Salutations
===========

Addressing customers must be done in a standardized way. Your customers may not always be external customers requiring a less formal greeting.

Rexpondo provides you with the tools needed to create a standardized communication form for any one of your queues. As defined in the :ref:`queue settings`: :doc:`salutations`, :doc:`templates`, and :doc:`signatures` are combined to ensure a well formed standardized email communication.

Salutations can be linked to one or more :doc:`queues`. A salutation is used only in email answers to tickets.

Use this screen to add salutations to the system. A fresh Rexpondo installation already contains a standard salutation. The salutation management screen is available in the *Salutations* module of the *Ticket Settings* group.

.. figure:: images/salutation-management.png
   :alt: Salutation Management Screen

   Salutation Management Screen


Manage Salutations
------------------

To add a salutation:

1. Click on the *Add Salutation* button in the left sidebar.
2. Fill in the required fields.
3. Click on the *Save* button.

.. figure:: images/salutation-add.png
   :alt: Add Salutation Screen

   Add Salutation Screen

.. warning::

   Salutations can not be deleted from the system. They can only be deactivated by setting the *Validity* option to *invalid* or *invalid-temporarily*.

To edit a salutation:

1. Click on a salutation in the list of salutations.
2. Modify the fields.
3. Click on the *Save* or *Save and finish* button.

.. figure:: images/salutation-edit.png
   :alt: Edit Salutation Screen

   Edit Salutation Screen

.. note::

   If several salutations are added to the system, use the filter box to find a particular salutation by just typing the name to filter.

.. warning::

   Before invalidating this object, please go to the *Queues* module of the *Ticket Settings* group and make sure all queues using this setting are using a valid object.


Salutation Settings
-------------------

The following settings are available when adding or editing this resource. The fields marked with an asterisk are mandatory.

Name \*
   The name of this resource. Any type of characters can be entered to this field including uppercase letters and spaces. The name will be displayed in the overview table.

Salutation \*
   The text that will be placed to the beginning of new emails.

Validity \*
   Set the validity of this resource. Each resource can be used in Rexpondo only, if this field is set to *valid*. Setting this field to *invalid* or *invalid-temporarily* will disable the use of the resource.

Comment
   Add additional information to this resource. It is recommended to always fill this field as a description of the resource with a full sentence for better clarity, because the comment will be also displayed in the overview table.


Salutation Variables
--------------------

Using variables in the text makes it possible to personalize messages. Variables, known as Rexpondo tags, are replaced by Rexpondo when generating the message. Find a list of available tags stems for this resource at the bottom of both add and edit screens.

.. figure:: images/salutation-variables.png
   :alt: Salutation Variables

   Salutation Variables

For example, the variable ``<OTOBO_CUSTOMER_DATA_UserLastname>`` expands to the customer's last name to be included in something like the following.

.. code-block:: text

   Dear <OTOBO_CUSTOMER_DATA_UserFirstname> <OTOBO_CUSTOMER_DATA_UserLastname>,

This tag expands, for example to:

.. code-block:: text

   Dear Lisa Wagner,