How to Use the Brightspace Email Tool (SUNY-Wide Instance)

Relevant to: faculty and staff

This article contains information considered accurate at the time of publishing. Technology updates, changes in University security practices, policies and procedures may effect the information in this article - updates to articles are scheduled on a periodic basis and will address any required changes.

Introduction

The Email tool allows you to send and reply to email from within a Brightspace course.

The Most Important Brightspace Email Tip

The most important Brightspace email tip is to check and send all your messages only within an individual Brightspace course. Never use the email feature from your Brightspace homepage, as this is known to cause several issues that lead to confusion and user frustration.

Sending an Email Using the Brightspace Email Feature

1. On the course homepage, click the Message Alerts icon (envelope image located in the navbar at the top of the page), then select Email.
2. Click the Compose button to begin a new email. Tip: The subject will auto-populate with the course information from the specific course you are currently in.
3. A list of recipients can be populated using the To, Cc, or Bcc links. Multiple recipients can be selected from this list.
   • Once the recipients have been chosen, click the Add Recipients button and the applicable fields will be populated with the chosen users.
   • When using the Address Book button to choose the recipients, multiple recipients can also be chosen, but prior to clicking the Add Recipients button, you must first click either the To, Cc, or Bcc, link which is located directly above the recipient list.
   • Tip: When using these options within your course, the default will be to display the list of recipients that are currently enrolled in that course.
4. Click Send or Save as Draft to send at a later date.

Sending a Brightspace Email to Your Course Roster

1. From the course menu bar, go to Tools > Roster.
2. To email your entire roster, under Classlist select Email Classlist. Then, select Send Email.
3. Your roster is automatically entered in the Bcc field. In the To field, select To, then scroll down the address book until you find your email address. Select the box next to your email address, and then select Add Recipients.
4. You may change the Subject and compose your message under Body. When finished, you can select Save as Draft or Send.
5. To email only individual students, under Classlist scroll down until you see your student roster. Select the box next to the student(s) you wish to email. Then, select Email from the top of the roster. From here, follow steps 3 and 4 above.

Brightspace Email Facts

• The maximum number of recipients in the To and Cc fields is 200.
• The maximum number of recipients in the Bcc field is 3000.
• The email message, attachments, and the number of recipients in the To, Cc, and Bcc fields count towards the email message size and cannot exceed 20MB.
• If you manually enter an external address or a SUNY Empire email address in the To field, the message will be delivered to that address. However, the recipient will not be able to reply directly to that message or be able to see the recipient's SUNY Empire Outlook email address, unless it has been included in the signature, subject, or body of the email. Also, a copy will not be received by the recipient's Brightspace inbox.
• If you use the address book or "To, Cc, or Bcc" links to select your recipients in Brightspace, they will receive a copy to their SUNY Empire email address, as well as a copy in their Brightspace inbox. The recipient can then reply using the email feature in Brightspace. The reply message will be received in both the Brightspace inbox and the recipient's SUNY Empire Outlook inbox.
• You may add your Empire email address in the Bcc if you want a copy of what was sent for your own records to keep outside of the Brightspace course.
• Your default signature line can be changed and personalized. The default signature line says "This is a notification only, Replies will not be received. To Reply to this message, log into Brightspace." To change this, select the settings icon that is located directly above the folder dropdown, make your changes to the signature line, and then click the Save button.
• If you intend to keep all email messaging within Brightspace, you could leave the default signature as is. You may also leave the default message, but add any additional information you wish to include.