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    Moodle local plugin · Practical guide

    Email the right learners, personally, in one send.

    Email Students helps admins and trainers choose learners by course, group, cohort, role, completion, progress or missing assessments—then send a formatted, personalised message through your site's own outgoing mail.

    Moodle 4.4–5.3 declared compatibilityUses Moodle outgoing mailNo AI or per-email AI credit cost50 Credits ($5 USD) · one time

    Select any screenshot to zoom in.

    Get started

    Install

    1. Upload the plugin ZIPGo to Site administration › Plugins › Install plugins. Or unzip into local/emailstudents (on Moodle 5.1 and later, public/local/emailstudents).
    2. Complete the upgradeMoodle installs the plugin tables and twelve starter templates.
    3. Check outgoing mail and cronIt uses Site administration › Server › Email › Outgoing mail configuration. Your SMTP host, no-reply address, allowed domains and DKIM apply. Cron must be running for background batches.
    4.4 declared4.5 declared5.0 declared5.1 declared5.2 declared5.3 declared
    No separate mail settings: Email Students uses Moodle's outgoing mail configuration.

    The package declares compatibility with Moodle 4.4–5.3. This is a declared range, not a claim of completed testing or Moodle certification; verify in your own environment.

    Step 1

    Choose recipients

    Open Site administration › Users › Email Students. Filter types combine with AND; options within a filter combine with OR. The audience panel updates the recipient count and sample names as filters change.

    Send toPeople enrolled in courses, or every active user.
    Categories, courses and groupsInclude subcategories when needed; search groups across courses.
    Roles and cohortsTarget students by default, other allowed course roles, or a whole intake.
    Last site loginFind users inactive for a chosen period, including never logged in.
    Category plus cohort, counted live.
    Searchable groups across courses.

    Step 2

    Refine the audience

    Combine learner signals to reach the people who need this message.

    Completion and progressCompleted, not completed, completion dates, or progress below/above a percentage.
    Course grade and activityFilter by course total or time since course activity.
    Enrolment dates and methodFind recent starters, enrolments ending soon, or a specific enrolment method.
    Missing submissionsFind learners who have not submitted selected assignments.
    Profile fieldsUse core or custom fields, including fields that contain a value.
    Not completed and under 50% progress.
    Learners still owing a selected assessment.

    Step 3

    Write the message

    Start from a template or a blank email. The Moodle editor supports formatted text, links and images. Images are served publicly so they display in common mail apps. Add attachments: one file is attached as-is; multiple files are zipped; or share login-protected download links.

    Select a personal tag to insert it at the cursor.
    The learner sees their own details and course context filled in.

    Reference

    Personal tags

    Tags are replaced for each learner. Course tags use the course the email was sent from; for site-wide sends they use that learner's matching course with the newest enrolment.

    GroupAvailable tags
    Learner{firstname}{lastname}{fullname}{email}{username}{idnumber}{city}{institution}{department}{groupname}
    Course{coursename}{courseurl}{coursestartdate}{courseenddate}{enrolstart}{enrolend}
    Progress{progress}{coursegrade}{completiondate}{lastaccess}{daysinactive}
    Sender and site{sendername}{senderemail}{sitename}{siteurl}{loginurl}
    Custom profile fields{profile_shortname} e.g. {profile_employer}

    Step 4

    Test, schedule and send

    Send yourself a test with tags filled in. Send now or schedule for later, and optionally receive a copy with a delivery summary. Before sending, confirm the exact recipient count. Messages are sent in background batches, so you can leave the page.

    Schedule a send and request a copy.
    Confirm the audience count before sending.

    Step 5

    Read the delivery report

    Open Site administration › Email Students › Sent emails for site-wide history, or use the Sent emails tab from the course Email participants screen. Select a send to open its report: recipients, delivered, not delivered and pending counts, the message as sent, audience filters and timeline. Search recipients, filter by status, cancel or resume a send, retry failures, or use the message as a template. Seeing all senders' history requires the relevant capability.

    A single send's delivery report and recipient summary.
    Sent email history with delivery status.

    Save time

    Templates

    Twelve starter templates cover welcome, assessment due or overdue, check-ins, enrolment ending, results, completion, timetable changes, learner surveys, USI reminders and urgent notices. Save your own messages as templates and share them with other senders.

    Starter, personal and shared templates.

    In the course

    For trainers

    From a course, trainers use More › Email participants. They can only email participants in that course. In separate groups mode, trainers without “access all groups” are limited to their own groups. The course capability is granted to editing teachers by default.

    Open Email participants from the course More menu.
    Trainer compose, scoped to course and permitted groups.

    Admin

    Settings

    Go to Site administration › Users › Email Students › Settings. Configure batch size and pause, maximum recipients, default From address, allowed recipient roles, attachment size and count, default attachment mode, a footer for every email, and history retention.

    Email Students administration settings.

    Reference

    Permissions and privacy

    CapabilityAllowsDefault role
    local/emailstudents:sendsiteEmail site users with site-level filtersManager
    local/emailstudents:sendcourseEmail course participantsEditing teacher, Manager
    local/emailstudents:viewallhistoryView all senders' historyManager
    local/emailstudents:choosefromChoose the From addressManager

    Suspended, deleted, unconfirmed and no-login accounts are excluded. Sends are logged, and the plugin supports Moodle's Privacy API, including sent emails, delivery records, templates and files.

    Questions

    FAQ

    Does it need separate SMTP settings?No. It uses Moodle's outgoing mail configuration.

    Can a trainer send from their own address?Yes, if Moodle's allowed email domains permit it. Otherwise the no-reply address is used with the trainer's name; replies still go to the trainer.

    How do I stay within provider limits?Set the batch size and pause between batches in plugin settings.

    Do email images require login?No, inline images are public. Attachments shared as download links do require login.

    Screenshots show Southern Cross Sport & Fitness Institute, a fictional college created for this demo. Moodle™ is a registered trademark of Moodle Pty Ltd. LMS Labs is not affiliated with or endorsed by Moodle Pty Ltd.

    LMS Labs · Moodle local plugin

    Email Students · release and access

    Send personal, formatted emails to exactly the right learners using Moodle’s outgoing mail settings, with audience filters, templates, attachments and delivery reports.

    Declared compatibility: Moodle 4.4–5.3. Email Students uses Moodle's outgoing mail configuration; there is no per-email AI credit cost.

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