How to set Email or Text Notifications in Vera

Cost:
Approximately from 0 US$

Hours needed to install:
10 minutes

Difficulty:
1 - 5 Wrenches. 1 = Easy

Things you will need:
(1) Relay Control Kit Garage Door
(1) Vera Home Controller

Tools you will need:
Computer with access to your Vera

Additional Items needed:
None

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In this How To, I will show you how to set notifications in your Vera controller to send you an email or text notification when a door or gate is opened. 
In this example we will be using a garage door and the plug in called "Garage Door" but this example will work with most other devices in your device list.
Let's get to this.

Open your Vera UI (User Interface). You will need your user name and password for it.
You can log into it here.

Determine what UI you are looking at.

UI5 looks like this in the top left. 

UI5

UI6 or UI7 should look like this on the top left corner.

UI6 or UI7

If you are viewing UI6 or UI7, click on the "Advanced Settings" link on the bottom of any page to take you to the UI5 looking UI.

Now that we all should looking at the same thing, click on the "Account / Other (MY UI6/7) Users" tab located  top left.

Now we are looking at a list of all of the people entered in your Vera controller. You can only send notification to people listed here. If all of the people you want to send notifications are here, you can go on to the next step.
If not, add new users.
You should see at least one name and Access Level here. If someone installed the unit for you, you might have to add yourself.
NOTES: 

• Each person you add will need their own MIOS account.
  
• When creating an additional user account, Vera will use this email for notifications.
  
• I have two people here. (1) is the Administrator, (1) is a Guest. I blocked out their names.
  
• You can select the Access Level for people when you add them. If you do not want a added person to make any changes in your system I strongly suggest you make them a "Notification Only" Access Level.
  

Now that you have added all of the additional users to get notifications. Lets check to make sure the notifications settings are correct.
Click on the "My Contact Info" section under the "Account" tab.

The "Contact Information" window is where you can set up different types of notifications and their limits and test them to see if they work. 
If you want notifications only on your smartphone, I recommend only sending email notifications to an email address you get on your phone. 
If you select email, text and phone notifications you will get 3 different notifications for one event. There is no reason to have multiple notifications pop up on your phone when just an Email will do.
I also recommend setting up a filter in your email account to put all of the notification emails automatically into a folder so they do not clutter up your in box. This folder will act as a time stamp for all of your homes notifications.
If you do not have a smart phone or do not get email on your phone, you will have to set up your mobile phone in the "Phone settings" area.

Click on the "Devices" tab located  top left. Then make sure "All" is selected just below and to the left.

Go to the device that if opened or triggered, will send you the notification. 
In this case we will be using the Garage Door plug in module that we set up to control our garage door.

Hover your mouse over that module.

When hovering your mouse over the module, a push pin and wrench will appear in the top right of the bar of that module.
Click on the wrench. This will open the settings for that module.

Click on the Notifications tab.

Click the drop down after "Add Notification for"
Select "A door is locked or unlocked"

Give the notification a name so you can see later what this is you are creating. Something like "Garage Door Email"

In the drop down after "Which Mode" select "Device is opened" This will send a notification only when the door is opened.
NOTE: If you select "Device is closed", it will only send a notification when the door is closed.

Click the "ADD" button.

If you want a notification for both opened and closed, you will have to add 2 of them. One with open selected and one with closed selected.

After it is added, you will see your notification rule appear below the line.
Then put a check in the box of the people you want to notify.
If you want to notify other people not listed here, you have to add more users in the Account / Users section. There are two people here. I blocked out their names.

Click the "X" in the top right corner of your module.

Click the red "SAVE" button in the top right button of the UI.

When the Vera controller is done rebooting (about 1 minute) you should see no errors in this area. If this area is empty, you are good. 

Now you should go back into the module you just set up and see if all of the changes you made are there. If you do not make any additional changes anywhere you will not have to save again.
If everything looks good, you are done. 

You can test it by opening your door or triggering the device you set up the notification on. It should send you a text and or email depending on how you set up your users in the Account / Users section and "Contact Information" settings.

Control Your Home!
Jamr / 007 Systems