# Notifications

Choose who hears about new leads, orders and bookings, and how.

Source: https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/plugins/notifications/

Every website has this screen.

When something happens on your website, it raises a notification. A new
inquiry. A quote request. A paid order. A booking. This screen decides who
hears about it, and how.

Go to **Plugins**, then **Notifications**. It sits in the **System** group.

There are three tabs:

- **Feed**: everything that has happened, newest first.
- **Destinations**: who gets told, and how. Only an **Admin** can open it.
- **Delivery log**: whether each alert actually went out.

## Where your alerts go now

Your inquiry, quote, order, booking and form alerts all go through this
screen. Each place an alert can go is called a destination. An email address
is a destination. So is a Slack channel.

On an older website, the address that used to get your lead emails was copied
in for you. Look for a destination named **Migrated from** with the old source
after it, such as **Migrated from contact form, store**. It gets every alert.
If you had no address set, it is the email of your first **Admin**.

So nothing stopped when your website was upgraded. You can rename that
destination, change the address, or add more.

**Important**
Nobody hears about a new lead unless a destination is set up to send it. The
lead is still saved in [Leads](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/plugins/leads/), but no one is told. Check the
**Destinations** tab once, so you know who gets what.

## The Feed tab

Every notification lands here, whatever else happens to it.

Each row shows **What happened**, the **Event**, and **When**. Click the title
to go to the thing itself, such as the lead in [Leads](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/plugins/leads/).

- **Event** filters the list to one kind of alert. **Every event** shows all of
  them.
- **Unread only** hides the ones already read.
- **Mark read** on a row marks that one read.
- **Mark all read** marks every unread one read.

Read and unread are shared. When you mark a row read, it is read for everyone
who signs in.

**Load more** at the bottom shows older ones.

Editors see every row. For store alerts, custom forms and feedback forms,
they see the title but not the customer's details.

## The unread badge and the Dashboard card

When anything is unread, a small badge sits in the bottom left corner of every
admin screen. It reads, for example, **3 unread**. Click it to open this
screen. It goes away when everything is read.

Your [Dashboard](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/dashboard/) also has a **Recent notifications** card. It shows
the five newest, with a colored bar next to any that are unread. Click
**Open Notifications →** to come here.

## Adding a destination

Only an **Admin** can do this. Anyone else sees an error on the
**Destinations** tab.

1. Click the **Destinations** tab.
2. Click **Add destination**. A new card appears at the bottom.
3. Type a **Name** you will recognize, such as "Office email".
4. Pick how to send it in **Send by**. The choices are below.
5. Fill in the box that appears for that choice.
6. Choose the events. See [Choosing events](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/plugins/notifications/#choosing-events).
7. Leave **Enabled** checked.
8. Click **Save destinations**.

You get a message reading **Destinations saved**. Nothing is sent until you
save. If you leave the tab with unsaved work, it is lost.

If someone else saved this tab while you had it open, a box reads **Not
saved**. Click **Save destinations** again to keep your version, or
**Discard** to load theirs.

![A destination card named Office email on the Destinations tab, with every event switched on. Six numbered marks: 1 on the Name box, 2 on the Send by box, 3 on the Email address box, 4 on the Send test button, 5 on the Save destinations button, 6 on the Add destination button.](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/_astro/notifications-destination.BYb10BZ4_1NHLCK.webp)

*One destination. It sends every alert to one email address.*

The numbers in the picture:

1. **Name** is only for you.
2. **Send by** picks how the alert goes out.
3. **Email address** is where it goes.
4. **Send test** checks that it works.
5. **Save destinations** keeps your changes.
6. **Add destination** adds another card.

A website can have up to 20 destinations.

### Email

Pick **Email** in **Send by**. Type one address in **Email address**.

One destination holds one address. To tell two people, add two destinations.

Email alerts come from your website's own sending address. That is set up on
[Email Transport](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/plugins/email-transport/), which is ours to look after. An
email usually arrives within a minute or two.

### Web push

Pick **Web push**. This shows a pop-up on your computer or phone, even when
the admin panel is closed.

Once the destination is on, a **Web push in this browser** card appears at the
top of the tab.

1. Open the admin panel in the browser you want alerts in.
2. Go to **Plugins**, then **Notifications**, then **Destinations**.
3. Click **Enable push in this browser**.
4. Your browser asks if this site may show notifications. Click **Allow**.

You get a message reading **Push is on in this browser**. Do this once on
each computer or phone. **Disable in this browser** turns it off again.

**Important**
On an iPhone or iPad, push only works from the Home Screen.

1. Open your admin panel in Safari.
2. Tap the Share button, then **Add to Home Screen**.
3. Open the admin panel from the new icon on your Home Screen.
4. Turn push on from there, using the steps above.

Push does not work in Safari on its own on those devices.

If you once clicked **Block** in the browser, push cannot reach it. Allow
notifications for your website in the browser's site settings, then reload the
page.

### In-app only

Pick **In-app only**. The alert lands in the **Feed** tab and goes nowhere
else. The badge and the Dashboard card still show it.

### Chat apps and alert services

**Send by** also lists apps your team may already use:

- **Chat**: Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, Zulip, Mattermost
  and Rocket.Chat.
- **Push and alerting**: ntfy, Gotify, Apprise and PagerDuty.
- **Anything else**: **Custom webhook (signed JSON)**, for a system of your
  own.

Pick one. A short line under the card says where to find what it needs in that
app. Most of them want a link that you copy from the app and paste into
**Webhook URL**.

Once saved, the link is never shown in full again. To change it, paste a new
one over it and save.

## Choosing events

Each destination has its own **Events** list. Each event is a switch.

A new destination starts with every event on. The line next to **Events**
reads **Every event. Turn one off below to narrow it.**

The events come in groups. Point at a group's **?** to see which features
send its alerts.

- **Forms**: **Contact form submitted**, **Quote requested**, **Testimonial
  submitted** and **Comment awaiting approval**. Sites with those add-ons also
  get **Custom form submitted** and **Feedback form submitted**.
- **Bookings**: **Booking requested**, **Booking accepted**, **Booking
  rescheduled**, **Booking canceled** and **Booking reminder sent**.
- **Store**, on sites with [Commerce](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/commerce/overview/). See [Store
  alerts](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/plugins/notifications/#store-alerts) below.
- **People**: **New account**, **Account deleted** and **Newsletter signup**.
- **Site**: **Broken link found**, when one of your pages links to a page that
  does not exist. See [SEO](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/plugins/seo/#alerts).

You only see the events for features your website has.

Turn off the ones this destination should not get. For example, the office
email could get everything, while a phone push gets only **Quote requested**.
Click **Turn all on** to go back to every event.

While every event is on, events added to your website later arrive switched
on too. Once you turn one off, the line next to **Events** says how many are
off, and adds **Events added later arrive off.** Check this list now and then,
so a new kind of alert does not pass you by.

### Store alerts

A site with [Commerce](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/commerce/overview/) has these in the **Store** group:

| Group of alerts | Events |
| --- | --- |
| Orders | **Order paid**, **Order refunded**, **Refund failed**, **Payment disputed (chargeback)** |
| Shipping | **Shipping exception**, when a parcel cannot be delivered or comes back to you |
| Subscriptions | **Subscription started**, **Subscription payment failed**, **Subscription canceled** |
| Proofs and artwork | **Proof approved**, **Proof changes requested or declined**, **Customer changed artwork** |
| Stock and reviews | **Low stock**, **Product review submitted**, **Product review reported** |
| Checkout | **Checkout payments failing**, **Checkouts stalled** |
| Your Stripe account | **Stripe setup updated** |

**Low stock** comes when a sale drops an item to its alert level.

The two checkout alerts watch for trouble. Once an hour, your website compares
the latest checkouts with your store's own last week.

- **Checkout payments failing**: far more payments are failing than usual.
- **Checkouts stalled**: people keep starting checkout, but nobody finishes,
  when orders normally come through.

Each of the two comes at most once a day. A destination set to every event
gets them on its own. Turn them off on a destination if you do not want them
there.

For most of these, an Editor sees only the title in the **Feed**, not the
customer or the amounts.

### Comment alerts

**Comment awaiting approval** comes when a visitor's comment is waiting for
you in [Comments](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/manage/comments/). You get the first one right away. If
more come in the next 10 minutes, they arrive as one alert that counts them.
So a burst of comments never floods your inbox.

## Sending a test

Every saved destination has a **Send test** button. Click it to check the
destination works.

You get **Test sent to** and the destination's name. Then check the inbox,
app or phone. If it failed, the message says why.

**Send test** is grayed out on a new card, and while you have unsaved changes.
Click **Save destinations** first. A test always uses what is saved.

## Turning one off, or deleting it

Uncheck **Enabled** and click **Save destinations**. The destination stays,
but gets nothing until you check it again.

**Warning**
**Delete** takes the destination off the list. Once you click **Save
destinations**, it is gone, and that person or app stops getting alerts.

Changed your mind before saving? Reload the page. The deleted card comes back.

To delete one, click **Delete** on its card, then **Save destinations**.

The arrow buttons move a card up or down the list. The order is only for you.

## Switched off after a delivery failure

Sometimes a chat app tells your website the link is dead. The link was
deleted, or someone removed the app from the channel. Your website then turns
that destination off, so alerts do not vanish into nowhere for months.

The card shows a red strip that reads **Switched off after a delivery
failure**, with the reason under it.

To fix it:

1. Make a new link in the chat app, the same way as the first time.
2. Paste it into **Webhook URL** on the card.
3. Click **Re-enable** on the red strip.
4. Click **Save destinations**.
5. Click **Send test** to make sure it works.

## The Delivery log tab

This tab answers "was I told?". It lists each notification once for each
destination it went to.

The columns are **Notification**, **Destination**, **Status**, **Attempts**,
**Next attempt** and **Last error**.

![The Delivery log tab. One comment alert fills three rows, one for each destination. Two numbered marks: 1 on the Status box above the list, 2 on a green Sent label in the Status column.](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/_astro/notifications-delivery-log.B8n0KpjL_2j6A9K.webp)

*The Delivery log. One alert went to three destinations, so it has three rows.*

Number 1 in the picture filters the list. Number 2 shows that the alert went
out.

**Status** is one of these:

- **Sent**: it went out.
- **Pending**: it has not gone out yet, and your website will try again. It
  tries up to six times.
- **Failed**: it did not go out, and your website has stopped trying.
  **Last error** says why.
- **Not sent**, with **No destination matched**: no destination was set up for
  that event, so nobody was told.

Use the **Status** box to show **Everything**, **Sent**, **Still trying** or
**Failed**.

## The webhook signing secret

This card only shows up if you have a **Custom webhook (signed JSON)**
destination. It is for a developer who built their own system to receive your
alerts.

A **Custom webhook (signed JSON)** card can also have a **Signing secret
(optional)** of its own. **Generate** makes one, and **Clear** deletes it when
you save. Leave it empty unless the person who built that system asks for
one.

Most businesses never need it. If you do not know what it is for, leave it
alone.

**Warning**
**Rotate** makes a new secret right away. The old one stops working at once.
Any system that checks the old secret starts turning your alerts away until
someone gives it the new one.

The panel asks you to confirm first. Only click it if the person who built
that system asks you to.

## When alerts stop arriving

Start with the **Delivery log** tab. It tells you whether the alert went out,
and why not if it did not. Then check your junk folder.

**Contact support**
Contact us if the log says **Sent** but nothing arrives, or if you cannot work
out why an alert failed. Tell us:

- the date and time of an alert you did not get
- which destination should have got it

Email [support@lookoutridgeit.com](mailto:support@lookoutridgeit.com).
[Getting support](https://docs.lookoutridgeit.com/help/getting-support/) says what to put in the message.