Download Mailings

A Tour of Mailings

This tour guides you through a mailing to help you learn the program. Other learning aids include:

To get started please download a copy of Mailings if you have not done so already. This is a hands on tour of Mailings to get you familiar with the product in a short amount of time.

You can obtain a copy of Mailings here. After you download Mailings place it anywhere you like. A good place for it is in the Applications folder of your computer.

This tour will cover the following topics:

Launch Mailings and Enter a Password

Initial Setup Requirements

Create a Mailing

Using AppleScript to Extend Functionality

Displaying All Tags in a Mailing

HTML Email with Embedded Attachments

Launch Mailings and Enter a Password (top)

Since this is a hands on tour you should launch Mailings to get started.

If this is your first time trying the program it will run in fully functional demo mode. i.e. for a limited time. If your demo previously expired a window will be be displayed alerting you that Mailings requires a password to run. Use the "Register..." button to obtain a password.

The "Register..."button takes you to the Purchase page where you can purchase any of our products, including Mailings. After you purchase a product you will receive a permanent password for each product by email. Permanent passwords are valid through the life of the program, i.e. all versions.

After you enter the password in the Password dialog box click the "Save" button to activate the program. Then click the red close button in the upper left portion of the dialog.

Initial Setup Requirements (top)

Mailings integrates with other programs, namely Address Book, Entourage, your default mail client, such as Apple Mail, and the most common Mac browsers, such as Safari, to facilitate the bulk email process:

  • Address Book

    Mailings is very closely integrated with the Apple "Address Book" program. It can use Address Book groups to address recipients, and the "My card" to specify the sender of the emails Mailings produces. You don't have to use the "My card" however, you can manually enter the name and email address of the sender.

  • Text Import

    You can also address emails by importing addresses from tab or comma separated text files. Such files can usually be generated from other programs that store addresses, such as spreadsheets. (Mailings can optionally import these addresses to Address Book.)

    The software distribution contains a folder named "Text File Import formats" which provides examples of import files.

  • Entourage

    Finally, Mailings can import contacts from an Entourage group, or all Entourage contacts.

  • Default Mail Client

    Mailings uses your default mail client, such as Apple Mail, to preview mail messages that it creates. Therefore in order to use this feature you should have a mail program setup to receive these preview mailings, i.e. you should specify a default mail client, and set it up to retrieve mail from your account.

  • Safari, Firefox, Camino and OmniWeb

    Mailings has a convenience button named "Web Page" that enables you to set the web page of the mail message to the URL of the front most supported browser window. Currently supported browsers are Safari, Firefox, Camino and OmniWeb. (If you use an unsupported browser you simply need to specify the URL manually by typing or copying it.)

Create a Mailing (top)

A mailing is configured using the mailer window. (A new mailer window is opened when the program is launched, or when you select "New..." from the file menu.)

Configurations can be saved for reuse. When you save a configuration you usually don't need to repeat all the steps below.

  • Step 1: Choose the document to send

    The document you send can be either a plain or HTML text file on your computer or the Internet. Let's use the page you are reading now.

    Launch Mailings and if a document window is not open select "New" from the File menu to create a new Mailings document window. Now click on the "Web Page" button, if your browser is supported (as discussed above), or copy the address of this page into the "Web Page or File" text box

    Mailings has three types of editors: Plain Text Alternative, Preamble and Epilogue. A "plain text alternative" is usually used as an alternative to an HTML message for email clients that do not display HTML. The preamble and epilogue are messages that prefix and suffix, resp., the main message whose content is determined by the "Web Page or File" value.

    Click the "Preamble" message editor button to open the Preamble editor and enter "Hello" at the top of the text pane. Then click the "Insert Mail Tag" popup menu:

    Select the "To First Name" item:

    {ToNameFirst} is called a "template tag". You can insert template tags using the popup buttons at the top of any message editor window. The tag {ToNameFirst} is used to create a personalized greeting to each recipient of the message.

    "ToNameFirst" is the name of the tag, and Mailings processes it as a tag because it occurs inside curly brackets. Mailings will replace the tag {ToNameFirst} with the first name of the current recipient. Mailings provides several other built-in tags (like "ToAddress"), and you can create your own using AppleScript (we'll show an example of that later.) Now click the "Close" button to save the preamble. Mailings will insert this preamble text just before the contents of the Mail message, namely this web page.

    The preamble should consist of HTML when the web page or file is also HTML. Therefore, it's more appropriate for us to enter something like "<p>Hello {ToNameFirst}</p>". You can try it both ways if you like to see the difference when you are done with this tour.

    Note: In lieu of a web page or file, you can send a message using the Plain Text Message editor. Although you can also use the Preamble or Epilogue, the Plain Text Message editor is recommended because it will always properly set the message character set and encoding for best results.

    Now enter a subject for the messages into the "Subject" text box. The subject can include template tags also. To illustrate this enter this as the subject: "Hello {ToNameFirst}!" as illustrated below:

  • Step 2. Specify the Recipients.

    We will use Address Book to address the email we create in this tour. Select the "Group" tab:

    Select an Address Book group from the "Recipients Mail Group", and then select the "Address Type".

    If you click the "Select Recipients" button you'll see the list of all people in the selected group. The list will also show all the email address of the type you specified.

    You can use the "Send?" checkboxes to mark a person as a recipient of the message. More about selecting recipients is discussed below.

    Note: Mailings can also address mail using addresses in a tab or comma separated text file, or an Entourage group. In this case you would use the "Import" tab:

    Consult the reference manual for more information on importing text files. Select "Mailings Help" from the Help menu to open the reference manual in Apple Help.

  • Step 3. Specify the Sender.

    Select the "My Card" tab:

    Make sure that the "From me at" popup button is set to your email address. Use the popup menu to select the proper email address if it is not selected already. If an email address is not in the popup menu you need to edit the "Me" record in Address Book.

    You can also use the "Manual" tab to enter the sender name and address:

    Click the button to open the people picker. You can drag entries from the people picker into the name or address fields. The popup menu adjacent to the people picker button is used to specify which type of addresses to use.

  • Step 4. Specify mail server settings

    Click the "Server Settings" button to open the Server Settings window.Then enter the mail server address, port, authentication method, username and password. If you don't recall this information you can copy your mail client settings.

    Some mail servers do not require authentication and do not need a username and password. If you are not sure if you need it try without it. If you do need it, then an error will be generated and displayed in the status area at the bottom of the Mailings window.

    Note 1: Most problems with bulk mailing are due to mail servers trying to combat spamming, or preventing over usage. Mailings has a feature called "Throttle" which can be used to control the rate mail is sent. This feature is configured in Preferences (select "Preferences..." from the Mailings menu, then select the "Throttle" tab.)

    Note 2: When problems do occur you can use a feature called "Verbose Console Logging" for troubleshooting. In this mode Mailings logs details about the server connection. This feature is also turned on in Preferences, on the "Logs" pane. The console log can always be opened by selecting "Console log..." from the File menu.

  • Step 5. Preview the Mailing (optional)

    Click the "Preview" button. Mailings generates the email, sends it to the Sender (you) and opens your default mail client so that you can view it. You should see something like this:

    In particular note the personalized greeting at the top of the message, and the personalized subject line.

  • Step 6. Simulate the Mailing (optional)

    You can send a mailing in "simulated" mode to become familiar with the program. A simulated mailing is not really sent. Mailings pretends to send the messages out, but they are all generated just as they would be during a real mailing. Select "Simulate Send" from the Mailings menu to enter this mode.

    During a simulated send you can have the generated messages sent to yourself, so you can preview each message every recipient will receive. This is particularly useful when the content of the messages is being generated dynamically, such as with AppleScript template tags. Go to the "Advanced" pane of the Preferences window to turn this feature on.

  • Step 7. Send the Mailing

    If the preview (or simulated mailing) looks okay you can now send the mailing.

    Make sure an Address Book group is selected from the "Recipients Mail Group" popup menu. (Create a test group that contains just your card if you like.)

    Also make sure the type of addresses you want to use is selected, either "Primary", "Distribution", "Work", "Home", "All" or "Other" from the "Address Type" popup menu:

    If you select "Primary", then Mailings will send the mail to all the primary addresses of each recipient. This is the original email address of the person.

    If you select "Distribution", then Mailings will send the mail to all the addresses of the Distribution list for the group. To create a distribution list use the "Edit Distribution List..." from the "Edit" menu in Address Book.

    If you select "Work", then Mailings will send the mail to all the work addresses of each recipient that has at least one work address.

    If you select "Home", then Mailings will send the mail to all the home addresses of each recipient that has at least one home address.

    If you select "All" mailings will send the mail to all the addresses this recipient has, of type work, home, as well as addresses with any other labels.

    After you select a group and address type you can click the "Select recipients" button to view the list, and filter some out if you like.

    The following sheet is displayed. Mail is only sent to recipients with a checkmark in the "Send?" column, i.e. if a recipient is "flagged."

    The search field can be used to help you find particular recipients, by name or email address. The "Select Task..." popup contains many commands you may find useful. For example, you can save the list of recipients to a text file, verify recipient email addresses or check for duplicate email addresses.

    Now press the "Send" button. A progress sheet will drop down showing the current recipient as Mailings sends the messages.

    If there are errors they will be displayed in the list view at the bottom. Mailings remembers this list of errors. If you subsequently click the "Select recipients" button again you will see that the only flagged recipients are those that had errors in this Mailing. This enables you to send the mailing again only to those who did not receive the previous mailing.

  • Step 8. Save the Mailing

    You don't need to go through all the above steps each time you want to send a similar mailing because all of the settings can be saved into a Mailings document. Mailings documents support Spotlight search. This means that if you enter text into the Preamble, Plain Text alternative, or Epilogue you can search for it with Spotlight.

    Click the "Save" button at the bottom of the Mailer window to save settings into a file. Mailings remembers all the settings, including the list of recipients that had errors. If there were no errors the last time the mailing was sent, then all recipients will be checked again by default.

    You can save various types of settings into multiple files which differ by message content, selected recipients, mail servers etc. Moreover, Mailings remembers up to 10 of the most recent documents you used each time you launch the program. It also remembers which ones were open when you quit out. This way you can pick up exactly where you left off.

Using AppleScript to Extend Functionality (top)

Applescript can be used to further customize and add dynamic content to your mail messages. You could for instance tap into a database for each recipient and retrieve information for inclusion in the message.

The example we use here is simple. Follow these steps to try it:

1) The Mailings software distribution contains a folder named "Samples". Open that folder and find a sample script named "Current Date.applescript", and a sample HTML file named "CurrentDate.html".

2) Please move the sample AppleScript into the Users "Shared" folder at "/Users/Shared/" on your computer so that you don't need to do any text editing to complete this example.

3) Next, launch Mailings if it is not running and open the Mailing settings document you saved above, i.e. the one that sent this web page to yourself. This way you will reuse (most of) the same settings.

4) Drag the "CurrentDate.html" file into the "Web Page of File" text box. Mailings will fill the field in with the path to the file for you. This file will be the message body.

Mailings should have found a program that you can use to view the contents of this file. If it did click the "View with..." button to view the file, otherwise you'll need to find an application on your own to view it (Safari should do fine since it is just text.) Anyway, here it is:

It consists of some very simple HTML whose contents will be completed when Mailings evaluates the template tags in the HTML and the AppleScript. Mailings performs this processing when it creates the mail messages for each recipient.

The first tag Mailings processes is:

{/Users/Shared/Current date.applescript}

When Mailings finds a template tag whose content is not the name of a built in tag (such as "ToName"), like this one, it checks if it is the pathname of a script file. In this case the pathname points to the AppleScript you placed in the Users "Shared" folder. (By the way, an easy way to create a path for a file is to drag the file into the Terminal application window). Here are the contents of that script:

set theDate to Current Date
set theResult to (__ToName & ", the date is: " & theDate)

The first line sets a variable named theDate to the value of the scripting addition command "Current Date".

The second line contains a template tag we've already seen: "ToName". But this time it does not appear inside curly brackets. The reason for that is AppleScript uses the curly brackets for defining lists of items. This way you can build Applescript lists using template tags.

The result of the script will be something like this (assuming "Joe Pagliaro" is the recipient of the email):

"Joe Pagliaro, the date is: Sunday, December 5, 2004 12:43:21 AM"

5) Now return to Mailings and click the "Preview" button. You should receive an email addressed to yourself that displays the current date.

Displaying All Tags in a Mailing (top)

The next example illustrates all of the built in template tags Mailings presently supports.

The software distribution includes a sample file named "AllTags.html". Use the "File..." button to navigate to this file to make it the body of the message.

Mailings supports attachments. Attachments enable you to send arbitrary documents to recipients using email. To add attachments to a mailing you can click the "Add" button, or better yet simply drag the files from the Finder into the list. (The attachments drawer can be opened and closed with the "Attachments" button at the top of the Mailer window.)

Drag some image files from the Finder into the attachments list. If you don't have the "Zip folder attachments" checkbox selected in Preferences you can drag a folder into list and Mailings will attach every file contained in the folder, otherwise it will attach a zipped archive of the folder.

Finally click "Preview" to send the Mailing to yourself. When you view the Mailing you'll see an HTML formatted message displaying all the template tags and their values for this mailings. You should also receive the files you attached.

HTML Email with Embedded Attachments (top)

Mailings supports HTML email with embedded image attachments. Using embedded image attachments for HTML enables you to include images in the email message, rather than store them on a web server.

To use embedded attachments follow these steps:

  • Create an HTML source file and make sure all image references are simple filenames, such as "jellybeans.jpg" and prefix them with "cid:" Ex. <img src="cid:jellybeans.jpg">

    The "cid" label is used to associate the src image reference with the attachment whose "Content ID" is the given filename.

  • Use the "File..." button on the mailer window to select this file as the email message, or drag it into the "Web Page or File" text box.

  • For each image referenced by the HTML source add an image attachment by the same name to the Attachments list. The filename of each attachment should match the names references in the HTML source, for example "jellybeans.jpg." Mailings creates an attachment with the proper Content ID, namely the filename of the attachment.

  • Select the "Embed" menu item from the attachment type popup menu in the Attachments window. This tells Mailings that you are creating an HTML message with embedded images:

  • Send your email.

If you look inside the "Tour Samples" of the software distribution you will find a folder named "Embedded Attachments." This folder contains one HTML source file and three images. If you open the HTML file in a text editor you will see that the source references the three image files by the same names. Follow the instructions above with these files to see how HTML with embedded attachments works.

Congratulations! You now know enough to use Mailings effectively. For more detailed information on each window consult the online Help: select "Mailings Help" from the "Help" menu. Enjoy!