Allowing chairs to send messages to authors when setting the acceptance status

With our conference set-up, the decision about acceptance is done by the track chairs and not by the committee as a whole. We know that normally messages about acceptance can only be sent via bulk e-mail, but is there a way to let track-chairs inform the authors autonomously?

Usually, there are no automatic mails sent when you set the acceptance status, as chairs usually have to update their decisions during the program scheduling process for some papers, depending on the available sessions' themes, times and slots.

However, you can bypass this functionality and give chairs the option to send e-mails during the process of setting the acceptance status directly.

To enable the function, please go to:
Overview => Settings => Main Settings for the Review Process
Scroll to the bottom of the page and activate the expert settings by clicking on "Expert settings disabled" or on the cogwheel icon.

Go to the section “Acceptance Status Message from Chairs to Authors” and enable the option “Chairs Can Send an Acceptance Status Update Message to Authors” (see image 1).

Admins can adapt the wording of the template that will be made available to chairs by clicking on the link “edit the e-mail template in wording and phrases” (see image 1).

Chairs will now have the option to send messages on this page:
Overview => Submissions & Reviews => Results of the Reviewing Procedure & Decision About Acceptance
Changing the acceptance status via the dropdown menu directly on the page "Results of the Reviewing Procedure & Decision About Acceptance" in the column “Acceptance Status” will not call this e-mail function. Instead, Chairs will have to click on “Edit Status” in that same column (see image 2).

Alternatively, the same option “Edit Status” will appear in the details page of any submission in the box “Actions” that is located on the right hand side of the screen (see image 3).

Chairs can now update the acceptance status, assign the submission to a session and include a “Message from the Chairs to the Authors”, which will be shown to the authors with the review results (see image 4).

In order to send a message, for the option “Send Message to Authors?” click on “Yes”.
In the section “Sender and Subject” confirm or adapt the fields that are prefilled and adapt the message by using the codes that are supported. Click on the button “Save Data and Preview E-Mail” to check the results and the e-mail that will be sent (see image 4).
 
On the next page, check the content and click on on “Send E-Mail” to send the e-mail (see image 5).

Hint:
We usually advise against using this function. In most cases it's rather more efficient to inform the authors via the bulk e-mail function after the acceptance statuses for all submissions/authors have been set:
Evaluating the Review Results and Setting the Acceptance Status of Submissions
Sending Bulk E-Mails with ConfTool