Sending Email

With MemberTies Professional you can send email to members, groups, and attendees of activities using your Internet account. When you open the email window, it will automatically populate itself with email addresses based on where you were when you opened the window, as described below.

When email is sent, there are various ways to address the message(s). You can choose to put email addresses in the "To", "CC", or "BCC" fields of the message, or you can have MemberTies generate separate, individually addressed messages, one for each person on your address list. The option of sending individual emails is normally the preferred method, because it looks more professional, and it prevents others from seeing the email addresses of your other members.

Warning: SPAM email (also known as unsolicited commercial email) is a growing problem on the Internet today. If we determine that you are using MemberTies Professional to send SPAM, we will terminate your license and report you to the appropriate authorities. Using MemberTies Professional to send unsolicited email (SPAM), or to transmit illegal content is expressly forbidden.

1	All email activity is performed on the Send Email window. There are several different ways to open this window, depending on what you want to do. If you want to send email to:

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The contact email addresses for one or more groups - select the desired group(s) on the Group List, then click the Email toolbar button or choose Actions > Send Email. When prompted to send to either the group or the groups members, choose "Group Only". The contact email address for each selected group will appear in the Addresses tab.

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The associated members of one or more groups - select the desired group(s) on the Group List, then click the Email toolbar button or choose Actions > Send Email. When prompted to send to either the group or the groups members, choose "Group Members". The contact email address for all membership records associated with each selected group will appear in the Addresses tab.

•	One or more membership records - select the desired member(s) on the Membership List, then click the Email toolbar button or choose Actions > Send Email. The email address for all selected records will appear in the Addresses tab.

•	The attendees of one or more activities - select the desired activity(s) on the Activity List, then click the Email toolbar button or choose Actions > Send Email. The email address for all attendance records associated with each selected activity will appear in the Addresses tab.

There are also various places in the system where an email address is displayed as a data-entry field. When an Email icon appears next to a field, you can click the icon to open the Send Email window with the current address displayed. In addition, the Email toolbar button is always available even when no list is open. This enables you to open the Send Email window and enter your own addresses, i.e., without bring in any existing email addresses.

2	Once the Send Email window opens, there are several tabs available that affect or control the sending of the message:

Message Tab - This tab is used to define the email message text, add attachments, and select the email Profile that will be used to send the message.

•	To save the email message for later reuse (including all text and attachment links) click the Save File icon located to the right of the Subject line. (Messages are stored in the database, so they are available to all users.)

•	To load a previously saved email message, click the Open File icon located to the right of the Subject line. (See Loading Email Messages for details about the Load Message window.)

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To Insert database fields in the email message so that MemberTies will use the appropriate data for the current member, click fields in the Field Name list (select the Fields checkbox if the field list is currently hidden). Note that database fields can only be used if you are using the Multiple Messages addressing method (see Addresses Tab below). This restriction exists because if you are using the Single Message method to send one message with everyone listed in the To/CC/BCC fields, MemberTies will not know which recipient's record to use for the data.

•	To send an HTML formatted email, you must select the "Send as HTML" checkbox, and add the appropriate formatting to the message. As soon as the checkbox is selected, an HTML tag toolbar will be displayed to help you add some of the more common tags. See Formatting HTML Email for complete details.

•	To select an existing Email Profile, which determines what the return email address will be, as well as the server through which the email will be sent, use the Email Profile dropdown.

•	To open the list of Email Profiles so you can create a new profile or manage existing profiles, click the Open icon located to the right of the Email Profile dropdown. See Working with Email Profiles for more information.

•	To change the priority with which the email will be sent (this may or may not be respected by all email servers), use the Email Priority dropdown.

•	To cause MemberTies to open an email preview window for each message before it is sent, select the Preview checkbox (this option is only available when using the Multiple Messages addressing method (see Addresses Tab below).

Addresses Tab - This tab is used to identify the email addresses to which the email message will be sent.

The most important setting on this tab is the Addressing Method. There are two methods available:

•	Multiple Messages - Selecting this option causes MemberTies to format a separate message for each person in the address list. Only one address is used per email. When this option is selected, the list of database fields on the Message tab is available. This is normally the preferred option.

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Single Message - Selecting this option enables you to choose which field (TO/CC/BCC) to use for each address. The "TO" field is normally used for the primary recipient(s) of the message; the "CC" field is normally used for people of secondary importance (i.e., people being "copied" on the message); the "BCC" field is used for people who need to see the message but whose addresses should be invisible to all other recipients (i.e., people being "blind copied" on the message).

After the Addressing Method is selected there are several icons below the Recipients list that control additional options:

•	To prevent the member name from being displayed with the email address (i.e., to show "jsmith@myisp.com" instead of "John Smith <jsmith@myisp.com>", clear the "Show Name with Address" checkbox.

•	To save the recipient list for future reuse (including the designations for the TO/CC/BCC fields if appropriate), click the Save icon. Enter a file name when prompted.

•	To reload a saved recipient list, click the Open File icon. Note that reloading a save list causes all addresses to be appended to the existing list. This enables you to open several saved lists to create a combined list.

•	If the Recipients list contains duplicate addresses, you can clear them automatically by choosing Remove Duplicates from the right-click menu.

Enable Log - To generate a log of all communication with the email server (useful for tracking down problems), select the Enable Log checkbox. The current log file may be viewed by clicking the Open File icon to the right of the Enable Log checkbox. Note: Your password may appear in the log in plain text.

Include Timestamp in Log File Name - Select this option to cause the log file name to include the current timestamp, for example, "mtemail071405183025.log" for a log generated July 14, 2008 at 18:30:25.

Validate Address List(s) before Sending - Select this option to have the system check each email address for technical accuracy, i.e., the format of the address will be verified to conform to the requirements of a valid email address. This does not insure that the address itself is valid or that the mail will be delivered, only that the address is formatted correctly. If this option is used, the check will occur just before beginning the sending process. If any problems are found, the offending address(es) will be highlighted in red italic text for easy identification, and you will be given the opportunity to stop the process to correct them.

Transmission Control - If your ISP limits the number of messages you can send per minute, or per connection, typically to try to prevent mass unsolicited email distribution, you can enter the appropriate settings here to comply.

Select the "Restrict the number of messages sent" checkbox, then enter the maximum number of messages that can be sent in a minute, or in a given connection (email session). If you select "per minute", the system will pause for 60 seconds between batches. If you select "per connection", the connection with the server will be broken and restarted for each batch.

Note: If you are sending a single message with a number of addresses in the TO, CC, or BCC fields, it still counts as one message for transmission control purposes.

Control Address - If you would like the system to send a final email to a specific address (as a check to verify that all messages were processed) enter that address here. The email will be addressed to a person called, "Control Address" at the address you specify. Note that if you are using the "Single Message" addressing option, this address will be added to the BCC list.

Save Messages to Sent Mail - Select this option to save a copy of the mail message to the Sent Mail list. Note that it is important to understand that a message will be saved to the Sent Mail list regardless of whether it is successfully delivered. All the system knows is that the message was sent to the specified mail server for delivery. It does not know whether the server ever delivered it, whether it bounced back, or whether or not it was read.

3	The final tab is the Sent Mail Tab. This tab displays copies of email messages that were sent while the "Save Messages to Sent Mail" setting was selected. See Viewing Sent Mail for complete information about this tabpage.