AutoRemind - Portal Basics
- Dylan Nigh
This article serves as a basic functionality guide to the AutoRemind portal. While we are providing this guide to our MacPractice users in order to facilitate their full usage of AutoRemind and its features, the MacPractice Support Team cannot assist with any issues with the AutoRemind Portal. We strongly encourage you to contact AutoRemind's Support Team for any issues or questions you may have.
Note: Your portal page may appear differently to the images contained in this article. This article is intended to cover the base functionality of the AutoRemind Portal and may not reflect your portal or your purchased features from AutoRemind. If you'd like information on any additional features, please contact AutoRemind Support.
Adding the AutoRemind Ability and Logging In
To access the AutoRemind Portal, you'll need to have the AutoRemind Ability on your MacPractice Toolbar. You can add the Ability by right clicking (Control-clicking if right click is not enabled) the toolbar, selecting "Customize Toolbar", Â then dragging the AutoRemind icon to the Toolbar.
Once this is done, click the AutoRemind Ability icon to navigate to the portal. You'll be presented with a log in prompt. You'll need to provide your AutoRemind Username and Password.
MacPractice cannot assist you with acquiring this username and password. If you don't have this on file, you can either click the "Forgot password?" link at the bottom-left of the log in window, or you'll need to contact AutoRemind Support.
You'll see this banner when you log in.
From here, you can either navigate to the Dashboard Tab, the Logs Tab, or you can click your Username in the upper right corner to either navigate to your user Profile or log out.
Dashboard
The Dashboard contains two items: your Messages summary and a Support link.
The Messages summary, when clicked, cycles between "Messages Sent Today", "Messages Sent last 7 days", and "Messages sent last 30 days".
The Support link brings up a web form where you can create a support ticket for the AutoRemind Support Team.
Logs
The Logs tab contains the records for all reminders sent out. The tab is split into three sub-tabs; Reminder Log, Edit Subscriptions, and Check the System. We'll primarily focus on the Reminder Log.
Reminder Log
The Reminder Log is structured much like a MacPractice Report. You'll first set your date range of the appointment dates which you wish to review the logs for. The first drop down menu on the left allows you to select a pre-set date range, defaulting to Today. You can choose between the last three weeks, the last three days, the next three days/weeks/months, or the next year.
Alternately, you can input a specific date in the date field to the right of the drop down menu, or you can click the calendar button to select a specific date.
Finally, you can select whether you want to include deleted notifications and show the message info, or you can search for a specific destinator (the intended recipient of the reminder).
When satisfied with these options, you can click the "Refresh" button to the right of the calendar icon to refresh the logs to reflect your filters.
The log results are split into multiple columns.Â
Appointment Date: The scheduled time for the recipient's appointment they're receiving a reminder for.
Status: The status of the reminder or notification. This column will communicate whether the reminder has been delivered, and whether a confirmation has been received.
Destinator: The Destinator is the intended recipient of the reminder or notification. This can be either an e-mail or a phone number.
Notification Date: The date the notification is scheduled t
View Button: This allows you to view the message that is sent to the Destinator. In the case of an e-mail destinator, you'll see a preview of the e-mail, while a phone number will preview the SMS message.
Notification Type: This column indicates the type of notification, and whether it is a confirmation or not.Â
Status Messages
The following table details the potential Status Messages that you might see on the Portal. This information is provided by AutoRemind. An updated list may be available on the AutoRemind Help Site and questions can be directed to support@autoremind.us:
Status Text | Description |
|---|---|
Registered | Â The reminder request was received and is registered in the AutoRemind system. |
 In Progress | The reminder was processed by AutoRemind and sent through the appropriate channel (carrier). System is now waiting upon delivery notification. |
 Sent | The reminder was sent to the recipient but AutoRemind is waiting for a response. |
 Delivered | The reminder was delivered. |
Rescheduled | Â The system is designed to deliver a voice reminder personally, or through voicemail. If neither are possible, the call is automatically rescheduled an hour later. The number of times a call can be rescheduled is set in your AutoRemind dashboard. The notification column will show the next time this reminder call will be attempted. |
 Deleted | This status is shown when the user has deleted a previously registered reminder. |
Failed | Â The reminder most likely has failed and has not been delivered to the recipient due to an error in recipient information (for example, a wrong number), network error, or other issue. |
 Confirmed | If a confirmation was requested, this message will appear when the recipient confirms the appointment. |
Blacklisted | Â A recipient can decide to be blacklisted from receiving SMS messages or emails. If the user tries to send a reminder to the recipient on a blacklisted communication channel, it will not be accepted, and this status will be shown. |
 Waiting for Opt-In | Carriers (especially mobile ones) or local laws may require the recipient to opt-in to receive reminders. This status means that AutoRemind has sent a message asking the recipient to accept future AutoReminders. Until such acceptance has been made, the reminder will be flagged with this status. |
Expired | Â This status message is typically used with voice calls. Reminder calls may have been rescheduled to a time after the appointment has occurred. In this case the system will not generate a reminder call, but instead flag the reminder with this status. |
 Reschedule over limit | Voice calls can have multiple attempts for delivery, but limited by a maximum number of calls defined by the user. If the number of calls made is over limit, the system stops calling and sets this status. |
 Delivered in voicemail | This message appears if the system believes the reminder has been delivered to a voicemail system. |
Edit Subscriptions
This particular Tab allows you to adjust whether a particular Destinator should receive certain types of notification.
First, you'll search for a destinator. AutoRemind pulls information from the MacPractice database in order to identify whether a destinator is accurate or not.  If AutoRemind locates an e-mail address or phone number, you'll see a drop down allowing you to select between results, as shown in the  screenshot below.
By selecting that valid destinator, you should see it populate below:
You can then click the Green Thumbs Up icon there to selectively enable or disable specific notification types.
Closing the window will confirm those changes.
Check The System
The Check The System Tab allows you to manually send a test notification to a destinator of your choosing. You can choose any of your available notification types, and there is a space to re-load your templates if you have made changes while this tab is open.