Telerik Sitefinity incorporates a pre-built pluggable module, Newsletter, that is easily integrated into Web sites built using Sitefinity. This module provides the ability of Sitefinity users to create and send newsletters to subscriber groups.

For guidelines on managing and extending the Newsletter module, see Newsletters API Overview.

The first step when working with newsletters is to register the potential recipients and group them. Newsletter recipients are managed in subscriber groups. All users that belong to a subscriber group receive the newsletter/s assigned to it.

Figure 1 shows where to find the Subscriber groups panel. It includes a link for creating and managing groups:

Figure 1

After clicking on the Create link, add the name of the new group. Figure 2 shows how a new group - Group 1 - is created. The marked region on the command panel is where Subscriber groups could be viewed and accessed. After clicking on the Subscribers link, there is an option to create a new subscriber by clicking on the Add subscriber button:

Figure 2 

After adding the subscribers of a group, access the newsletters of this group, as shown in Figure 3:

Figure 3

When first creating a group, there will be no newsletters assigned to it. Iin order to create a newsletter, click on the button Create newsletter.

A newsletter has several stages of creation:

1. Mail Server settings - setting the mail server so that the newsletters module is allowed to send the newsletters. This is done in the web.config file: <system.net> -> <mailSettings> 

   web.config	Copy Code
   <system.net>    <mailSettings>      <smtp from="mailmaster@yourdomain.com">        <network host="smtp.yourdomain.com" userName="YourUsername" password="YourPassword" port="25" />      </smtp>    </mailSettings> </system.net>

2. Newsletter registration - saving the name and author of the newsletter, and the groups that will receive it.

   Figure 4

3. Content creation - writing and saving the content of the newsletter. After some content is added, it is good practice to save the newsletter as a draft before sending it. In this way the newsletter is saved in the Drafts folder situated in the command panel. The newsletter is removed from this folder once it is sent to the subscribers.  

   Figure 5

4. Testing (optional) - sending a newsletter to specific groups for testing purposes.
5. Previewing a newsletter. As shown in Figure 5, after saving the newsletter, press the Preview before sending button. Figure 6 shows what is displayed. After making sure that there is no need of changes, and the newsletter is completed, press the button Send this newsletter now. The newsletter is then saved to the folder Being Sent until the sending process is completed.  

   Figure 6

6. Failed Sending of a Newsletter. There is a message that is displayed after sending the newsletter that states how many subscribers have successfully received it. If the newsletter sending is stopped during the sending process, or if the newsletter is not successfully sent to some or all subscribers because of failure of the application or the server, the newsletter is saved in a folder in the command panel named Failed&Stopped:

   Figure 7

   
   In order to view the reason for the failure, click on the link Failed Reason. To view a report of who has NOT received the newsletter, click on the link Report. Figure 8 shows a sample report where the newsletter has failed because the address of the sender is non-existent:

   Figure 8

7. Successful Sending of a Newsletter. If the newsletter is sent successfully, the message displayed after clicking on the Send button will display the number of subscribers who have successfully received the newsletter. The newsletter is then automatically moved to the folder Sent in the command panel.

   Figure 9

See Also

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