This guide is for course providers choosing automatic confirmation, reminder and follow-up emails for a course. It explains the settings, who receives the messages and what to check when an email is missing.
A confirmation tells a customer about a confirmed order or registration. Its trigger depends on the booking and payment process; it is not proof that every payment has been collected.
A reminder is linked to an upcoming scheduled session.
A follow-up is linked to a completed session and requires attendance to have been recorded in time.
Who can change these settings
A System Admin can change these settings. A Course Owner can change them for a course they can manage. A Facilitator cannot edit these course settings and must ask a System Admin or Course Owner. A Facilitator can still use a permitted manual-email action for assigned course registrants.
The automatic-email settings belong to the course, not an individual course date. Switching on a reminder or follow-up makes it available for eligible sessions across that course. There is no separate switch here for just one date.
Choose the automatic emails for a course
Open the Admin dashboard and select Courses.
Open the intended course and select Edit Course.
Select Settings, then Emails.
Under Booking Confirmation Email, open the template selector and choose the required template. An on-demand course calls this Order Confirmation Email.
For a course with scheduled sessions, switch on the reminders or follow-up you need, then choose a template for each enabled option. Their order and timing are explained below.
Select Save in the course header. Wait for Course saved, then reopen Settings > Emails and check the saved selections. If an error appears, do not assume the settings were saved.
Week Before Reminder Email: checks sessions starting seven calendar days later.
Day Before Reminder Email: checks sessions starting the following calendar day.
Hour Before Reminder Email: checks sessions starting in the following hourly window.
Day After Follow-up Email: checks sessions that ended the previous calendar day, for eligible participants marked as attended.
On-demand courses do not show these date-based reminder and follow-up switches. They have no scheduled session start or end time for this process.
Lesson notifications are separate. The reminder switches on this Emails page relate to scheduled sessions. They do not control lesson opening or deadline notifications. Lesson timings are set in each lesson’s schedule options under Contents, which on-demand and blended courses have; only a blended course can base them on a booked course date. See Lesson Drip Feeds, Schedules & Due Dates for setup and notification conditions.
Use Edit or Create new template beside an email option to work on its content. Template content and the course’s template selection are separate saved information. After saving a template, return to Settings > Emails, check its selection and save the course. See Create and Reuse Email Templates for the template save and copy steps.
Changes in an existing course can also be saved when you move to another section within its editor. Do not make temporary setting changes on a live course assuming that leaving without selecting Save will discard them.
Changing a saved custom template affects later emails that load it, including other courses using that template. Use a separate copy for wording intended for only one course. Sent emails do not change. Switching an email off or cancelling a registration does not recall a message that has already been queued.
Understand the confirmation setting
This selection is not a replacement for every email connected with a purchase. Requests, approval, invoices, payment requests, deposits, instalments, cancellations and refunds have their own notification steps. For those, see Handle Course Requests and Applications, Approve or Reject an Order, Set Up and Manage Invoices and Receipts, Request a Payment or Record Money Received Elsewhere, Offer and Manage Deposits, Offer and Manage Monthly Instalments and Cancel an Order or Refund a Payment.
A standard approved, paid order with one active course entry can use that course’s confirmation template. Approved free orders also have confirmation steps.
An invoice order with course access allowed before payment can receive confirmation while payment is still outstanding. Do not treat the confirmation as a receipt.
For an order with several active course entries, the Order Contact’s combined confirmation uses the order-level default rather than one course’s custom confirmation. This includes separate entries for different dates of the same course. Guest confirmations are handled for each course entry.
For an order placed at checkout with a deposit or monthly instalments, the Order Contact’s confirmation is a separate deposit or instalment message, not the course’s confirmation template. The course template does not replace the payment emails for these orders.
For orders or registrations added by an administrator or import, the creation process and its confirmation choice control whether a confirmation is requested. Choosing a template here does not send confirmations retrospectively.
Choose who receives the emails
An Order records a purchase. Its Order Contact is the customer the order belongs to; the course setting below calls this person the primary contact. A Registration records one participant’s place on a course. A guest participant is a participant added through someone else’s booking.
In the Admin dashboard, select Courses, open the course and select Edit Course.
Select Settings, then Forms & Participants.
Find Send guest participants emails and Send primary contact reminder emails. Choose the settings using the explanations below.
Select Save in the course header. Wait for Course saved, then reopen this page and check the selections.
Send guest participants emails
Switch this on to include eligible guest participants in their own course confirmations, reminders and day-after follow-ups. Each participant needs an email address. Switching it off excludes guest-addressed messages from these processes; it does not stop the Order Contact’s order emails, or the Order Contact’s reminder when that switch is on.
Send primary contact reminder emails
Switch this on to add a reminder for the Order Contact, provided that contact has an email address and the order has eligible registrations. It applies to the Week Before, Day Before and Hour Before reminders, not the Day After Follow-up Email.
Within each reminder check, the Order Contact’s message groups eligible participants for that order and course session. When an eligible participant uses the same email address as the Order Contact, Cademy omits that participant’s separate copy for that reminder. This does not prevent every possible duplicate across separate orders or processing retries.
When reminders and follow-ups are checked
Cademy checks these scheduled emails hourly. The day and week calculations use London calendar time, including its clock changes, rather than always counting exactly 24 or 168 hours. The check is not a promise of delivery at an exact minute.
For example, for a session starting at 10:30 London time on a Tuesday, the Day Before reminder is selected by Monday’s 10:00-hour check. The Hour Before reminder is selected by Tuesday’s 09:00-hour check. Have the relevant settings ready before that hour begins; do not wait until the end of the hour. Processing and delivery happen after selection.
The hourly check selects active, undeleted registrations linked to the relevant session when that course reminder is enabled. Later processing checks the participant’s current email address and the guest setting. Prepare these before the check rather than relying on a last-minute change.
Enabling the reminder or adding an eligible registration after the session’s selection window does not cause a missed reminder to be selected later. A selected message can still be waiting for processing; changing an address or guest setting can affect that pending message. Check email history before sending a manual replacement.
Follow-ups require attendance in time
The course’s Day After Follow-up Email must be enabled.
The registration must be active or completed and not deleted.
Attendance must be marked Attended for the exact session before its check.
The participant needs an email address. If they are a guest, Send guest participants emails must be on.
For example, if a session ends at 16:30 London time on Monday, its follow-up is selected by Tuesday’s 16:00-hour check. Record attendance before 16:00 Tuesday, ideally on the session day. Adding attendance on Wednesday does not trigger a late automatic follow-up.
For a block containing several sessions, follow-ups use each individual session’s end time and attendance. Marking only the whole block as attended is not a substitute for each session’s attendance. A participant can receive a follow-up after each qualifying session.
To check attendance, open Courses in the Admin dashboard, open the course and select Registrants. Find the participant’s Attendance column; for several sessions, open its attendance summary and check the relevant session. See Record Attendance before recording or correcting attendance. Attendance changes can also affect completion, certificates and CPD.
For reminders on a block, do not assume every session gets a separate message when several sessions start within the same hourly window. A block registration selects one matching session in that window. Check the relevant session details and history if your block uses this schedule.
Preview content without sending
The Preview... action in Settings > Email Templates shows saved template content without a real order, participant or date. Personalised fields can remain as placeholders.
To see how a saved custom template reads with a real participant’s details, preview it in a manual email from a test Registration, or from a test Order for an order-level template, then close the preview and the email panel without selecting Send. For the steps, see Personalise Emails with Mail Merge Tags.
The system Default Reminder Email and Default Follow-up Email are not offered in that manual selector. To preview one of them this way, first create a custom copy with Save as...; see Create and Reuse Email Templates for the steps. You do not need to assign the copy to the course just to preview it.
A manual preview is not a test of the automatic email. Automatic messages can use different session, participant and order details, especially for blocks and grouped Order Contact reminders. Neither preview proves delivery, attachment delivery, sender details, reply routing or sign-in access.
Check a missing automatic email
Open the course through Courses > open course > Edit Course > Settings > Emails. Check its type, enabled email and saved template.
Check the correct registration and session. A reminder requires an active registration at selection; a follow-up also requires that exact session’s attendance in time.
Check the participant’s email address and the guest setting under Settings > Forms & Participants. For the Order Contact’s reminder, also check the Send primary contact reminder emails switch and the Order Contact’s email address.
Check when the settings, registration and attendance were added. Compare them with the relevant hourly check, not just the session date.
Have a System Admin inspect the recorded email. Start with the participant’s Registration: open it and select Emails in its side panel. For the Order Contact’s reminder, open the Order and select Emails there. Then open Contacts, find the recipient, open their record and select the Emails tab; on a narrow screen, select Activity first. Open the relevant message and check its recipient, subject and status. An email history record is not itself proof that the recipient read it.
If the result is missing, failed or unclear, contact Cademy Support with the course, session date and timezone, registration or order reference, recipient and expected email. Do not repeatedly change the settings or send replacements without checking what was already processed.
If Cademy reports that emailing is disabled, resolve that account restriction with Support before relying on delivery. A prepared or queued message is not a delivered email.
If the scheduled email was missed, use Send a Manual Email to Customers or Course Participants to prepare a manual replacement for the correct recipients after checking history. For an unclear failure, have Support check the result before retrying.
Related guides
Create and Reuse Email Templates explains template authoring and saving.
Personalise Emails with Mail Merge Tags explains personalised fields.
Find Sent Emails and Check Delivery Status explains recorded emails and their status.
Manage Course Waitlists covers the separate process for telling waiting customers about available places.
Choose Team Notifications and Calendar Invitations covers the separate emails to your team, including the 24-hour reminder for facilitators.
Send Emails from Your Own Domain explains how to send emails from your own domain and sender address.
Frequently asked questions
Can I switch reminders on for just one course date?
No. These switches apply across eligible sessions on the course. Turning one off is not a way to disable only one date.
Can I send a reminder or follow-up immediately?
Yes, as a manual email to the intended Orders or Registrations. Check history first, choose the right recipients and template, preview the message and send only when delivery is intended.
Why does Preview show personalised fields instead of names?
The Settings preview does not use a real record. A manual preview uses its selected record, but it still does not reproduce every automatic-email context. Check the Preview content section above.
Will marking attendance two days later send the follow-up?
No. That session’s scheduled check has passed. Check history, then use a manual email if a follow-up is still needed.
What happens on a block with several sessions?
Timing uses the individual sessions. Follow-ups require attendance for each session. Reminders for one block registration select one matching session per hourly window, so overlapping session starts need special care.
Does a request or application use the Booking Confirmation Email straight away?
No. Submitting a request or application is not the same as a confirmed order. Its approval and payment process determines later confirmation, and request notifications are separate.
Does this page control waitlist emails?
No. Waitlist notifications use their separate settings and process, not these reminder and follow-up switches.
Does this page control membership confirmation emails?
No. A membership’s confirmation email is chosen on the membership itself, under its Advanced Settings. See Create and Reuse Email Templates.
Does the Day After Follow-up Email replace feedback or certificate settings?
No. The session follow-up is separate from feedback requests and certificate processes. Do not rely on enabling this email to configure either of those.
Can I check whether an automatic email arrived?
A System Admin can inspect its recorded status in email history. Delivery status does not prove that the customer read the message or that it appeared in their main inbox.