Easy Listserv Guide
(read below or Download)
Thank you to TAMU Information Services for providing this informative guide on their website: https://hdc.tamu.edu/reference/documentation/index.php?section_id=169
Introduction
Listserv is a software package designed to create, maintain, and use e-mail mailing lists. Just like an address book group, Listserv allows one to e-mail a large number of individuals without manually entering every address for each e-mail. At TAMU, Listserv is used to maximize efficiency of communication between students in a class, members of an organization, or a group of individuals. This set of documentation is designed to aid Listserv owners and managers in maintaining an efficient and organized Listserv mailing list.
Logging Into The Listserv Management Webpage
A useful Listserv management tool is located at http://listserv.tamu.edu. From this website, Listserv owners can perform most Listserv management functions and it will be the primary focus of this tutorial. The first step to gain access to this site is to establish a Listserv password. This password is associated with your e-mail address; Listserv only recognizes e-mail addresses and will not identify one person by two different addresses. For this reason, Listserv lists to which you may be subscribed as one e-mail address will not appear in the set of Listserv lists available to you if you log into this website using a different e-mail address.
To establish a Listserv password, visit the website mentioned above.
- Click the Manage Lists link on the left-hand side of the page.
- Click the text link that reads "get a new LISTERV password first".
- Enter your e-mail address and the password you would like to use. Click the Register button.
Note: You should use the e-mail address at which you receive your Listerv e-mails. As mentioned above, Listserv will only recognize e-mail addresses and can only associate lists with listserv managers in this way.
You will receive an e-mail confirmation shortly that will include a URL to a confirmation page. By visiting this link, you will activate your Listserv password and you will now be able to login to the Management Tools page.
Now that you have activated your Listserv password, you should be able to revisit the management page listed above and login, using your e-mail address and password.
Using The Listserv Management Webpage
Once you have logged in successfully to the Listserv Management Webpage, you should see a dropdown menu and a command bar. From the menu, select the list you would like to manage. (Listed there should be all of the lists for which you are listed as an owner.) Click on a management option from the command bar, illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Listserv Command Bar
Subscribers
Clicking on the Subscribers button in the command bar will open a page from which you can manage your list's subscribers one at a time. The functions available include examining or deleting a subscription, adding a subscription (see Bulk Operations to add a large list of subscribers), and reviewing your list's subscriptions.
To examine or delete a subscription, you will need first to search for the subscriber. The Listserv server will allow you to search for an e-mail address, given name, or by an inexact match to any of the above. To search for inexact matches, use the asterisk (*) character as a wildcard. For example, searching for "jo*" will return all subscribers whose name or e-mail address begins with "Jo", as in "Joe Smith" or "joan@yahoo.com".
Configuration
Clicking on the Configuration button in the command bar will open a page that contains the full body of your list's header. The header contains all of the configuration variables for the particular list. It is recommended that you edit the header with extreme care; in some cases it is possible to affect the way all mail is delivered to your list.
Some of the routine maintenance that can performed with this interface include: changing your list's owners, moderaters, and editors; changing the viewing permissions of your list; and changing the restriction status of your list (i.e., whether non-subscribers can send e-mail to your list).
For more information on these options, contact Help Desk Central or see LSoft's Listserv Owner's documentation.
Layout
Clicking on the Layout button in the command bar will open a page from which you may customize the view of your list's archive webpage. If your list header contains instructions to archive the posts to your list, they will be viewable via the web. For TAMU Listserv lists, these archives are available on http://listserv.tamu.edu. Depending on your list configuration, archives may viewable only to subscribers. If this is the case, they will need to login to the webpage before viewing the archives. Whether or not these archives are publicly viewable, you may use the forms available on the Layout page to change the way this data is displayed to viewers.
Templates
Clicking on the Templates button in the command bar will open a page from which you may customize the template messages sent to your list. Some of these might include: the welcome message template, which will be mailed to all new subscribers; the farewell message template, which will be mailed to all subscribers who have been removed from the list in a non-quiet manner by the list owner, or by using the SIGNOFF command; and other standard template messages.
(Note: The Listserv server administrator may restrict certain templates from being edited by Listser owners.)
Bulk op.
Clicking on the Bulk op. button in the command bar will open a page from which you may perform subscription operations in bulk. To perform these operations, you will need to have a text (.txt) file that contains a list of e-mail addresses, one per line. Optionally, you may also include full names separated from the e-mail address by a space or tab character.
1. First, click on the Browse button and select your input file.
2. Next, select the action you want to server to take with this information. You can do one of four things:
o Add the e-mail addresses listed in the file to your list of subscribers, and remove no one.
o Remove all current subscribers from your list, then add the e-mail address listed in the file (to remove all subscribers, simply select this option but do not load an input file).
o Remove the e-mail addresses listed in the file from your current list of subscribers.
o Remove the e-mail addresses listed in the file from all lists of which you are an owner.
- Click the Import button to complete the action.
Command
Click on the Command button in the command bar will open a page from which you may execute specific Listserv server commands directly. This functionality should be reserved for experienced Listserv owners, and in particular, those with experience communicating with the Listserv server via e-mail. For more information on the available Listserv commands, see the LSoft's Listserv Owner's documentation.
Mail Merge
The Mail Merge option is not enabled at Texas A&M University. It requires an extensive database support structure which is not in place for listserv.tamu.edu.