Creating a mailing list

There are a number of ways that recipients can be added to a mailing list: you can add them manually, one-by-one; you can import them from an existing database and; if the facility is enabled, users can add themselves via an online subscription form. Either way, a mailing list needs to be populated before an email newsletter can be sent.

1. Click on the Newsletters icon  to display the Newsletters window
2. Locate the appropriate Mailing List in the Newsletters pane
   
   Each newsletter type has an associated mailing list. You will need to click on the newsletter type folders in the “Newsletters” pane until you find the required “Mailing List” icon…
3. Click on the Mailing List icon  to select it
   
   The details of the selected mailing list appear in the “Edit Content” pane…
   
   
   Recipients can be added individually…
4. Ensure that the Recipients tab is selected in the Edit Content pane
5. Ensure the Recipients sub-tab is selected to display the details
6. Use the vertical scroll bar to display the bottom of the Recipients page
   
   The fields used to add a new recipient are displayed here, at the bottom of the page…
7. Click in the Firstname field, type in the recipient’s first name, then press [Tab] to move to the next field
   
8. Repeat step 7 to complete the recipient’s Surname and Email details
9. Click on  to add the new recipient to the mailing list
   
   
   You can also add recipients to a mailing list by importing an existing database…
   
   SilverStripe CMS can import existing CSV files (these can be exported from Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice.org Calc). The first row of the CSV file must contain the following headings:
   1. Firstname
   2. Surname
   3. Email
      
   The Email address is the primary identifier of the recipient and must therefore be unique…
10. Ensure that the appropriate Mailing List is selected in the Newsletters pane
11. Click on the Recipients tab in the Edit Contents pane
12. Click on the Import sub-tab
    
    This will display the “Import” details…
    
13. Click on  to display the Choose file dialog box
    
    
    You are now required to navigate to and select the CSV file that you want to import…
14. Click on the drop arrow  for Look in and click on the required drive letter (e.g. Hard Disk (C:))
15. Locate and click on the folder that contains the file and then click on
    
    This will display the folder contents in the “Choose file” dialog box…
    
    
16. Click on the CSV file and click on
    
    The contents of the CSV file is now displayed in the “Import” tab…
    
17. Use the vertical and horizontal scroll bars to display the contents of the CSV file
    
    By viewing the contents first, you are able to review the contacts you are about to import and their details. You might need to scroll to the bottom of the “Import” page to view the recipient names.
    
    The headings at the top of the columns are based on the information entered into the first row of the CSV file. These fields contain drop arrows  that enable you to select the appropriate heading, if it does not display correctly (this may happen if it is incorrectly interpreted during the merge process)…
    
18. Check the column headings of the imported data. If necessary, click on the drop arrow  of a heading field and select an alternate title
19. Click on  to complete the import
    
    An import report will be displayed on the “Import” page, indicating the changes made (at the time of writing this manual, a bug existed in the importing feature and so the numbers recorded in the Edit Content pane, as shown above, are not presenting properly)…
     
20. Click on the Recipients tab to display the new, imported recipients
    
    You might need to scroll down to the bottom of the “Recipients” page to view the records. By default, the recipients will be ordered alphabetically by surname…
    
21. Click on the Save tool  to save the changes