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Email Templates

The Notifications tab in Settings (“Notifications & Communications”) lets you copy your Data Protection Officer on case emails, preview every automated email template, send yourself a test, and, on the Enterprise plan, write your own email wording.

Open Settings →

Notifications & Communications: DPO Email Copies and Email Templates
Notifications & Communications: DPO Email Copies and Email Templates Notifications & Communications: DPO Email Copies and Email Templates
Sidebar → Settings → Notifications

What This Section Does

It does NOT let you enable or disable specific notifications. All automated emails are sent based on system events (new case created, status changed, and so on) and cannot be individually switched off.

Like all Settings, this tab is for Admins only.

DPO Email Copies

Turn on CC DPO on all case emails to copy your Data Protection Officer on every case-related email sent to data subjects. The DPO copy is identical to what the data subject receives.

  1. Go to Settings > Notifications
  2. Switch on CC DPO on all case emails
  3. Enter the DPO Email Address, or leave it blank to use your main contact email
  4. Click Save Notification Settings

It applies to: Request Confirmations, Status Updates, Deadline Extensions, Case Closures and Anonymization Notices.

Email Branding

The Email Branding panel is a read-only summary: “Emails automatically use your company branding”. It shows the values your emails will use:

ItemWhere to change it
CompanyOrganization > Company Name
ColorBranding & Portal > Primary Color
LogoBranding & Portal > Company Logo
EmailOrganization > Contact Email
PhoneOrganization > Contact Phone
WebsiteOrganization > Company Domain
SignatoryOrganization > Email Signatory (Signatory Name and Title). If not set, emails use your team name
Sign-offOrganization > Email Signatory > Sign-off Wording. Default “Best regards,”

See Organization Settings and Branding & Portal.

Automated Emails

Templates you can preview

The Select Template list in Email Preview has these templates:

Data Subject Emails

TemplateWhen SentEnterprise custom wording
Request ConfirmationWhen a request is receivedYes
Status UpdateWhen the case status changesYes
Deadline ExtensionWhen the deadline is extendedYes
Information RequestWhen you ask the subject for more informationYes
Case ClosureWhen the case is closedYes
Anonymization NoticeWhen the subject’s details are anonymizedYes
Verification CodeWhen the subject signs in to the public portal with a one-time codeNo (system template)

Admin Notifications

TemplateWhen SentEnterprise custom wording
New Case AlertTo admins and case managers when a new case is submitted via the public portalNo (system template)
Info Submitted AlertTo admins and case managers when a data subject provides additional informationNo (system template)

Other emails to your team

These are sent automatically but are not in the template list:

EmailWhen Sent
Page allowance warningTo your contact email when 80% of your page allowance is used, and again at 100%. Not sent on the Enterprise plan
AI usage warningTo your contact email when 80% of your AI allowance is used, and when it is used up. Not sent on the Enterprise plan
Allowance reached (Enterprise)To your contact email when 100% of your Enterprise allowance is used, once per billing period
Bulk job finishedTo the user who started the job, when a bulk job completes, completes with errors, fails or is cancelled

These emails give counts and percentages only. See Usage & Limits.

Account & Billing

EmailWhen Sent
User InvitationWhen inviting a new team member
Welcome EmailAfter registration
Payment SucceededAfter successful payment
Payment FailedWhen payment fails
Subscription CanceledWhen the subscription is cancelled
Automatic Notifications
All notifications are sent automatically based on system events. There is no option to disable individual notification types, so compliance-critical alerts are always delivered.

Email Features

All automated emails include:

Professional Design

Plain Text Fallback

Compliance Information

Sender Address

Automated emails are sent from a SAR Portal address on the sarportal.com domain, with the sender name “{Company Name} Data Requests”. Send yourself a test email to see the exact From address, and add it to your safe-senders list. Enterprise customers can send from their own authenticated address; contact support to set this up.

Custom Email Templates (Enterprise)

Enterprise Feature
On the Enterprise plan you can write your own wording for the six customizable data subject templates (Request Confirmation, Status Update, Deadline Extension, Information Request, Case Closure and Anonymization Notice). On other plans these templates show a "Custom Email Templates are available on the Enterprise plan" notice, and emails use the standard branded templates with your company details applied.

To customize a template:

  1. In Select Template, choose one of the six customizable templates
  2. In Custom Email Body, switch on Use custom body
  3. Optionally enter a Custom Subject Line (optional). Leave it blank to keep the default subject
  4. Write the Email Body Content (up to 5,000 characters). Click a chip under Available Placeholders to insert one, such as {{FirstName}}, {{CaseId}} or {{DueDate}}
  5. Optionally click AI Validate for an AI review of grammar and tone with a score out of 10
  6. Click Save Custom Template

The Formatting Guide shows the simple formatting you can use: **bold**, __underline__, - for bullet points and blank lines for new paragraphs. Your logo, branding and GDPR footer are added automatically, and a “View Case Online” button is always added below your content.

Placeholders that the template does not recognise are flagged under Unrecognized placeholders, because they would appear as-is in the email. The AI review is optional: you can save without it. Reset to Default goes back to the standard template.

Testing Email Templates

Send Test Email

  1. Go to Settings > Notifications
  2. In Select Template, choose the template to test
  3. Click Send Test Email
  4. Enter the Email Address that should receive the test
  5. Click Send Test
  6. Check that inbox and verify the branding appears correctly
Test Before Going Live
Always send a test email after configuring your branding to check that your logo, colors and contact details appear correctly.

Email Deliverability

Ensuring Emails Arrive

To ensure automated emails reach recipients:

  1. Allow the sender - Add the From address of your test email to safe senders
  2. Check spam folders - Initial emails may land in spam
  3. Verify DNS - For a custom sender address, ensure proper SPF/DKIM records

If Emails Aren’t Arriving

  1. Check spam/junk folders
  2. Verify the email address is correct
  3. Check if the email provider is blocking
  4. Contact support@sarportal.com for delivery issues
SectionWhat It Does
Branding & PortalLogo, colors and email footer (also applies to emails)
OrganizationCompany details and email signatory used in emails