mail Notification Using Direct Response.

   • Display the HTML Message Body attachment and respond by selecting one of the response links at the bottom of the HTML message body. See: To Respond to an HTML E-mail Notification.

   • Choose the Notification Detail Link attachment to display the Notification Details web page. See: To View the Details of a Notification.

     Note: Your Web browser must support JavaScript and Frames to open this attachment. When you open the Notification Detail Link attachment, it automatically attempts to establish a web session with your web server. In doing so, it authenticates your access, verifies that your notification is still open, and displays a message if the notification is already closed.

     Depending on the configuration of your Oracle Workflow installation, if you are not already logged in, you may be prompted to log in before you can access the Notification Details page. Otherwise, if your configuration allows, you can access the Notification Details page for this notification directly, but you cannot access any other Oracle Workflow features unless you are logged in. See: Responses through the Notification Detail Link Attachment.

3. If this notification requires a password-based signature or certificate-based digital signature in your response, you cannot respond to the notification through e-mail. In this case the notification informs you that an electronic signature is required and directs you to access the online version of the notification instead. Navigate to the Notification Details web page to submit your response. See: To View the Details of a Notification.

   Depending on the configuration of your Oracle Workflow installation, the HTML Message Body attachment may include a "Click here to respond" link that you can select to navigate to the Notification Details page. You must log in to Oracle E-Business Suite before you can access the Notification Details page. See: Confirming Responses with Electronic Signatures.

4. If this notification includes sensitive content that cannot be sent in e-mail for security reasons, the notification e-mail message directs you to access the online version of the notification instead. Navigate to the Notification Details page to view the content of the notification and submit your response. See: To View the Details of a Notification.

   To Reassign a Notification to Another User:

Use the "Forward" feature in your mail reader to forward or reassign an e-mail notification to another user. Do not use the "Reassign" button on the HTML attachment.