POD Download action - Easy Send Digital

The POD Download action automates the process of downloading proof of deliveries (PODs) to your local environment. Thus, it is intended for users leveraging Certified Mail with Electronic Return Receipt.

Once this action is set up, PODs are downloaded as individual PDF files on a daily basis between 2:00 AM and 5:00 AM in your timezone. In addition to the PODs, you can configure Easy Send Automate to download accompanying metadata in XML, JSON, or CSV format, as well as a piece info report in the form of a PDF for each piece.

Setup

To set up the POD Download action action in Easy Send Automate …

Click Setup on the homepage.
Click Add at the top of the Setup page.

You’ll be brought to the Action Settings page.

Website settings

First, select the URL that contains easysenddigital.com. This represents the production endpoint. The other option in this dropdown represents a test environment and should only be used when troubleshooting with our support team.

Then, within the Easy Send Digital web-app, find your integration credentials. Copy and paste your Integration ID into the Username field and your Integration Key into the Password field. You can see instructions on creating or finding your integration credentials here.

Action settings

Make sure the Enable Action checkbox is checked, then select Easy Send POD Download from the Action dropdown. Once this is selected, you’ll see a few more options appear under the Variables section.

You can choose to add a Description to this action to be able to identify it easier.

Next, select an Output Path. This is the exact location in your local environment where the PODs and any other selected files will be saved.

The Postprocess field is an optional field that allows you to upload a VB script file. This script will run after each POD is downloaded, allowing you to automate any kind of processing you’d like to execute for each file.

Variables

First, check the boxes for the items you would like downloaded. Your options include …

Download POD – Proof of delivery with signature
Download XML Data – Metadata about the piece in XML format
Download JSON Data – Metadata about the piece in JSON format
Download CSV Data – Abbreviated metadata about the piece in CSV format
Download Piece Info – A PDF file that includes information about the piece including USPS events

Next, select Create Complete File if you would like Easy Send Automate to generate a file with the name complete.success when PODs are downloaded successfully or complete.error when an error occurs.

Then, you can define an Optional Folder Mask. This allows you to categorize the downloaded files into folders based on information about that particular piece, such as the user that created it or the date it was mailed. For example, entering [username]_[mailed_date] into this field would result in a folder structure like this:

output_folder/
├── username/
│ └── mailed_date/
│ ├── proof_of_delivery.pdf
│ ├── xml_data.xml
│ ├── json_data.json
│ ├── csv_data.csv
│ └── piece_info.pdf
├── username/
│ └── mailed_date/
│ ├── proof_of_delivery.pdf
│ ├── xml_data.xml
│ ├── json_data.json
│ ├── csv_data.csv
│ └── piece_info.pdf
...

See below for a complete list of the available fields you can use in your names.

Finally, you can define an Optional File Mask. This allows you to fully customize the naming convention for the files that are downloaded. If you choose to leave this field blank, the file names will follow the default naming convention:

POD: [tracking_number]_[mail_date].pdf
XML Data: [tracking_number]_[mail_date].xml
JSON Data: [tracking_number]_[mail_date].json
CSV Data: [tracking_number]_[mail_date].csv
Piece Info: [tracking_number]_[mail_date]_rpt.pdf

To customize the naming convention, use the name of the field in square brackets [ ] as shown above. Note that “_rpt” will always be appended to the name of the piece info report to avoid duplicating the name of the POD. See below for a complete list of the available fields you can use in your names.

Once you’re done, click Save, and your action will be created. You are now set up to have your PODs automatically downloaded to your local environment.

Viewing downloaded PODs

Once the action is set up, you’ve received some PODs, and those PODs have been processed by Easy Send, you’ll see them appear in your designated output folder along with the other files you chose to receive.

File and folder masks

Here is a list of all of the available fields you can use for your File Mask and Folder Mask.

Warning If you create a File Mask that will result in duplicate file names, each new duplicate will override the previous as they are downloaded. To avoid this, make sure to use the available fields and your own text in such a way that each file name will be unique.

Dates

[mail_date] – The date the piece was mailed in the format of ddyyyymm
[mail_date:yyyy] – The date the piece was mailed in the format of yyyy
[mail_date:yyyymm] – The date the piece was mailed in the format of yyyymm
[mail_date:yyyymmdd] – The date the piece was mailed in the format of yyyymmdd
[created_date] – The date the action was ran in the format of ddyyyymm
[created_date:yyyymmddHHmmss] – The date and time the action was ran in the format of yyyymmddhhmmss
[created_date:yyyymmdd] – The date the action was ran in the format of yyyymmdd
[pod_date:yyyymmdd] – The date that the POD was processed by Easy Send in the format of yyyymmdd
[delivered_date:yyyymmdd] – The date that the piece was delivered in the format of yyyymmdd

Piece Info

[id] – A string of numbers that represents the unique ID of the piece
[tracking_number] – The tracking number associated with the piece
[retrefnum] – The return reference number of the piece
[custom1] – Custom field 1 of the piece
[custom2] – Custom field 2 of the piece
[custom3] – Custom field 3 of the piece
[custom4] – Custom field 4 of the piece
[custom5] – Custom field 5 of the piece
[custom6] – Custom field 6 of the piece
[custom7] – Custom field 7 of the piece
[custom8] – Custom field 8 of the piece
[custom9] – Custom field 9 of the piece
[custom10] – Custom field 10 of the piece
[addr1] – The first line of the recipient’s address
[addr2] – The second line of the recipient’s address
[addr3] – The third line of the recipient’s address
[addr4] – The fourth line of the recipient’s address
[addr5] – The fifth line of the recipient’s address
[addr6] – The sixth line of the recipient’s address
[addr7] – The seventh line of the recipient’s address
[addr8] – The eighth line of the recipient’s address
[department] – The name of the department that the user that created the piece belongs to
[username] – The username of the user that created the piece
[restricteddelivery] – 1 if the piece included the Restricted Delivery extra service, 0 if it did not
[deliverytype] – RD if the piece included the Restricted Delivery extra service, UR if it did not

Piece Status

[piecestatusname] – The status of the piece
[piecestatus] – A number representing the status of the piece