You should always send multiple emails through the web site rather than keep a personal list. The web site ensures you:
- Use the latest address we have for each member
- Observe members' preferences for receiving circulation emails
- Do not email members who have retired from HIU3A; in particular those who have died.
Click/tap any link below to find out more...
How to select who gets your email(s)
There are several ways to begin sending your email. Apart from the first, all these methods require you to have logged in to the members' area.
Apart from the 'Member lookup service' none of these methods disclose your recipients' email address(es). Members decide who can see their email address in the member lookup service through their profile.
Use an email link in the public area of our site
For example anyone can email:
a group's leader (provided they have an email address) via a group page
any of our committee members via the organisation page.
Via member lookup
In the 'Member services' menu you can look up any current HIU3A member. Members decide whether you can see their email address via their profile. You can, however, always email them through the 'Email them' button on the lookup page.
Email group members
Group members, leaders and editors can email:
- Individual group members via the list of group members shown on the group page
- All group members via the 'Email group members' link shown in the heading of the group's page, or menu options 'Member services' / 'Email members of a selected group or groups'
- Selected group members via the 'Email selected group members' link shown in the heading of the group's page.
People can also use the 'all group members' methods to email all members from multiple groups they belong to.
Email group leaders
Under the 'Member services' menu, you see 'Email services'. Under that you see an 'Email all group leaders' option. Authorised members can select that option to start sending an email to group leaders.
Email all HIU3A members
Under the 'Member services' menu, you see 'Email services'. Under that you see an 'Email all u3a members' option. Authorised members can select that option to start sending an email to all our members.
Other methods
HIU3A members such as:
- Treasurer
- Membership secretary
- Groups co-ordinator
- Visits organiser
all have additional methods to select members they want to email. Since those methods are specific to those roles we haven't listed them here.
Having started your email, you will see one of two different pages depending on whether you selected one member or multiple members:
Send an email to one person
You will see a simple page that asks you to provide a subject and the message you want to send.
You can split your message on to multiple lines. There is, however, no facility to mark up your message with, for example, bold text or bullet points.
If you are not logged in to the site, you are asked to provide your email address. Otherwise:
- The web sites suggests your HIU3A email address - please accept that unless you have a good reason to override it, that will help your recipient reply to you
- You can optionally ask for a copy of the message you send.
Send an email to multiple members
However you start your email, you see this form (click to see a larger version):
There are two ways to provide the subject and content of your message:
Enter a subject and message directly
Ignore the 'Message post id' box and enter a subject for your email and the message you want to send.
You can split your message on to multiple lines. There is, however, no facility to mark up your message with, for example, bold text or bullet points. However, you can use special tags exclosed in [ and ] to add links and images.
To provide a simple link to a web page, use:
[link link-address]
For example:
[link https://haylingu3a.org] generates: haylingu3a.org
To link a piece of text to a web page, use:
[link link-address text-to-link]
For example:
[link https://haylingu3a.org Click me] generates: Click me
To insert an image into your email, use:
[image image-address]
Note, however, most email programs suppress images in emails by default. Better to use one of the above methods to link to your image instead.
Send the content of a news item or article
You start by creating an article or news item. The item will have a title that becomes the subject for your email. The text of the article becomes the text of your email. The text can be formatted. For example it can include:
- Headings (we suggest you use 'Heading 2's
- Bullets
- Bold, italic and coloured text
- Superscripts and subscripts
Features that rely on web site code will not, however, work in your email. For example, the following will not work:
- Folding sections (like this one)
- Use of "fancybox" to show larger versions of images
Having published your item you will need its numeric id to email it. Click/tap the 'Update or delete' button on your item's page and the id is shown at the bottom right of the page like this:
When you send your email ignore the subject and message boxes and enter the id in the 'Message post id' box.
We provide a mechanism that allows you to see how your email will appear before you send it out (see below).
The web site suggests you send your emails using your name and HIU3A email address. Please accept that unless you have a good reason to override it, that will help your recipient reply to you. It's OK, for example, to override the email address if you have a role address like chair@haylingu3a.org.
Optionally, add an attachment to your email. Click here to find out more about email attachments.
Before you send your email, you have the option to send a test version to yourself. That allows you to check how it appears and make sure any links work correctly. We suggest you always do that to avoid embarassment of sending an email that then needs a follow-up correction. You won't have to re-enter anything, the site will remember your email when you want to send it to members.
Send a test email
Click/tap 'Send to test address' and enter the email address you want to send it to.
Click/tap 'Proceed' to start sending your test email. You see a confirmation message like this:
Note that the message shows you the title of your selected post if you chose that method to provide the content of your email. That allows you to check you entered the correct id.
Click/tap 'Confirm your request' to send the test email and see this message:
You can then confirm your email is as intended. Make sure any links in the email work correctly. If there are any problems, click Restart and:
- Either update the plain text subject and text of your message
- Or update the item that you are using as the basis for your message
Then send a new test message.
Send your email to members
When you have sent your test message and are happy it is ready to be sent, Click/tap Restart and repeat the send process but this time select 'Send to members' instead of 'Send to test address'.
When you click 'Send to members' you will see an additional option to 'Request copy'. If you tick this option the web site will send you a copy of the email together with a list of everyone that received it.
Depending on how many members you are circulating, the process might take some time and your browser page might go blank. That's OK. Wait for the confirmation message.