Email Tool - More Detailed Output Log?

[kmbassett01]

I appreciate that the email tool logs the number of messages sent, but I would like to see more detail available on an output anchor, specifically a list of the emails sent with their To, From, Subject, Body, etc. as well as a time stamp and status (Sent or Error). I have had the email tool error out due to a missing "To" email in the incoming data set, and it has already sent all the messages prior to the row with the error, but then I didn't have a way to know which emails had sent and which had not.

Does anyone know how I can get this kind of detail out of the existing email tool?

[Vinod28]

Hi @kmbassett01 ,

Thanks for bringing up the question about tracking emails sent to Alteryx. Since the Email tool doesn’t currently give you row-by-row details on what was sent, I’ve outlined a simple workaround you can build in Designer to help you keep track and avoid issues when fields like "To" are missing.

To help you get started, here’s a sample dataset you can use:

Sample_email_data.csv attached. 

Here’s how you can build the workflow in Alteryx Designer:

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Steps to Build It in Designer:

1. Input your data
   Use the Input Data tool to load the CSV file.

2. Filter missing emails
   Add a Filter tool and use this expression:
   ISNOTNULL([To])
   This filters out any rows where the "To" address is missing.

3. Add a timestamp and status.
   Use a Formula tool to create two new fields:

   • Timestamp using DateTimeNow()

   • Status set to "Ready to Send"

4. Select only the fields you need
   Use a Select tool to keep fields like To, From, Subject, Body, Timestamp, and Status.

5. Send emails
   Connect this stream to the Email tool and map each field to its correct place.

6. Log what’s sent
   Use an Output Data tool to write these records to a CSV or Excel file. This becomes your log of what was sent.

7. Optionally log invalid rows.
   From the False output of the Filter tool, you can write those rows to a separate file so you know which ones didn’t go through.

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Also, attached the solution which I tried in the workflow and the output file for your kind reference. Let me know if you’d like a full workflow file or if you'd prefer to walk through it together. Happy to help either way. 

[kmbassett01]

Thanks for taking the time to provide this workaround. While it does output the details of the emails pushed into the Email tool and report on any rows that failed data validation (the To field being null for example), it's not the log of what happened within the email tool. When the Email tool outputs the message "Messages Sent: 1" I want to be able to output the details of that particular message. If it errors after sending some messages, I need to know which ones those were.

[abacon]

@kmbassett01 I believe you need log information from the server machine itself, not from the workflow. I don't believe the alteryx email tool can get this information. But, I would talk to the admin who can access the machine about getting email logs for the workflows. There is probably a way you can pull that information in to the workflow to see the logs of the emails from the machine.

Bacon