Sending announcements
How admins write and send an announcement to the whole church or a group — drafts, the live email preview, who receives it, sending by email and optional push notification, what happens when you send, and why a sent announcement can't be unsent.
Announcements are how you share news with your congregation — a service time change, a potluck this Saturday, a building update. Each one always does two things: it emails everyone it's for, and posts inside Psalmly so it shows up on their dashboard and your church's home. You can also send a push notification to members who use the mobile app. You'll find them under Announcements in the admin sidebar.
Writing one
Click New announcement to open the composer. It's a split screen: you write on the left, and a live email preview on the right shows exactly what will land in inboxes.
- Title — the headline. It's the subject line of the email and the heading in the app.
- Message — the body. A small toolbar lets you make a few words bold or italic, or turn them into a link — just select the text and click the button (or press Ctrl/⌘+B, I, or K). There's no special code to learn. This formatting shows in the email; inside the app the message reads as clean plain text.
There are no image uploads or attachments — an announcement is a short, readable note.
Who receives it
Under Who receives it, choose the audience:
- Whole church — everyone in your church (the default).
- A group — only the members of one group you pick, when the news is just for them.
Before you send, Psalmly shows roughly how many people it will reach. That estimate leaves out anyone who has unsubscribed from announcement emails, so it reflects who will actually get the email.
Announcements only ever go to people already in your church (or the chosen group). There is no way to type in outside email addresses — to reach someone new, invite them to the church first, then announce.
Email and push
Under Channels, you choose how the announcement goes out:
- Email is always on. It's the dependable channel — it reaches everyone the announcement is for, whether or not they've installed the mobile app.
- Push notification is an optional toggle. Turn it on to also send a notification to the phones of members who have the Psalmly mobile app with notifications turned on. Tapping it opens the announcement.
Email and push are independent. A member who unsubscribed from your announcement emails can still get the push, and a member who has muted announcement notifications still gets the email. Each member controls their own phone notifications in the mobile app — there's nothing for you to manage per person.
Drafts and sending
A new announcement starts as a draft — only you and other admins can see it. Save it, come back, and edit or delete it freely while it's a draft.
When you're ready, Send it. Because an announcement goes to real inboxes, sending is not a quiet background action:
- You confirm first (a quick "Send to ~N people?" check).
- Psalmly sends, showing a progress state.
- You get a result — how many it reached, and, if any email failed, the option to retry the ones that didn't go through.
A sent announcement can't be unsent
Once an announcement is sent, it's locked — you can't edit it or pull it back, because the emails are already out. If you need to correct something, send a short follow-up announcement. (Drafts, by contrast, are fully editable — that's the place to get the wording right before it goes live.)
Unsubscribes
Every announcement email has an unsubscribe link in its footer. A member who uses it stops receiving announcement emails from your church — and nothing else:
- They still see your announcements inside the app. Unsubscribing is about email only, never their in-app feed.
- Their account and security emails are never affected.
- It's per church — unsubscribing from one church's announcements doesn't touch another's.
You don't manage a preferences list or send permissions — there's nothing to configure per member. If someone unsubscribed and wants church emails again, they can let you know and you can help them resubscribe.
What members see
The same announcement reaches your congregation in more than one place, so it's hard to miss:
- By email, with your church's name and branding.
- In the app, on each member's personal dashboard, on your church's home screen, and in the church's Announcements list.
- As a push notification on the mobile app, if you turned that on.
Members read announcements — there are no replies or comments, by design, keeping the feed calm. For the member's-eye view, see Announcements you receive.