Set Up Automated Birthday Wishes

🎯 Who this article is for: Channel owners and editors who want to set up automated birthday wishes, and all users who want their birthday to show up correctly.

🔒 Permissions: Only channel owners and editors can configure automated birthday wishes.

💼 Package requirements: Automated birthday wishes are available to Starter, Growth, and Enterprise.

1. Overview

A birthday shout-out only works if someone remembers to post it. Automated birthday wishes take that job off anyone's plate: once it's set up, the channel posts a birthday greeting on its own, on the day it's needed, naming everyone in the channel who's celebrating that day.

It lives in Channel Settings, a few fields away from the Birthday Widget, and it's a separate setting from it. You write the title, the message, and the closing line once, and Happeo fills in the names for you from there on.

2. Use cases

• Never miss a birthday because no one remembered to post: Once automated birthday wishes are set up, the channel handles it every time, whether the person who normally posts is on holiday, busy, or has simply moved teams.
• Keep the tone consistent as the channel grows: Since the title, message, and closing line are written once and reused automatically, every birthday greeting reads the same way, no matter who's celebrating or who would have otherwise written the post.
• Cover multiple birthdays on the same day without extra effort: When more than one person in the channel is celebrating, the post names everyone at once instead of requiring a separate post for each person.

3. Before you begin

• You must be a channel owner or editor to set up automated birthday wishes.
• Birthdays only appear in the automated post once a member has entered their birthday in their own User Settings, the same requirement as the Birthday Widget.
• Automated birthday wishes work independently of the Birthday Widget. You can turn on either one, both, or neither for a channel, and turning one on or off has no effect on the other.
• An admin must have Show birthdays and anniversaries turned on in Admin Settings → People Directory → Settings. If it's off, automated birthday wishes won't go out.

4. How to set up automated birthday wishes

1. Go to a channel where you're a channel owner or editor.
2. Navigate to Channel Settings.
3. Scroll down to Automated birthday wishes.
4. Enter a Title for the post (e.g. Happy birthday!). This is optional and can be left blank.
5. Write a Message. Use {{names}} where you want the names to appear, for example "Happy birthday, dear {{names}}!" becomes "Happy birthday, dear John and Larry!" If you leave {{names}} out, the names are added at the end of the message instead.
6. Add a Closing line (e.g. Best wishes from everyone in the team). This is also optional and can be left blank.
7. Choose a time for Post at, the time of day the post should go out.
8. Select a Time zone. This is the time zone the Post at hour is read in, for everyone in the channel.
9. Click Save. Saving is what turns automated birthday wishes on for the channel. There's no separate on and off switch.

5. Best practices

• Use {{names}}: Placing it mid-sentence, as in "Happy birthday, dear {{names}}!", reads more natural than leaving it out and letting the names default to the end of the message.
• Pick a Post at time that suits the channel, not just one time zone: Since Post at and Time zone together set a single fixed time for everyone in the channel, choose a time that lands during working hours for most of the people in it.
• Match the tone to the channel: A closing line that works for a company-wide channel might feel too formal for a small team channel, and the other way around.

6. Frequently asked questions

7. Troubleshooting