How to email a web form from Info Manager so it arrives already associated with the right location

Overview

Web forms in Information Manager can be delivered two different ways, and the method you choose decides whether the form knows which location it belongs to.

If you paste a web form's public URL into an email, the form opens with no location context. If the form includes a Franchise ID field, it appears as an empty field with a dropdown listing every location in your system, and the recipient has to scroll through that list to find their own. If they pick the wrong one, the submission is filed against the wrong location.

If you instead insert the web form's keyword into an email sent from the location record itself, FranConnect generates a link that is already tied to that location. The submission posts to the correct record, and if the form includes a Franchise ID field, it is also preselected with that location. The recipient does not need to log in to FranConnect to submit the form.

This article covers how to find a web form keyword, insert it into an email from a location, and control the link text the recipient sees.

1. Two Ways to Send a Web Form

Important: The web form URL and the web form keyword are not interchangeable. The web form URL is the generic, location-agnostic address. Only the keyword associates the form with a location.

2. Before You Begin

• The web form must already exist and be active in Information Manager's Web Form Generator. 
  Deactivated forms, and forms created under another module such as Sales, do not appear in the keyword list.
• You need the proper user role privilege to send an email from a location record in Information Manager.
• The location record should have current email addresses for the people who need to complete the form.
• Recipients do not need a FranConnect login, unless Secure Webform is enabled on the form itself.

Important: Secure Webform only controls whether the recipient has to sign in. It does not associate a form with a location; the web form keyword is what establishes that association.

3. Send an Email from the Location

The keyword only picks up a location when the email originates from that location's record.

1. Go to Info Manager > Store Summary.
2. Click the location you want to send the form to, to open its record.
3. In the Store Details panel on the left, click the envelope (Send Email) icon.

The Send Email page opens with the To field pre-populated from the location record. Leave Mail Format set to HTML so the keyword renders as a clickable link.

Important: Do not compose this email in your own mail client. An email sent from Outlook or Gmail cannot resolve a FranConnect keyword, so the recipient will receive the literal keyword text or a location-agnostic link.

4. Insert the Web Form Keyword

1. In the editor toolbar, click the Insert Keywords icon. An Available Keywords field appears above the message body.
   
2. Open the Available Keywords dropdown and scroll to the Web Forms group.
   
3. Select the entry for your form. Web form entries are named <Form Name> Web Page URL — for example, Insurance Web Page URL.
4. The Copy Keyword's Value box now shows the keyword, already highlighted. Copy it with Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on a Mac).
5. Click into the message body (or the Subject line) where the link belongs, and paste.

Note: Paste the keyword exactly as copied, including both dollar signs. Editing any character inside the keyword — including the numeric form ID — breaks it, and the recipient sees the raw text instead of a link.

5. Set the Link Text the Recipient Sees

Once a web form keyword is selected, a Display Name of Web Page URL box appears next to Copy Keyword's Value. Whatever is in that box becomes the clickable text of the hyperlink in the delivered email.

It defaults to the form name followed by the word “Form” — for example, Insurance Form. Overwrite it with something action-oriented if that reads better to your franchisees, such as “Update your insurance certificate”.

Note: The display name applies to the email you are composing. It does not rename the web form itself or change what other users see.

6. Finish and Send

1. Enter a Subject and write the body of the message around the inserted link.
2. Add any attachments. The combined size of all attachments must not exceed 20 MB.
3. Click Send.

The email is recorded against the location, so you can confirm later from the record's Contact History that the form was sent and to whom.

7. What the Recipient Sees

• The email arrives containing a hyperlink labeled with your Display Name of Web Page URL text.
• Clicking the link opens the web form in a browser, tied to their location. If the form includes a Franchise ID field, it is already selected for them.
• No FranConnect login is required, so owners and managers without system credentials can complete the form.
• On submission, the data is written to that location's record in Information Manager.