Record and save alerts 24/7 but send emails only during a few hours each day

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kengrome
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2021 3:01 am

Record and save alerts 24/7 but send emails only during a few hours each day

Post by kengrome »

I'm having trouble configuring BI to send email alerts only during specific times:

I have 4 cameras, they all currently use Profile 1 and they all record 24/7. So far so good.

Camera 1 is configured to save alerts 24/7. This allows me to review them via UI3 in the evenings. I have this working correctly as well.

I want to receive emails based on these alerts, but I only want to receive these emails from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM daily. The rest of the time I do not want email alerts from this camera. This is the part I do not know how to configure properly ...

How do I make BI limit the sending of these email alert messages to my specified 4-hour time window?
kengrome
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2021 3:01 am

Re: Record and save alerts 24/7 but send emails only during a few hours each day

Post by kengrome »

I'm surprised that in all the years Blue Iris has been around, no one here can show or tell me how to setup 24/7 recording and alerts on one camera, but only have emails sent for those alerts during a specified time of day.

For example, doesn't it make sense to people (other than me) to record and save alerts continually 24/7, but do not send emails for those alerts at certain "do not disturb" times such as while sleeping, or while at work? It sure seems like this would be a common need. Then again, maybe I'm the only one here who's not bright enough to figure this out on my own ... :oops:

Or am I seeking help in the wrong place? Is configuration info like this more likely to be found somewhere else rather than in this forum? If there's another place where I should go in order to learn how to do this, please tell me. Thank you!
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TimG
Posts: 2098
Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2019 10:45 am
Location: Nottinghamshire, UK.

Re: Record and save alerts 24/7 but send emails only during a few hours each day

Post by TimG »

Don't be discouraged. If nobody answers it means we don't know.
This is the official Blue Iris forum, so it is the right place, but we are also users not support employees.
Send an email to support, and please let us know what they say so we can answer it next time.
As for do not disturb times, I set my mobile phone itself for that, so I have never needed it as a setting in BI5.
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Problem ? Ask and we will try to assist, but please check the Help file.
kengrome
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2021 3:01 am

Re: Record and save alerts 24/7 but send emails only during a few hours each day

Post by kengrome »

TimG wrote: Sun Oct 03, 2021 7:07 amDon't be discouraged. If nobody answers it means we don't know.
Okay, thanks.

This is the official Blue Iris forum, so it is the right place, but we are also users not support employees. Send an email to support, and please let us know what they say so we can answer it next time.
My prepaid annual support contract expired more than a year ago. My understanding is that support ignores emails from folks who do not have a current support contract. Is my understanding wrong, or do they actually answer questions from people like me who have expired support contracts? It would certainly be nice if they would respond, even if I have to wait a long time for the paid support folks to get their questions answered first.

As for do not disturb times, I set my mobile phone itself for that, so I have never needed it as a setting in BI5.
Thanks for the thought. Unfortunately this won't work for me since I need my phone to ring 24/7.

I also need to reduce the volume of alert emails I've been getting with 10-second videos attached. The camera that sends my email alerts often sends them a dozen times per hour which overloads my gmail box. After only a few days of having BI send email alerts I actually received a warning from Google that 50% of my free data allotment was used up already!

Bottom line: Since I do not want or need 90-95% of the email alerts I've been getting from this one camera, I think it is better to just configure BI to NOT send them during the times when I do not want or need them. But I still need this camera to record and trigger video 24/7 so I can go back and review the alerts/clips later if necessary.

I guess I will just have to keep looking until I find someone who can help me configure this setting in BI. I'm pretty sure it must be possible since BI is so flexible, but the BI configuration interface is so unintuitive (perhaps only to me) that I get very confused and frustrated when I cannot figure out how to setup something like this correctly.
doa
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Nov 21, 2023 11:50 pm

Re: Record and save alerts 24/7 but send emails only during a few hours each day

Post by doa »

I also am quite surprised this can't be done as I would find it extremely helpful, I don't want alerts clogging up my inbox when I'm here to see them in person.

I thought I may be able to have Gmail filter all my unwanted alerts outside my hours of interest but this also looks impossible.

:( :(
louyo
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2020 1:16 am

Re: Record and save alerts 24/7 but send emails only during a few hours each day

Post by louyo »

Clone the camera. Assign the schedule to meet your needs.
MikeBwca
Posts: 1115
Joined: Thu Jun 20, 2019 5:39 am

Re: Record and save alerts 24/7 but send emails only during a few hours each day

Post by MikeBwca »

Yes, it can be done. I'll expand on using schedules & profiles.


1. In BI Settings Profiles tab... Choose an unused profile and name it 'No Email'. For this example I'll use profile 7 which I have names 'No Alerts'. Which for me means not being alerted by email/sms...

2. In the camera settings Schedule tab, set the time of days to profile 7 that you do not want to receive email.
Easier to post screenshots. Duplicate all settings.
One screenshot is for daytime, the other for nighttime.

Daytime...
Day.png
Day.png (48.19 KiB) Viewed 406 times

Nighttime...
Night.png
Night.png (48.24 KiB) Viewed 406 times

On the cameras settings Alerts tab 'On Alert' button...
Alert.png
Alert.png (33.28 KiB) Viewed 406 times




Please add comments/mistakes/corrections.
MikeBwca
Posts: 1115
Joined: Thu Jun 20, 2019 5:39 am

Re: Record and save alerts 24/7 but send emails only during a few hours each day

Post by MikeBwca »

I would preferer to have an option for each alerts to have DAY/TIME options rather than using profiles.

Why? Because I may prefer to have sms but no email. Or, Toasts and email, but no sms. Using profiles can be tricky.

I havn't suggested this because I don;t think it would be implimented.
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