Opting Patients Out of Automated Email Communication
While we hope that all patients appreciate the automated emails you can send through YAPI (like reminders, new patient paperwork, and birthday greetings), we know that some patients prefer not to receive them. Patients can opt out of emails by clicking the "Unsubscribe" link in any email they receive or you can opt them out yourself by following the steps below.
Note: YAPI is unable to read your patients' communication settings from Dentrix, Open Dental, or Eaglesoft, so you must opt them out in YAPI for them to stop receiving automated emails. If you need to opt patients out of receiving texts, see our article Opting Patients Out of Automated Text Communication.
Table of Contents
- Opting Out an Individual Patient
- Opting Out a List of Patients
- Viewing Who Is on Your Email Opt-Out List
- Opting a Patient Back In
- Related Articles
Opting Out an Individual Patient
To opt an individual patient out of receiving all automated emails from your practice (which includes appointment reminders, recall reminders, birthday emails, and new patient welcome emails):
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From the YAPI Dashboard, click Patients and select Patient Finder.
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Enter the patient's last name in the empty box and click Search.
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Locate the patient in your list of search results and click on their name.
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From the dropdown menu, select Communication, then Set Communication Options:
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Deselect the Enable Communication checkbox next to the patient's email address and click OK:
Tip: You can also opt a patient out of texts by deselecting the Enable Communication box next to their mobile phone number.
Note: The Reminder Preferences and Marketing and News sections are no longer supported. Making changes to these sections does not affect whether patients receive emails and texts through YAPI.
Opting Out a List of Patients
You can also opt out multiple patients at once by creating a text (.txt) file with all their email addresses and importing it into YAPI:
Step 1: Creating a Text File of Emails to Opt Out
- Follow the How to Set Up Patient Reports by Filters instructions on the Dentrix Help Center and in the last step, select Open in Excel.
- Remove all columns from the Excel Spreadsheet except for EMailAddress.
- Remove the first row from the Excel Spreadsheet that says "EMailAddress."
- Remove all quotation marks from each email address.
- Then, save the file as a .txt file and close Excel.
If opened in Notepad, your final file should look like this:
- Follow the Patients Report instructions on the Open Dental website to create a report that lists patients' Email only.
- In the report, click Export and save the report as a .txt file.
- Open the .txt file and delete the word "Email" from the first line. Then save the file.
If opened in Notepad, your final file should look like this:
- Follow the Filter the Patient Master Report instructions on the Eaglesoft Help Center to create your list of patients.
- Right-click on the report and select Save Data As. Then save the report as an .xls (Excel) document.
- Open your report in Excel and remove all columns from the Excel Spreadsheet except for email_address.
- Remove the row that contains the header "email_address."
- Re-save the file as a .txt file and close Excel.
If opened in Notepad, your final file should look like this:
Tip: Not able to export a list from Dentrix, Open Dental, or Eaglesoft? You can create your own list in Notepad and save it as a .txt file. Simply list of all the email addresses you need to opt out, with one email address per line:
Step 2: Importing Your List into YAPI
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In the YAPI Dashboard, click Setup and Manage . Select Manage Opt-Out Lists, then Migrate Opt-Out List.
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In the window that opens, locate the file you created in Step 1 above.
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Click on the file and then click Open.
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To double-check that these email addresses were added to your Opt-Out List, see Viewing Who Is on Your Email Opt-Out List below.
Viewing Who Is on Your Email Opt-Out List
To view a list of all patients who have been opted out of emails (including patients who have opted out by clicking the "Unsubscribe" link in an email from you):
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From the YAPI Dashboard, click Setup and Manage .
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Select Manage Opt-Out Lists, then Opt-Out Email List:
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When prompted, enter your YAPI password and click OK.
Opting a Patient Back In
If a patient is on your Opt-Out List and you need to opt them back in:
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From the YAPI Dashboard, click Setup and Manage . Select Manage Opt-Out Lists, then Opt-Out Email List.
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When prompted, enter your YAPI password and click OK.
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Locate the patient you want to opt back in and select the checkbox next to their name:
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Click Remove.
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When asked if you're sure, click Yes.
Related Articles
- Opting Patients Out of Automated Text Communication
- Introduction to Emailing in YAPI
- Sending Individual Emails from the Dashboard
- Sending a Mail Blast