Creating a message in Bulkmail

Bulkmail is used to send email messages to multiple recipients at once. It can be used to send messages to large groups of recipients, such as all staff, or more specific audiences, such as all full-time staff on the Evanston campus. Bulkmail requires special permission to access.

To request access to Bulkmail, please have your manager or supervisor email consultant@northwestern.edu. Their request should include your NetID and the intended audience(s) of your future messages.

 

Logging in to Bulkmail

  1. Go to https://bulkmail.northwestern.edu/lui/
  2. Enter your NetID.
  3. Enter your Bulkmail password.
    • Please note that your Bulkmail password might not be the same as your NetID password.
    • To reset your Bulkmail password, please contact consultant@northwestern.edu.
  4. Enter the Group. Your Group is specified when your access is first granted.
    • If you are unsure of the correct Group, please contact consultant@northwestern.edu.

Note: Make sure you enter the URL https://bulkmail.northwestern.edu/lui/ exactly, otherwise you may receive an error.

Creating a standard mail job

To create a new mail job:

  1. Click New, then Standard Mail Job.
  2. Enter a Title for your mail job, such as "First notice to students". This will not be sent in the message.
  3. Enter a Job ID Prefix to make the job easier to search for later. You can use your NetID or any other short code. This will not be sent in the message.

Once the job is created, click on the following boxes and take the following steps:

Define Recipients

Identify the group or groups who will receive the message. Options include:
  • Send to a Recipient Target Group - choose one of the pre-created audience groups to receive the message
  • Define New Recipients - upload a list of email addresses, NetIDs, or employee IDs to receive the message
  • Copy Recipients Definition from Job - select the recipients of another Bulkmail job to use for this message

After selecting the recipient option, click Next to proceed.

Using a Recipient Target Group

  1. Select the group of recipients which should receive your message.
  2. At the top right corner of the rounded rectangle of settings, click Next.
  3. You may be prompted to select additional information, such as recipient role (faculty vs staff) or campus. Select the settings as appropriate, then click Next.
  4. Depending on the size of the recipient list, you may see one or more loading bars as the recipient list is processed. When the loading is complete, click Next.
  5. Optionally, click the underlined Change option to choose whether all messages should be sent at the same time, or staggered over a period of hours.
  6. Once you are satisfied with the settings, click Next.
  7. A summary page will appear. Confirm that the settings on the summary page match appear correct. Otherwise, click Back to make modifications.
  8. Click Finish.

Uploading a list of email addresses

  1. Create a text (.txt) or Excel (.xlsx) file with your list of email addresses to receive the message.
    • For a text file, each email address should be on its own line. For an Excel file, put all email addresses in the first column.
  2. On the Bulkmail settings page, choose option 1, List of recipient E-mail addresses.
  3. Click Select a recipients file.
  4. Click Browse and locate the file with your list of email addresses.
  5. For Encoding, choose Unicode (UTF-8).
  6. Click Upload.
  7. In the Parse Recipients screen, select whether or not your document has a header row.
    • If the first row of the document is an email address to use, choose No, this file does not have a header row.
  8. At the top right corner of the rounded rectangle of settings, click Next.
  9. If your file has multiple columns, you may be prompted to select which column has the email addresses. In the appropriate column, change the Merge Field drop-down to E-Mail.
    • Optionally, if your file has a column for the person's name, or other information you intend to use in the message, you can use the drop-down menus on the other columns to indicate this information.
    • If you plan on using other merge fields, it is suggested that you rename the fields to make them easier to identify.
  10. Click Next.
  11. Optionally, click the first underlined Change option to choose whether all messages should be sent at the same time, or staggered over a period of hours.
  12. Optionally, click the second underlined Change option to choose whether to remove any duplicate email addresses in your recipients file. The default behavior is to not remove duplicates.
  13. Click Next.
  14. A summary page will appear. Confirm that the settings on the summary page match appear correct. Otherwise, click Back to make modifications.
  15. Click Finish.

Uploading a list of recipients' NetIDs or employee IDs

  1. Create a text (.txt) or Excel (.xlsx) file with your list of NetIDs or employee IDs to receive the message.
  2. In the first row of your list (or column, in Excel) of NetIDs or employee IDs, add the word ID.
  3. On the Bulkmail settings page, choose option 2, List of recipient NetIDs and/or EmplIDs.
  4. Click Convert list to E-mail addresses. A new window will appear.
  5. Click Browse and locate the file with your list of NetIDs or EmplIDs.
  6. Click Upload.
  7. The screen should show ID conversion has been completed. Click Continue.
    • If you receive an error, make sure the first line of your file is the word "ID" (without quotes) and try again.
  8. Click on the Server File Name to copy the link, or highlight the link and copy it.
  9. Close the window or tab and return to the Recipients Source File window.
  10. Click Select a recipients file.
  11. Paste the Server File Name you copied into the File Name box.
    • If prompted for a format, choose Unicode (UTF-8).
  12. Click OK.
  13. On the Parse Recipients page, look at the Preview at the bottom. If it looks garbled or wrong, change the parsing.
    • Use the Columns are separated by drop-down to change how the columns are separated. The most common options are Tab and Comma.
    • After making any changes to the parsing, make sure to click Refresh Preview.
  14. Once the Preview looks correct, at the top right corner of the rounded rectangle of settings, click Next.
  15. If your file has multiple columns, you may be prompted to select which column has the email addresses. In the appropriate column, change the Merge Field drop-down to E-Mail.
    • Optionally, if your file has a column for the person's name, or other information you intend to use in the message, you can use the drop-down menus on the other columns to indicate this information.
  16. Click Next.
  17. Optionally, click the first underlined Change option to choose whether all messages should be sent at the same time, or staggered over a period of hours.
  18. Optionally, click the second underlined Change option to choose whether to remove any duplicate email addresses in your recipients file.
  19. Click Next.
  20. A summary page will appear. Confirm that the settings on the summary page match appear correct. Otherwise, click Back to make modifications.
  21. Click Finish.

Copying recipients from a past job

  1. Using the drop-down menu, select the job whose recipients you would like to use for this message.
  2. At the top right corner of the rounded rectangle of settings, click Next.
  3. The Source page will appear. Click Next.
  4. The Parse Recipients page will appear. The settings should be correct. If not, change the Header Row option accordingly.
  5. Click Next.
  6. If your file has multiple columns, you may be prompted to select which column has the email addresses. This should be done automatically. Otherwise, in the appropriate column, change the Merge Field drop-down to E-Mail.
    • Optionally, if your file has a column for the person's name, or other information you intend to use in the message, you can use the drop-down menus on the other columns to indicate this information.
  7. Click Next.
  8. Optionally, click the first underlined Change option to choose whether all messages should be sent at the same time, or staggered over a period of hours.
  9. Optionally, click the second underlined Change option to choose whether to remove any duplicate email addresses in your recipients file.
  10. Click Next.
  11. A summary page will appear. Confirm that the settings on the summary page match appear correct. Otherwise, click Back to make modifications.
  12. Click Finish.

Define Message

  1. In the Subject field at the top, enter a subject line for your message. This is the subject line that appears to recipients.
  2. On the right side of the screen, click Open Template Gallery.

Email messages are formatted using HTML. You do not need to know how to write HTML code to use it. You can use a program like Adobe Dreamweaver or even the Bulkmail message editor to design your message. The HTML is then created in the background.

To import existing HTML

If you already created your message in something like Adobe Dreamweaver, you can copy the HTML into the Bulkmail editor.

  1. Click on the No Template tab.
  2. Choose HTML Content Created in External Editor (Uploaded), then click OK.
  3. In Adobe Dreamweaver or another HTML editor, save the message or newsletter page you were working on as HTML.
  4. In the Bulkmail window, click Select Files.
  5. In the Browse window, locate the HTML file you have saved.
  6. Use the Preview tab to verify that your message is formatted correctly.
    • If there are problems with the content, please modify the original HTML file and re-upload it.
  7. Click Upload Selected File.
  8. Your message will be visible in the HTML tab of the message settings page.

To create your HTML in the Bulkmail editor

If your message only involves simple formatting, you can use the Bulkmail editor to format your message.

  1. Click on the No Template tab.
  2. Choose HTML Content, Edited in LISTSERV Maestro, then click OK.
  3. Click Edit the HTML content.
  4. Paste or write the content of your message in the text editor. Use the icons across the top and side to style the text, include links and pictures, or add widgets.
    • After selecting a widget, double-click it in the text editor to modify its properties.
  5. When you are satisfied with your message, click OK.
  6. Your message will be visible in the HTML tab of the message settings page.

To use a template

  1. Click on either the System Templates or User-Defined Templates tabs to view the templates available.
  2. Find a template you would like to use, then click it. A preview will appear on the right side.
  3. Once you have found the correct template, click OK.
  4. At the top left corner of the preview, click Edit the HTML content.
  5. Use the text editor to modify the content of the message as appropriate.
  6. When you are satisfied with your message, click OK.
  7. Your message will be visible in the HTML tab of the message settings page.

After the message content is set, take the following steps to finalize the message:

  1. Use the Text tab to add a plaintext (unformatted, text-only) version of your message.
    • Click Click here to add an alternative text to this message.
    • On the next page, click Edit the text content.
    • Paste the text-only version of your message, then click OK.
  2. Optionally, use the Attachments tab to add any attachments to your message.
  3. Click OK to complete the message setup.

Define Tracking

Depending on the type of message you created, the tracking may have automatically been set. In any case, please review the following settings before proceeding:

  1. Ensure Tracking Selection is set to Full Tracking, All Links, then click Next.
  2. The Tracking Type should be set to Unique Tracking. click Next.
  3. Click Finish to complete the tracking setup.

Define Sender

  1. To choose a pre-programmed sender, use the Load from Profile drop-down menu. The sender information will be automatically populated.
  2. To supply your own sender information, enter the following information:
    • Email Address: the email address that the message will appear to come from.
      • This email address will also receive automatic replies, such as out-of-office messages, from recipients. To filter these messages, please see the following Knowledge Base article before you send the message: 62264
    • Sender Name: the name of the sender that will be listed on the message.
    • Reply-to address: the email address to which recipients' replies will be delivered. This email address will only receive manual replies, not automatic replies.
  3. Click OK.

Delivery Test

Here you can test how your message will appear without having to send the real message to your recipients.

Note that any replies to this test message will be sent to the specified reply-to email address.

  1. Enter a Subject line that will appear on the test message. It is a good idea to modify the subject line to make it clear this is a test.
  2. Optionally, enter a Test line. This will be the first line on the email message.
    • Because replies to this test message will go to the specified reply-to email address, you may want to use this line to provide your email address and request all feedback on the test message be directed to you.
  3. In the first row, enter the information for your first test recipient. You must include their email address, but you can also populate other merge fields to test how they will appear in the message.
    • Please note that you will not receive a test message by default. If you would like to receive a copy, please enter your email address as a test recipient.
  4. Repeat these steps for every person who you want to receive the test message. Click Add Row to add rows as necessary.
  5. Optionally, uncheck the Send additional plain text mail box. If this is checked, your recipients will receive two messages: one with the formatted (HTML) message, and one text-only message.
  6. Click Send Test Message.
  7. The message will be sent to your list of test recipients. A new window will appear.
  8. In the new window, it will prompt you to enter whether the test was successful:
    • Choose NO if the message has an error that needs to be corrected, then click OK.
      • You can go back to any previous steps to change aspects of the message. Once you have corrected any mistakes, you will need to perform a new Delivery Test.
    • Choose YES if you and your test recipients approve of the message, then click OK.
    • If you need time to confer with your test recipients, choose Verify Later, then click OK.
      • If you choose to verify later, you will be able to go directly back to this Test Result Assessment page without having to send another test message.

Delivery Settings

Here we schedule when the message will be sent. You have multiple options:

  • Immediately begin delivering the mail job: the message will be sent immediately after authorization.
  • Wait until mail job delivery is triggered: this feature is not commonly used. It enables you to trigger delivery by emailing Bulkmail.
  • Schedule the mail job delivery to begin at the following time: allows you to set a date, time, and time zone when the message should be sent.

Choose the appropriate option, enter any information as necessary, then click OK.

Authorize Delivery

Once all of the other steps have been completed, you can authorize the delivery of the message.

  1. Scroll through the Job Summary to ensure that all of the settings are correct. If not, click Cancel and return to the appropriate section to make your changes.
  2. The message will be sent according to the Delivery Settings you supplied. The timing of the message is available at the bottom of the rounded rectangle of settings. Verify that these are correct.
  3. If the settings look correct, you can click Authorize Delivery Now.

Note: Once a job has been authorized, it will no longer appear under the Open Jobs section in the main Bulkmail interface. In order to make any changes to a job, right-click the job and select Revoke Send Authorization. This will enable you to make edits.

 

 

 

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Details

Article ID: 1798
Created
Thu 5/12/22 12:39 PM
Modified
Wed 9/20/23 11:40 AM