HR notifications: FAQs

Last updated November 2026.

This article answers common questions about setting up notifications, choosing schedules and audiences, testing and sending, and what happens to your existing (legacy) notifications.

Contents

• General
• Setting up notifications
• Schedules and audience
• Testing and sending
• Existing (legacy) notifications
• Related articles

General

• Who can use Manage Notifications?
  Only users with system administrator access. Every system administrator can see and manage all notifications if they have access to the page

• Is there an extra charge for Manage Notifications?
  No. It’s included as standard for all Ciphr HR customers

• Is there a limit on how many notifications I can create?
  No. You can create and duplicate as many as you need

• Why is my Manage Notifications screen empty?
  New customers start with an empty list until they create their first notification. Existing customers will see the Legacy notifications Ciphr previously set up for them

• What are “System notifications - coming soon”?
  These are the standard emails Ciphr sends automatically, such as verification emails and password resets. In a future update you’ll be able to see them in Manage Notifications and make adjustments to their wording 

• Can I switch several notifications on or off at once?
  Not at the moment. Change the status on each notification individually
• What do the statuses mean?
  • Disabled: nothing is sent. New notifications start as Disabled
  • Test: uses your real data but only sends to the test recipients in global settings
  • Live: sends to the recipients you've set
• Can I search or filter my notifications?
  Yes. You can search and filter the list by description and by type. Using a clear naming convention in your descriptions, such as including the entity or location, makes notifications easier to find

Setting up notifications

• Which notification types are available?
  Our ready-made template library is growing. See the related guide for information on all our templates

• What are tags?
  Tags work like merge fields. They insert employee details, such as name or start date, into the subject and message automatically. The tags available depend on the notification type

• How many attachments can I add?
  Up to 5 files per notification. Each file can be up to 5 MB, and up to 7 MB in total

• Will notifications use our branding?
  Yes. Notifications use your system branding. If your organisation has more than one entity, each email uses the branding of the entity the employee belongs to. You can preview each version before saving

• Can I trigger a safeguarding notification from a custom date field I’ve added?
  Not at the moment. Safeguarding notifications use the commencing date and expiry date

• Can I add images or emojis?
  You can use emojis. Images aren't available in notifications
• Can I change the font?
  No. Notifications use the font from your branding setup
• Can I mark a notification as high importance?
  Not at the moment
• Can I let employees know when their payslip is available?
  Yes, if payslips are uploaded to Ciphr HR as documents. Use the document upload template
• Can I send a notification on a set date, not linked to an employee?
  Not at the moment
• Can a notification send when someone fills in a field?
  Not at the moment. Notifications are based on dates or a fixed schedule. Any legacy notifications that work differently will keep running

Schedules and audience

• What’s the difference between Before and Between?
  A Before rule only sends if the record exists on the day the rule applies. Between sends for any record whose date falls within the window, so it still catches records added late

• My starter notification isn’t picking up new starters. Why?
  Check the Audience tab. If it uses Current staff, change it to All staff. Employees don’t count as current staff until their start date

• Can I send a notification to just one location, team or entity?
  Yes. On the Audience tab, use a subset to target the group you need. The notification covers everyone in the subset, including employees your own security settings don't let you see

• Can I stop sensitive notifications going to personal email addresses?
  Yes. Add your work email domains in global settings, then switch on the trusted domains option on the notification’s Recipients tab

• Which timing option should I use?
  We recommend Between. If a record is added late, such as a starter entered on their first day, a fixed "7 days before" rule won't send. A Between window of 7 days before and 7 days after still catches it, and the email only sends once. To avoid sending after someone has started, use 7 days before and 0 days after
• How far ahead can I set a notification?
  Up to 365 days before or after the date it's based on
• I need the same notification at two different times. What do I do?
  Create the notification, then use Duplicate and change the timing on the copy. Each notification has one schedule, so "7 days before" and "7 days after" need two notifications
• Can I target specific qualifications, reviews or checks?
  Yes, depending on the template:
  • Qualifications: choose the qualification date or renewal date, then a category or specific qualifications
  • Talent: choose the review date and review types
  • Safeguarding: choose the type of check, such as right to work or DBS, and send against its commencing or expiry date
• Who can I send notifications to?
  You can send to:
  • the employee or their manager, using their contact, home or work email
  • the manager's manager
  • your HR mailbox
  • any email address you type in
  • You can also add CC and BCC recipients

Testing and sending

• I’ve switched my notification to Test but haven’t received anything. Why?
  Notifications are sent once a day, so emails in Test status arrive after the next daily run, usually the following day. You can check the time your notifications run in global settings. 

• Can I see which notifications have been sent?
  Yes. Open a notification and select View send log. It shows each email sent, when it was sent, who received it, and any that are pending or failed. You can filter the log by employee or date range and export it as a CSV file 

• Can I see who has changed a notification?
  Yes. View history shows who created the notification and every change made since, with dates and times

• Why doesn't the branding in the preview look right?
  Notifications use the branding set up in your system. Check your branding settings. If your organisation has more than one entity, check which entity each brand is linked to

• Why does a tag show as a placeholder in the preview? 
  Preview shows sample details instead of real employee data. Send a test to see real employee details in the email
• My notification hasn't sent. What should I check?
  • Check the status is Live. Notifications in Disabled or Test status don't go to your recipients
  • Check whether the record was added after the send date. If so, use a Between window instead
  • Check the employee is in the notification's audience
  • Check whether Only send to trusted domains is switched on while the recipient only has a personal email address
• What happens when an employee only has a personal address?
  Emails can be sent to a personal address unless it's prevented by the trusted domains setting

Existing (legacy) notifications

• Do I need to do anything with my existing notifications?
  No. They’re moved across automatically and keep running as before

• What can I change on a legacy notification?
  The subject, body text, status and recipients. You can't change the audience, schedule or attachments. To change those, recreate it as a new notification

• What if I make a mistake editing a legacy notification?
  You can use the undo/revert option to restore it to its original version - only if it hasn't been saved

• Can every legacy notification be rebuilt?
  Most can. A small number may have very specific setups that the templates can’t recreate. These keep running, and you can still change their subject, body, status and recipients

• Is there anything I should know before editing a legacy notification?
  • Leave the existing tags in the text, or the notification may stop working
  • To change recipients, select Override. This clears the current recipients so you can add new ones
• What happens to a legacy notification after I've replaced it?
  When you've created and tested the new notification, switch the legacy one to Disabled. It stays in your list so you can still see it
• What is a path? Each path is a version of this email, for example the test version and the live version. Select one to preview or edit it
  
• How do I work out what my legacy notification does before I recreate it?
  You can get a good idea of what a legacy notification does by using Preview email (shown in the image above) to go through each path and see what it says. To see who receives it, open View send log. The triggers for legacy notifications can't be displayed, so these two tools are the best way to understand it before you recreate it.
• Why does my legacy notification show separate parts instead of one email? 
  Legacy emails are built from steps, and the parts differ for every notification.  It's not possible to show a standard workflow of steps, as they differ per notification.
• Does a legacy notification with several paths need several new notifications?
  Not always. For example, test mode is a path in legacy but just a status on new notifications.
• Can I see what’s attached to a legacy notification? 
  No. Attachments are references to files stored elsewhere, so unfortunately can't be displayed or edited.
• Why can’t I change recipients on some legacy notifications? For a very limited number of legacy notifications, due to the complex setup you may not be able to change the recipients. If this occurs, our recommendation is to set this up as a new self-serve notification.
• Will legacy notifications resend emails already sent? No. The same check that stops repeat sends carries over unchanged.
• The notification type I need isn’t available yet. When will it be?
  We’re adding new notification templates all the time, and customer feedback helps us decide which to build next. If the type you need isn’t there yet, let our Customer Care team know. In the meantime, your existing legacy notification will keep running as it does today.

Related articles

• Manage Notifications - HR page access
• Configuring global settings in notifications 
• Creating a Notification
• Duplicating a Notification
• Previewing notifications and branding
• HR Notification types and examples
• What are legacy notifications in HR?