Calendar alerts from Scriblet
What calendar alerts do
Section titled “What calendar alerts do”Ask Scriblet to let you know when something on your organization’s calendar is set, and it will text or email you as soon as it is - and again if it changes.
It saves you checking back. If you prepare the slides, print the bulletin or lead the music, you can ask for the sermon title and scripture, or for who is presenting the children’s story, and hear about it the moment someone adds it or corrects it. You ask in your own words, by text or email, the same way you already send updates to Scriblet.
Asking for an alert
Section titled “Asking for an alert”Text or email Scriblet the way you would ask a person. Say what you want to hear about, and either a date or that you want it every week.
For one date:
- “Let me know when the sermon title and scripture are set for this Sabbath.”
- “Tell me when the children’s story presenter is set for October 10.”
Every week:
- “Every week, let me know when the sermon title and scripture are set.”
- “Text me each week when the deacons are set.”
If you don’t give a date, Scriblet means the coming service day. If you ask for several things in one message, Scriblet alerts you once all of them have been set - not as each one comes in - and again whenever any of them changes. If you’d rather hear about each one on its own, ask for them “separately”.
Scriblet replies to confirm. The reply says what you will hear about and gives the phrase that turns the alert off, for example:
I’ll let you know when the sermon and scripture for each Sabbath are set, and again if either changes. To turn these off, reply: sermon and scripture alerts off
If Scriblet isn’t sure what you mean - which item, or which date - it asks you first. Nothing is set up until you have answered. Asking for an alert you already have changes nothing; Scriblet tells you you’re already set up.
What you can get alerts for
Section titled “What you can get alerts for”You can get alerts for the items in your organization’s order of service and for its duties. The names are your organization’s own, so yours may differ from these.
| You can watch | For example | What the alert tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Service items | Sermon title, scripture, opening song, children’s story music | The title, number or performers |
| Duties | Deacons, greeters, children’s story presenter | Everyone on that duty, e.g. “Bob and Karen” |
A duty held by two people, like deacons, is one item: each alert names both of them, so you always see the whole pair.
Not yet: announcements and events. Ask for those and Scriblet will say it can’t alert on them yet, and suggest what it can.
What an alert looks like
Section titled “What an alert looks like”An alert starts with the name of what you asked for and the date, then gives the current values:
Scriblet: Sermon and scripture update for Sat Oct 10 - Sermon: Walking in the Light; Scripture: John 8:12.
Scriblet: Children’s story presenter update for Sat Oct 10 - Johnny.
Scriblet: Deacons update for Sat Oct 10 - Bob and Karen.
When you get one:
- Once everything you asked for is set. If you asked for the sermon title and scripture, nothing comes until both are in.
- Again whenever something changes - a correction, a different person, or an item removed (it reads “removed”).
- Never twice for the same thing. If someone repeats a value that hasn’t changed, you hear nothing.
- One text per date. Several alerts for the same date that fire together arrive as one message.
- Right away, if it’s already set when you ask.
A weekly alert covers the coming service day each week. Scriblet starts watching each new week at a time your organization chooses (Monday at noon unless they’ve changed it). If you ask partway through a week, it starts with this week.
An alert stops after its date has passed.
Text or email
Section titled “Text or email”Alerts come back the way you asked: ask by text and you get texts, ask by email and you get emails. To choose, say so - “email me when…” or “text me when…”.
- Texts go to your phone number on your organization’s list, from the same Scriblet number you text. You need to have texted START to that number to receive any texts from Scriblet. If you haven’t, your alert comes by email instead.
- Emails go to the address on your organization’s list. If they don’t have an email for you and you can’t get texts, Scriblet can’t set the alert up and will tell you so.
Alerts only ever go to your own phone or email. Nobody can send them to someone else’s.
Your first alert by text ends with “Reply STOP to opt out.”, and you’ll see that line again about once a month. Replying STOP ends texts from Scriblet altogether, in both directions. Scriblet won’t act on anything you text it - updates, questions or alert requests - and won’t text you anything, including replies and alerts. Your weekly text alerts are kept, paused, and start again if you text START. Email alerts aren’t affected.
Checking and turning off alerts
Section titled “Checking and turning off alerts”To see what you have, ask: “What alerts do I have?” Scriblet lists them, with the phrase that turns each one off.
To turn one off, reply with its name and “alerts off”:
- “sermon and scripture alerts off”
- “children’s story presenter alerts off”
- “deacons alerts off”
Turning off a weekly alert ends this week’s and every later one. You can also say “turn off all my alerts”. If you’ve forgotten a name, ask “How do I turn off my alerts?” and Scriblet gives you the phrase for each one.
Use the alert’s name, not STOP. STOP isn’t a way to turn off one alert: it turns off all text messaging with Scriblet, both ways (see “Text or email”).
Your organization’s administrators can also see your alerts in the Scriblet console, and add, change or remove them for you.
Questions
Section titled “Questions”I asked for an alert but didn’t get one. An alert comes only once everything you asked for is set, so check whether one item is still missing. Then check which date it’s for: on a Sunday, “this week” means the coming Saturday. If you asked by text, make sure you’ve texted START. Still nothing? Ask Scriblet “What alerts do I have?”, or tell your administrator.
Something changed on a recurring schedule and I wasn’t told. Changes made to a repeating schedule - the same person every week, set up once - don’t send alerts yet. Changes made by text, email or in the console for a particular date do.
I asked twice. Nothing changes; you still get one alert.
I’m no longer on my organization’s list. Your alerts end when you’re removed.
My organization’s subscription has ended. Alerts pause while it’s suspended and pick up again when it’s restored.
Do alerts cost me anything? No - but your carrier’s usual message rates apply to texts.