--- title: "Email notifications and \"Relevant project phases\"" description: "SurveyTester emails you about a project only while it is in one of your relevant project phases, checked when the event happens. @mentions always get through." url: https://www.surveytester.com/academy/en/notifications-permissions-subscriptions/email-notifications-and-relevant-project-phases/ language: en type: article audiences: ["Survey Authors", "Project Managers", "SurveyTester Administrators"] published: 2026-10-11 updated: 2026-10-11 tags: ["email notifications", "project phases", "notification settings", "subscriptions", "mentions", "role defaults"] --- # Email notifications and "Relevant project phases" _Notifications, Permissions & Subscriptions · SurveyTester Academy_ SurveyTester sends you email notifications about a project only while that project is in one of the phases you ticked under **Relevant project phases** in **My Account → Notification Settings**. The check happens at the moment the event occurs, and @mentions bypass it. The typical use is a survey developer who only wants to hear about a project while it is in **Script Update Needed**. ## What has to be true before you get an email Every notification email has to pass all of these checks. If one fails, no email is sent. | Check | Where it is set | What it means | |---|---|---| | You watch the project | Project subscription – **Auto subscribe new projects** in My Account, or subscribing to a project manually | Only subscribers of a project receive its notifications. | | **Email notification frequency** | My Account → Notification Settings | **Never send email notifications** switches all emails off. **Every few Minutes**, **Hourly** and **Once a day** only change *when* the emails arrive. | | Event type switch | My Account → **Other Notifications** | **... on new issues**, **... on changed issues**, **... on new comments**, **... on project phase changed**, **... on new/deleted projects**. Deleted issues count as *changed issues*; changed or deleted comments count as *new comments*. | | **Relevant project phases** | My Account → Notification Settings | The project must currently be in one of the phases you ticked: **Initial**, **Ready for QC** or **Script Update Needed**. | | **Project Languages** | My Account → Project Languages | If you selected languages, issue and comment emails are limited to issues in those languages. No selection means all languages. | | Recent login | automatic | Users who have not logged in for about half a year no longer receive emails. | | Not your own action | automatic | You never get an email about something you did yourself. | ![Notification Settings in My Account with the email notification frequency, the Relevant project phases checkboxes and the Other Notifications switches](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/_img/notifications-permissions-subscriptions/email-notifications-and-relevant-project-phases/en/notification-settings.png "w=34rem") > [!NOTE] > **Company prerequisite.** The phase filter only exists when your company has project phases enabled (**Show Project Phases List** in the company settings). If phases are switched off, every event passes the phase check. **The phase is checked at the moment the event happens**, not when the email is sent. If you receive a daily digest, an issue reported while the project was in *Ready for QC* stays filtered out even if the project moved to *Script Update Needed* later that day. Likewise, an event that passed the filter stays in your digest even if the phase changes again before the digest is sent. ## Walk-through: a survey developer with only "Script Update Needed" ticked Settings assumed: the frequency is not *Never*, **... on project phase changed** and the issue and comment switches are on, **Relevant project phases** is **Script Update Needed** only, and the developer is subscribed to the project. ### The project is in "Ready for QC" Testers add issues, change issues and write comments. - **No emails** reach the developer. The project is in *Ready for QC*, which is not one of their relevant phases, so every issue and comment event is filtered out. - The developer also received no email when the project **entered** *Ready for QC*. A phase change email is checked against the **new** phase, and *Ready for QC* is not ticked. - **Exception: @mentions.** If a tester mentions the developer directly, or a role the developer holds, in an issue or a comment, that email is sent right away. Mentions ignore the phase filter and the frequency setting. A mention by role still respects *Never send email notifications*; a direct mention of a user does not. ### The phase changes to "Script Update Needed" - The developer receives the **"Project phase changed"** email: project name with link, new phase, previous phase, date, who changed it, and a **"Confirm and send Message"** button. - It arrives according to the frequency: *Every few Minutes* means with the next scheduler run (about 5 minutes), *Hourly* at the chosen minute, *Once a day* at the chosen time. - The in-app notification (the bell) for a phase change goes to every user of the project, regardless of these settings. ### While the project is in "Script Update Needed" - All subscribed events now pass the phase filter: new issues, changed issues (for example a tester adds information or reopens an issue), new, changed or deleted comments, deleted issues. Which of them you get depends on your event type switches. - When the developer clicks **"Confirm and send Message"** and enters a note, a **"Project phase acknowledged"** email with that note goes to the other subscribers. It is governed by the recipients' **... on project phase changed** switch *and their own relevant phases*. Because the project is still in *Script Update Needed* at that moment, a tester who only ticked *Ready for QC* will **not** receive the acknowledgement email. - Mentions continue to arrive immediately, as always. ### The phase goes back to "Ready for QC" - Emails for issue and comment activity stop again for the developer. - The developer does **not** receive the phase change email for *Ready for QC*, because that email is checked against the new phase. Developers who want to know when the script went back to QC should also tick *Ready for QC*. ## Recommended settings | Role | Relevant project phases | Notes | |---|---|---| | Survey developer / scripter | **Script Update Needed** – plus *Ready for QC* if you want to see the hand-back | You only hear about the project when it needs your work. Mentions reach you anyway. | | Tester | **Ready for QC** – plus *Script Update Needed* to receive the developer's acknowledgement note | Keeps your inbox quiet while the script is being updated. | | Project manager | All three | Sees everything. | > [!TIP] > **Role defaults.** Administrators can set these as defaults per role under **Administration → Roles**, for example **Default To Phase 'Script Update Needed'**, so new users of a role start with the right settings. Users can still change them in My Account. ![The role settings in Administration → Roles with the Default To Phase options for Initial, Ready For QC and Script Update Needed](https://www.surveytester.com/academy/_img/notifications-permissions-subscriptions/email-notifications-and-relevant-project-phases/en/role-defaults-phases.png "w=34rem") ## Summary - **Relevant project phases** is a filter on the project's **current phase at the time of the event**. Events in other phases are never emailed, not even later. - Phase change emails are checked against the **new** phase. - @mentions bypass the phase filter. - Everything else – subscription, frequency, event type switches, languages – still applies.