Updating a mobile number when sending smart forms
This article applies to users who are sending access codes for smart forms via SMS. With SMS selected, recipients of smart forms will receive an access code via SMS to their mobile phone when they click on the link to a form. Therefore, with this setting, you must make sure you have a correct mobile number saved for the recipient.
If ‘email’ or ‘none’ is selected under the ‘Smart Form completion’ setting then you do not need a mobile number for the recipient - all you need is their email address.
Occasionally when sending codes via SMS, there may be times where you experience issues with the message not being received due to missing or incorrect mobile numbers. If you run into any problems, you should be able to update the recipient's mobile number to allow the code to be sent without having to resend a form from scratch.
As forms can be sent as a link within an email, like an appointment confirmation for example, there might be times where you send an email containing a form link to a recipient (a client, a next of kin or a third party) who you don't have a mobile number for.
If a recipient receives a form link which requires an SMS access code in an email, and you don't currently have a mobile saved against their details, they'll see this message on screen when they open the form:
At this point, they will need to contact you and provide you with their mobile number. For a client, or a next of kin connected to a client, open the client summary, click on edit details and add the mobile number to the field relevant to the recipient.
For a Third Party, go to Settings -> Third Parties (a site administrator will need to do this), click on edit next to the recipient, and add the mobile number to the information here.
Once you've saved the mobile number within WriteUpp, ask the recipient to return to the email and click on the link again. This time, we'll detect that the code previously failed to send, check for the mobile number and since it has since been updated, successfully send the code to the number added.
The recipient will then be able to enter the code online, complete the form and return it to you.
If we've tried to send an access code to the mobile number linked to the recipient and this has failed for any reason, the recipient will see this on screen:
If anyone reports seeing this message, please check the mobile number linked to the recipient within WriteUpp to confirm that this is the correct number. For example, are you using the correct country code, or does the mobile number contain the correct number of digits?
If you identify an issue with the number, as above you should be able to update the details and ask the client to click on the link within their email. The code should then be successfully sent to the correct number.
If the recipient clicks on the link within their email and does not receive a code, it has most likely been sent somewhere. For example, maybe the wrong mobile number has been entered for the recipient, but it was an actual mobile number belonging to someone else. Therefore the code would be registered as sent to the number that was entered at the time.
If this is the case, again you can update the mobile number that is linked to the recipient within WriteUpp. This time though, you will need to re-generate the code for the recipient within WriteUpp. To do this, go to the Messages tab of the client summary and find the direct message that links to the form you sent. Open the message and click on the Resend Code button at the bottom of the screen:
You'll then be asked to confirm, after which another code will be sent to the updated mobile number.
Codes in this situation need to be manually re-sent as when completing forms online, only one code per form will be generated and sent when the link is clicked. This minimises the number of SMS credits used, since once a code is received, it can be used repeatedly to access the form. So if a client clicks on the link a second time, and a code was successfully sent previously, we won't send another. In this situation, if a client no longer has their code, they'll need to contact you and another can be generated and sent.
If ‘email’ or ‘none’ is selected under the ‘Smart Form completion’ setting then you do not need a mobile number for the recipient - all you need is their email address.
Occasionally when sending codes via SMS, there may be times where you experience issues with the message not being received due to missing or incorrect mobile numbers. If you run into any problems, you should be able to update the recipient's mobile number to allow the code to be sent without having to resend a form from scratch.
No mobile number present
As forms can be sent as a link within an email, like an appointment confirmation for example, there might be times where you send an email containing a form link to a recipient (a client, a next of kin or a third party) who you don't have a mobile number for.
If a recipient receives a form link which requires an SMS access code in an email, and you don't currently have a mobile saved against their details, they'll see this message on screen when they open the form:
At this point, they will need to contact you and provide you with their mobile number. For a client, or a next of kin connected to a client, open the client summary, click on edit details and add the mobile number to the field relevant to the recipient.
For a Third Party, go to Settings -> Third Parties (a site administrator will need to do this), click on edit next to the recipient, and add the mobile number to the information here.
Once you've saved the mobile number within WriteUpp, ask the recipient to return to the email and click on the link again. This time, we'll detect that the code previously failed to send, check for the mobile number and since it has since been updated, successfully send the code to the number added.
The recipient will then be able to enter the code online, complete the form and return it to you.
Problem with a mobile number
If we've tried to send an access code to the mobile number linked to the recipient and this has failed for any reason, the recipient will see this on screen:
If anyone reports seeing this message, please check the mobile number linked to the recipient within WriteUpp to confirm that this is the correct number. For example, are you using the correct country code, or does the mobile number contain the correct number of digits?
If you identify an issue with the number, as above you should be able to update the details and ask the client to click on the link within their email. The code should then be successfully sent to the correct number.
No error messages but no code received
If the recipient clicks on the link within their email and does not receive a code, it has most likely been sent somewhere. For example, maybe the wrong mobile number has been entered for the recipient, but it was an actual mobile number belonging to someone else. Therefore the code would be registered as sent to the number that was entered at the time.
If this is the case, again you can update the mobile number that is linked to the recipient within WriteUpp. This time though, you will need to re-generate the code for the recipient within WriteUpp. To do this, go to the Messages tab of the client summary and find the direct message that links to the form you sent. Open the message and click on the Resend Code button at the bottom of the screen:
You'll then be asked to confirm, after which another code will be sent to the updated mobile number.
Codes in this situation need to be manually re-sent as when completing forms online, only one code per form will be generated and sent when the link is clicked. This minimises the number of SMS credits used, since once a code is received, it can be used repeatedly to access the form. So if a client clicks on the link a second time, and a code was successfully sent previously, we won't send another. In this situation, if a client no longer has their code, they'll need to contact you and another can be generated and sent.
Updated on: 05/12/2022
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