Mail Lists

General Mailing List Questions

• Can I remove myself from the facstaff email list?
  • Users are not able to opt-out of the facstaff mailing list. You will need to contact the owner of that list, which the Technology Service Desk can provide.
• According to the "Mailing List Administration" website there is only room to add 25 users, but I need more than 25 members in my list.  What are my options?
  • You can only import 25 names at a time to a mailing list when adding users through the https://www.elon.edu/lists/manage/ website.
  • If you need to add more than 25 names to a list you can return to the website and add them in batches of up to 25 users at a time.

• If I have the need for a large mail list to be created with over 500 members, is there any other way to add the users into the list without having to do them in groups of 25?
  • Prepare an excel document with the following specifications:  One column that contains the email address, a space, Firstname Lastname.
  • See example below:
    • 
  • Contact Technology Service Desk and have them create a ticket.  Make sure to have them attach your excel document that lists the email addresses and names to the ticket.
  • We can do a bulk import on the back end for large lists.

• Are you having other problems with sending mail to mailing lists? Visit here for more information.

Requesting a new mailing list or making changes to an existing list.

• Create a new mailing list or delete an existing mailing list

How to manage a ListServ list using a user friendly web interface (recommended method)

• NOTE: If you are an Administrator of your list, it is a good idea to also make yourself a"member of the mailing list".

• How to Modify an existing mailing list
  • When using the website to subscribe users, if you format the new members like shown in the screen shot below, your members will have their first and last name shown in the ListServ.
  • Go to the https://www.elon.edu/lists/manage/ website.
  • Click the down arrow for the "Pull Down" menu.  This will let you select any ListServ that you are a manage of.  Select the ListServ you want to edit.
  • Select the "Subscribe" radio button.
  • In the "Address(es) to Subscribe / unsubscribe" section:
    • type in the email address followed by a blank space, then Firstname space Lastname) of the person you are adding.
      • Example:  jdoe1@elon.edu John Doe
    • Doing this makes it easier for you to audit members of your ListServ because you can see the name associated with an email address at first glance.
  • Then click "Submit".
  • Your user has now been added to your ListServ.
  • Please be mindful, When adding users using the website, users in your ListSrv will display with an asterisk * after the last name.  This is normal and how the software distinguishes if you used the website to enter a members verses using the email method to enter the members. appear like below when you pull a report of members.
    • twynette@ELON.EDU Tammy Wynette *

Manual Mailing List Updates Using Email Client (not recommended for new users)

Manage list through email

You can manage your list by utilizing email along with several commands based on if you are adding or removing a user from a list, or if you simply want a list of all current members of your list. 

Getting started:

• Create a new, blank email addressed to listserv@lists.elon.edu
• Remove all text from the subject and the body of the email.  This includes removing any email signatures.  If there are any characters, other than the exact commands as shown below, in your email you will not be successful in using this method

To receive a list of all members of your List:

• In the body of a blank email, type the following command replacing LISTNAME with the exact name of your list. 
  • review listname
    • Listname is the first part of the email address of your list without @elon.edu.  
    • Example: If your list email address is yourlist@elon.edu the name of your list is yourlist
      • review yourlist
  • See below email for a real world example.
  • When you click send, you may see a warning saying "Do you want to send this message without a subject?"
    • Click "Send Anyway"
    • This is exactly how you want to send the message for this to work.
  • You should receive verification back in your email shortly after you send the email with confirmation.

Only the mailing list administrator (owner of the list) can view the members of a list.

Subscribe or Add a new member

• Only the mailing list owner can add new members to a listserv.
  • In the body of a blank email, type the following command replacing LISTNAME with the exact name of your list and USEREMAIL with the full email address of the user. 
    • ADD LISTNAME EmailAddress Firstname Lastname
      • ADD is the command to subscribe or add a user to your list.
      • LISTNAME is the first part of the email address of your list without @elon.edu.  
      • EmailAddress would be the  full email address of the person you are adding.  Example:  twynette@elon.edu
      • Firstname Lastname would be the first name and the last name of the member with a single space between the names. 
        • Example: John Doe
      • Sample command: 
        • ADD YOURLIST twynette@elon.edu Tammy Wynette
      • 
    • If you have multiple users to add you may do so, but each user needs to be on a separate line.
      • 
  • Send the email
• When you click send, you may see a warning saying "Do you want to send this message without a subject?"
  • Click "Send Anyway"
  • This is exactly how you want to send the message for this to work.
• You should receive verification back in your email shortly after you send the email with confirmation.​​​​​​

Unsubscribe or Delete an existing member

• Only the mailing list owner can add new members to a list.
  • In the body of a blank email, type the following command replacing LISTNAME with the exact name of your list and USEREMAIL with the full email address of the user. 
    • DEL LISTNAME USEREMAIL
      • DEL is the command to Unsubscribe/delete a user from your list.
      • LISTNAME is the first part of the email address of your list without @elon.edu.  
      • USEREMAIL would be the  full email address of the person you are removing.  Example:  jdoe@elon.edu
    • See below email for a real world example.
      • 
    • Example of multiple removals in one email.
      • 
  • Send the email
  • When you click send, you may see a warning saying "Do you want to send this message without a subject?"
    • Click "Send Anyway"
    • This is exactly how you want to send the message for this to work.
  • You should receive verification back in your email shortly after you send the email with confirmation.

• If you are removing an email account from a list, you again must have the full email address.  Example: jdoe@elon.edu

All lists have been configured so that only members of the list can send to the mailing list. This is to prevent spam. This can be changed on request, but is not recommended in order to prevent spam on the mailing list.

If you have any questions, please contact the Technology Service Desk through the Self-Service Portal or at (336) 278-5200.