diff --git a/.idea/workspace.xml b/.idea/workspace.xml
index e7241e4..1d29bbf 100644
--- a/.idea/workspace.xml
+++ b/.idea/workspace.xml
@@ -1,23 +1,21 @@
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <project version="4">
   <component name="ChangeListManager">
-    <list id="96c9f60a-f0d1-4efd-b93b-4b0d7ad0ef3d" name="New changelist" comment="" />
-    <list default="true" id="6107e266-d2c9-47dc-bdbd-2525af6a826c" name="Default" comment="">
-      <change type="MODIFICATION" beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/demo/tests.xlsx" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/demo/tests.xlsx" />
-      <change type="MODIFICATION" beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/.idea/workspace.xml" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/.idea/workspace.xml" />
-      <change type="MODIFICATION" beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/config/VizAlertsConfig.twb" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/config/VizAlertsConfig.twb" />
-      <change type="MODIFICATION" beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/demo/VizAlertsDemo.twb" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/demo/VizAlertsDemo.twb" />
-      <change type="MODIFICATION" beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/demo/VizAlertsTests.twb" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/demo/VizAlertsTests.twb" />
-      <change type="MODIFICATION" beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/docs/install_guide.md" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/docs/install_guide.md" />
-      <change type="MODIFICATION" beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/docs/user_guide.md" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/docs/user_guide.md" />
-      <change type="MODIFICATION" beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/version_history.txt" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/version_history.txt" />
-      <change type="MODIFICATION" beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/vizalert.py" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/vizalert.py" />
+    <list default="true" id="6107e266-d2c9-47dc-bdbd-2525af6a826c" name="Default" comment="-Support for Python 3.x (Issue #111)&#10;-Fix SMS error handling (Issue #158)">
+      <change beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/.idea/workspace.xml" beforeDir="false" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/.idea/workspace.xml" afterDir="false" />
+      <change beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/docs/install_guide.md" beforeDir="false" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/docs/install_guide.md" afterDir="false" />
+      <change beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/version_history.txt" beforeDir="false" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/version_history.txt" afterDir="false" />
+      <change beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/emailaction.py" beforeDir="false" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/emailaction.py" afterDir="false" />
+      <change beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/smsaction.py" beforeDir="false" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/smsaction.py" afterDir="false" />
+      <change beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/tabhttp.py" beforeDir="false" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/tabhttp.py" afterDir="false" />
+      <change beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/vizalert.py" beforeDir="false" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/vizalert.py" afterDir="false" />
+      <change beforePath="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalerts.py" beforeDir="false" afterPath="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalerts.py" afterDir="false" />
     </list>
+    <list id="96c9f60a-f0d1-4efd-b93b-4b0d7ad0ef3d" name="New changelist" comment="" />
     <ignored path="VizAlerts.iws" />
     <ignored path=".idea/workspace.xml" />
     <ignored mask="Thumbs.db" />
     <option name="EXCLUDED_CONVERTED_TO_IGNORED" value="true" />
-    <option name="TRACKING_ENABLED" value="true" />
     <option name="SHOW_DIALOG" value="false" />
     <option name="HIGHLIGHT_CONFLICTS" value="true" />
     <option name="HIGHLIGHT_NON_ACTIVE_CHANGELIST" value="false" />
@@ -31,69 +29,42 @@
   </component>
   <component name="FileEditorManager">
     <leaf SIDE_TABS_SIZE_LIMIT_KEY="300">
-      <file leaf-file-name="vizalerts.py" pinned="false" current-in-tab="true">
+      <file pinned="false" current-in-tab="false">
         <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalerts.py">
           <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-            <state relative-caret-position="70">
-              <caret line="436" column="20" lean-forward="true" selection-start-line="436" selection-start-column="20" selection-end-line="436" selection-end-column="20" />
-              <folding>
-                <element signature="e#234#248#0" expanded="true" />
-                <element signature="e#15845#18734#0" expanded="false" />
-              </folding>
+            <state relative-caret-position="85">
+              <caret line="5" column="32" selection-start-line="5" selection-start-column="32" selection-end-line="5" selection-end-column="32" />
             </state>
           </provider>
         </entry>
       </file>
-      <file leaf-file-name="tabhttp.py" pinned="false" current-in-tab="false">
+      <file pinned="false" current-in-tab="false">
         <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/tabhttp.py">
-          <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-            <state relative-caret-position="0">
-              <caret line="0" column="0" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="0" selection-start-column="0" selection-end-line="0" selection-end-column="0" />
-              <folding />
-            </state>
-          </provider>
+          <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor" />
         </entry>
       </file>
-      <file leaf-file-name="vizalert.py" pinned="false" current-in-tab="false">
+      <file pinned="false" current-in-tab="false">
         <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/vizalert.py">
-          <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-            <state relative-caret-position="0">
-              <caret line="0" column="0" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="0" selection-start-column="0" selection-end-line="0" selection-end-column="0" />
-              <folding>
-                <marker date="1547570109879" expanded="true" signature="87231:87244" ph="..." />
-              </folding>
-            </state>
-          </provider>
-        </entry>
-      </file>
-      <file leaf-file-name="vizalerts.py" pinned="false" current-in-tab="false">
-        <entry file="file://C:/Utility/VizAlerts-2.1.1/vizalerts.py">
-          <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-            <state relative-caret-position="340">
-              <caret line="41" column="0" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="41" selection-start-column="0" selection-end-line="41" selection-end-column="0" />
-              <folding />
-            </state>
-          </provider>
+          <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor" />
         </entry>
       </file>
-      <file leaf-file-name="version_history.txt" pinned="false" current-in-tab="false">
+      <file pinned="false" current-in-tab="false">
         <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/version_history.txt">
           <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
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-              <caret line="0" column="0" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="0" selection-start-column="0" selection-end-line="0" selection-end-column="0" />
-              <folding />
+            <state relative-caret-position="51">
+              <caret line="3" lean-forward="true" selection-start-line="3" selection-end-line="3" />
             </state>
           </provider>
         </entry>
       </file>
-      <file leaf-file-name="views_test.py" pinned="false" current-in-tab="false">
-        <entry file="file://C:/Egnyte/Private/mcoles/Hackathon-052018/views_test.py">
-          <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-            <state relative-caret-position="1479">
-              <caret line="92" column="0" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="92" selection-start-column="0" selection-end-line="93" selection-end-column="26" />
-              <folding>
-                <element signature="e#1#10#0" expanded="true" />
-              </folding>
+      <file pinned="false" current-in-tab="true">
+        <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/docs/install_guide.md">
+          <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="split-provider[text-editor;markdown-preview-editor]">
+            <state split_layout="SPLIT">
+              <first_editor>
+                <caret column="38" lean-forward="true" selection-start-column="38" selection-end-column="38" />
+              </first_editor>
+              <second_editor />
             </state>
           </provider>
         </entry>
@@ -129,10 +100,11 @@
     </findStrings>
   </component>
   <component name="Git.Settings">
+    <option name="ROOT_SYNC" value="DONT_SYNC" />
     <option name="RECENT_GIT_ROOT_PATH" value="$PROJECT_DIR$" />
     <option name="RECENT_BRANCH_BY_REPOSITORY">
       <map>
-        <entry key="$PROJECT_DIR$" value="master" />
+        <entry key="$PROJECT_DIR$" value="development" />
       </map>
     </option>
   </component>
@@ -147,7 +119,7 @@
         <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/setup.py" />
         <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/setup.py" />
         <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/build.bat" />
-        <option value="D:/Python27/Lib/site-packages/twilio/http/__init__.py" />
+        <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/../Python27/Lib/site-packages/twilio/http/__init__.py" />
         <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/smsaction.py" />
         <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/vizalert.py" />
         <option value="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalerts.py" />
@@ -162,17 +134,8 @@
     <option name="height" value="1567" />
   </component>
   <component name="ProjectView">
-    <navigator currentView="ProjectPane" proportions="" version="1">
-      <flattenPackages />
+    <navigator proportions="" version="1">
       <showMembers ProjectPane="true" />
-      <showModules />
-      <showLibraryContents />
-      <hideEmptyPackages />
-      <abbreviatePackageNames />
-      <autoscrollToSource />
-      <autoscrollFromSource />
-      <sortByType />
-      <manualOrder />
       <foldersAlwaysOnTop value="true" />
     </navigator>
     <panes>
@@ -188,26 +151,15 @@
               <item name="VizAlertsClean" type="462c0819:PsiDirectoryNode" />
               <item name="vizalert" type="462c0819:PsiDirectoryNode" />
             </path>
-            <path>
-              <item name="VizAlertsClean" type="b2602c69:ProjectViewProjectNode" />
-              <item name="VizAlertsClean" type="462c0819:PsiDirectoryNode" />
-              <item name="vizalerts.py" type="8704e2dd:PyFileNode" />
-            </path>
-            <path>
-              <item name="VizAlertsClean" type="b2602c69:ProjectViewProjectNode" />
-              <item name="VizAlertsClean" type="462c0819:PsiDirectoryNode" />
-              <item name="vizalerts.py" type="8704e2dd:PyFileNode" />
-              <item name="VizAlertWorker" type="dd8bbb05:PyElementNode" />
-            </path>
           </expand>
           <select />
         </subPane>
       </pane>
       <pane id="Scope" />
-      <pane id="Scratches" />
     </panes>
   </component>
   <component name="PropertiesComponent">
+    <property name="SHARE_PROJECT_CONFIGURATION_FILES" value="true" />
     <property name="last_opened_file_path" value="$PROJECT_DIR$" />
     <property name="settings.editor.selected.configurable" value="vcs.Git" />
   </component>
@@ -231,36 +183,7 @@
       </list>
     </option>
   </component>
-  <component name="RunManager" selected="Python.vizalerts">
-    <configuration default="true" type="PythonConfigurationType" factoryName="Python">
-      <option name="INTERPRETER_OPTIONS" value="" />
-      <option name="PARENT_ENVS" value="true" />
-      <envs>
-        <env name="PYTHONUNBUFFERED" value="1" />
-      </envs>
-      <option name="SDK_HOME" value="" />
-      <option name="WORKING_DIRECTORY" value="" />
-      <option name="IS_MODULE_SDK" value="false" />
-      <option name="ADD_CONTENT_ROOTS" value="true" />
-      <option name="ADD_SOURCE_ROOTS" value="true" />
-      <module name="VizAlerts" />
-      <option name="SCRIPT_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="PARAMETERS" value="" />
-      <option name="SHOW_COMMAND_LINE" value="false" />
-      <method />
-    </configuration>
-    <configuration default="true" type="Tox" factoryName="Tox">
-      <option name="INTERPRETER_OPTIONS" value="" />
-      <option name="PARENT_ENVS" value="true" />
-      <envs />
-      <option name="SDK_HOME" value="" />
-      <option name="WORKING_DIRECTORY" value="" />
-      <option name="IS_MODULE_SDK" value="false" />
-      <option name="ADD_CONTENT_ROOTS" value="true" />
-      <option name="ADD_SOURCE_ROOTS" value="true" />
-      <module name="VizAlerts" />
-      <method />
-    </configuration>
+  <component name="RunManager">
     <configuration default="true" type="tests" factoryName="Attests">
       <option name="INTERPRETER_OPTIONS" value="" />
       <option name="PARENT_ENVS" value="true" />
@@ -280,93 +203,8 @@
       <option name="USE_PATTERN" value="false" />
       <method />
     </configuration>
-    <configuration default="true" type="tests" factoryName="Doctests">
-      <option name="INTERPRETER_OPTIONS" value="" />
-      <option name="PARENT_ENVS" value="true" />
-      <envs />
-      <option name="SDK_HOME" value="" />
-      <option name="WORKING_DIRECTORY" value="" />
-      <option name="IS_MODULE_SDK" value="false" />
-      <option name="ADD_CONTENT_ROOTS" value="true" />
-      <option name="ADD_SOURCE_ROOTS" value="true" />
-      <module name="VizAlerts" />
-      <option name="SCRIPT_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="CLASS_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="METHOD_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="FOLDER_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="TEST_TYPE" value="TEST_SCRIPT" />
-      <option name="PATTERN" value="" />
-      <option name="USE_PATTERN" value="false" />
-      <method />
-    </configuration>
-    <configuration default="true" type="tests" factoryName="Nosetests">
-      <option name="INTERPRETER_OPTIONS" value="" />
-      <option name="PARENT_ENVS" value="true" />
-      <envs />
-      <option name="SDK_HOME" value="" />
-      <option name="WORKING_DIRECTORY" value="" />
-      <option name="IS_MODULE_SDK" value="false" />
-      <option name="ADD_CONTENT_ROOTS" value="true" />
-      <option name="ADD_SOURCE_ROOTS" value="true" />
-      <module name="VizAlerts" />
-      <option name="SCRIPT_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="CLASS_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="METHOD_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="FOLDER_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="TEST_TYPE" value="TEST_SCRIPT" />
-      <option name="PATTERN" value="" />
-      <option name="USE_PATTERN" value="false" />
-      <option name="PARAMS" value="" />
-      <option name="USE_PARAM" value="false" />
-      <method />
-    </configuration>
-    <configuration default="true" type="tests" factoryName="Unittests">
-      <option name="INTERPRETER_OPTIONS" value="" />
-      <option name="PARENT_ENVS" value="true" />
-      <envs />
-      <option name="SDK_HOME" value="" />
-      <option name="WORKING_DIRECTORY" value="" />
-      <option name="IS_MODULE_SDK" value="false" />
-      <option name="ADD_CONTENT_ROOTS" value="true" />
-      <option name="ADD_SOURCE_ROOTS" value="true" />
-      <module name="VizAlerts" />
-      <option name="SCRIPT_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="CLASS_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="METHOD_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="FOLDER_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="TEST_TYPE" value="TEST_SCRIPT" />
-      <option name="PATTERN" value="" />
-      <option name="USE_PATTERN" value="false" />
-      <option name="PUREUNITTEST" value="true" />
-      <option name="PARAMS" value="" />
-      <option name="USE_PARAM" value="false" />
-      <method />
-    </configuration>
-    <configuration default="true" type="tests" factoryName="py.test">
-      <option name="INTERPRETER_OPTIONS" value="" />
-      <option name="PARENT_ENVS" value="true" />
-      <envs />
-      <option name="SDK_HOME" value="" />
-      <option name="WORKING_DIRECTORY" value="" />
-      <option name="IS_MODULE_SDK" value="false" />
-      <option name="ADD_CONTENT_ROOTS" value="true" />
-      <option name="ADD_SOURCE_ROOTS" value="true" />
-      <module name="VizAlerts" />
-      <option name="SCRIPT_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="CLASS_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="METHOD_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="FOLDER_NAME" value="" />
-      <option name="TEST_TYPE" value="TEST_SCRIPT" />
-      <option name="PATTERN" value="" />
-      <option name="USE_PATTERN" value="false" />
-      <option name="testToRun" value="" />
-      <option name="keywords" value="" />
-      <option name="params" value="" />
-      <option name="USE_PARAM" value="false" />
-      <option name="USE_KEYWORD" value="false" />
-      <method />
-    </configuration>
     <configuration name="vizalerts" type="PythonConfigurationType" factoryName="Python" temporary="true">
+      <module name="VizAlerts" />
       <option name="INTERPRETER_OPTIONS" value="" />
       <option name="PARENT_ENVS" value="true" />
       <envs>
@@ -377,21 +215,21 @@
       <option name="IS_MODULE_SDK" value="true" />
       <option name="ADD_CONTENT_ROOTS" value="true" />
       <option name="ADD_SOURCE_ROOTS" value="true" />
-      <module name="VizAlerts" />
       <option name="SCRIPT_NAME" value="$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalerts.py" />
       <option name="PARAMETERS" value="" />
       <option name="SHOW_COMMAND_LINE" value="false" />
       <option name="EMULATE_TERMINAL" value="false" />
+      <option name="MODULE_MODE" value="false" />
+      <option name="REDIRECT_INPUT" value="false" />
+      <option name="INPUT_FILE" value="" />
+      <method v="2" />
     </configuration>
     <recent_temporary>
-      <list size="1">
-        <item index="0" class="java.lang.String" itemvalue="Python.vizalerts" />
+      <list>
+        <item itemvalue="Python.vizalerts" />
       </list>
     </recent_temporary>
   </component>
-  <component name="ShelveChangesManager" show_recycled="false">
-    <option name="remove_strategy" value="false" />
-  </component>
   <component name="SvnConfiguration">
     <configuration />
   </component>
@@ -635,50 +473,70 @@
       <option name="project" value="LOCAL" />
       <updated>1517586661506</updated>
     </task>
-    <option name="localTasksCounter" value="34" />
+    <task id="LOCAL-00034" summary="Fix for 2019.1 compatibility and a few other minor bugs / doc updates">
+      <created>1548171491371</created>
+      <option name="number" value="00034" />
+      <option name="presentableId" value="LOCAL-00034" />
+      <option name="project" value="LOCAL" />
+      <updated>1548171491371</updated>
+    </task>
+    <task id="LOCAL-00035" summary="Updating upgrade instructions">
+      <created>1548188160503</created>
+      <option name="number" value="00035" />
+      <option name="presentableId" value="LOCAL-00035" />
+      <option name="project" value="LOCAL" />
+      <updated>1548188160503</updated>
+    </task>
+    <task id="LOCAL-00036" summary="-Support for Python 3.x (Issue #111)&#10;-Fix SMS error handling (Issue #158)">
+      <created>1592242619321</created>
+      <option name="number" value="00036" />
+      <option name="presentableId" value="LOCAL-00036" />
+      <option name="project" value="LOCAL" />
+      <updated>1592242619321</updated>
+    </task>
+    <option name="localTasksCounter" value="37" />
     <servers />
   </component>
   <component name="ToolWindowManager">
-    <frame x="-8" y="-8" width="1616" height="876" extended-state="6" />
-    <editor active="true" />
+    <frame x="-8" y="-8" width="3456" height="1416" extended-state="6" />
     <layout>
-      <window_info id="Project" active="false" anchor="left" auto_hide="false" internal_type="DOCKED" type="DOCKED" visible="true" show_stripe_button="true" weight="0.18875" sideWeight="0.5" order="0" side_tool="false" content_ui="combo" />
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+          <caret line="21" column="84" selection-start-line="21" selection-start-column="84" selection-end-line="21" selection-end-column="84" />
         </state>
       </provider>
     </entry>
     <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/emailaction.py">
-      <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-        <state relative-caret-position="0">
-          <caret line="0" column="0" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="0" selection-start-column="0" selection-end-line="0" selection-end-column="0" />
-        </state>
-      </provider>
-    </entry>
-    <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/docs/install_guide.md">
-      <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-        <state relative-caret-position="2482">
-          <caret line="146" column="25" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="146" selection-start-column="25" selection-end-line="146" selection-end-column="25" />
-        </state>
-      </provider>
+      <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor" />
     </entry>
     <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/setup.py" />
-    <entry file="file://D:/Python27/Lib/site-packages/twilio/__init__.py">
-      <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-        <state relative-caret-position="0">
-          <caret line="0" column="0" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="0" selection-start-column="0" selection-end-line="0" selection-end-column="0" />
-        </state>
-      </provider>
-    </entry>
-    <entry file="file://D:/Python27/Lib/site-packages/twilio/rest/__init__.py">
-      <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-        <state relative-caret-position="187">
-          <caret line="11" column="21" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="11" selection-start-column="21" selection-end-line="11" selection-end-column="21" />
-        </state>
-      </provider>
-    </entry>
+    <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/../Python27/Lib/site-packages/twilio/__init__.py" />
+    <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/../Python27/Lib/site-packages/twilio/rest/__init__.py" />
     <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalerts.spec">
       <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
         <state relative-caret-position="51">
-          <caret line="3" column="0" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="3" selection-start-column="0" selection-end-line="3" selection-end-column="0" />
+          <caret line="3" selection-start-line="3" selection-end-line="3" />
         </state>
       </provider>
     </entry>
     <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/setup.py">
       <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
         <state relative-caret-position="136">
-          <caret line="10" column="1" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="10" selection-start-column="1" selection-end-line="10" selection-end-column="1" />
+          <caret line="10" column="1" selection-start-line="10" selection-start-column="1" selection-end-line="10" selection-end-column="1" />
         </state>
       </provider>
     </entry>
     <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/build.bat">
       <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
         <state relative-caret-position="612">
-          <caret line="36" column="43" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="36" selection-start-column="43" selection-end-line="36" selection-end-column="43" />
-        </state>
-      </provider>
-    </entry>
-    <entry file="file://D:/Python27/Lib/site-packages/twilio/http/__init__.py">
-      <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-        <state relative-caret-position="323">
-          <caret line="19" column="0" lean-forward="true" selection-start-line="19" selection-start-column="0" selection-end-line="19" selection-end-column="0" />
+          <caret line="36" column="43" selection-start-line="36" selection-start-column="43" selection-end-line="36" selection-end-column="43" />
         </state>
       </provider>
     </entry>
+    <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/../Python27/Lib/site-packages/twilio/http/__init__.py" />
     <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/smsaction.py">
       <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
         <state relative-caret-position="833">
-          <caret line="57" column="36" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="57" selection-start-column="36" selection-end-line="57" selection-end-column="36" />
+          <caret line="57" column="36" selection-start-line="57" selection-start-column="36" selection-end-line="57" selection-end-column="36" />
         </state>
       </provider>
     </entry>
-    <entry file="file://C:/Utility/VizAlerts-1.1.1/vizalerts.py">
+    <entry file="file://C:/Utility/VizAlerts-1.1.1/vizalerts.py" />
+    <entry file="file://C:/Utility/VizAlerts-2.1.1/vizalerts.py" />
+    <entry file="file://C:/Egnyte/Private/mcoles/Hackathon-052018/views_test.py" />
+    <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalerts.py">
       <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-        <state relative-caret-position="557">
-          <caret line="1087" column="7" lean-forward="true" selection-start-line="1087" selection-start-column="7" selection-end-line="1087" selection-end-column="7" />
+        <state relative-caret-position="85">
+          <caret line="5" column="32" selection-start-line="5" selection-start-column="32" selection-end-line="5" selection-end-column="32" />
         </state>
       </provider>
     </entry>
     <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/tabhttp.py">
-      <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-        <state relative-caret-position="0">
-          <caret line="0" column="0" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="0" selection-start-column="0" selection-end-line="0" selection-end-column="0" />
-          <folding />
-        </state>
-      </provider>
+      <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor" />
     </entry>
     <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalert/vizalert.py">
-      <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-        <state relative-caret-position="0">
-          <caret line="0" column="0" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="0" selection-start-column="0" selection-end-line="0" selection-end-column="0" />
-          <folding>
-            <marker date="1547570109879" expanded="true" signature="87231:87244" ph="..." />
-          </folding>
-        </state>
-      </provider>
+      <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor" />
     </entry>
-    <entry file="file://C:/Utility/VizAlerts-2.1.1/vizalerts.py">
-      <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-        <state relative-caret-position="340">
-          <caret line="41" column="0" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="41" selection-start-column="0" selection-end-line="41" selection-end-column="0" />
-          <folding />
-        </state>
-      </provider>
-    </entry>
-    <entry file="file://C:/Egnyte/Private/mcoles/Hackathon-052018/views_test.py">
+    <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/version_history.txt">
       <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-        <state relative-caret-position="1479">
-          <caret line="92" column="0" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="92" selection-start-column="0" selection-end-line="93" selection-end-column="26" />
-          <folding>
-            <element signature="e#1#10#0" expanded="true" />
-          </folding>
+        <state relative-caret-position="51">
+          <caret line="3" lean-forward="true" selection-start-line="3" selection-end-line="3" />
         </state>
       </provider>
     </entry>
-    <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/version_history.txt">
-      <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-        <state relative-caret-position="0">
-          <caret line="0" column="0" lean-forward="false" selection-start-line="0" selection-start-column="0" selection-end-line="0" selection-end-column="0" />
-          <folding />
+    <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/docs/install_guide.md">
+      <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="split-provider[text-editor;markdown-preview-editor]">
+        <state split_layout="SPLIT">
+          <first_editor>
+            <caret column="38" lean-forward="true" selection-start-column="38" selection-end-column="38" />
+          </first_editor>
+          <second_editor />
         </state>
       </provider>
-    </entry>
-    <entry file="file://$PROJECT_DIR$/vizalerts.py">
-      <provider selected="true" editor-type-id="text-editor">
-        <state relative-caret-position="70">
-          <caret line="436" column="20" lean-forward="true" selection-start-line="436" selection-start-column="20" selection-end-line="436" selection-end-column="20" />
-          <folding>
-            <element signature="e#234#248#0" expanded="true" />
-            <element signature="e#15845#18734#0" expanded="false" />
-          </folding>
+      <provider editor-type-id="text-editor">
+        <state relative-caret-position="1649">
+          <caret line="97" lean-forward="true" selection-start-line="97" selection-end-line="97" />
         </state>
       </provider>
     </entry>
diff --git a/build.bat b/build.bat
index 94ac7c1..9c5555b 100644
--- a/build.bat
+++ b/build.bat
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-del .\dist\*.* /F /Q /S
-python .\setup.py py2exe
+rmdir .\dist /Q /S
+pyinstaller vizalerts.py --onefile --clean --workpath .\dist\work
 
 mkdir .\dist\vizalerts
 pushd .\dist\vizalerts
diff --git a/config/VizAlertsConfig.twb b/config/VizAlertsConfig.twb
index f3331b4..dde779b 100644
--- a/config/VizAlertsConfig.twb
+++ b/config/VizAlertsConfig.twb
@@ -1261,7 +1261,7 @@
         </desc>
       </column>
       <column caption='is_valid_schedule' datatype='boolean' name='[Calculation_5911012080139041]' role='dimension' type='nominal'>
-        <calculation class='tableau' formula='ISNULL(schedule_id) // this is a test alert, so that&apos;s okay&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;// naming pattern to recognized VizAlerts schedules. feel free to edit. &#13;&#10;// Note that the schedules MUST be set to &quot;disabled&quot; in Tableau Server--this is required by the Custom SQL connection&#13;&#10;//   ... which you should NOT change.&#13;&#10;    OR CONTAINS(LOWER(schedule_name), LOWER([Parameters].[Parameter 9]))' scope-isolation='false' />
+        <calculation class='tableau' formula='[subscription_id] &lt; 0 // this is a test alert&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;// naming pattern to recognized VizAlerts schedules. feel free to edit. &#13;&#10;// Note that the schedules MUST be set to &quot;disabled&quot; in Tableau Server--this is required by the Custom SQL connection&#13;&#10;//   ... which you should NOT change.&#13;&#10;    OR CONTAINS(LOWER(schedule_name), LOWER([Parameters].[Parameter 9]))' scope-isolation='false' />
         <desc>
           <formatted-text>
             <run>Determines which Tableau Server subscription schedules are reserved for VizAlerts.&#10;&#10;Note that only </run>
@@ -2286,7 +2286,7 @@
               </desc>
             </column>
             <column caption='is_valid_schedule' datatype='boolean' name='[Calculation_5911012080139041]' role='dimension' type='nominal'>
-              <calculation class='tableau' formula='ISNULL(schedule_id) // this is a test alert, so that&apos;s okay&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;// naming pattern to recognized VizAlerts schedules. feel free to edit. &#13;&#10;// Note that the schedules MUST be set to &quot;disabled&quot; in Tableau Server--this is required by the Custom SQL connection&#13;&#10;//   ... which you should NOT change.&#13;&#10;    OR CONTAINS(LOWER(schedule_name), LOWER([Parameters].[Parameter 9]))' scope-isolation='false' />
+              <calculation class='tableau' formula='[subscription_id] &lt; 0 // this is a test alert, so that&apos;s okay&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;// naming pattern to recognized VizAlerts schedules. feel free to edit. &#13;&#10;// Note that the schedules MUST be set to &quot;disabled&quot; in Tableau Server--this is required by the Custom SQL connection&#13;&#10;//   ... which you should NOT change.&#13;&#10;    OR CONTAINS(LOWER(schedule_name), LOWER([Parameters].[Parameter 9]))' scope-isolation='false' />
               <desc>
                 <formatted-text>
                   <run>Determines which Tableau Server subscription schedules are reserved for VizAlerts.&#10;&#10;Note that only </run>
diff --git a/docs/install_guide.md b/docs/install_guide.md
index 3dce66b..44e227d 100644
--- a/docs/install_guide.md
+++ b/docs/install_guide.md
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ Tableau – VizAlerts Installation Guide
 -  [What is VizAlerts?](#what-is-vizalerts)
 -  [What does it do?](#what-does-it-do)
 -  [How does it work?](#how-does-it-work)
--  [Upgrading from VizAlerts 2.1.0](#upgrading-from-vizalerts-2_1_0)
+-  [Upgrading from VizAlerts 2.1.1](#upgrading-from-vizalerts-2_1_1)
 -  [Installation Prerequisites](#installation-prerequisites)
 	- [Tableau Server](#tableau-server)
 	- [Tableau Desktop](#tableau-desktop)
@@ -131,50 +131,64 @@ The general flow of a single execution of VizAlerts goes like this:
             instructed by the data itself.
 
 
-Upgrading from VizAlerts 2.1.0<a id="upgrading-from-vizalerts-2_1_0"></a>
+Upgrading from VizAlerts 2.1.1<a id="upgrading-from-vizalerts-2_1_1"></a>
 =====================================
 
+**NOTE** There are two important changes in this release: 
+
+-   A fix to the VizAlertsConfig workbook for Tableau Server 2020.4.1
+
+-   Switch from Python 2 to Python 3
+
+If you are running VizAlerts with the binary EXE file, and are not using Tableau Server 2020.4 or higher, there is little reason to upgrade to 2.2.0.
+If you are running it as a Python script, it is recommended that you upgrade, as Python 2 has been discontinued.
+If you are upgrading to Tableau Server 2020.4 or higher, you can choose to upgrade VizAlerts, or [edit your VizAlertsConfig workbook](https://github.com/tableau/VizAlerts/issues/175) instead (the simpler solution).
+
+Upgrading to VizAlerts 2.2.0 when running as a Python script will require installing Python 3. My own experience was that it is best that you first remove Python 2 from your system by uninstalling it, and removing all references to it from your environment variables. Then, you need to [install Python 3](#install-python-required-modules). Please be aware that uninstalling Python 2 will begin a VizAlerts outage, so please TEST on a separate server first, and plan your deployment accordingly.
+
 1. Backup your current VizAlerts directory to a separate location.
 
-2. Download version 2.1.1 from <https://github.com/tableau/VizAlerts/releases>, and unzip to a *new* folder alongside your existing VizAlerts folder. You should have three folders at this point: The live, current installation, the backup of the current installation, and a new folder you unzipped v2.1.1 into.
+2. Download version 2.2.0 from <https://github.com/tableau/VizAlerts/releases>, and unzip to a *new* folder alongside your existing VizAlerts folder. You should have three folders at this point: The live, current installation, the backup of the current installation, and a new folder you unzipped v2.2.0 into.
 
 3. Merge VizAlertsConfig changes into new workbook
-	- There is a new version of \config\VizAlertsConfig.twb that contains a new Custom SQL query. It's easiest to simply drop this into your existing VizAlertsConfig workbook. To do so, here are the steps:
+	- There is a new version of \config\VizAlertsConfig.twb that contains an edit to the _is_valid_schedule_ calc. It's easiest to simply drop this minor change into your existing VizAlertsConfig workbook. To do so, here are the steps:
 		- Download your existing VizAlertsConfig workbook from Tableau Server and open it in Tableau Desktop
-		- Locate the *new* VizAlertsConfig workbook from the new VizAlerts folder, in the config subfolder, and open it in Tableau Desktop (you'll need to edit the connection to point to your Tableau Server postgreSQL database)
-		- Edit the connection in the new VizAlertsConfig workbook, then edit the one table in the connection pane. This will open the Custom SQL dialog.
-		- Copy the Custom SQL Query.  
-		- Carefully update your *current* VizAlertsConfig workbook with the new Custom SQL query.
-		- Now re-publish the current VizAlertsConfig workbook to Tableau Server, **making sure** that you are embedding the password in the connection. This will not break v2.1.0 of VizAlerts.
+		- Edit the _is_valid_schedule_ calc in your VizAlertsConfig workbook so that the first line is **[subscription_id] < 0** rather than **ISNULL(schedule_id)**
+		- Now re-publish the current VizAlertsConfig workbook to Tableau Server, **making sure** that you are embedding the password in the connection. This will _not_ break v2.1.1 of VizAlerts.
 <br><br>
 
-4. Copy config files
+4. Copy other config files
 	- Copy the \config\vizalerts.yaml file from your *current* VizAlerts folder *over* the same file in the *new* VizAlerts folder
 		- No changes were made to this file, so it will work just fine the way it is
 	- If you're using SSL to connect to Tableau Server, and have a certificate file you're storing in the VizAlerts folder, make sure it's copied to the new location
 	- If you've referenced any other files for passwords or anything else, make sure they're copied as well.
 <br><br>
+
 5. In Task Scheduler, disable the existing VizAlerts scheduled task.
 
 6. <font color='red'>**VizAlerts outage begins**</font>
 
-7. If you didn't already publish the updated version of VizAlertsConfig, publish it now, ensuring that you embed the password when you publish it!
+7. Uninstall Python 2, and remove references to it from your environmental variables (again, this is optional, but should make things simpler--if you're a power user that knows Python inside and out, feel free to disregard)
+
+8. Download and install Python 3 and [required modules](#install-python-required-modules)
+
+9. If you didn't already publish the updated version of VizAlertsConfig, publish it now, ensuring that you embed the password when you publish it!
 
-8. Rename folders
+10. Rename folders
 	- Rename the existing VizAlerts folder with something like "-old" at the end of it
 	- Rename the new VizAlerts folder whatever the old one was called
 <br><br>
-9. Testing
+11. Testing
 	- Open a command prompt, navigate to the VizAlerts folder, and execute VizAlerts one time. Ensure it runs properly, and review the logs if there are any errors.
 	- Test a single alert by adding a test\_alert comment to a viz, and then run it again in the command prompt, again ensuring that no errors are logged.
 <br><br>
-10. **Optional**: If you want to ensure that no alerts were skipped during the upgrade, copy the \ops\vizalerts.state file from the -old VizAlerts folder to the current one.
+12. **Optional**: If you want to ensure that no alerts were skipped during the upgrade, copy the \ops\vizalerts.state file from the -old VizAlerts folder to the current one.
 
-11. In Task Scheduler, enable the VizAlerts task
+13. In Task Scheduler, enable the VizAlerts task
 
-12. <font color='green'>**VizAlerts outage ends**</font>
+14. <font color='green'>**VizAlerts outage ends**</font>
 
-13. Remove the -old VizAlerts folder and any backups you made, whenever you feel comfortable
+15. Remove the -old VizAlerts folder and any backups you made, whenever you feel comfortable
 
 
 Installation Prerequisites <a id="installation-prerequisites"></a>
@@ -806,26 +820,16 @@ Here’s how to publish the workbook:
 Optional: Install Python & Required Modules <a id="install-python-required-modules"></a>
 -----------------------------------
 
-If you wish to run VizAlerts as a Python script rather than a binary executable, you will need to follow these steps. Otherwise, you can skip this section. Note that the rest of the documentation assumes that you are running the binary executable, so whenever you see instructions to run vizalerts.exe, know that you'll need to use *python .\vizalerts.py* instead.
+If you wish to run VizAlerts as a Python script rather than a binary executable, you will need to follow these steps. Otherwise, you can skip this section. Note that the rest of the documentation assumes that you are running the binary executable, so whenever you see instructions to run vizalerts.exe, know that you'll need to use *python .\vizalerts.py* instead. Additionally, please note that while these instructions are specific to Windows, VizAlerts can also be run on Linux.
 
-1.  On the Windows host you want to run VizAlerts from, download and install Python 2.7. This can be done in multiple ways, but we suggest this MSI installer: <https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.13/python-2.7.13.msi>
+1.  On the host you want to run VizAlerts from, download and install Python 3.7 or higher. This can be done in multiple ways, but we suggest the MSI installer from: <https://www.python.org/downloads/>. While it's possible to run two separate versions of Python, VizAlerts is only compatible with 3.7 and above, and it can be very confusing to sort out issues when both versions are installed on your machine.
 
-2.  Add ";C:\\Python27\\;C:\\Python27\\Scripts\\" to your Path environment variable (assuming you chose the installation defaults when installing Python)
+2.  It's recommended that you ensure that Python is added to your environmental PATH variable, when given that option in the installer.
 
-3.  Install the following Python modules:
+3.  Install the necessary Python modules by running the following commands:
 
-    1.  [PyYAML](http://pyyaml.org/) (recommended: <http://pyyaml.org/download/pyyaml/PyYAML-3.11.win32-py2.7.exe> )
-
-    2.  The final five modules,
-        [requests](http://docs.python-requests.org/en/latest/user/install/#install),
-        [requests\_ntlm](https://github.com/requests/requests-ntlm/),
-        [pypdf2](https://github.com/mstamy2/PyPDF2),
-        [twilio](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/twilio), and
-        [phonenumberslite](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/phonenumberslite),
-        are best installed by opening a *new* command prompt and running
-        the following commands:  
-          
-        pip install requests  
+        pip install pyyaml
+        pip install requests
         pip install requests\_ntlm  
         pip install pypdf2  
         pip install twilio  
@@ -834,18 +838,18 @@ If you wish to run VizAlerts as a Python script rather than a binary executable,
         *  If your computer does not have access to the Internet, see
         [Appendix A](#_Appendix_A).<br><br>
 
-    3.  **Note**: Despite the requirement to install the last two
-        modules, deciding whether to *enable* the Twilio SMS integration
-        feature is up to you—either at the environment level, or at more
-        flexible sub-levels. Enabling the Twilio SMS integration
-        requires a Twilio account (free accounts are available).  
-          
-        Also, please also note that it’s possible to send SMS messages
-        *without* Twilio, as short email messages to subscribers who’s
-        mobile network providers have an email-to-SMS gateway available.
-        For example, <xxxxxxxxxx@txt.att.net> works in the USA. See the
-        SMS Actions section of the VizAlerts User Guide for
-        more details.
+    **Note**: Despite the requirement to install the last two
+    modules, deciding whether to *enable* the Twilio SMS integration
+    feature is up to you—either at the environment level, or at more
+    flexible sub-levels. Enabling the Twilio SMS integration
+    requires a Twilio account (free accounts are available).  
+      
+    Also, please also note that it’s possible to send SMS messages
+    *without* Twilio, as short email messages to subscribers who’s
+    mobile network providers have an email-to-SMS gateway available.
+    For example, <xxxxxxxxxx@txt.att.net> works in the USA. See the
+    SMS Actions section of the VizAlerts User Guide for
+    more details.
 
 Configure VizAlerts <a id="configure-vizalerts"></a>
 -------------------
@@ -1413,6 +1417,8 @@ you’ll be running VizAlerts from.
     path they download to). These function as basically offline package
     repositories:
 
+    *pip install --download c:\\mypythonpackages pyyaml*
+
     *pip install --download c:\\mypythonpackages requests*
 
     *pip install --download c:\\mypythonpackages requests\_ntlm*
@@ -1430,6 +1436,9 @@ you’ll be running VizAlerts from.
 4.  On your offline machine, install the package from the newly copied
     folder:
 
+    *pip install --no-index --find-links file:c:\\mypythonpackages
+    pyyaml*
+
     *pip install --no-index --find-links file:c:\\mypythonpackages
     requests*
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 332c9c2..50513ce 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 import os
 
 includes = []
-includefiles = os.listdir('D:\\Python27\\Lib\\site-packages\\phonenumbers\\data')
+includefiles = os.listdir('C:\\Python38\\Lib\\site-packages\\phonenumbers\\data')
 for file in includefiles:
     if file.endswith('.py'):
         includes.append('phonenumbers.data.' + file.replace('.py', ''))
diff --git a/tabUtil/__init__.py b/tabUtil/__init__.py
index a2a243c..d2de99a 100644
--- a/tabUtil/__init__.py
+++ b/tabUtil/__init__.py
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@
 #
 # global (to this module) variables
 #
-time_format     = u"%Y-%m-%d"
-log_time_format = u"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
+time_format     = "%Y-%m-%d"
+log_time_format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
 
 now      = datetime.datetime.now().strftime(log_time_format)
 today    = datetime.datetime.now().strftime(time_format)
@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@
 cwd      = os.getcwd()
 
 # log formatter
-formatter       = u"%(threadName)s - %(asctime)s - [%(levelname)s] - %(funcName)s - %(message)s"
-min_formatter   = u"%(asctime)s - [%(levelname)s] - %(message)s"
-extra_formatter = u"%(threadName)s - %(asctime)s - [%(thread)d] - %(levelname)s - %(module)s.%(funcName)s - %(message)s"
+formatter       = "%(threadName)s - %(asctime)s - [%(levelname)s] - %(funcName)s - %(message)s"
+min_formatter   = "%(asctime)s - [%(levelname)s] - %(message)s"
+extra_formatter = "%(threadName)s - %(asctime)s - [%(thread)d] - %(levelname)s - %(module)s.%(funcName)s - %(message)s"
 
 # file log rotation constants
 max_size    =  20*1024*1024  # in Bytes (5 MB)
@@ -42,8 +42,8 @@ def load_yaml_file(yaml_file):
     # See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2890146/how-to-force-pyyaml-to-load-strings-as-unicode-objects
 def construct_yaml_str(self, node):
     return self.construct_scalar(node)
-Loader.add_constructor(u'tag:yaml.org,2002:str', construct_yaml_str)
-SafeLoader.add_constructor(u'tag:yaml.org,2002:str', construct_yaml_str)
+Loader.add_constructor('tag:yaml.org,2002:str', construct_yaml_str)
+SafeLoader.add_constructor('tag:yaml.org,2002:str', construct_yaml_str)
 
 
 # Logger
@@ -66,14 +66,14 @@ def Logger(logfile_name, log_level=logging.INFO, time_format=log_time_format, ex
     # check the if any args have been passed in via kw
     #
     # -- logging levels --
-    if kw.has_key("console_level"):
+    if "console_level" in kw:
         console_logging_level = kw["console_level"]
     # -- formatters --
-    if kw.has_key("log_formatter"):
+    if "log_formatter" in kw:
         log_formatter = kw["log_formatter"]
-    if kw.has_key("console_formatter"):
+    if "console_formatter" in kw:
         console_formatter = kw["console_formatter"]
-    if kw.has_key("format"):
+    if "format" in kw:
         log_formatter = kw["format"]
         console_formatter = log_formatter
     # set up the logging instance
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ def LoggerQuickSetup(log_file, log_level=logging.INFO, filename_time_format='%Y-
 # Simple wrapper method to handle prompting the user. Return 'True' or 'False' depending on whether the input matches
 #   the 'acceptable' value provided in the second argument.
 def promptUser(msg, accptResp):
-    resp = raw_input(msg)
+    resp = input(msg)
     if resp == accptResp:
         return True
     else:
diff --git a/version_history.txt b/version_history.txt
index 42729df..10c5ae0 100644
--- a/version_history.txt
+++ b/version_history.txt
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@
 VERSION HISTORY
 ===============
 
+Version 2.2.0
+=================================
+-Refactor for Python 3 (Issue #111)
+-Fix SMS error handling (Issue #158)
+-Fix for test alerts breaking in 2020.4 (Issue #175)
+=================================
+
 Version 2.1.1
 =================================
 -Documentation updates (Issue #124)
diff --git a/vizalert/__init__.py b/vizalert/__init__.py
index 4ccd246..db7fcd1 100644
--- a/vizalert/__init__.py
+++ b/vizalert/__init__.py
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@
 #
 # global (to this module) variables
 #
-time_format     = u"%Y-%m-%d"
-log_time_format = u"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
+time_format     = "%Y-%m-%d"
+log_time_format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
 
 now      = datetime.datetime.now().strftime(log_time_format)
 today    = datetime.datetime.now().strftime(time_format)
@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@
 cwd      = os.getcwd()
 
 # log formatter
-formatter       = u"%(threadName)s - %(asctime)s - [%(levelname)s] - %(funcName)s - %(message)s"
-min_formatter   = u"%(asctime)s - [%(levelname)s] - %(message)s"
-extra_formatter = u"%(threadName)s - %(asctime)s - [%(thread)d] - %(levelname)s - %(module)s.%(funcName)s - %(message)s"
+formatter       = "%(threadName)s - %(asctime)s - [%(levelname)s] - %(funcName)s - %(message)s"
+min_formatter   = "%(asctime)s - [%(levelname)s] - %(message)s"
+extra_formatter = "%(threadName)s - %(asctime)s - [%(thread)d] - %(levelname)s - %(module)s.%(funcName)s - %(message)s"
 
 # file log rotation constants
 max_size    =  20*1024*1024  # in Bytes (5 MB)
@@ -42,8 +42,8 @@ def load_yaml_file(yaml_file):
     # See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2890146/how-to-force-pyyaml-to-load-strings-as-unicode-objects
 def construct_yaml_str(self, node):
     return self.construct_scalar(node)
-Loader.add_constructor(u'tag:yaml.org,2002:str', construct_yaml_str)
-SafeLoader.add_constructor(u'tag:yaml.org,2002:str', construct_yaml_str)
+Loader.add_constructor('tag:yaml.org,2002:str', construct_yaml_str)
+SafeLoader.add_constructor('tag:yaml.org,2002:str', construct_yaml_str)
 
 
 # Logger
@@ -66,14 +66,14 @@ def Logger(logfile_name, log_level=logging.INFO, time_format=log_time_format, ex
     # check the if any args have been passed in via kw
     #
     # -- logging levels --
-    if kw.has_key("console_level"):
+    if "console_level" in kw:
         console_logging_level = kw["console_level"]
     # -- formatters --
-    if kw.has_key("log_formatter"):
+    if "log_formatter" in kw:
         log_formatter = kw["log_formatter"]
-    if kw.has_key("console_formatter"):
+    if "console_formatter" in kw:
         console_formatter = kw["console_formatter"]
-    if kw.has_key("format"):
+    if "format" in kw:
         log_formatter = kw["format"]
         console_formatter = log_formatter
     # set up the logging instance
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ def LoggerQuickSetup(log_file, log_level=logging.INFO, filename_time_format='%Y-
 # Simple wrapper method to handle prompting the user. Return 'True' or 'False' depending on whether the input matches
 #   the 'acceptable' value provided in the second argument.
 def promptUser(msg, accptResp):
-    resp = raw_input(msg)
+    resp = input(msg)
     if resp == accptResp:
         return True
     else:
diff --git a/vizalert/config.py b/vizalert/config.py
index 1e1622d..954b725 100644
--- a/vizalert/config.py
+++ b/vizalert/config.py
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@
 
 # local modules
 import tabUtil
-import config
-import log
+from . import config
+from . import log
 
 configs = []
 
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@
     ['data.coldelimiter']
 
 # default delimiter for CSV exports
-DEFAULT_COL_DELIMITER = u','
+DEFAULT_COL_DELIMITER = ','
 
 
 def validate_conf(configfile):
@@ -61,27 +61,27 @@ def validate_conf(configfile):
     try:
         localconfigs = tabUtil.load_yaml_file(configfile)
     except:
-        errormessage = u'An exception was raised loading the config file {}: {} Stacktrace: {}'.format(configfile,
+        errormessage = 'An exception was raised loading the config file {}: {} Stacktrace: {}'.format(configfile,
                                                                                                        sys.exc_info(),
                                                                                                        sys.exc_info()[
                                                                                                            2])
-        print errormessage
+        print(errormessage)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         sys.exit(1)
 
     # test for missing required config values
     missingkeys = set(required_conf_keys) - set(localconfigs.keys())
     if len(missingkeys) != 0:
-        errormessage = u'Missing config values {}'.format(missingkeys)
-        print errormessage
+        errormessage = 'Missing config values {}'.format(missingkeys)
+        print(errormessage)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         sys.exit(1)
 
     # test for unrecognized config values
     extrakeys = set(localconfigs.keys()) - (set(required_conf_keys) | set(optional_conf_keys))
     if len(extrakeys) != 0:
-        errormessage = u'Extraneous config values found. Please examine for typos: {}'.format(extrakeys)
-        print errormessage
+        errormessage = 'Extraneous config values found. Please examine for typos: {}'.format(extrakeys)
+        print(errormessage)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         sys.exit(1)
 
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ def validate_conf(configfile):
             try:
                 os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(dir))
             except OSError:
-                errormessage = u'Unable to create missing directory {}, error: {}'.format(os.path.dirname(dir),
+                errormessage = 'Unable to create missing directory {}, error: {}'.format(os.path.dirname(dir),
                                                                                           OSError.message)
                 log.logger.error(errormessage)
                 sys.exit(1)
@@ -101,8 +101,8 @@ def validate_conf(configfile):
 
     # check for valid server.version setting
     if not localconfigs['server.version'] in {8, 9, 10}:
-        errormessage = u'server.version value is invalid--only version 8, 9, or 10 is allowed'
-        print errormessage
+        errormessage = 'server.version value is invalid--only version 8, 9, or 10 is allowed'
+        print(errormessage)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         sys.exit(1)
 
@@ -110,16 +110,16 @@ def validate_conf(configfile):
     if localconfigs['server.certfile']:
         # ensure the certfile actually exists
         if not os.access(localconfigs['server.certfile'], os.F_OK):
-            errormessage = u'The file specified in the server.certfile config setting could not be found: {}'.format(
+            errormessage = 'The file specified in the server.certfile config setting could not be found: {}'.format(
                 localconfigs['server.certfile'])
-            print errormessage
+            print(errormessage)
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             sys.exit(1)
         # ensure the certfile can be read
         if not os.access(localconfigs['server.certfile'], os.R_OK):
-            errormessage = u'The file specified in the server.certfile config setting could not be accessed: {}'.format(
+            errormessage = 'The file specified in the server.certfile config setting could not be accessed: {}'.format(
                 localconfigs['server.certfile'])
-            print errormessage
+            print(errormessage)
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             sys.exit(1)
 
@@ -128,37 +128,37 @@ def validate_conf(configfile):
 
         # check for a valid provider
         if not localconfigs['smsaction.provider']:
-            errormessage = u'Configuration value smsaction.provider must be set to enable SMS messaging'
-            print errormessage
+            errormessage = 'Configuration value smsaction.provider must be set to enable SMS messaging'
+            print(errormessage)
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             sys.exit(1)
         elif localconfigs['smsaction.provider'] != 'twilio':
-            errormessage = u'Configuration value smsaction.provider must be "twilio"; no other providers currently ' \
-                           u'supported.'
-            print errormessage
+            errormessage = 'Configuration value smsaction.provider must be "twilio"; no other providers currently ' \
+                           'supported.'
+            print(errormessage)
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             sys.exit(1)
 
         # check for an account id
         if not localconfigs['smsaction.account_id']:
-            errormessage = u'Configuration value smsaction.account_id must be set to enable SMS messaging'
-            print errormessage
+            errormessage = 'Configuration value smsaction.account_id must be set to enable SMS messaging'
+            print(errormessage)
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             sys.exit(1)
 
         # test for SMS auth token file and override with contents
         localconfigs['smsaction.auth_token'] = get_password_from_file(localconfigs['smsaction.auth_token'])
         if not localconfigs['smsaction.auth_token']:
-            errormessage = u'Configuration value smsaction.auth_token must be set to enable SMS messaging'
-            print errormessage
+            errormessage = 'Configuration value smsaction.auth_token must be set to enable SMS messaging'
+            print(errormessage)
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             sys.exit(1)
 
     # validate data.coldelimiter
-    if 'data.coldelimiter' in localconfigs.keys():
+    if 'data.coldelimiter' in list(localconfigs.keys()):
         if len(localconfigs['data.coldelimiter']) > 1:
-            errormessage = u'Configuration value data.coldelimiter cannot be more than one character.'
-            print errormessage
+            errormessage = 'Configuration value data.coldelimiter cannot be more than one character.'
+            print(errormessage)
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             sys.exit(1)
     else:
@@ -175,9 +175,9 @@ def get_password_from_file(password):
         return
     try:
         if os.path.exists(password):
-            log.logger.debug(u'Opening password file {} for reading'.format(password))
+            log.logger.debug('Opening password file {} for reading'.format(password))
             if not password.endswith('.txt'):
-                log.logger.error(u'Password file at path {} is not a .txt file. Quitting.'.format(password))
+                log.logger.error('Password file at path {} is not a .txt file. Quitting.'.format(password))
                 sys.exit(1)
             with open(password, 'rU') as fr:
                 finalpassword = fr.read()
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ def get_password_from_file(password):
         else:
             return password
     except IOError as e:
-        log.logger.error(u'IOError accessing password file at path {}. Quitting. Error: {}'.format(password, e.message))
+        log.logger.error('IOError accessing password file at path {}. Quitting. Error: {}'.format(password, e.message))
         sys.exit(1)
 
 
diff --git a/vizalert/emailaction.py b/vizalert/emailaction.py
index a451103..cee112d 100644
--- a/vizalert/emailaction.py
+++ b/vizalert/emailaction.py
@@ -13,9 +13,8 @@
 from mimetypes import guess_type
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
 
-from cStringIO import StringIO
+from io import StringIO
 from email.header import Header
-from email import Charset
 from email.generator import Generator
 from email.mime.base import MIMEBase
 from email.mime.text import MIMEText
@@ -24,15 +23,15 @@
 from socket import error as SocketError
 
 # import local modules
-import config
-import log
-import vizalert
+from . import config
+from . import log
+from . import vizalert
 
 # regular expression used to split recipient address strings into separate email addresses
-EMAIL_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX = u'[\t\n; ,]*'
+EMAIL_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX = '[\t\n\s;,]'
 
 
-class Email:
+class Email(object):
     """Represents an email to be sent"""
 
     def __init__(self, fromaddr, toaddrs, subject, content, ccaddrs=None, bccaddrs=None, inlineattachments=None,
@@ -69,24 +68,23 @@ def send_email(email_instance):
     """
     try:
         log.logger.info(
-            u'sending email: {},{},{},{},{},{},{}'.format(config.configs['smtp.serv'], email_instance.fromaddr,
+            'sending email: {},{},{},{},{},{},{}'.format(config.configs['smtp.serv'], email_instance.fromaddr,
                                                           email_instance.toaddrs, email_instance.ccaddrs,
                                                           email_instance.bccaddrs,
                                                           email_instance.subject, email_instance.inlineattachments,
                                                           email_instance.appendattachments))
-        log.logger.debug(u'email body: {}'.format(email_instance.content))
+        log.logger.debug('email body: {}'.format(email_instance.content))
 
         # using mixed type because there can be inline and non-inline attachments
         msg = MIMEMultipart('mixed')
-        msg.set_charset('utf-8')
-        msg.preamble = email_instance.subject.encode('utf-8')
+        msg.set_charset('UTF-8')
         msg['From'] = Header(email_instance.fromaddr)
-        msg['Subject'] = Header(email_instance.subject.encode('utf-8'), 'UTF-8').encode()
+        msg['Subject'] = Header(email_instance.subject, 'utf-8')
 
         log.logger.debug('TO ADDRESS: {}'.format(email_instance.toaddrs))
 
         # Process direct recipients
-        toaddrs = re.split(EMAIL_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX, email_instance.toaddrs.strip(EMAIL_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX))
+        toaddrs = [address for address in filter(None, re.split(EMAIL_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX, email_instance.toaddrs)) if len(address) > 0]
         msg['To'] = Header(', '.join(toaddrs))
         allrecips = toaddrs
 
@@ -94,22 +92,21 @@ def send_email(email_instance):
 
         # Process indirect recipients
         if email_instance.ccaddrs:
-            ccaddrs = re.split(EMAIL_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX, email_instance.ccaddrs.strip(EMAIL_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX))
+            ccaddrs = [address for address in filter(None, re.split(EMAIL_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX, email_instance.ccaddrs)) if len(address) > 0]
             msg['CC'] = Header(', '.join(ccaddrs))
             allrecips.extend(ccaddrs)
 
         log.logger.debug('BCC ADDRESS: {}'.format(email_instance.bccaddrs))
 
-
         if email_instance.bccaddrs:
-            bccaddrs = re.split(EMAIL_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX, email_instance.bccaddrs.strip(EMAIL_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX))
+            bccaddrs = [address for address in filter(None, re.split(EMAIL_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX, email_instance.bccaddrs)) if len(address) > 0]
             # don't add to header, they are blind carbon-copied
             allrecips.extend(bccaddrs)
 
         # Create a section for the body and inline attachments
-        msgalternative = MIMEMultipart(u'related')
+        msgalternative = MIMEMultipart('related')
         msg.attach(msgalternative)
-        msgalternative.attach(MIMEText(email_instance.content.encode('utf-8'), 'html', 'utf-8'))
+        msgalternative.attach(MIMEText(email_instance.content, 'html', 'utf-8'))
 
         # Add inline attachments
         if email_instance.inlineattachments != None:
@@ -134,9 +131,10 @@ def send_email(email_instance):
                     # use the exported imagepath
                     else:
                         msg.attach(mimify_file(vizref['imagepath'], inline=False))
-                        log.logger.info(u'Warning: attempted to attach duplicate filename ' + vizref[
+                        log.logger.info('Warning: attempted to attach duplicate filename ' + vizref[
                             'filename'] + ', using unique auto-generated name instead.')
 
+
         server = smtplib.SMTP(config.configs['smtp.serv'], config.configs['smtp.port'])
         if config.configs['smtp.ssl']:
             server.ehlo()
@@ -149,38 +147,38 @@ def send_email(email_instance):
         g = Generator(io, False)  # second argument means "should I mangle From?"
         g.flatten(msg)
 
-        server.sendmail(email_instance.fromaddr.encode('utf-8'), [addr.encode('utf-8') for addr in allrecips],
+        server.sendmail(email_instance.fromaddr, [addr for addr in allrecips],
                         io.getvalue())
         server.quit()
     except smtplib.SMTPConnectError as e:
-        log.logger.error(u'Email failed to send; there was an issue connecting to the SMTP server: {}'.format(e))
+        log.logger.error('Email failed to send; there was an issue connecting to the SMTP server: {}'.format(e))
         raise e
     except smtplib.SMTPHeloError as e:
-        log.logger.error(u'Email failed to send; the SMTP server refused our HELO message: {}'.format(e))
+        log.logger.error('Email failed to send; the SMTP server refused our HELO message: {}'.format(e))
         raise e
     except smtplib.SMTPAuthenticationError as e:
-        log.logger.error(u'Email failed to send; there was an issue authenticating to SMTP server: {}'.format(e))
+        log.logger.error('Email failed to send; there was an issue authenticating to SMTP server: {}'.format(e))
         raise e
     except smtplib.SMTPException as e:
-        log.logger.error(u'Email failed to send; there was an issue sending mail via SMTP server: {}'.format(e))
+        log.logger.error('Email failed to send; there was an issue sending mail via SMTP server: {}'.format(e))
         raise e
     except Exception as e:
-        log.logger.error(u'Email failed to send: {}'.format(e))
+        log.logger.error('Email failed to send: {}'.format(e))
         raise e
 
 
 def addresses_are_invalid(emailaddresses, emptystringok, regex_eval=None):
     """Validates all email addresses found in a given string, optionally that conform to the regex_eval"""
-    log.logger.debug(u'Validating email field value: {}'.format(emailaddresses))
-    address_list = re.split(EMAIL_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX, emailaddresses.strip(EMAIL_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX)) # trim separator chars from ends
+    log.logger.debug('Validating email field value: {}'.format(emailaddresses))
+    address_list = [address for address in filter(None, re.split(EMAIL_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX, emailaddresses)) if len(address) > 0]
     for address in address_list:
-        log.logger.debug(u'Validating presumed email address: {}'.format(address))
+        log.logger.debug('Validating presumed email address: {}'.format(address))
         if emptystringok and (address == '' or address is None):
             return None
         else:
             errormessage = address_is_invalid(address, regex_eval)
             if errormessage:
-                log.logger.debug(u'Address is invalid: {}, Error: {}'.format(address, errormessage))
+                log.logger.debug('Address is invalid: {}, Error: {}'.format(address, errormessage))
                 if len(address) > 64:
                     address = address[:64] + '...'  # truncate a too-long address for error formattting purposes
                 return {'address': address, 'errormessage': errormessage}
@@ -193,7 +191,7 @@ def address_is_invalid(address, regex_eval=None):
 
     # Email address must not be empty
     if address is None or len(address) == 0 or address == '':
-        errormessage = u'Address is empty'
+        errormessage = 'Address is empty'
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         return errormessage
 
@@ -201,22 +199,22 @@ def address_is_invalid(address, regex_eval=None):
     if regex_eval:
         log.logger.debug("testing address {} against regex {}".format(address, regex_eval))
         if not re.match(regex_eval, address, re.IGNORECASE):
-            errormessage = u'Address must match regex pattern set by the administrator: {}'.format(regex_eval)
+            errormessage = 'Address must match regex pattern set by the administrator: {}'.format(regex_eval)
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             return errormessage
 
     # Email address must be 6 characters in total.
     # This is not an RFC defined rule but is easy
     if len(address) < 6:
-        errormessage = u'Address is too short: {}'.format(address)
+        errormessage = 'Address is too short: {}'.format(address)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         return errormessage
 
     # Unicode in addresses not yet supported
     try:
-        address.decode('ascii')
+        address.encode(encoding='ascii', errors='strict')
     except Exception as e:
-        errormessage = u'Address must contain only ASCII characers: {}'.format(address)
+        errormessage = 'Address must contain only ASCII characers: {}'.format(address)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         return errormessage
 
@@ -224,12 +222,12 @@ def address_is_invalid(address, regex_eval=None):
     try:
         localpart, domainname = address.rsplit('@', 1)
         host, toplevel = domainname.rsplit('.', 1)
-        log.logger.debug(u'Splitting Address: localpart, domainname, host, toplevel: {},{},{},{}'.format(localpart,
+        log.logger.debug('Splitting Address: localpart, domainname, host, toplevel: {},{},{},{}'.format(localpart,
                                                                                                      domainname,
                                                                                                      host,
                                                                                                      toplevel))
     except ValueError:
-        errormessage = u'Address has too few parts'
+        errormessage = 'Address has too few parts'
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         return errormessage
 
@@ -238,23 +236,23 @@ def address_is_invalid(address, regex_eval=None):
     for i in '-_.':
         host = host.replace(i, "")
 
-    log.logger.debug(u'Removing other characters from address: localpart, host: {},{}'.format(localpart, host))
+    log.logger.debug('Removing other characters from address: localpart, host: {},{}'.format(localpart, host))
 
     # check for length
     if len(localpart) > 64:
-        errormessage = u'Localpart of address exceeds max length (65 characters)'
+        errormessage = 'Localpart of address exceeds max length (65 characters)'
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         return errormessage
 
     if len(address) > 254:
-        errormessage = u'Address exceeds max length (254 characters)'
+        errormessage = 'Address exceeds max length (254 characters)'
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         return errormessage
 
     if localpart.isalnum() and host.isalnum():
         return None  # Email address is fine.
     else:
-        errormessage = u'Address has funny characters'
+        errormessage = 'Address has funny characters'
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         return errormessage
 
@@ -326,7 +324,7 @@ def validate_addresses(vizdata,
             if email_action_actionfield.get_value_from_dict(row) == '1':\
 
                 email_to = email_to_actionfield.get_value_from_dict(row)
-                log.logger.debug(u'Validating "To" addresses: {}'.format(email_to))
+                log.logger.debug('Validating "To" addresses: {}'.format(email_to))
                 result = addresses_are_invalid(email_to, False, allowed_recipient_addresses)  # empty string not acceptable as a To address
                 if result:
                     errorlist.append(
@@ -334,7 +332,7 @@ def validate_addresses(vizdata,
                         'Value': result['address'], 'Error': result['errormessage']})
                 
                 email_from = email_from_actionfield.get_value_from_dict(row)
-                log.logger.debug(u'Validating "From" addresses: {}'.format(email_from))
+                log.logger.debug('Validating "From" addresses: {}'.format(email_from))
                 result = addresses_are_invalid(email_from, False, allowed_from_address)  # empty string not acceptable as a From address
                 if result:
                     errorlist.append({'Row': rownum, 'Field': (email_from_actionfield.field_name if email_from_actionfield.field_name else email_from_actionfield.name),
@@ -342,13 +340,13 @@ def validate_addresses(vizdata,
 
                 # REVISIT THIS!
                 if email_cc_actionfield.field_name:
-                    log.logger.debug(u'Validating "CC" addresses')
+                    log.logger.debug('Validating "CC" addresses')
                     result = addresses_are_invalid(row[email_cc_actionfield.field_name], True, allowed_recipient_addresses)
                     if result:
                         errorlist.append({'Row': rownum, 'Field': email_cc_actionfield.field_name, 'Value': result['address'],
                                           'Error': result['errormessage']})
                 if email_bcc_actionfield.field_name:
-                    log.logger.debug(u'Validating "BCC" addresses')
+                    log.logger.debug('Validating "BCC" addresses')
                     result = addresses_are_invalid(row[email_bcc_actionfield.field_name], True, allowed_recipient_addresses)
                     if result:
                         errorlist.append({'Row': rownum, 'Field': email_bcc_actionfield.field_name, 'Value': result['address'],
diff --git a/vizalert/log.py b/vizalert/log.py
index ec58c40..e9dca03 100644
--- a/vizalert/log.py
+++ b/vizalert/log.py
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@
 #
 # global (to this module) variables
 #
-time_format     = u"%Y-%m-%d"
-log_time_format = u"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
+time_format     = "%Y-%m-%d"
+log_time_format = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
 
 now      = datetime.datetime.now().strftime(log_time_format)
 today    = datetime.datetime.now().strftime(time_format)
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@
 cwd      = os.getcwd()
 
 # log formatter
-formatter       = u"%(threadName)s - %(asctime)s - [%(levelname)s] - %(funcName)s - %(message)s"
-min_formatter   = u"%(asctime)s - [%(levelname)s] - %(message)s"
-extra_formatter = u"%(threadName)s - %(asctime)s - [%(thread)d] - %(levelname)s - %(module)s.%(funcName)s - %(message)s"
+formatter       = "%(threadName)s - %(asctime)s - [%(levelname)s] - %(funcName)s - %(message)s"
+min_formatter   = "%(asctime)s - [%(levelname)s] - %(message)s"
+extra_formatter = "%(threadName)s - %(asctime)s - [%(thread)d] - %(levelname)s - %(module)s.%(funcName)s - %(message)s"
 
 # file log rotation constants
 max_size    =  20*1024*1024  # in Bytes (5 MB)
@@ -51,14 +51,14 @@ def Logger(logfile_name, log_level=logging.INFO, time_format=log_time_format, ex
     # check the if any args have been passed in via kw
     #
     # -- logging levels --
-    if kw.has_key("console_level"):
+    if "console_level" in kw:
         console_logging_level = kw["console_level"]
     # -- formatters --
-    if kw.has_key("log_formatter"):
+    if "log_formatter" in kw:
         log_formatter = kw["log_formatter"]
-    if kw.has_key("console_formatter"):
+    if "console_formatter" in kw:
         console_formatter = kw["console_formatter"]
-    if kw.has_key("format"):
+    if "format" in kw:
         log_formatter = kw["format"]
         console_formatter = log_formatter
     # set up the logging instance
diff --git a/vizalert/smsaction.py b/vizalert/smsaction.py
index 7eaf63e..c0de748 100644
--- a/vizalert/smsaction.py
+++ b/vizalert/smsaction.py
@@ -8,22 +8,22 @@
 import twilio
 
 # import local modules
-import config
-import log
-import vizalert
+from . import config
+from . import log
+from . import vizalert
 
 # store the SMS client we get back from Twilio for use across all modules
 smsclient = None
 
 # regular expression used to split recipient number strings into separate phone numbers
-SMS_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX = u'[;,]*'
+SMS_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX = '[;,]'
 
 # appended to the bottom of all SMS messages, unless overidden
 # expecting smsfooter.format(subscriber_email)
-smsfooter = u'\r\rThis VizAlert SMS sent on behalf of {}'
+smsfooter = '\r\rThis VizAlert SMS sent on behalf of {}'
 
 
-class SMS:
+class SMS(object):
     """Represents an SMS to be sent"""
 
     def __init__(self, sms_from, sms_to, msgbody=None):
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ def get_sms_client():
 
     # check to see if there's a provider set
     if config.configs['smsaction.provider'] == None or len(config.configs['smsaction.provider']) == 0:
-        errormessage = u'SMS Actions are enabled but smsaction.provider value is not set, exiting'
+        errormessage = 'SMS Actions are enabled but smsaction.provider value is not set, exiting'
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         raise ValueError(errormessage)        
 
@@ -46,17 +46,6 @@ def get_sms_client():
         # these need to be in the global name space to send SMS messages
         global twilio
         import twilio
-
-        # Monkey patch to allow Twilio to find the cacert.pem file even when compiled into an exe
-        #    See: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17158529/fixing-ssl-certificate-error-in-exe-compiled-with-py2exe-or-pyinstaller
-        #       and https://github.com/twilio/twilio-python/issues/167
-        ca_cert_path = os.path.join('twilio', 'conf', 'cacert.pem')
-
-        from twilio.http import get_cert_file
-        get_cert_file = lambda: ca_cert_path
-
-        twilio.http.get_cert_file = get_cert_file
-
         global twiliorest
         import twilio.rest as twiliorest
         
@@ -69,7 +58,7 @@ def get_sms_client():
 
     # unknown SMS provider error
     else:
-        errormessage = u'SMS Actions are enabled but found unknown smsaction.provider {}, exiting'.format(
+        errormessage = 'SMS Actions are enabled but found unknown smsaction.provider {}, exiting'.format(
             config.configs['smsaction.provider'])
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         raise ValueError(errormessage)      
@@ -86,7 +75,7 @@ def send_sms(sms_instance):
     if not sms_instance.msgbody:
         sms_instance.msgbody = ''
 
-    log.logger.info(u'Sending SMS: {},{},{}'.format(sms_instance.sms_from, sms_instance.sms_to, sms_instance.msgbody))
+    log.logger.info('Sending SMS: {},{},{}'.format(sms_instance.sms_from, sms_instance.sms_to, sms_instance.msgbody))
 
     # now to send the message
     try:
@@ -101,15 +90,15 @@ def send_sms(sms_instance):
 
         # this may never happen since the Twilio REST API throws exceptions, it's a failsafe check
         if message.status == 'failed':
-            raise ValueError(u'Failed to deliver SMS message to {} with body {},'
-                             u' no additional information is available'.format(
+            raise ValueError('Failed to deliver SMS message to {} with body {},'
+                             ' no additional information is available'.format(
                                 sms_instance.sms_to,
                                 sms_instance.msgbody))
 
     # check for Twilio REST API exceptions
     except twilio.base.exceptions.TwilioRestException as e:
-        errormessage = u'Could not send SMS message to {} with body {}.\nHTTP status {} returned for request: ' \
-                       u'{} {}\nWith error {}: {} '.format(
+        errormessage = 'Could not send SMS message to {} with body {}.\nHTTP status {} returned for request: ' \
+                       '{} {}\nWith error {}: {} '.format(
                             sms_instance.sms_to,
                             sms_instance.msgbody,
                             e.status,
@@ -118,19 +107,19 @@ def send_sms(sms_instance):
                             e.code,
                             e.msg)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
-        return errormessage
+        raise UserWarning(errormessage)
 
     # check for ValueError from try 
     except ValueError as e:
         log.logger.error(e)
-        return e
+        raise UserWarning(errormessage)
 
     except Exception as e:
         errormessage = u'Could not send SMS message to {} with body {}, error {}, type {}'.format(
             sms_instance.sms_to,
             sms_instance.msgbody, e, e.__class__.__name__)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
-        return e
+        raise UserWarning(errormessage)
 
     return None
 
@@ -151,7 +140,7 @@ def sms_append_body(body, vizcompleterefs, row, alert):
 
     # find all distinct content references in the email body list
     # so we can replace each with an inline image or hyperlink text
-    foundcontent = re.findall(u'VIZ_LINK\(.*?\)', ' '.join(body))
+    foundcontent = re.findall('VIZ_LINK\(.*?\)', ' '.join(body))
 
     foundcontentset = set(foundcontent)
     vizrefs = list(foundcontentset)
@@ -189,7 +178,7 @@ def validate_smsnumbers(vizdata, sms_to_fieldname, allowed_recipient_numbers, is
 
             rownum += 1
     except Exception as e:
-        errormessage = u'Encountered error validating SMS numbers. Error: {}'.format(e.message)
+        errormessage = 'Encountered error validating SMS numbers. Error: {}'.format(e.message)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         errorlist.append(errormessage)
         return errorlist
@@ -199,30 +188,30 @@ def validate_smsnumbers(vizdata, sms_to_fieldname, allowed_recipient_numbers, is
 def smsnumbers_are_invalid(sms_numbers, emptystringok, iso2countrycode, regex_eval=None):
     """Validates all SMS numbers found in a given string, optionally that conform to the regex_eval"""
     
-    log.logger.debug(u'Validating SMS field value: {}'.format(sms_numbers))
-
-    sms_number_list = re.split(SMS_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX, sms_numbers.strip())
+    log.logger.debug('Validating SMS field value: {}'.format(sms_numbers))
 
+    sms_number_list = [sms_number for sms_number in filter(None, re.split(SMS_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX, sms_numbers)) if len(sms_number) > 0]
+    
     for sms_number in sms_number_list:
-        log.logger.debug(u'Validating presumed sms number: {}'.format(sms_number))
+        log.logger.debug('Validating presumed sms number: {}'.format(sms_number))
 
         try:
             # skip if we're okay with empty, and it is
             if sms_number == '':
                 if not emptystringok:
-                    errormessage = u'SMS number is empty'
+                    errormessage = 'SMS number is empty'
                 else:
                     continue
             else:
                 errormessage = smsnumber_is_invalid(sms_number, iso2countrycode, regex_eval)
 
             if errormessage:
-                log.logger.debug(u'SMS number is invalid: {}, Error: {}'.format(sms_number, errormessage))
+                log.logger.debug('SMS number is invalid: {}, Error: {}'.format(sms_number, errormessage))
                 if len(sms_number) > 64:
                     sms_number = sms_number[:64] + '...'  # truncate a too-long address for error formattting purposes
                 return {'number': sms_number, 'errormessage': errormessage}
         except Exception as e:
-            errormessage = u'Encountered error validating an SMS number. Error: {}'.format(e.message)
+            errormessage = 'Encountered error validating an SMS number. Error: {}'.format(e.message)
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             return {'number': sms_number, 'errormessage': errormessage}
     return None
@@ -238,7 +227,7 @@ def smsnumber_is_invalid(smsnumber, iso2countrycode, regex_eval=None):
         if regex_eval:
             log.logger.debug("testing smsnumber {} against regex {}".format(e164_number, regex_eval))
             if not re.match(regex_eval, e164_number):
-                errormessage = u'SMS number must match regex pattern set by the administrator: {}'.format(regex_eval)
+                errormessage = 'SMS number must match regex pattern set by the administrator: {}'.format(regex_eval)
                 log.logger.error(errormessage)
                 return errormessage
     except Exception as e:
@@ -255,19 +244,19 @@ def get_e164numbers(sms_numbers, iso2countrycode):
     sms_number_list = []
     e164_numbers = []
 
-    if isinstance(sms_numbers, str) or isinstance(sms_numbers, unicode):
+    if isinstance(sms_numbers, str) or isinstance(sms_numbers, str):
         sms_number_list.extend(re.split(SMS_RECIP_SPLIT_REGEX, sms_numbers.strip()))
     elif isinstance(sms_numbers, list):
         sms_number_list.extend(sms_numbers)
     else:
         # that's not what we expected
-        errormessage = u'Input is neither a string nor a list: {}'.format(sms_numbers)
+        errormessage = 'Input is neither a string nor a list: {}'.format(sms_numbers)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         raise UserWarning(errormessage)
 
     # convert and add each number to our return list
     for sms_number in sms_number_list:
-        log.logger.debug(u'Converting {} to E.164 format'.format(sms_number))
+        log.logger.debug('Converting {} to E.164 format'.format(sms_number))
         try:
             e164_number = smsnumber_to_e164(sms_number, iso2countrycode)
             if e164_number not in e164_numbers:
@@ -283,7 +272,7 @@ def smsnumber_to_e164(smsnumber, iso2countrycode):
        Raises exception if it can't, returns the E.164 number as a string, if it can """
 
     try:
-        log.logger.debug(u'Converting {} to E.164 format, country code {}'.format(smsnumber, iso2countrycode))
+        log.logger.debug('Converting {} to E.164 format, country code {}'.format(smsnumber, iso2countrycode))
 
         try:
             if smsnumber.startswith('+'):
@@ -292,29 +281,29 @@ def smsnumber_to_e164(smsnumber, iso2countrycode):
                 # country code not specified in number, so pass it in
                 smsnumber_obj = phonenumbers.parse(smsnumber, iso2countrycode)
         except phonenumbers.NumberParseException as e:
-            errormessage = u'SMS Unable to parse number {}. Error: {}'.format(smsnumber, e.message)
+            errormessage = 'SMS Unable to parse number {}. Error: {}'.format(smsnumber, e.message)
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             raise UserWarning(errormessage)
 
         try:
             if not phonenumbers.is_possible_number(smsnumber_obj):
-                errormessage = u'SMS Number is not possibly valid: {}.'.format(smsnumber)
+                errormessage = 'SMS Number is not possibly valid: {}.'.format(smsnumber)
                 log.logger.error(errormessage)
                 raise UserWarning(errormessage)
         except phonenumbers.NumberParseException as e:
-            errormessage = u'SMS Unable to parse number {}. Error: {}'.format(smsnumber, e.message)
+            errormessage = 'SMS Unable to parse number {}. Error: {}'.format(smsnumber, e.message)
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             raise UserWarning(errormessage)
 
         if not phonenumbers.is_valid_number(smsnumber_obj):
-            errormessage = u'SMS Number is not valid: {}.'.format(smsnumber)
+            errormessage = 'SMS Number is not valid: {}.'.format(smsnumber)
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             raise UserWarning(errormessage)
 
 
         e164_number = phonenumbers.format_number(smsnumber_obj, phonenumbers.PhoneNumberFormat.E164)
         if not e164_number:
-            errormessage = u'SMS number {} could not be converted to E.164 for an unknown reason.'.format(smsnumber)
+            errormessage = 'SMS number {} could not be converted to E.164 for an unknown reason.'.format(smsnumber)
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             raise UserWarning(errormessage)
 
diff --git a/vizalert/tabhttp.py b/vizalert/tabhttp.py
index 6320d0d..85536f0 100644
--- a/vizalert/tabhttp.py
+++ b/vizalert/tabhttp.py
@@ -3,18 +3,18 @@
 # This is a utility module to provide a single interface for interacting with Tableau Server over http.
 
 import os
-import urllib
-import urllib2
+import urllib.request, urllib.parse, urllib.error
+import urllib.request, urllib.error, urllib.parse
 import requests
 import time
 import datetime
-import cgi
+import html
 import codecs
 import re
 import ssl
 import threading
-import config
-import log
+from . import config
+from . import log
 from requests_ntlm import HttpNtlmAuth
 from requests.packages.urllib3.exceptions import InsecureRequestWarning
 
@@ -29,14 +29,14 @@ class Format(object):
 # Generate a trusted ticket
 def get_trusted_ticket(server, sitename, username, encrypt, certcheck=True, certfile=None, userdomain=None, clientip=None, tries=1):
     
-    protocol = u'http'
+    protocol = 'http'
     attempts = 0
 
     # overrides for https
     if encrypt:
-        protocol = u'https'
+        protocol = 'https'
 
-    trustedurl = protocol + u'://{}/trusted'.format(server)
+    trustedurl = protocol + '://{}/trusted'.format(server)
 
     # build the data to send in the POST request
     if userdomain:
@@ -50,14 +50,14 @@ def get_trusted_ticket(server, sitename, username, encrypt, certcheck=True, cert
     if sitename != '':
         postdata['target_site'] = sitename
 
-    data = urllib.urlencode(postdata)
-    requestdetails = u'Server: {}, Site: {}, Username: {}, Url: {}, Postdata: {}.'.format(
+    data = urllib.parse.urlencode(postdata).encode("utf-8")
+    requestdetails = 'Server: {}, Site: {}, Username: {}, Url: {}, Postdata: {}.'.format(
                             server,
                             sitename,
                             username,
                             trustedurl,
                             data)
-    log.logger.debug(u'Generating trusted ticket. Request details: {}'.format(requestdetails))
+    log.logger.debug('Generating trusted ticket. Request details: {}'.format(requestdetails))
 
     ticket = 0
     while attempts < tries:
@@ -69,8 +69,9 @@ def get_trusted_ticket(server, sitename, username, encrypt, certcheck=True, cert
                 if not certfile:
                     certfile = requests.utils.DEFAULT_CA_BUNDLE_PATH
                 log.logger.debug('using SSL and verifying cert using certfile {}'.format(certfile))
-                request = urllib2.Request(trustedurl, data)
-                response = urllib2.urlopen(request, cafile=certfile)
+                request = urllib.request.Request(trustedurl, data)
+                context = ssl.create_default_context(cafile=certfile)
+                response = urllib.request.urlopen(request, context=context)
             else:
                 # We're either not using SSL, or just not validating the certificate
                 if encrypt:
@@ -78,37 +79,37 @@ def get_trusted_ticket(server, sitename, username, encrypt, certcheck=True, cert
                 else:
                     log.logger.debug('NOT using SSL and NOT verifying cert')
                 context = ssl._create_unverified_context()
-                request = urllib2.Request(trustedurl, data)
-                response = urllib2.urlopen(request, context=context)
+                request = urllib.request.Request(trustedurl, data)
+                response = urllib.request.urlopen(request, context=context)
 
-            ticket = response.read()
-            log.logger.debug(u'Got ticket: {}'.format(ticket))
+            ticket = response.read().decode()
+            log.logger.debug('Got ticket: {}'.format(ticket))
 
             if ticket == '-1' or not ticket:
-                errormessage = u'Error generating trusted ticket. Value of ticket is {}.  Please see http://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/trusted_auth_trouble_1return.htm Request details:'.format(ticket, requestdetails)
+                errormessage = 'Error generating trusted ticket. Value of ticket is {}.  Please see http://onlinehelp.tableau.com/current/server/en-us/trusted_auth_trouble_1return.htm Request details:'.format(ticket, requestdetails)
                 log.logger.error(errormessage)
                 raise UserWarning(errormessage)
 
-        except urllib2.HTTPError as e:
-            errormessage = cgi.escape(u'HTTPError generating trusted ticket: {}  Request details: {}'.format(str(e.reason), requestdetails))
+        except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
+            errormessage = html.escape('HTTPError generating trusted ticket: {}  Request details: {}'.format(str(e.reason), requestdetails))
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             if attempts >= tries:
                 raise UserWarning(errormessage)
             else:
                 continue
-        except urllib2.URLError as e:
-            errormessage = cgi.escape(u'URLError generating trusted ticket: {}  Request details: {}'.format(str(e.reason), requestdetails))
+        except urllib.error.URLError as e:
+            errormessage = html.escape('URLError generating trusted ticket: {}  Request details: {}'.format(str(e.reason), requestdetails))
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             if attempts >= tries:
                 raise UserWarning(errormessage)
             else:
                 continue
         except UserWarning as e:
-            errormessage = cgi.escape(u'UserWarning generating trusted ticket: {}  Request details: {}'.format(str(e.message), requestdetails))
+            errormessage = html.escape(u'UserWarning generating trusted ticket: {}  Request details: {}'.format(str(e.args[0]), requestdetails))
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             raise UserWarning(errormessage)
         except Exception as e:
-            errormessage = cgi.escape(u'Generic exception generating trusted ticket: {}  Request details: {}'.format(str(e.message), requestdetails))
+            errormessage = html.escape('Generic exception generating trusted ticket: {}  Request details: {}'.format(str(e.args[0]), requestdetails))
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             if attempts >= tries:
                 raise UserWarning(errormessage)
@@ -124,7 +125,7 @@ def export_view(view_url_suffix, site_name, timeout_s, data_retrieval_tries, for
                 viz_png_width, viz_png_height, user_sysname, user_domain):
 
     # assign variables (clean this up later)
-    site_name = unicode(site_name).replace('Default', '')
+    site_name = str(site_name).replace('Default', '')
 
     if user_domain == 'local':  # leave it as None if Server uses local authentication
         user_domain = None
@@ -147,14 +148,14 @@ def export_view(view_url_suffix, site_name, timeout_s, data_retrieval_tries, for
 
     # overrides for various url components
     if config.configs['server.ssl']:
-        protocol = u'https'
+        protocol = 'https'
     else:
-        protocol = u'http'
+        protocol = 'http'
 
     #viewurlsuffix may be of form workbook/view
     #or workbook/view?param1=value1&param2=value2
     #in the latter case separate it out
-    search = re.search(u'(.*?)\?(.*)', view_url_suffix)
+    search = re.search('(.*?)\?(.*)', view_url_suffix)
     if search:
         viewurlsuffix = search.group(1)
         extraurlparameter = '?' + search.group(2)
@@ -166,19 +167,19 @@ def export_view(view_url_suffix, site_name, timeout_s, data_retrieval_tries, for
     # set up format
     # if user hasn't overriden PNG with size setting then use the default  
     if format == Format.PNG and ':size=' not in extraurlparameter:
-            formatparam = u'&:format=' + format + u'&:size={},{}'.format(str(viz_png_width), str(viz_png_height))
+            formatparam = '&:format=' + format + '&:size={},{}'.format(str(viz_png_width), str(viz_png_height))
     else:
-        formatparam = u'&:format=' + format
+        formatparam = '&:format=' + format
 
     if site_name != '':
-        sitepart = u'/t/' + site_name
+        sitepart = '/t/' + site_name
     else:
         sitepart = site_name
 
     # get the full URL (minus the ticket) for logging and error reporting
-    displayurl = protocol + u'://' + server + sitepart + u'/views/' + viewurlsuffix + extraurlparameter + formatparam
+    displayurl = protocol + '://' + server + sitepart + '/views/' + viewurlsuffix + extraurlparameter + formatparam
     if force_refresh:
-        displayurl = displayurl + u'&:refresh=y'   # show admin/users that we forced a force_refresh
+        displayurl = displayurl + '&:refresh=y'   # show admin/users that we forced a force_refresh
 
     while attempts < data_retrieval_tries:
         try:
@@ -186,13 +187,14 @@ def export_view(view_url_suffix, site_name, timeout_s, data_retrieval_tries, for
 
             # get a trusted ticket
             ticket = get_trusted_ticket(server, site_name, user_sysname, encrypt, certcheck, certfile, user_domain, clientip)
-
+			
             # build final URL
-            url = protocol + u'://' + server + u'/trusted/' + ticket + sitepart + u'/views/' + viewurlsuffix + extraurlparameter + formatparam
+            url = protocol + '://' + server + '/trusted/' + ticket + sitepart + '/views/' + viewurlsuffix + extraurlparameter + formatparam
+
             if force_refresh:
-                url = url + u'&:refresh=y'   # force a force_refresh of the data--we don't want alerts based on cached (stale) data
+                url = url + '&:refresh=y'   # force a force_refresh of the data--we don't want alerts based on cached (stale) data
 
-            log.logger.debug(u'Getting vizdata from: {}'.format(url))
+            log.logger.debug('Getting vizdata from: {}'.format(url))
 
             # Make the GET call to obtain the data
             response = None
@@ -202,11 +204,11 @@ def export_view(view_url_suffix, site_name, timeout_s, data_retrieval_tries, for
                     log.logger.debug('Validating cert for this request using certfile {}'.format(certfile))
                     if not certfile:
                         certfile = requests.utils.DEFAULT_CA_BUNDLE_PATH
-                    response = requests.get(url, auth=HttpNtlmAuth(user_domain + u'\\' + user_sysname, ''), verify=certfile, timeout=timeout_s)
+                    response = requests.get(url, auth=HttpNtlmAuth(user_domain + '\\' + user_sysname, ''), verify=certfile, timeout=timeout_s)
                 else:
                     log.logger.debug('NOT Validating cert for this request')
                     requests.packages.urllib3.disable_warnings(InsecureRequestWarning)  # disable warnings for unverified certs
-                    response = requests.get(url, auth=HttpNtlmAuth(user_domain + u'\\' + user_sysname, ''), verify=False, timeout=timeout_s)
+                    response = requests.get(url, auth=HttpNtlmAuth(user_domain + '\\' + user_sysname, ''), verify=False, timeout=timeout_s)
             else:
                 # Server is using local auth
                 if certcheck:
@@ -227,11 +229,15 @@ def export_view(view_url_suffix, site_name, timeout_s, data_retrieval_tries, for
             filename = datestring + '_' + threading.current_thread().name + '_' + viewurlsuffix.replace('/', '-') + '.' + format
             filepath = tempdir + filename
 
-            log.logger.info(u'Attempting to write to: {}'.format(filepath))
+            log.logger.info('Attempting to write to: {}'.format(filepath))
 
             if format == Format.CSV:
-                f = open(filepath, 'w')
-                f.write(response.content.replace('\r\n', '\n')) # remove extra carriage returns
+                f = open(filepath, 'wb')
+                filebytes = response.content
+                realstr = filebytes.decode(encoding='utf-8')
+                lateststr = realstr.replace('\r\n', '\n')
+                finalbinary = lateststr.encode()
+                f.write(finalbinary) # remove extra carriage returns
             else:
                 f = open(filepath, 'wb')
                 for block in response.iter_content(1024):
@@ -239,30 +245,30 @@ def export_view(view_url_suffix, site_name, timeout_s, data_retrieval_tries, for
                         break
                     f.write(block)
             f.close()
-            return unicode(filepath)
+            return filepath
         except requests.exceptions.Timeout as e:
-            errormessage = cgi.escape(u'Timeout error. Could not retrieve vizdata from url {} within {} seconds, after {} tries'.format(displayurl, timeout_s, attempts))
+            errormessage = html.escape('Timeout error. Could not retrieve vizdata from url {} within {} seconds, after {} tries'.format(displayurl, timeout_s, attempts))
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             if attempts >= data_retrieval_tries:
                 raise UserWarning(errormessage)
             else:
                 continue
         except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
-            errormessage = cgi.escape(u'HTTP error getting vizdata from url {}. Code: {} Reason: {}'.format(displayurl, e.response.status_code, e.response.reason))
+            errormessage = html.escape('HTTP error getting vizdata from url {}. Code: {} Reason: {}'.format(displayurl, e.response.status_code, e.response.reason))
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             if attempts >= data_retrieval_tries:
                 raise UserWarning(errormessage)
             else:
                 continue
         except requests.exceptions.SSLError as e:
-            errormessage = cgi.escape(u'SSL error getting vizdata from url {}. Error: {}'.format(displayurl, e))
+            errormessage = html.escape('SSL error getting vizdata from url {}. Error: {}'.format(displayurl, e))
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             if attempts >= data_retrieval_tries:
                 raise UserWarning(errormessage)
             else:
                 continue
         except requests.exceptions.RequestException as e:
-            errormessage = cgi.escape(u'Request Exception getting vizdata from url {}. Error: {}'.format(displayurl, e))
+            errormessage = html.escape('Request Exception getting vizdata from url {}. Error: {}'.format(displayurl, e))
             if response:
                 errormessage += ' Response: {}'.format(response)
             if hasattr(e, 'code'):
@@ -275,14 +281,14 @@ def export_view(view_url_suffix, site_name, timeout_s, data_retrieval_tries, for
             else:
                 continue
         except IOError as e:
-            errormessage = cgi.escape(u'Unable to write the file {} for url {}, error: {}'.format(filepath, displayurl, e))
+            errormessage = html.escape('Unable to write the file {} for url {}, error: {}'.format(filepath, displayurl, e))
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             if attempts >= data_retrieval_tries:
                 raise UserWarning(errormessage)
             else:
                 continue
         except Exception as e:
-            errormessage = cgi.escape(u'Generic exception trying to export the url {} to {}, error: {}'.format(displayurl, format, e))
+            errormessage = html.escape('Generic exception trying to export the url {} to {}, error: {}'.format(displayurl, format, e))
             if response:
                 errormessage = errormessage + ', response: {}'.format(response)
             if hasattr(e, 'code'):
diff --git a/vizalert/vizalert.py b/vizalert/vizalert.py
index 04335ad..198d536 100644
--- a/vizalert/vizalert.py
+++ b/vizalert/vizalert.py
@@ -14,71 +14,71 @@
 from operator import itemgetter
 import posixpath
 import uuid
-from Queue import Queue
+from queue import Queue
 
 # import local modules
-import config
-import log
-import tabhttp
-import emailaction
-import smsaction
+from . import config
+from . import log
+from . import tabhttp
+from . import emailaction
+from . import smsaction
 
 # reserved strings for Advanced Alerts embedding
-IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER = u'VIZ_IMAGE()'
-PDF_PLACEHOLDER = u'VIZ_PDF()'
-CSV_PLACEHOLDER = u'VIZ_CSV()'
-TWB_PLACEHOLDER = u'VIZ_TWB()'
-DEFAULT_FOOTER = u'VIZALERTS_FOOTER()'  # special string for embedding the default footer in an Advanced Alert
-VIZLINK_PLACEHOLDER = u'VIZ_LINK()'  # special string for embedding HTML links in Advanced Alert
+IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER = 'VIZ_IMAGE()'
+PDF_PLACEHOLDER = 'VIZ_PDF()'
+CSV_PLACEHOLDER = 'VIZ_CSV()'
+TWB_PLACEHOLDER = 'VIZ_TWB()'
+DEFAULT_FOOTER = 'VIZALERTS_FOOTER()'  # special string for embedding the default footer in an Advanced Alert
+VIZLINK_PLACEHOLDER = 'VIZ_LINK()'  # special string for embedding HTML links in Advanced Alert
 
 # reserved strings for Advanced Alerts arguments
-EXPORTFILENAME_ARGUMENT = u'filename'
-MERGEPDF_ARGUMENT = u'mergepdf'
-VIZLINK_ARGUMENT = u'vizlink'
-RAWLINK_ARGUMENT = u'rawlink'
-ARGUMENT_DELIMITER = u'|'
+EXPORTFILENAME_ARGUMENT = 'filename'
+MERGEPDF_ARGUMENT = 'mergepdf'
+VIZLINK_ARGUMENT = 'vizlink'
+RAWLINK_ARGUMENT = 'rawlink'
+ARGUMENT_DELIMITER = '|'
 
 # reserved strings for Action Field names (used as keys)
 # General use fields
-GENERAL_SORTORDER_FIELDKEY = u'Consolidated Sort'
-CONSOLIDATE_LINES_FIELDKEY = u'Consolidate Lines'
+GENERAL_SORTORDER_FIELDKEY = 'Consolidated Sort'
+CONSOLIDATE_LINES_FIELDKEY = 'Consolidate Lines'
 
 # Email Action fields
-EMAIL_ACTION_FIELDKEY = u'Email Action'
-EMAIL_TO_FIELDKEY = u'Email To'
-EMAIL_FROM_FIELDKEY = u'Email From'
-EMAIL_CC_FIELDKEY = u'Email CC'
-EMAIL_BCC_FIELDKEY = u'Email BCC'
-EMAIL_SUBJECT_FIELDKEY = u'Email Subject'
-EMAIL_BODY_FIELDKEY = u'Email Body'
-EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_FIELDKEY = u'Email Attachment'
-EMAIL_HEADER_FIELDKEY = u'Email Header'
-EMAIL_FOOTER_FIELDKEY = u'Email Footer'
+EMAIL_ACTION_FIELDKEY = 'Email Action'
+EMAIL_TO_FIELDKEY = 'Email To'
+EMAIL_FROM_FIELDKEY = 'Email From'
+EMAIL_CC_FIELDKEY = 'Email CC'
+EMAIL_BCC_FIELDKEY = 'Email BCC'
+EMAIL_SUBJECT_FIELDKEY = 'Email Subject'
+EMAIL_BODY_FIELDKEY = 'Email Body'
+EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_FIELDKEY = 'Email Attachment'
+EMAIL_HEADER_FIELDKEY = 'Email Header'
+EMAIL_FOOTER_FIELDKEY = 'Email Footer'
 
 # SMS Action fields
-SMS_ACTION_FIELDKEY = u'SMS Action'
-SMS_TO_FIELDKEY = u'SMS To'
-SMS_MESSAGE_FIELDKEY = u'SMS Message'
-SMS_HEADER_FIELDKEY = u'SMS Header'
-SMS_FOOTER_FIELDKEY = u'SMS Footer'
+SMS_ACTION_FIELDKEY = 'SMS Action'
+SMS_TO_FIELDKEY = 'SMS To'
+SMS_MESSAGE_FIELDKEY = 'SMS Message'
+SMS_HEADER_FIELDKEY = 'SMS Header'
+SMS_FOOTER_FIELDKEY = 'SMS Footer'
 
 # reserved strings for Action Types
-GENERAL_ACTION_TYPE = u'General'
-EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE = u'Email'
-SMS_ACTION_TYPE = u'SMS'
+GENERAL_ACTION_TYPE = 'General'
+EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE = 'Email'
+SMS_ACTION_TYPE = 'SMS'
 
 # reserved strings for alert_types
-SIMPLE_ALERT = u'simple'
-ADVANCED_ALERT = u'advanced'
+SIMPLE_ALERT = 'simple'
+ADVANCED_ALERT = 'advanced'
 
 # appended to the bottom of all user-facing emails, unless overidden
 # expecting bodyfooter.format(subscriber_email, subcriber_sysname, vizurl, viewname)
-bodyfooter = u'<br><br><font size="2"><i>This VizAlerts email generated on behalf of ' \
-             u'<a href="mailto:{}">{}</a>, from view <a href="{}">{}</a></i></font>'
+bodyfooter = '<br><br><font size="2"><i>This VizAlerts email generated on behalf of ' \
+             '<a href="mailto:{}">{}</a>, from view <a href="{}">{}</a></i></font>'
 
 # appended under the bodyfooter, but only for Simple Alerts
 # expecting unsubscribe_footer.format(subscriptionsurl)
-unsubscribe_footer = u'<br><font size="2"><i><a href="{}">Manage my subscription settings</a></i></font>'
+unsubscribe_footer = '<br><font size="2"><i><a href="{}">Manage my subscription settings</a></i></font>'
 
 # code from https://github.com/mitsuhiko/flask/blob/50dc2403526c5c5c67577767b05eb81e8fab0877/flask/helpers.py#L80
 # what separators does this operating system provide that are not a slash?
@@ -96,11 +96,11 @@ def __init__(self, f, encoding="utf-8", **kwargs):
     def __iter__(self):
         return self
 
-    def next(self):
+    def __next__(self):
         # read and split the csv row into fields
-        row = self.csv_reader.next()
+        row = next(self.csv_reader)
         # now decode
-        return [unicode(cell, self.encoding) for cell in row]
+        return [str(cell, self.encoding) for cell in row]
 
     @property
     def line_num(self):
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ def __init__(self, f, encoding="utf-8", fieldnames=None, **kwds):
         self.reader = UnicodeCsvReader(f, encoding=encoding, **kwds)
 
 
-class ActionField:
+class ActionField(object):
     """Represents a mapping of a field found in a trigger CSV to an action property"""
 
     def __init__(self, name, action_type, is_required, is_action_flag, pattern, default_value=None):
@@ -132,25 +132,25 @@ def __init__(self, name, action_type, is_required, is_action_flag, pattern, defa
         self.error_list = []
 
     def get_user_facing_fieldname(self):
-        field_name = u'{} {}'
+        field_name = '{} {}'
         if self.is_required:
-            return field_name.format(self.name, u'*')
+            return field_name.format(self.name, '*')
         else:
-            return field_name.format(self.name, u'~')
+            return field_name.format(self.name, '~')
 
     def get_value_from_dict(self, dict):
     # Retrieve the field value from a dictionary, or the default value
         if self.field_name:
-            if dict.has_key(self.field_name):
+            if self.field_name in dict:
                 return dict[self.field_name]
             else:
-                errormessage = u'Could not retrieve value for field {} from row {}'.format(
+                errormessage = 'Could not retrieve value for field {} from row {}'.format(
                         self.field_name, dict)
                 raise UserWarning(errormessage)
         elif self.default_value:
             return self.default_value
         else:
-            errormessage = u'Could not retrieve value for field {}, no matches were found ' \
+            errormessage = 'Could not retrieve value for field {}, no matches were found ' \
                             'and no default value available'.format(
                     self.field_name)
             raise UserWarning(errormessage)
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ class TaskType(object):
     # VALIDATE_TRIGGER_DATA = 'validate_trigger_data'
 
 
-class Task:
+class Task(object):
     """Represents a task within an Alert to be executed. It need not be an actual alert Action"""
 
     def __init__(self, alert, task_type, task_instance):
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ def __init__(self, alert, task_type, task_instance):
         # execution configs
 
         # execution attempt information
-        self.task_uuid = unicode(uuid.uuid4())
+        self.task_uuid = str(uuid.uuid4())
         self.task_attempt_number = 0  # REVISIT: should use retry count from vizalert parent
         self.task_started_at = None
         self.task_completed_at = None
@@ -210,26 +210,26 @@ def execute_task(self):
 
         self.task_started_at = datetime.datetime.now()
 
-        log.logger.debug(u'starting task execution for task {}'.format(self.task_uuid))
+        log.logger.debug('starting task execution for task {}'.format(self.task_uuid))
 
         try:
             if self.task_type == TaskType.SEND_EMAIL:
 
-                log.logger.debug(u'Task is type email, sending now')
+                log.logger.debug('Task is type email, sending now')
 
                 emailaction.send_email(self.task_instance)
 
-                log.logger.debug(u'Task completed')
+                log.logger.debug('Task completed')
 
             elif self.task_type == TaskType.SEND_SMS:
 
-                log.logger.debug(u'Task is type SMS, sending now')
+                log.logger.debug('Task is type SMS, sending now')
 
                 smsaction.send_sms(self.task_instance)
             else:
-                raise UserWarning(u'Task Type "{}" is invalid'.format(self.task_type))
+                raise UserWarning('Task Type "{}" is invalid'.format(self.task_type))
 
-            log.logger.debug(u'Writing Task completion state info')
+            log.logger.debug('Writing Task completion state info')
 
             self.task_succeeded = True
             self.task_completed_at = datetime.datetime.now()
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ def execute_task(self):
         except Exception as e:
             self.task_succeeded = False
             self.task_completed_at = datetime.datetime.now()
-            log.logger.error(u'Could not execute task {}: {}'.format(self.task_uuid, e.message))
+            log.logger.error('Could not execute task {}: {}'.format(self.task_uuid, e.args[0]))
             raise e
 
     def has_errors(self):
@@ -289,9 +289,9 @@ def run(self):
                 # Get the work from the queue and expand the tuple
                 task = self.queue.get()
 
-                log.logger.debug(u'Thread {} is processing task_id {}, from subscription_id {}, view_id {}, '
-                                 u'site_name {}, customized_view_id {}, '
-                                 u'view_name {}'.format(
+                log.logger.debug('Thread {} is processing task_id {}, from subscription_id {}, view_id {}, '
+                                 'site_name {}, customized_view_id {}, '
+                                 'view_name {}'.format(
                                     self.thread_name,
                                     task.task_uuid,
                                     task.alert.subscription_id,
@@ -304,27 +304,27 @@ def run(self):
                 try:
                     task.execute_task()
                 except Exception as e:
-                    errormessage = u'Unable to process task {} from alert {}, error: {}'.format(
+                    errormessage = 'Unable to process task {} from alert {}, error: {}'.format(
                                                                                         task.task_uuid,
                                                                                         task.alert.view_name,
-                                                                                        e.message)
+                                                                                        e.args[0])
                     log.logger.error(errormessage)
                     task.alert.error_list.append(errormessage)
                     task.alert.alert_failure()
                     continue
 
 
-class VizAlert:
+class VizAlert(object):
     """Standard class representing a VizAlert"""
 
-    def __init__(self, view_url_suffix, site_name, subscriber_sysname, subscriber_domain, subscriber_email=u'', view_name=u''):
+    def __init__(self, view_url_suffix, site_name, subscriber_sysname, subscriber_domain, subscriber_email='', view_name=''):
         self.view_url_suffix = view_url_suffix
         self.site_name = site_name
         self.subscriber_domain = subscriber_domain
         self.subscriber_sysname = subscriber_sysname
         self.subscriber_email = subscriber_email
         self.view_name = view_name
-        self.alert_uuid = unicode(uuid.uuid4())
+        self.alert_uuid = str(uuid.uuid4())
 
         # general config
         self.data_retrieval_tries = 2
@@ -339,13 +339,13 @@ def __init__(self, view_url_suffix, site_name, subscriber_sysname, subscriber_do
 
         # email action config
         self.action_enabled_email = 0
-        self.allowed_from_address = u''
-        self.allowed_recipient_addresses = u''
+        self.allowed_from_address = ''
+        self.allowed_recipient_addresses = ''
 
         # sms action config
         self.action_enabled_sms = 0
-        self.allowed_recipient_numbers = u''
-        self.from_number = u''
+        self.allowed_recipient_numbers = ''
+        self.from_number = ''
         self.phone_country_code = ''
 
         # alert metadata
@@ -353,29 +353,29 @@ def __init__(self, view_url_suffix, site_name, subscriber_sysname, subscriber_do
         self.is_test = False
         self.is_triggered_by_refresh = False
         self.customized_view_id = -1
-        self.owner_email = u''
-        self.owner_friendly_name = u''
-        self.owner_sysname = u''
+        self.owner_email = ''
+        self.owner_friendly_name = ''
+        self.owner_sysname = ''
         self.project_id = -1
-        self.project_name = u''
-        self.ran_last_at = u''
-        self.run_next_at = u''
-        self.schedule_frequency = u''
+        self.project_name = ''
+        self.ran_last_at = ''
+        self.run_next_at = ''
+        self.schedule_frequency = ''
         self.schedule_id = -1
-        self.schedule_name = u''
+        self.schedule_name = ''
         self.priority = -1
         self.schedule_type = -1
         self.site_id = -1
-        self.subscriber_license = u''
+        self.subscriber_license = ''
         self.subscriber_user_id = -1
         self.subscription_id = -1
         self.view_id = -1
         self.view_owner_id = -1
-        self.workbook_id = u''
-        self.workbook_repository_url = u''
+        self.workbook_id = ''
+        self.workbook_repository_url = ''
 
         # alert state information
-        self.trigger_data_file = u''
+        self.trigger_data_file = ''
         self.trigger_data = []
         self.trigger_data_rowcount = 0
         self.unique_trigger_data = []
@@ -390,51 +390,51 @@ def __init__(self, view_url_suffix, site_name, subscriber_sysname, subscriber_do
         # consolidated and sort have backwards-compatible options for v1.x
         self.action_field_dict[GENERAL_SORTORDER_FIELDKEY] = \
             ActionField(GENERAL_SORTORDER_FIELDKEY, GENERAL_ACTION_TYPE, False, False,
-                        u'.*Consolidated.Sort|.*Sort.Order')
+                        '.*Consolidated.Sort|.*Sort.Order')
         self.action_field_dict[CONSOLIDATE_LINES_FIELDKEY] = \
             ActionField(CONSOLIDATE_LINES_FIELDKEY, GENERAL_ACTION_TYPE, False, False,
-                        u'.*Consolidate.Lines|.*Email.Consolidate')
+                        '.*Consolidate.Lines|.*Email.Consolidate')
 
         # Email Action fields
         self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_ACTION_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(EMAIL_ACTION_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, True, True, u' ?Email.Action')
+            ActionField(EMAIL_ACTION_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, True, True, ' ?Email.Action')
         self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_SUBJECT_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(EMAIL_SUBJECT_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, True, False, u' ?Email.Subject',
-                        u'Alert triggered for {}'.format(self.view_name))
+            ActionField(EMAIL_SUBJECT_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, True, False, ' ?Email.Subject',
+                        'Alert triggered for {}'.format(self.view_name))
         self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_TO_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(EMAIL_TO_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, True, False, u' ?Email.To', self.subscriber_email)
+            ActionField(EMAIL_TO_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, True, False, ' ?Email.To', self.subscriber_email)
         self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_FROM_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(EMAIL_FROM_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, u' ?Email.From',
+            ActionField(EMAIL_FROM_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, ' ?Email.From',
                         config.configs['smtp.address.from'])
         self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_CC_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(EMAIL_CC_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, u' ?Email.CC')
+            ActionField(EMAIL_CC_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, ' ?Email.CC')
         self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_BCC_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(EMAIL_BCC_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, u' ?Email.BCC')
+            ActionField(EMAIL_BCC_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, ' ?Email.BCC')
         self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_BODY_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(EMAIL_BODY_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, True, False, u' ?Email.Body', 'VIZ_IMAGE(|vizlink)')
+            ActionField(EMAIL_BODY_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, True, False, ' ?Email.Body', 'VIZ_IMAGE(|vizlink)')
         self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_HEADER_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(EMAIL_HEADER_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, u' ?Email.Header')
+            ActionField(EMAIL_HEADER_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, ' ?Email.Header')
         self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_FOOTER_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(EMAIL_FOOTER_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, u' ?Email.Footer')
+            ActionField(EMAIL_FOOTER_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, ' ?Email.Footer')
         self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, u' ?Email.Attachment')
+            ActionField(EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_FIELDKEY, EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, ' ?Email.Attachment')
 
         # SMS Action fields
         self.action_field_dict[SMS_ACTION_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(SMS_ACTION_FIELDKEY, SMS_ACTION_TYPE, True, True, u' ?SMS.Action')
+            ActionField(SMS_ACTION_FIELDKEY, SMS_ACTION_TYPE, True, True, ' ?SMS.Action')
         self.action_field_dict[SMS_TO_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(SMS_TO_FIELDKEY, SMS_ACTION_TYPE, True, False, u' ?SMS.To')
+            ActionField(SMS_TO_FIELDKEY, SMS_ACTION_TYPE, True, False, ' ?SMS.To')
         self.action_field_dict[SMS_MESSAGE_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(SMS_MESSAGE_FIELDKEY, SMS_ACTION_TYPE, True, False, u' ?SMS.Message')
+            ActionField(SMS_MESSAGE_FIELDKEY, SMS_ACTION_TYPE, True, False, ' ?SMS.Message')
         self.action_field_dict[SMS_HEADER_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(SMS_HEADER_FIELDKEY, SMS_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, u' ?SMS.Header')
+            ActionField(SMS_HEADER_FIELDKEY, SMS_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, ' ?SMS.Header')
         self.action_field_dict[SMS_FOOTER_FIELDKEY] = \
-            ActionField(SMS_FOOTER_FIELDKEY, SMS_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, u' ?SMS.Footer')
+            ActionField(SMS_FOOTER_FIELDKEY, SMS_ACTION_TYPE, False, False, ' ?SMS.Footer')
 
     def get_action_flag_field(self, action_type):
         """Return the appropriate action field representing an action flag based on the type
         Note that no validation is done here """
-        for action_field_name, action_field in self.action_field_dict.iteritems():
+        for action_field_name, action_field in list(self.action_field_dict.items()):
             if self.action_field_dict[action_field_name].action_type == action_type \
                     and self.action_field_dict[action_field_name].is_action_flag:
                 return action_field_name
@@ -443,44 +443,44 @@ def get_view_url(self, customviewurlsuffix=None):
         """Construct the full URL of the trigger view for this VizAlert
              customviewurlsuffix is for generating URLs for other vizzes for content references"""
 
-        httpprefix = u'http://'
+        httpprefix = 'http://'
         if config.configs['server.ssl']:
-            httpprefix = u'https://'
+            httpprefix = 'https://'
 
         # this logic should be removed--empty string should be passed in from SQL
-        sitename = unicode(self.site_name).replace('Default', '')
+        sitename = str(self.site_name).replace('Default', '')
 
         if not customviewurlsuffix:
             customviewurlsuffix = self.view_url_suffix
 
         # (omitting hash preserves 8.x functionality)
         if sitename == '':
-            vizurl = httpprefix + config.configs['server'] + u'/views/' + customviewurlsuffix
+            vizurl = httpprefix + config.configs['server'] + '/views/' + customviewurlsuffix
         else:
-            vizurl = httpprefix + config.configs['server'] + u'/t/' + sitename + u'/views/' + customviewurlsuffix
+            vizurl = httpprefix + config.configs['server'] + '/t/' + sitename + '/views/' + customviewurlsuffix
 
         return vizurl
 
     def get_footer(self):
         """Get the footer text for an email alert"""
-        httpprefix = u'http://'
+        httpprefix = 'http://'
         if config.configs['server.ssl']:
-            httpprefix = u'https://'
+            httpprefix = 'https://'
 
-        footer = u'<br><br><font size="2"><i>This VizAlerts email generated on behalf of <a href="mailto:{}">{}</a>, ' \
-                 u'from view <a href="{}">' \
-                 u'{}</a></i></font>'.format(self.subscriber_email, self.subscriber_sysname, self.get_view_url(),
+        footer = '<br><br><font size="2"><i>This VizAlerts email generated on behalf of <a href="mailto:{}">{}</a>, ' \
+                 'from view <a href="{}">' \
+                 '{}</a></i></font>'.format(self.subscriber_email, self.subscriber_sysname, self.get_view_url(),
                                              self.view_name)
         if self.alert_type == SIMPLE_ALERT:
-            managesuburlv8 = httpprefix + config.configs['server'] + u'/users/' + self.subscriber_sysname
-            managesuburlv9 = httpprefix + config.configs['server'] + u'/#/user/'
+            managesuburlv8 = httpprefix + config.configs['server'] + '/users/' + self.subscriber_sysname
+            managesuburlv9 = httpprefix + config.configs['server'] + '/#/user/'
             if self.subscriber_domain:
-                managesuburlv9 = managesuburlv9 + self.subscriber_domain + u'/' + self.subscriber_sysname +\
-                                 u'/subscriptions'
+                managesuburlv9 = managesuburlv9 + self.subscriber_domain + '/' + self.subscriber_sysname +\
+                                 '/subscriptions'
             else:
-                managesuburlv9 = managesuburlv9 + u'local/' + self.subscriber_sysname + u'/subscriptions'
+                managesuburlv9 = managesuburlv9 + 'local/' + self.subscriber_sysname + '/subscriptions'
 
-            managesublink = u'<br><font size="2"><i><a href="{}">Manage my subscription settings</a></i></font>'
+            managesublink = '<br><font size="2"><i><a href="{}">Manage my subscription settings</a></i></font>'
 
             if config.configs['server.version'] == 8:
                 footer += managesublink.format(managesuburlv8)
@@ -511,9 +511,10 @@ def download_trigger_data(self):
             reader = self.read_trigger_data()
 
             rowcount = 0
+
             for row in reader:
                 if rowcount > self.viz_data_maxrows:
-                    errormessage = u'Maximum rows of {} exceeded.'.format(self.viz_data_maxrows)
+                    errormessage = 'Maximum rows of {} exceeded.'.format(self.viz_data_maxrows)
                     self.error_list.append(errormessage)
                     log.logger.error(errormessage)
                     break
@@ -521,23 +522,22 @@ def download_trigger_data(self):
                 # read data in anyway
                 self.trigger_data.append(row)
                 rowcount += 1
-
             # set the rowcount value in the alert itself
             self.trigger_data_rowcount = rowcount
         except Exception as e:
             log.logger.error(e)
-            self.error_list.append(e.message)
+            self.error_list.append(e.args[0])
             return
 
     def read_trigger_data(self):
         """ Returns a CSV reader to read the trigger data file downloaded for the alert
             Requests for the data itself should use the trigger_data list member to avoid multiple reads """
         try:
-            f = open(self.trigger_data_file, 'rU')
-            return UnicodeDictReader(f)
+            f = open(self.trigger_data_file, 'r', encoding="utf-8")
+            return csv.DictReader(f)
 
         except Exception as e:
-            log.logger.error(u'Error accessing {} while getting processing alert {}: {}'.format(
+            log.logger.error('Error accessing {} while getting processing alert {}: {}'.format(
                 self.trigger_data_file,
                 self.view_url_suffix,
                 e))
@@ -547,7 +547,7 @@ def parse_action_fields(self):
         """Parse the trigger data and map field names to VizAlert action fields
             Returns a list of dicts containing any errors found"""
 
-        log.logger.debug(u'Parsing action fields')
+        log.logger.debug('Parsing action fields')
 
         field_error_list = []
         rownum = 1  # fields are always in the first row of a csv
@@ -557,14 +557,14 @@ def parse_action_fields(self):
             for key in self.action_field_dict:
                 for field in self.read_trigger_data().fieldnames:
                     if re.match(self.action_field_dict[key].pattern, field, re.IGNORECASE):
-                        log.logger.debug(u'found field match! : {}'.format(field))
+                        log.logger.debug('found field match! : {}'.format(field))
                         self.action_field_dict[key].match_list.append(field)  # add the match we found
 
-            log.logger.debug(u'searching for action fields')
+            log.logger.debug('searching for action fields')
 
             # collect all the action flags we found
             action_flags = []
-            for i, found_flag in self.action_field_dict.iteritems():
+            for i, found_flag in list(self.action_field_dict.items()):
                 if found_flag.is_action_flag and found_flag.has_match():
                     action_flags.append(found_flag.name)
 
@@ -572,13 +572,13 @@ def parse_action_fields(self):
             if len(action_flags) > 0:
 
                 self.alert_type = ADVANCED_ALERT  # we know this is an advanced alert now
-                log.logger.debug(u'Advanced alert detected')
+                log.logger.debug('Advanced alert detected')
 
                 # ensure the subscriber is the owner of the viz
                 #  we need to do this check straight away so we don't send any more info to the subscriber
                 if self.subscriber_sysname != self.owner_sysname:
-                    errormessage = u'You must be the owner of the workbook in order to use Advanced Alerts.<br><br>' \
-                                   u'Subscriber {} to advanced alert subscription_id {} is not the owner, {}'.format(
+                    errormessage = 'You must be the owner of the workbook in order to use Advanced Alerts.<br><br>' \
+                                   'Subscriber {} to advanced alert subscription_id {} is not the owner, {}'.format(
                                     self.subscriber_sysname,
                                     self.subscription_id,
                                     self.owner_sysname)
@@ -600,39 +600,39 @@ def parse_action_fields(self):
                         if self.action_field_dict[action_field].action_type == EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE \
                                 and not self.action_enabled_email:
                             self.action_field_dict[action_field].error_list.append(
-                                u'Email actions are not allowed for this alert, per administrative settings')
+                                'Email actions are not allowed for this alert, per administrative settings')
 
                         # sms actions
                         if self.action_field_dict[action_field].action_type == SMS_ACTION_TYPE:
                             if not config.configs['smsaction.enable']:
                                 self.action_field_dict[action_field].error_list.append(
-                                    u'SMS actions are not enabled, per administrative settings')
+                                    'SMS actions are not enabled, per administrative settings')
                             elif not self.action_enabled_sms:
                                 self.action_field_dict[action_field].error_list.append(
-                                    u'SMS actions are not allowed for this alert, per administrative settings')
+                                    'SMS actions are not allowed for this alert, per administrative settings')
                             elif not smsaction.smsclient:
                                 self.action_field_dict[action_field].error_list.append(
-                                    u'SMS actions cannot be processed right now--no valid client. '
-                                    u'Please contact your administrator.')
+                                    'SMS actions cannot be processed right now--no valid client. '
+                                    'Please contact your administrator.')
 
                         # multiple matches are not allowed--we need to be sure which field to use for what
                         if len(self.action_field_dict[action_field].match_list) > 1:
                             self.action_field_dict[action_field].error_list.append(
-                                u'Multiple matches found for field {}. Found:  {}'.format(
+                                'Multiple matches found for field {}. Found:  {}'.format(
                                     action_field,
-                                    u''.join(self.action_field_dict[action_field].match_list)
+                                    ''.join(self.action_field_dict[action_field].match_list)
                             ))
 
                         # missing the action flag field (OK for 'General' fields)
                         if not action_flag and self.action_field_dict[action_field].action_type != GENERAL_ACTION_TYPE:
                             # we should never hit this, but OCD requires I check for it
                             self.action_field_dict[action_field].error_list.append(
-                                u'VizAlerts has a bug; please contact the developers')
+                                'VizAlerts has a bug; please contact the developers')
 
                         if action_flag:
                             if not self.action_field_dict[action_flag].has_match():
                                 self.action_field_dict[action_field].error_list.append(
-                                    u'Could not find action flag field {}, which is necessary for {} actions.'.format(
+                                    'Could not find action flag field {}, which is necessary for {} actions.'.format(
                                         self.action_field_dict[action_flag].get_user_facing_fieldname(),
                                         self.action_field_dict[action_field].action_type))
 
@@ -641,7 +641,7 @@ def parse_action_fields(self):
                             if self.action_field_dict[action_field].name == CONSOLIDATE_LINES_FIELDKEY and \
                                     EMAIL_ACTION_FIELDKEY in action_flags and SMS_ACTION_FIELDKEY in action_flags:
                                 self.action_field_dict[action_field].error_list.append(
-                                    u'{} may not be used with both {} and {}'.format(
+                                    '{} may not be used with both {} and {}'.format(
                                         self.action_field_dict[action_field].name,
                                         EMAIL_ACTION_FIELDKEY,
                                         SMS_ACTION_FIELDKEY))
@@ -658,23 +658,23 @@ def parse_action_fields(self):
                                 #   the author intends to use that action type in this alert
                                 #   ...but we don't have a default value, so missing this field is a dealbreaker
                                 self.action_field_dict[action_field].error_list.append(
-                                    u'This is a required field for {} actions'.format(
+                                    'This is a required field for {} actions'.format(
                                         self.action_field_dict[action_field].action_type))
 
-            log.logger.debug(u'Retrieving all errors found in field parse operation')
+            log.logger.debug('Retrieving all errors found in field parse operation')
             # capture and return errors we found
             for action_field in self.action_field_dict:
                 for field_error in self.action_field_dict[action_field].error_list:
 
-                    log.logger.debug(u'Found error in field {}: {}'.format(
+                    log.logger.debug('Found error in field {}: {}'.format(
                         action_field, field_error))
 
                     # add the error to the list
                     field_error_list.append(
-                            {u'Row': rownum,
-                             u'Field': self.action_field_dict[action_field].get_user_facing_fieldname(),
-                             u'Value': u''.join(self.action_field_dict[action_field].match_list),
-                             u'Error': field_error})
+                            {'Row': rownum,
+                             'Field': self.action_field_dict[action_field].get_user_facing_fieldname(),
+                             'Value': ''.join(self.action_field_dict[action_field].match_list),
+                             'Error': field_error})
 
             # assign final field names for all action fields that have no issues
             for action_field in self.action_field_dict:
@@ -686,7 +686,7 @@ def parse_action_fields(self):
             self.error_list.extend(field_error_list)
             return field_error_list
         except Exception as e:
-            errormessage = u'Error parsing trigger data fields: {}'.format(e.message)
+            errormessage = 'Error parsing trigger data fields: {}'.format(e.args[0])
             log.logger.debug(errormessage)
             self.error_list.append(errormessage)
             raise e
@@ -699,27 +699,27 @@ def validate_trigger_data(self):
 
         # validate the simple alert scenario
         if self.alert_type == SIMPLE_ALERT:
-            log.logger.debug(u'Validating as a simple alert')
+            log.logger.debug('Validating as a simple alert')
 
             # check for invalid email domains--just in case the user fudges their email in Tableau Server
             subscriberemailerror = emailaction.address_is_invalid(self.subscriber_email, self.allowed_recipient_addresses)
             if subscriberemailerror:
-                errormessage = u'VizAlerts was unable to process this alert, because it was ' \
-                               u'unable to send email to address {}: {}'.format(
+                errormessage = 'VizAlerts was unable to process this alert, because it was ' \
+                               'unable to send email to address {}: {}'.format(
                                     self.subscriber_email, subscriberemailerror)
                 log.logger.error(errormessage)
                 trigger_data_errors.append(subscriberemailerror)
 
         elif self.alert_type == ADVANCED_ALERT:
             # this is an advanced alert, so we need to process all the fields appropriately
-            log.logger.debug(u'Validating as an advanced alert')
+            log.logger.debug('Validating as an advanced alert')
 
             # Email action validations
             if self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_ACTION_FIELDKEY].has_match() \
                     and not self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_ACTION_FIELDKEY].has_errors():
             
                 # validate all From and Recipient addresses
-                log.logger.debug(u'Validating email addresses')
+                log.logger.debug('Validating email addresses')
                 addresserrors = emailaction.validate_addresses(
                                                             self.trigger_data,
                                                             self.allowed_from_address,
@@ -730,7 +730,7 @@ def validate_trigger_data(self):
                                                             self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_CC_FIELDKEY],
                                                             self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_BCC_FIELDKEY])
                 if addresserrors:
-                    errormessage = u'Invalid email addresses found: {}'.format(addresserrors)
+                    errormessage = 'Invalid email addresses found: {}'.format(addresserrors)
                     log.logger.error(errormessage)
                     trigger_data_errors.extend(addresserrors)
 
@@ -738,14 +738,14 @@ def validate_trigger_data(self):
             if self.action_field_dict[SMS_ACTION_FIELDKEY].has_match():
             
                 # validate all From and Recipient numbers
-                log.logger.debug(u'Validating SMS numbers')
+                log.logger.debug('Validating SMS numbers')
                 numbererrors = smsaction.validate_smsnumbers(
                                                             self.trigger_data,
                                                             self.action_field_dict[SMS_TO_FIELDKEY].field_name,
                                                             self.allowed_recipient_numbers,
                                                             self.phone_country_code)
                 if numbererrors:
-                    errormessage = u'Invalid SMS numbers found: {}'.format(numbererrors)
+                    errormessage = 'Invalid SMS numbers found: {}'.format(numbererrors)
                     log.logger.error(errormessage)
                     trigger_data_errors.extend(numbererrors)
 
@@ -758,7 +758,7 @@ def validate_trigger_data(self):
 
         else:
             # it's not a simple alert, it's not advanced, then what is it? a bug, that's what.
-            trigger_data_errors.append(u'VizAlerts has a bug; please contact the developers')
+            trigger_data_errors.append('VizAlerts has a bug; please contact the developers')
 
         # add the errors we found to all errors in the VizAlert
         self.error_list.extend(trigger_data_errors)
@@ -779,7 +779,7 @@ def execute_alert(self):
 
             if self.subscriber_sysname == self.owner_sysname:
                 # if they are the owner, this may be an advanced alert, so we should notify the admin
-                errormessage = u'VizAlerts was unable to process this alert: User {} is unlicensed.'.format(
+                errormessage = 'VizAlerts was unable to process this alert: User {} is unlicensed.'.format(
                     self.subscriber_sysname)
                 log.logger.error(errormessage)
                 self.error_list.append(errormessage)
@@ -787,7 +787,7 @@ def execute_alert(self):
                 return
             else:
                 # they're not the owner, so this is a simple alert. just ignore them and log that we did.
-                errormessage = u'Ignoring subscription_id {}: User {} is unlicensed.'.format(
+                errormessage = 'Ignoring subscription_id {}: User {} is unlicensed.'.format(
                     self.subscription_id, self.subscriber_sysname)
                 log.logger.error(errormessage)
                 self.error_list.append(errormessage)
@@ -795,14 +795,14 @@ def execute_alert(self):
 
         # if this is a test alert, and they're not the owner, tell them what's up
         if self.is_test and self.subscriber_sysname != self.owner_sysname:
-            errormessage = u'You must be the owner of the viz in order to test the alert.'
+            errormessage = 'You must be the owner of the viz in order to test the alert.'
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             self.error_list.append(errormessage)
             self.alert_failure()
             return
 
         # get the CSV data from the alert trigger
-        log.logger.debug(u'Starting to download trigger data')
+        log.logger.debug('Starting to download trigger data')
 
         self.download_trigger_data()
 
@@ -812,9 +812,9 @@ def execute_alert(self):
             return
 
         if self.trigger_data_rowcount == 0:
-            log.logger.info(u'Nothing to do! No rows in trigger data from file {}'.format(self.trigger_data_file))
+            log.logger.info('Nothing to do! No rows in trigger data from file {}'.format(self.trigger_data_file))
         else:
-            log.logger.debug(u'Got trigger data, now parsing fields')
+            log.logger.debug('Got trigger data, now parsing fields')
 
             # parse and validate the fields
             if self.trigger_data and len(self.error_list) == 0:
@@ -825,7 +825,7 @@ def execute_alert(self):
                     self.alert_failure()
                     return
 
-                log.logger.debug(u'Validating trigger data')
+                log.logger.debug('Validating trigger data')
 
                 trigger_data_errors = []
                 trigger_data_errors = self.validate_trigger_data()
@@ -834,14 +834,14 @@ def execute_alert(self):
                     self.alert_failure()
                     return
 
-                log.logger.debug(u'Performing alert actions')
+                log.logger.debug('Performing alert actions')
 
                 # identify and download all content references
                 # perform all actions as instructed by the alert
                 #  These two are in the same call right now, but should probably be separated
                 self.perform_actions()
 
-                log.logger.debug(u'Processing {} alert tasks for alert {}'.format(
+                log.logger.debug('Processing {} alert tasks for alert {}'.format(
                     self.task_queue.qsize(),
                     self.alert_uuid))
 
@@ -849,19 +849,19 @@ def execute_alert(self):
                     # spin up threads to process tasks
                     for index in range(self.task_thread_count):
 
-                        log.logger.debug(u'Spinning up task threads')
+                        log.logger.debug('Spinning up task threads')
 
                         # get a unique thread name for the alert
-                        thread_name = u'{}{}{}'.format(
+                        thread_name = '{}{}{}'.format(
                             self.alert_uuid,
-                            u'_',
-                            unicode(index))
+                            '_',
+                            str(index))
 
-                        log.logger.debug(u'New thread name will be {}'.format(thread_name))
+                        log.logger.debug('New thread name will be {}'.format(thread_name))
 
                         task_worker = TaskWorker(thread_name, self.task_queue)
 
-                        log.logger.debug(u'Starting task thread with name: {}'.format(thread_name))
+                        log.logger.debug('Starting task thread with name: {}'.format(thread_name))
 
                         self.task_thread_names.append(thread_name)
                         task_worker.start()
@@ -872,22 +872,22 @@ def execute_alert(self):
                             completed_task_threads = set(self.task_thread_names) - \
                                                      set([thread.name for thread in threading.enumerate()])
 
-                            log.logger.debug(u'All threads: {}'.format(threading.enumerate()))
+                            log.logger.debug('All threads: {}'.format(threading.enumerate()))
 
                             # if the set of completed threads matches all the task threads we spun up,
                             #   that means we're done
                             if completed_task_threads == set(self.task_thread_names):
-                                log.logger.debug(u'Task threads have completed for alert {}. Returning.'.format(
+                                log.logger.debug('Task threads have completed for alert {}. Returning.'.format(
                                     self.alert_uuid))
                                 return
                             task_sleep_time = 3  # REVISIT THIS
                             time.sleep(task_sleep_time)
-                            log.logger.debug(u'Task threads still in progress for alert {}. Sleeping {} seconds'.format(
+                            log.logger.debug('Task threads still in progress for alert {}. Sleeping {} seconds'.format(
                                 self.alert_uuid, task_sleep_time))
                 except Exception as e:
-                    log.logger.error(u'Encountered error processing alert tasks for alert {}: {} '.format(
+                    log.logger.error('Encountered error processing alert tasks for alert {}: {} '.format(
                         self.alert_uuid,
-                        e.message))
+                        e.args[0]))
                 # REVISIT
                 # check for any outstanding errors
 
@@ -898,11 +898,11 @@ def execute_alert(self):
     def perform_actions(self):
         """Execute all the instructions as directed by the trigger data"""
 
-        log.logger.debug(u'Performing alert actions now')
+        log.logger.debug('Performing alert actions now')
 
         # check for any errors we've detected so far
         if len(self.error_list) > 0:
-            log.logger.debug(u'Errors found in alert, aborting execution')
+            log.logger.debug('Errors found in alert, aborting execution')
             self.alert_failure()
         else:
             # please proceed, governor
@@ -920,7 +920,7 @@ def perform_actions(self):
             # run the simple alert
             if self.alert_type == SIMPLE_ALERT:
                 try:
-                    log.logger.debug(u'Processing as a simple alert')
+                    log.logger.debug('Processing as a simple alert')
 
                     # export the viz to a PNG file
                     imagepath = tabhttp.export_view(
@@ -941,11 +941,11 @@ def perform_actions(self):
 
                     # embed the viz image
                     # inlineattachments = [csvpath, imagepath]
-                    log.logger.info(u'Sending simple alert email to user {}'.format(self.subscriber_email))
-                    body = u'<a href="{}"><img src="cid:{}"></a>'.format(self.get_view_url(), basename(imagepath)) + \
+                    log.logger.info('Sending simple alert email to user {}'.format(self.subscriber_email))
+                    body = '<a href="{}"><img src="cid:{}"></a>'.format(self.get_view_url(), basename(imagepath)) + \
                            bodyfooter.format(self.subscriber_email, self.subscriber_sysname,
                                              self.get_view_url(), self.view_name)
-                    subject = unicode(u'Alert triggered for {}'.format(self.view_name))
+                    subject = str('Alert triggered for {}'.format(self.view_name))
 
                     try:
                         email_instance = emailaction.Email(
@@ -955,28 +955,28 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                         # enqueue the task for later execution
                         self.task_queue.put(Task(self, TaskType.SEND_EMAIL, email_instance))
                     except Exception as e:
-                        errormessage = u'Could not send email, error: {}'.format(e.message)
+                        errormessage = 'Could not send email, error: {}'.format(e.args[0])
                         log.logger.error(errormessage)
                         self.error_list.append(errormessage)
                         self.alert_failure()
                         return
                     return
                 except Exception as e:
-                    errormessage = u'Alert was triggered, but encountered a failure rendering data/image:<br> {}'.format(
-                        e.message)
+                    errormessage = 'Alert was triggered, but encountered a failure rendering data/image:<br> {}'.format(
+                        e.args[0])
                     log.logger.error(errormessage)
                     self.error_list.append(errormessage)
                     raise UserWarning(errormessage)
 
             # run the advanced alert
             elif self.alert_type == ADVANCED_ALERT:
-                log.logger.debug(u'Processing as an advanced alert')
+                log.logger.debug('Processing as an advanced alert')
 
                 try:
                     vizcompleterefs = self.find_viz_refs(self.trigger_data)
                 except Exception as e:
-                    errormessage = u'Alert was triggered, but encountered a failure getting data/image references' \
-                                   u':<br /> {}'.format(e.message)
+                    errormessage = 'Alert was triggered, but encountered a failure getting data/image references' \
+                                   ':<br /> {}'.format(e.args[0])
                     log.logger.error(errormessage)
                     raise UserWarning(errormessage)
 
@@ -985,7 +985,7 @@ def perform_actions(self):
 
                 # process emails
                 if self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_ACTION_FIELDKEY].field_name:
-                    log.logger.debug(u'Processing emails')
+                    log.logger.debug('Processing emails')
 
                     # eliminate duplicate rows and ensure proper sorting
                     data = self.get_unique_vizdata(EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE)
@@ -1004,10 +1004,10 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                     # iterate through the rows and send emails accordingly
                     consolidate_email_ctr = 0
                     body = []  # the entire body of the email
-                    email_body_line = u'' # the current line of the email body
-                    subject = u''
-                    email_to = u''
-                    email_from = u''
+                    email_body_line = '' # the current line of the email body
+                    subject = ''
+                    email_to = ''
+                    email_from = ''
                     inlineattachments = []
                     appendattachments = []
                     email_instance = None
@@ -1020,19 +1020,19 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                         if row[email_action_fieldname] == '1':
                             # make sure we set the "from" address if the viz did not provide it
                             email_from = self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_FROM_FIELDKEY].get_value_from_dict(row)
-                            log.logger.debug(u'email_from is {}'.format(email_from))
+                            log.logger.debug('email_from is {}'.format(email_from))
 
                             # make sure we set the "to" address if the viz did not provide it
                             email_to = self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_TO_FIELDKEY].get_value_from_dict(row)
-                            log.logger.debug(u'email_to is {}'.format(email_to))
+                            log.logger.debug('email_to is {}'.format(email_to))
 
                             # make sure we set the subject field if the viz did not provide it
                             subject = self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_SUBJECT_FIELDKEY].get_value_from_dict(row)
-                            log.logger.debug(u'subject is {}'.format(subject))
+                            log.logger.debug('subject is {}'.format(subject))
 
                             # make sure we set the body line if the viz did not provide it
                             email_body_line = self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_BODY_FIELDKEY].get_value_from_dict(row)
-                            log.logger.debug(u'email_body_line is {}'.format(email_body_line))
+                            log.logger.debug('email_body_line is {}'.format(email_body_line))
 
                             # get the other recipient addresses
                             if email_cc_fieldname:
@@ -1048,7 +1048,7 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                             # Append header row, if provided -- but only if this is the first consolidation iteration
                             #  (for non-consoidated setting, each row will always be the first iteration)
                             if email_header_fieldname and consolidate_email_ctr == 0:
-                                log.logger.debug(u'Appending body header')
+                                log.logger.debug('Appending body header')
                                 body.append(row[email_header_fieldname])
 
                             # If rows are being consolidated, consolidate all with same recipients & subject
@@ -1057,12 +1057,12 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                                 #   the same trigger view, would also need to check the sort in get_unique_vizdata
 
                                 log.logger.debug(
-                                    u'Consolidate value is true, row index is {}, rowcount is {}'.format(i, rowcount_unique))
+                                    'Consolidate value is true, row index is {}, rowcount is {}'.format(i, rowcount_unique))
 
                                 # test for end of iteration--if done, take what we have so far and send it
                                 if i + 1 == rowcount_unique:
-                                    log.logger.debug(u'Last email in set reached, sending consolidated email')
-                                    log.logger.info(u'Sending email to {}, CC {}, BCC {}, subject {}'.format(
+                                    log.logger.debug('Last email in set reached, sending consolidated email')
+                                    log.logger.info('Sending email to {}, CC {}, BCC {}, subject {}'.format(
                                         email_to, email_cc, email_bcc, subject))
 
                                     try:  # remove this later??
@@ -1072,15 +1072,15 @@ def perform_actions(self):
 
                                         # send the email
                                         email_instance = emailaction.Email(
-                                            email_from, email_to, subject, u''.join(body), email_cc,
+                                            email_from, email_to, subject, ''.join(body), email_cc,
                                             email_bcc, inlineattachments, appendattachments)
-                                        log.logger.debug(u'This is the email to:{}'.format(email_instance.toaddrs))
-                                        log.logger.debug(u'This is the email from:{}'.format(email_instance.fromaddr))
+                                        log.logger.debug('This is the email to:{}'.format(email_instance.toaddrs))
+                                        log.logger.debug('This is the email from:{}'.format(email_instance.fromaddr))
 
                                         # Enqueue the task for later execution
                                         self.task_queue.put(Task(self, TaskType.SEND_EMAIL, email_instance))
                                     except Exception as e:
-                                        errormessage = u'Failed to send the email. Exception:<br> {}'.format(e)
+                                        errormessage = 'Failed to send the email. Exception:<br> {}'.format(e)
                                         log.logger.error(errormessage)
                                         self.error_list.append(errormessage)
                                         raise UserWarning(errormessage)
@@ -1130,15 +1130,15 @@ def perform_actions(self):
 
                                     # Now compare the data from the rows
                                     if this_row_recipients == next_row_recipients and next_row_email_action:
-                                        log.logger.debug(u'Next row matches recips and subject, appending body & attachments')
+                                        log.logger.debug('Next row matches recips and subject, appending body & attachments')
                                         body.append(email_body_line)
                                         if self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_FIELDKEY].field_name and \
                                                 len(row[self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_FIELDKEY].field_name]) > 0:
                                             appendattachments = self.append_attachments(appendattachments, row, vizcompleterefs)
                                         consolidate_email_ctr += 1
                                     else:
-                                        log.logger.debug(u'Next row does not match recips and subject, sending consolidated email')
-                                        log.logger.info(u'Sending email to {}, CC {}, BCC {}, Subject {}'.format(
+                                        log.logger.debug('Next row does not match recips and subject, sending consolidated email')
+                                        log.logger.info('Sending email to {}, CC {}, BCC {}, Subject {}'.format(
                                             email_to,
                                             email_cc,
                                             email_bcc,
@@ -1151,13 +1151,13 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                                         # send the email
                                         try:
                                             email_instance = emailaction.Email(
-                                                email_from, email_to, subject, u''.join(body), email_cc, email_bcc,
+                                                email_from, email_to, subject, ''.join(body), email_cc, email_bcc,
                                                 inlineattachments, appendattachments)
 
                                             # Enqueue the task for later execution
                                             self.task_queue.put(Task(self, TaskType.SEND_EMAIL, email_instance))
                                         except Exception as e:
-                                            errormessage = u'Failed to send the email. Exception:<br> {}'.format(e)
+                                            errormessage = 'Failed to send the email. Exception:<br> {}'.format(e)
                                             log.logger.error(errormessage)
                                             self.error_list.append(errormessage)
                                             raise UserWarning(errormessage)
@@ -1169,7 +1169,7 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                                         email_instance = None
                             else:
                                 # emails are not being consolidated, so send the email
-                                log.logger.info(u'Sending email to {}, CC {}, BCC {}, Subject {}'.format(
+                                log.logger.info('Sending email to {}, CC {}, BCC {}, Subject {}'.format(
                                     email_to,
                                     email_cc,
                                     email_bcc,
@@ -1184,7 +1184,7 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                                         email_from,
                                         email_to,
                                         subject,
-                                        u''.join(body),
+                                        ''.join(body),
                                         email_cc,
                                         email_bcc,
                                         inlineattachments,
@@ -1193,7 +1193,7 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                                     # Enqueue the task for later execution
                                     self.task_queue.put(Task(self, TaskType.SEND_EMAIL, email_instance))
                                 except Exception as e:
-                                    errormessage = u'Failed to send the email. Exception:<br> {}'.format(e)
+                                    errormessage = 'Failed to send the email. Exception:<br> {}'.format(e)
                                     log.logger.error(errormessage)
                                     self.error_list.append(errormessage)
                                     raise UserWarning(errormessage)
@@ -1250,7 +1250,7 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                                 #   the same trigger view, would also need to check the sort in get_unique_vizdata
 
                                 log.logger.debug(
-                                    u'Consolidate value is true, row index is {}, rowcount is {}'.format(i, rowcount_unique))
+                                    'Consolidate value is true, row index is {}, rowcount is {}'.format(i, rowcount_unique))
 
                                 # test for end of iteration--if done, take what we have so far and send it
                                 if i + 1 == rowcount_unique:
@@ -1258,26 +1258,26 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                                     # finalize the message by adding any footers and replacing content references
                                     sms_message = smsaction.sms_append_body(sms_message, vizcompleterefs, row, self)
 
-                                    log.logger.debug(u'Converting phone number list {} to E.164'.format(sms_to))
+                                    log.logger.debug('Converting phone number list {} to E.164'.format(sms_to))
 
                                     # make list of all SMS addresses - they already went through 1st validation
                                     smsaddresses = smsaction.get_e164numbers(sms_to, self.phone_country_code)
 
-                                    log.logger.info(u'Sending SMS to {}, from {}, message: {}'.format(
+                                    log.logger.info('Sending SMS to {}, from {}, message: {}'.format(
                                         smsaddresses,
                                         sms_from,
-                                        u''.join(sms_message)))
+                                        ''.join(sms_message)))
 
                                     # send the message(s) (multiple  for multiple phone numbers)
                                     for smsaddress in smsaddresses:
                                         try:
-                                            sms_instance = smsaction.SMS(sms_from, smsaddress, u''.join(sms_message))
+                                            sms_instance = smsaction.SMS(sms_from, smsaddress, ''.join(sms_message))
 
                                             # enqueue the sms to be sent
                                             self.task_queue.put(Task(self, TaskType.SEND_SMS, sms_instance))
                                         except Exception as e:
                                             self.error_list.append(
-                                                u'Could not send SMS, error: {}'.format(e.message))
+                                                'Could not send SMS, error: {}'.format(e.args[0]))
                                             self.alert_failure()
                                             return
 
@@ -1300,11 +1300,11 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                                     # Now compare the data from the rows
                                     if this_row_sms_recipients == next_row_sms_recipients and next_row_sms_action:
                                         log.logger.debug(
-                                            u'Next row matches recips and subject, appending message')
+                                            'Next row matches recips and subject, appending message')
                                         sms_message.append(row[sms_message_fieldname])
                                         consolidate_sms_ctr += 1
                                     else:
-                                        log.logger.debug(u'Next row does not match sms_to values, sending consolidated sms')
+                                        log.logger.debug('Next row does not match sms_to values, sending consolidated sms')
 
                                         # append the body and footer
                                         sms_message = smsaction.sms_append_body(sms_message, vizcompleterefs, row, self)
@@ -1312,21 +1312,21 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                                         # make list of all SMS addresses - they already went through 1st validation
                                         smsaddresses = smsaction.get_e164numbers(sms_to, self.phone_country_code)
 
-                                        log.logger.info(u'Sending SMS to {}, from {}, message: {}'.format(
+                                        log.logger.info('Sending SMS to {}, from {}, message: {}'.format(
                                             smsaddresses,
                                             sms_from,
-                                            u''.join(sms_message)))
+                                            ''.join(sms_message)))
 
                                         # send the message(s) (multiple for multiple phone numbers)
                                         for smsaddress in smsaddresses:
                                             try:
-                                                sms_instance = smsaction.SMS(sms_from, smsaddress, u''.join(sms_message))
+                                                sms_instance = smsaction.SMS(sms_from, smsaddress, ''.join(sms_message))
 
                                                 # enqueue the sms to be sent
                                                 self.task_queue.put(Task(self, TaskType.SEND_SMS, sms_instance))
                                             except Exception as e:
                                                 self.error_list.append(
-                                                    u'Could not send SMS, error: {}'.format(e.message))
+                                                    'Could not send SMS, error: {}'.format(e.args[0]))
                                                 self.alert_failure()
                                                 return
 
@@ -1342,7 +1342,7 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                                 # make list of all SMS addresses - they already went through 1st validation
                                 smsaddresses = smsaction.get_e164numbers(sms_to, self.phone_country_code)
 
-                                log.logger.info(u'Sending SMS to {}, from {}, message: {}'.format(
+                                log.logger.info('Sending SMS to {}, from {}, message: {}'.format(
                                     smsaddresses,
                                     sms_from,
                                     ''.join(sms_message)))
@@ -1356,7 +1356,7 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                                         self.task_queue.put(Task(self, TaskType.SEND_SMS, sms_instance))
                                     except Exception as e:
                                         self.error_list.append(
-                                            u'Could not send SMS, error: {}'.format(e.message))
+                                            'Could not send SMS, error: {}'.format(e.args[0]))
                                         self.alert_failure()
                                         return
 
@@ -1365,8 +1365,8 @@ def perform_actions(self):
                                 consolidate_sms_ctr = 0
 
             else:
-                errormessage = u'Could not determine alert type, due to a bug in VizAlerts. ' \
-                               u'Please contact the developers'
+                errormessage = 'Could not determine alert type, due to a bug in VizAlerts. ' \
+                               'Please contact the developers'
                 log.logger.error(errormessage)
                 self.error_list.append(errormessage)
                 raise UserWarning(errormessage)
@@ -1405,7 +1405,7 @@ def find_viz_refs(self, data):
         vizdistinctrefs = dict()
 
         results = []
-        log.logger.debug(u'Identifying content references')
+        log.logger.debug('Identifying content references')
 
         # data is the CSV that has been downloaded for a given view
         # loop through it to make a result set of all viz references
@@ -1416,23 +1416,23 @@ def find_viz_refs(self, data):
                     # this might be able to be more efficient code
                     if 'VIZ_IMAGE' in self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_BODY_FIELDKEY].get_value_from_dict(item) \
                         or 'VIZ_LINK' in self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_BODY_FIELDKEY].get_value_from_dict(item):
-                            results.extend(re.findall(u"VIZ_IMAGE\(.*?\)|VIZ_LINK\(.*?\)", \
+                            results.extend(re.findall("VIZ_IMAGE\(.*?\)|VIZ_LINK\(.*?\)", \
                                 self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_BODY_FIELDKEY].get_value_from_dict(item)))
 
                     if email_header_fieldname:
-                        results.extend(re.findall(u"VIZ_IMAGE\(.*?\)|VIZ_LINK\(.*?\)", item[email_header_fieldname]))
+                        results.extend(re.findall("VIZ_IMAGE\(.*?\)|VIZ_LINK\(.*?\)", item[email_header_fieldname]))
 
                     if email_footer_fieldname:
-                        results.extend(re.findall(u"VIZ_IMAGE\(.*?\)|VIZ_LINK\(.*?\)", item[email_footer_fieldname]))
+                        results.extend(re.findall("VIZ_IMAGE\(.*?\)|VIZ_LINK\(.*?\)", item[email_footer_fieldname]))
 
                     if email_attachment_fieldname:
-                        results.extend(re.findall(u"VIZ_IMAGE\(.*?\)|VIZ_CSV\(.*?\)|VIZ_PDF\(.*?\)|VIZ_TWB\(.*?\)",
+                        results.extend(re.findall("VIZ_IMAGE\(.*?\)|VIZ_CSV\(.*?\)|VIZ_PDF\(.*?\)|VIZ_TWB\(.*?\)",
                                                   item[email_attachment_fieldname]))
 
             if sms_action_fieldname:
                 if self.action_field_dict[SMS_ACTION_FIELDKEY].get_value_from_dict(item) == '1':
                     if sms_message_fieldname:
-                        results.extend(re.findall(u"VIZ_LINK\(.*?\)", item[sms_message_fieldname]))
+                        results.extend(re.findall("VIZ_LINK\(.*?\)", item[sms_message_fieldname]))
 
         # loop through each found viz reference, i.e. everything in the VIZ_*(*).
         for vizref in results:
@@ -1448,7 +1448,7 @@ def find_viz_refs(self, data):
                 vizcompleterefs[vizref]['vizref'] = vizref
 
                 # identifying the format for the output file
-                vizrefformat = re.match(u'VIZ_(.*?)\(', vizref)
+                vizrefformat = re.match('VIZ_(.*?)\(', vizref)
                 if vizrefformat.group(1) == 'IMAGE':
                     vizcompleterefs[vizref]['formatstring'] = 'PNG'
                 else:
@@ -1468,7 +1468,7 @@ def find_viz_refs(self, data):
                 vizcompleterefs[vizref]['view_url_suffix'] = viewurlsuffix
             else:
                 # vizstring contains everything inside the VIZ_*() parentheses
-                vizstring = re.match(u'VIZ_.*?\((.*?)\)', vizref)
+                vizstring = re.match('VIZ_.*?\((.*?)\)', vizref)
 
                 # vizstring may contain reference to the viz plus advanced alert parameters like
                 # a filename
@@ -1510,20 +1510,20 @@ def find_viz_refs(self, data):
 
                                 # looking for filenames
                                 if element.startswith(EXPORTFILENAME_ARGUMENT):
-                                    filename = re.match(EXPORTFILENAME_ARGUMENT + u'=(.*)', element).group(1)
+                                    filename = re.match(EXPORTFILENAME_ARGUMENT + '=(.*)', element).group(1)
                                     # code from https://github.com/mitsuhiko/flask/blob/50dc2403526c5c5c67577767b05eb81e8fab0877/flask/helpers.py#L633
                                     # for validating filenames
                                     filename = posixpath.normpath(filename)
                                     for sep in _os_alt_seps:
                                         if sep in filename:
-                                            errormessage = u'Found an invalid or non-allowed separator in filename: ' \
-                                                          u'{} for content reference {}'.format(filename, vizref)
+                                            errormessage = 'Found an invalid or non-allowed separator in filename: ' \
+                                                          '{} for content reference {}'.format(filename, vizref)
                                             self.error_list.append(errormessage)
                                             raise ValueError(errormessage)
 
                                     if os.path.isabs(filename) or '../' in filename or '..\\' in filename:
-                                        errormessage = u'Found non-allowed path when expecting filename: ' \
-                                            u'{} for content reference {}'.format(filename, vizref)
+                                        errormessage = 'Found non-allowed path when expecting filename: ' \
+                                            '{} for content reference {}'.format(filename, vizref)
                                         self.error_list.append(errormessage)
                                         raise ValueError(errormessage)
 
@@ -1531,12 +1531,12 @@ def find_viz_refs(self, data):
                                     # check for non-allowed characters
                                     # code based on https://mail.python.org/pipermail/tutor/2010-December/080883.html
                                     # using ($L) option to set locale to handle accented characters
-                                    nonallowedchars = re.findall(u'(?L)[^\w \-._+]', filename)
+                                    nonallowedchars = re.findall('[^\w \-._+]', filename)
                                     if len(nonallowedchars) > 0:
-                                        errormessage = u'Found non-allowed character(s): ' \
-                                            u'{} in filename {} for content reference ' \
-                                            u'{}, only allowed characters are alphanumeric, space, hyphen, underscore, ' \
-                                            u'period, and plus sign'.format(u''.join(nonallowedchars), filename, vizref)
+                                        errormessage = 'Found non-allowed character(s): ' \
+                                            '{} in filename {} for content reference ' \
+                                            '{}, only allowed characters are alphanumeric, space, hyphen, underscore, ' \
+                                            'period, and plus sign'.format(''.join(nonallowedchars), filename, vizref)
                                         self.error_list.append(errormessage)
                                         raise ValueError(errormessage)
 
@@ -1560,8 +1560,8 @@ def find_viz_refs(self, data):
                                     vizcompleterefs[vizref][RAWLINK_ARGUMENT] = 'y'
 
                         except Exception as e:
-                            errormessage = u'Alert was triggered, but unable to process arguments to a ' \
-                                           u'content reference with error:<br><br> {}'.format(e.message)
+                            errormessage = 'Alert was triggered, but unable to process arguments to a ' \
+                                           'content reference with error:<br><br> {}'.format(e.args[0])
                             self.error_list.append(errormessage)
                             log.logger.error(errormessage)
                             raise UserWarning(errormessage)
@@ -1601,7 +1601,7 @@ def find_viz_refs(self, data):
                     self.subscriber_domain)
 
             except Exception as e:
-                errormessage = u'Unable to render content reference {} with error:<br> {}'.format(vizref, e.message)
+                errormessage = 'Unable to render content reference {} with error:<br> {}'.format(vizref, e.args[0])
                 log.logger.error(errormessage)
                 self.error_list.append(errormessage)
                 raise UserWarning(errormessage)
@@ -1612,7 +1612,7 @@ def find_viz_refs(self, data):
                 vizcompleterefs[vizref]['imagepath'] = vizdistinctrefs[vizref]['imagepath']
 
         if len(vizcompleterefs) > 0:
-            log.logger.debug(u'Returning all content references')
+            log.logger.debug('Returning all content references')
 
         return vizcompleterefs
 
@@ -1622,7 +1622,7 @@ def get_unique_vizdata(self, action_type):
         preplist = []  # list of dicts containing only keys of concern for de-duplication from data
         uniquelist = []  # unique-ified list of dicts
 
-        log.logger.debug(u'Start of get_unique_vizdata')
+        log.logger.debug('Start of get_unique_vizdata')
 
         # copy in only relevant fields from each record, specific to the action_type passed in.
         #   Non-VizAlerts fields will be ignored
@@ -1644,7 +1644,7 @@ def get_unique_vizdata(self, action_type):
             # add the new trimmed row to our list
             preplist.append(newitem)
 
-        log.logger.debug(u'Removing duplicates')
+        log.logger.debug('Removing duplicates')
 
         # remove duplicates, preserving original ordering
         # proposed solution from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9427163/remove-duplicate-dict-in-list-in-python
@@ -1656,7 +1656,7 @@ def get_unique_vizdata(self, action_type):
                 seen.add(t)
                 uniquelist.append(dictitem)
 
-        log.logger.debug(u'Sorting unique rows')
+        log.logger.debug('Sorting unique rows')
 
         # the data must now be sorted for use in Advanced Alerts with email consolidation
 
@@ -1665,26 +1665,26 @@ def get_unique_vizdata(self, action_type):
         if self.action_field_dict[GENERAL_SORTORDER_FIELDKEY].field_name:
             uniquelist = sorted(
                 uniquelist, key=itemgetter(self.action_field_dict[GENERAL_SORTORDER_FIELDKEY].field_name))
-            log.logger.debug(u'Sorting by {}'.format(self.action_field_dict[GENERAL_SORTORDER_FIELDKEY].field_name))
+            log.logger.debug('Sorting by {}'.format(self.action_field_dict[GENERAL_SORTORDER_FIELDKEY].field_name))
 
         # special case for Email Actions, where the Consolidate Lines flag is used
         if action_type == EMAIL_ACTION_TYPE:
             if self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_ACTION_FIELDKEY].field_name \
                     and self.action_field_dict[CONSOLIDATE_LINES_FIELDKEY].field_name:
                 if self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_BCC_FIELDKEY].field_name:
-                    log.logger.debug(u'Sorting by BCC field {}'.format(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_BCC_FIELDKEY].field_name))
+                    log.logger.debug('Sorting by BCC field {}'.format(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_BCC_FIELDKEY].field_name))
                     uniquelist = sorted(uniquelist, key=itemgetter(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_BCC_FIELDKEY].field_name))
                 if self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_CC_FIELDKEY].field_name:
-                    log.logger.debug(u'Sorting by CC field {}'.format(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_CC_FIELDKEY].field_name))
+                    log.logger.debug('Sorting by CC field {}'.format(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_CC_FIELDKEY].field_name))
                     uniquelist = sorted(uniquelist, key=itemgetter(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_CC_FIELDKEY].field_name))
                 if self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_FROM_FIELDKEY].field_name:
-                    log.logger.debug(u'Sorting by From field {}'.format(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_FROM_FIELDKEY].field_name))
+                    log.logger.debug('Sorting by From field {}'.format(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_FROM_FIELDKEY].field_name))
                     uniquelist = sorted(uniquelist, key=itemgetter(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_FROM_FIELDKEY].field_name))
                 if self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_TO_FIELDKEY].field_name:
-                    log.logger.debug(u'Sorting by To field {}'.format(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_TO_FIELDKEY].field_name))
+                    log.logger.debug('Sorting by To field {}'.format(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_TO_FIELDKEY].field_name))
                     uniquelist = sorted(uniquelist, key=itemgetter(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_TO_FIELDKEY].field_name))
                 if self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_SUBJECT_FIELDKEY].field_name:
-                    log.logger.debug(u'Sorting by Subject field {}'.format(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_SUBJECT_FIELDKEY].field_name))
+                    log.logger.debug('Sorting by Subject field {}'.format(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_SUBJECT_FIELDKEY].field_name))
                     uniquelist = sorted(uniquelist, key=itemgetter(
                         self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_SUBJECT_FIELDKEY].field_name))
 
@@ -1692,13 +1692,13 @@ def get_unique_vizdata(self, action_type):
         if action_type == SMS_ACTION_TYPE:
             if self.action_field_dict[SMS_ACTION_FIELDKEY].field_name \
                     and self.action_field_dict[CONSOLIDATE_LINES_FIELDKEY].field_name:
-                log.logger.debug(u'Sorting by To')
+                log.logger.debug('Sorting by To')
                 if self.action_field_dict[SMS_TO_FIELDKEY].field_name:
                     uniquelist = sorted(uniquelist, key=itemgetter(self.action_field_dict[SMS_TO_FIELDKEY].field_name))
 
             # Alert authors currently can't specify the SMS From Number
         
-        log.logger.debug(u'Done sorting, returning the list')
+        log.logger.debug('Done sorting, returning the list')
 
         # return the list
         return uniquelist
@@ -1711,10 +1711,10 @@ def append_attachments(self, appendattachments, row, vizcompleterefs):
         # so we generate the list with a regex
         if self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_FIELDKEY].field_name:
             attachmentrefs = []
-            attachmentrefs = re.findall(u"VIZ_IMAGE\(.*?\)|VIZ_CSV\(.*?\)|VIZ_PDF\(.*?\)|VIZ_TWB\(.*?\)",
+            attachmentrefs = re.findall("VIZ_IMAGE\(.*?\)|VIZ_CSV\(.*?\)|VIZ_PDF\(.*?\)|VIZ_TWB\(.*?\)",
                                         row[self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_ATTACHMENT_FIELDKEY].field_name])
             if len(attachmentrefs) > 0:
-                log.logger.debug(u'Adding appended attachments to list')
+                log.logger.debug('Adding appended attachments to list')
             for attachmentref in attachmentrefs:
                 # only make appended attachments when they are needed
                 if attachmentref not in appendattachments:
@@ -1727,12 +1727,12 @@ def append_body_and_inlineattachments(self, body, inlineattachments, row, vizcom
             plus inserting viz references"""
         """for inline attachments and hyperlink text"""
 
-        log.logger.debug(u'Replacing body text with exact content references for inline attachments and hyperlinks')
+        log.logger.debug('Replacing body text with exact content references for inline attachments and hyperlinks')
         body.append(self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_BODY_FIELDKEY].get_value_from_dict(row))
 
         # add the footer if needed
         if self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_FOOTER_FIELDKEY].field_name:
-            log.logger.debug(u'Adding the custom footer')
+            log.logger.debug('Adding the custom footer')
             body.append(row[self.action_field_dict[EMAIL_FOOTER_FIELDKEY].field_name].replace(DEFAULT_FOOTER,
                                                        bodyfooter.format(self.subscriber_email,
                                                                          self.subscriber_sysname,
@@ -1740,29 +1740,29 @@ def append_body_and_inlineattachments(self, body, inlineattachments, row, vizcom
                                                                          self.view_name)))
         else:
             # no footer specified, add the default footer
-            log.logger.debug(u'Adding the default footer')
+            log.logger.debug('Adding the default footer')
             body.append(bodyfooter.format(self.subscriber_email, self.subscriber_sysname,
                                           self.get_view_url(), self.view_name))
 
         # find all distinct content references in the email body list
         # so we can replace each with an inline image or hyperlink text
-        log.logger.debug(u'Finding all content refs')
-        foundcontent = re.findall(u"VIZ_IMAGE\(.*?\)|VIZ_LINK\(.*?\)", ' '.join(body))
+        log.logger.debug('Finding all content refs')
+        foundcontent = re.findall("VIZ_IMAGE\(.*?\)|VIZ_LINK\(.*?\)", ' '.join(body))
         foundcontentset = set(foundcontent)
         vizrefs = list(foundcontentset)
 
         if len(vizrefs) > 0:
             for vizref in vizrefs:
-                log.logger.debug(u'Iterating... Ref: {}'.format(vizref))
+                log.logger.debug('Iterating... Ref: {}'.format(vizref))
                 # replacing VIZ_IMAGE() with inline images
                 if vizcompleterefs[vizref]['formatstring'] == 'PNG':
                     # add hyperlinks to images if necessary
                     if VIZLINK_ARGUMENT in vizcompleterefs[vizref] and vizcompleterefs[vizref][VIZLINK_ARGUMENT] == 'y':
-                        replacestring = u'<a href="' + self.get_view_url(vizcompleterefs[vizref]['view_url_suffix'])\
-                                        + u'"><img src="cid:{}">'.format(
-                            basename(vizcompleterefs[vizref]['imagepath'])) + u'</a>'
+                        replacestring = '<a href="' + self.get_view_url(vizcompleterefs[vizref]['view_url_suffix'])\
+                                        + '"><img src="cid:{}">'.format(
+                            basename(vizcompleterefs[vizref]['imagepath'])) + '</a>'
                     else:
-                        replacestring = u'<img src="cid:{}">'.format(basename(vizcompleterefs[vizref]['imagepath']))
+                        replacestring = '<img src="cid:{}">'.format(basename(vizcompleterefs[vizref]['imagepath']))
 
                     replaceresult = replace_in_list(body, vizref, replacestring)
 
@@ -1774,8 +1774,8 @@ def append_body_and_inlineattachments(self, body, inlineattachments, row, vizcom
                             inlineattachments.append(vizcompleterefs[vizref])
                     else:
                         raise UserWarning(
-                            u'Unable to locate downloaded image for {}, check whether the content '
-                            u'reference is properly URL encoded.'.format(
+                            'Unable to locate downloaded image for {}, check whether the content '
+                            'reference is properly URL encoded.'.format(
                                 vizref))
 
                 # we're replacing #VIZ_LINK text
@@ -1786,12 +1786,12 @@ def append_body_and_inlineattachments(self, body, inlineattachments, row, vizcom
                     else:
                         # test for whether the filename field is used, if so that is the link text
                         if 'filename' in vizcompleterefs[vizref] and len(vizcompleterefs[vizref]['filename']) > 0:
-                            replacestring = u'<a href="' + self.get_view_url(vizcompleterefs[vizref]['view_url_suffix']) + u'">' + \
-                                            vizcompleterefs[vizref]['filename'] + u'</a>'
+                            replacestring = '<a href="' + self.get_view_url(vizcompleterefs[vizref]['view_url_suffix']) + '">' + \
+                                            vizcompleterefs[vizref]['filename'] + '</a>'
                         # use the view_url_suffix as the link text
                         else:
-                            replacestring = u'<a href="' + self.get_view_url(vizcompleterefs[vizref]['view_url_suffix']) + u'">' + \
-                                            vizcompleterefs[vizref]['view_url_suffix'] + u'</a>'
+                            replacestring = '<a href="' + self.get_view_url(vizcompleterefs[vizref]['view_url_suffix']) + '">' + \
+                                            vizcompleterefs[vizref]['view_url_suffix'] + '</a>'
 
                     replaceresult = replace_in_list(body, vizref, replacestring)
 
@@ -1803,18 +1803,18 @@ def append_body_and_inlineattachments(self, body, inlineattachments, row, vizcom
     def alert_failure(self):
         """Alert the Admin, and optionally the Subscriber, to a failure to process their alert"""
 
-        subject = u'VizAlerts was unable to process alert {}'.format(self.view_name)
+        subject = 'VizAlerts was unable to process alert {}'.format(self.view_name)
 
         data_errors = []  # errors found in the trigger data fields, or in the trigger data itself
         other_errors = []  # miscellaneous other errors we may have caught
-        error_text = u'The following errors were encountered trying to ' \
-                     u'process your alert:<br /><br />'  # final error text to email
+        error_text = 'The following errors were encountered trying to ' \
+                     'process your alert:<br /><br />'  # final error text to email
         attachment = None
 
         # dump all errors to the log for troubleshooting
-        log.logger.debug(u'All errors found:')
+        log.logger.debug('All errors found:')
         for error in self.error_list:
-            log.logger.debug(u'{}'.format(error))
+            log.logger.debug('{}'.format(error))
 
         # Separate the errors stored in a dictionary from the generic errors
         #   structure a nice HTML table to help our beloved users sort out their problems
@@ -1823,7 +1823,7 @@ def alert_failure(self):
             if type(error) is dict:
                 if 'Row' in error:
                     data_errors.append(
-                        u'<tr><td width="75">{}</td><td width="75">{}</td><td>{}</td><td>{}</td></tr>'.format(
+                        '<tr><td width="75">{}</td><td width="75">{}</td><td>{}</td><td>{}</td></tr>'.format(
                             error['Row'],
                             error['Field'],
                             error['Value'],
@@ -1833,30 +1833,30 @@ def alert_failure(self):
 
         # Format the error text for the email
         if len(data_errors) > 0:
-            data_errors.insert(0, u'Errors found in alert data. See row numbers in attached CSV file:<br /><br />'
-                                  u'<table border=1><tr><b><td>Row</td>'
-                                  u'<td width="75">Field</td><td>Value</td><td>Error</td></b></tr>')
-            data_errors.append(u'</table>')
+            data_errors.insert(0, 'Errors found in alert data. See row numbers in attached CSV file:<br /><br />'
+                                  '<table border=1><tr><b><td>Row</td>'
+                                  '<td width="75">Field</td><td>Value</td><td>Error</td></b></tr>')
+            data_errors.append('</table>')
 
             # append trigger data if we found problems with it
             attachment = [{'imagepath': self.trigger_data_file}]
 
             # add this to our final error text
-            error_text += u''.join(data_errors)
+            error_text += ''.join(data_errors)
 
         if len(other_errors) > 0:
-            error_text += u'<br /><br />General errors:<br /><br />' + \
-                    u'<br /><br />'.join(other_errors)
+            error_text += '<br /><br />General errors:<br /><br />' + \
+                    '<br /><br />'.join(other_errors)
 
         # tack on some failure deets (in the ugliest way possible, apparently)
-        body = error_text + u'<br><br>' + \
-               u'<b>Alert Information:</b><br><br>' + \
-               u'<b>View URL:</b> <a href="{}">{}<a>'.format(
+        body = error_text + '<br><br>' + \
+               '<b>Alert Information:</b><br><br>' + \
+               '<b>View URL:</b> <a href="{}">{}<a>'.format(
                    self.get_view_url(),
-                   self.get_view_url()) + u'<br><b>Subscriber:</b> <a href="mailto:{}">{}</a>'.format(
-                    self.subscriber_email, self.subscriber_sysname) + u'<br><b>View Owner:</b> <a href="mailto:{}">{}</a>'.format(
-                        self.owner_email, self.owner_sysname) + u'<br><b>Site Id:</b> {}'.format(
-                            self.site_name) + u'<br><b>Project:</b> {}'.format(
+                   self.get_view_url()) + '<br><b>Subscriber:</b> <a href="mailto:{}">{}</a>'.format(
+                    self.subscriber_email, self.subscriber_sysname) + '<br><b>View Owner:</b> <a href="mailto:{}">{}</a>'.format(
+                        self.owner_email, self.owner_sysname) + '<br><b>Site Id:</b> {}'.format(
+                            self.site_name) + '<br><b>Project:</b> {}'.format(
                             self.project_name)
 
         if self.notify_subscriber_on_failure:
@@ -1867,7 +1867,7 @@ def alert_failure(self):
             ccaddrs = None
 
         if attachment:
-            log.logger.debug(u'Failure email should include attachment: {}'.format(attachment))
+            log.logger.debug('Failure email should include attachment: {}'.format(attachment))
 
         try:
             email_instance = emailaction.Email(
@@ -1876,7 +1876,7 @@ def alert_failure(self):
             )
             emailaction.send_email(email_instance)
         except Exception as e:
-            log.logger.error(u'Unknown error sending exception alert email: {}'.format(e.message))
+            log.logger.error('Unknown error sending exception alert email: {}'.format(e.args[0]))
 
 
 def merge_pdf_attachments(appendattachments):
@@ -1907,13 +1907,13 @@ def merge_pdf_attachments(appendattachments):
 
                 # if there's only one PDF to merge then let's not go any further, just use the attachment
                 if len(mergedfilenames[listtomerge]) == 1:
-                    log.logger.debug(u'Request to merge multiple PDFs into ' + listtomerge + ', only one PDF found')
+                    log.logger.debug('Request to merge multiple PDFs into ' + listtomerge + ', only one PDF found')
                     for attachment in mergedfilenames[listtomerge]:
                         revisedappendattachments.append(mergedfilenames[listtomerge][attachment])
 
                 # now to merge some PDFs:
                 else:
-                    log.logger.debug(u'Merging PDFs for ' + listtomerge)
+                    log.logger.debug('Merging PDFs for ' + listtomerge)
 
                     try:
                         # we know all attachments in a given list have the same filename due to the loop above
@@ -1939,7 +1939,7 @@ def merge_pdf_attachments(appendattachments):
                                             'vizref': 'mergepdf file ' + 'filename'}
                         revisedappendattachments.append(mergedattachment)
                     except Exception as e:
-                        log.logger.error(u'Could not generate merged PDF for filename {}: {}'.format(mergedfilename, e))
+                        log.logger.error('Could not generate merged PDF for filename {}: {}'.format(mergedfilename, e))
                         raise e
 
         return (revisedappendattachments)
diff --git a/vizalerts.py b/vizalerts.py
index 08a3098..7dd34ac 100644
--- a/vizalerts.py
+++ b/vizalerts.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 __author__ = 'Matt Coles'
 __credits__ = 'Jonathan Drummey'
-__version__ = '2.1.1'
+__version__ = '2.2.0'
 
 # generic modules
 import logging
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 import fileinput
 import codecs
 import re
-from Queue import Queue
+from queue import Queue
 import threading
 from operator import attrgetter
 import argparse
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 from vizalert import vizalert
 
 # name of the file used for maintaining subscriptions state in schedule.state.dir
-SCHEDULE_STATE_FILENAME = u'vizalerts.state'
+SCHEDULE_STATE_FILENAME = 'vizalerts.state'
 
 
 class VizAlertWorker(threading.Thread):
@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@ def run(self):
                 # Get the work from the queue and expand the tuple
                 alert = self.queue.get()
 
-                log.logger.debug(u'Thread {} is processing subscription_id {}, view_id {}, '
-                                 u'site_name {}, customized_view_id {}, '
+                log.logger.debug('Thread {} is processing subscription_id {}, view_id {}, '
+                                 'site_name {}, customized_view_id {}, '
                                  'view_name {}'.format(
                                     self.threadname,
                                     alert.subscription_id,
@@ -63,9 +63,9 @@ def run(self):
                 try:
                     alert.execute_alert()
                 except Exception as e:
-                    errormessage = u'Unable to process alert {} as {}, error: {}'.format(alert.view_name,
+                    errormessage = 'Unable to process alert {} as {}, error: {}'.format(alert.view_name,
                                                                                          tabhttp.Format.CSV,
-                                                                                         e.message)
+                                                                                         e.args[0])
                     log.logger.error(errormessage)
                     alert.error_list.append(errormessage)
                     alert.alert_failure()
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ def main():
         args = parser.parse_args()
 
         # validate and load configs from yaml file
-        configfile = u'.\\config\\vizalerts.yaml'
+        configfile = '.\\config\\vizalerts.yaml'
         if args.configpath is not None:
             configfile = args.configpath
 
@@ -92,22 +92,22 @@ def main():
         if not len(log.logger.handlers):
             log.logger = log.LoggerQuickSetup(config.configs['log.dir'] + 'vizalerts.log', log_level=config.configs['log.level'])
     except Exception as e:
-        print(u'Could not initialize configuration file due to an unknown error: {}'.format(e.message))
+        print('Could not initialize configuration file due to an unknown error: {}'.format(e.args[0]))
 
     # we have our logger, so start writing
-    log.logger.info(u'VizAlerts v{} is starting'.format(__version__))
+    log.logger.info('VizAlerts v{} is starting'.format(__version__))
 
     # cleanup old temp files
     try:
         cleanup_dir(config.configs['temp.dir'], config.configs['temp.dir.file_retention_seconds'])
     except OSError as e:
         # Send mail to the admin informing them of the problem, but don't quit
-        errormessage = u'OSError: Unable to cleanup temp directory {}, error: {}'.format(config.configs['temp.dir'], e)
+        errormessage = 'OSError: Unable to cleanup temp directory {}, error: {}'.format(config.configs['temp.dir'], e)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         email_instance = emailaction.Email(config.configs['smtp.address.from'], config.configs['smtp.address.to'], config.configs['smtp.subject'], errormessage)
         emailaction.send_email(email_instance)
     except Exception as e:
-        errormessage = u'Unable to cleanup temp directory {}, error: {}'.format(config.configs['temp.dir'], e)
+        errormessage = 'Unable to cleanup temp directory {}, error: {}'.format(config.configs['temp.dir'], e)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         email_instance = emailaction.Email(config.configs['smtp.address.from'], config.configs['smtp.address.to'], config.configs['smtp.subject'], errormessage)
         emailaction.send_email(email_instance)
@@ -117,11 +117,11 @@ def main():
         cleanup_dir(config.configs['log.dir'], config.configs['log.dir.file_retention_seconds'])
     except OSError as e:
         # Send mail to the admin informing them of the problem, but don't quit
-        errormessage = u'OSError: Unable to cleanup log directory {}, error: {}'.format(config.configs['log.dir'], e)
+        errormessage = 'OSError: Unable to cleanup log directory {}, error: {}'.format(config.configs['log.dir'], e)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         emailaction.send_email(config.configs['smtp.address.from'], config.configs['smtp.address.to'], config.configs['smtp.subject'], errormessage)
     except Exception as e:
-        errormessage = u'Unable to cleanup log directory {}, error: {}'.format(config.configs['log.dir'], e)
+        errormessage = 'Unable to cleanup log directory {}, error: {}'.format(config.configs['log.dir'], e)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         emailaction.send_email(config.configs['smtp.address.from'], config.configs['smtp.address.to'], config.configs['smtp.subject'], errormessage)
 
@@ -132,18 +132,18 @@ def main():
     if config.configs['smsaction.enable']:
         try:
             smsaction.smsclient = smsaction.get_sms_client()
-            log.logger.info(u'SMS Actions are enabled')
+            log.logger.info('SMS Actions are enabled')
         except Exception as e:
-            errormessage = u'Unable to get SMS client, error: {}'.format(e.message)
+            errormessage = 'Unable to get SMS client, error: {}'.format(e.args[0])
             log.logger.error(errormessage)
             quit_script(errormessage)
 
     # get the alerts to process
     try:
         alerts = get_alerts()
-        log.logger.info(u'Processing a total of {} alerts'.format(len(alerts)))
+        log.logger.info('Processing a total of {} alerts'.format(len(alerts)))
     except Exception as e:
-        errormessage = u'Unable to get alerts to process, error: {}'.format(e.message)
+        errormessage = 'Unable to get alerts to process, error: {}'.format(e.args[0])
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         quit_script(errormessage)
 
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ def trusted_ticket_test():
     else:
         clientip = None
 
-    log.logger.debug(u'testing trusted ticket: {}, {}, {}, {}'.format(
+    log.logger.debug('testing trusted ticket: {}, {}, {}, {}'.format(
         config.configs['server'],
         config.configs['server.user'],
         config.configs['server.user.domain'],
@@ -198,9 +198,9 @@ def trusted_ticket_test():
             config.configs['server.certfile'],
             config.configs['server.user.domain'],
             clientip)
-        log.logger.debug(u'Generated test trusted ticket. Value is: {}'.format(test_ticket))
+        log.logger.debug('Generated test trusted ticket. Value is: {}'.format(test_ticket))
     except Exception as e:
-        errormessage = e.message
+        errormessage = e.args[0]
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         quit_script(errormessage)
 
@@ -225,7 +225,6 @@ def get_alerts():
         source_viz.download_trigger_data()
         if len(source_viz.error_list) > 0:
             raise UserWarning(''.join(source_viz.error_list))
-
         results = source_viz.read_trigger_data()
         if len(source_viz.error_list) > 0:
             raise UserWarning(''.join(source_viz.error_list))
@@ -233,14 +232,13 @@ def get_alerts():
     except Exception as e:
         quit_script('Could not process source viz data from {} for the following reasons:<br/><br/>{}'.format(
 			config.configs['vizalerts.source.viz'],
-            e.message))
+            e.args[0]))
 
     # test for regex invalidity
     try:
         fieldlist = ('allowed_from_address','allowed_recipient_addresses','allowed_recipient_numbers')
         currentfield = ''
         currentfieldvalue = ''
-
         for line in results:
             for field in fieldlist:
                 currentfield = field
@@ -252,7 +250,7 @@ def get_alerts():
                 config.configs['vizalerts.source.viz'],
                 currentfieldvalue,
                 currentfield,
-                e.message))
+                e.args[0]))
 
     # retrieve schedule data from the last run and compare to current
     statefile = config.configs['schedule.state.dir'] + SCHEDULE_STATE_FILENAME
@@ -270,7 +268,7 @@ def get_alerts():
             f = codecs.open(statefile, encoding='utf-8', mode='w+')
             f.close()
     except IOError as e:
-        errormessage = u'Invalid schedule state file: {}'.format(e.message)
+        errormessage = 'Invalid schedule state file: {}'.format(e.args[0])
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         quit_script(errormessage)
 
@@ -375,7 +373,7 @@ def get_alerts():
             # all done, now add it to the master list
             alerts.append(alert)
     except Exception as e:
-        errormessage = u'Error instantiating alerts from list obtained from server: {}'.format(e)
+        errormessage = 'Error instantiating alerts from list obtained from server: {}'.format(e)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         quit_script(errormessage)
 
@@ -453,11 +451,11 @@ def get_alerts():
                                                                alert.ran_last_at, alert.run_next_at,
                                                                alert.schedule_id))
     except IOError as e:
-        errormessage = u'IOError accessing {} while getting views to process: {}'.format(e.filename, e.message)
+        errormessage = 'IOError accessing {} while getting views to process: {}'.format(e.filename, e.args[0])
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         quit_script(errormessage)
     except Exception as e:
-        errormessage = u'Error accessing {} while getting views to process: {}'.format(statefile, e)
+        errormessage = 'Error accessing {} while getting views to process: {}'.format(statefile, e)
         log.logger.error(errormessage)
         quit_script(errormessage)
 
@@ -470,7 +468,7 @@ def quit_script(message):
                                config.configs['smtp.subject'], message)
         emailaction.send_email(email_instance)
     except Exception as e:
-        log.logger.error(u'Unknown error-sending exception alert email: {}'.format(e.message))
+        log.logger.error('Unknown error-sending exception alert email: {}'.format(e.args[0]))
     sys.exit(1)
 
 def cleanup_dir(path, expiry_s):
@@ -488,7 +486,7 @@ def cleanup_dir(path, expiry_s):
         main()
         exitcode = 0
     except:
-        log.logger.exception(u'An unhandled exception occurred: %s' % traceback.format_exc(sys.exc_info()))
+        log.logger.exception('An unhandled exception occurred: %s' % traceback.format_exc(sys.exc_info()))
         exitcode = 1
     finally:
         sys.exit(exitcode)