Version 62.07.

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Contents
Getting Help?............................................................................................................................................9
Before you begin ....................................................................................................................................10
Minimum DNN Version .......................................................................................................................10
File Types ............................................................................................................................................10
Us ing IE 9 / 10 w ith Bulk Emailer ......................................................................................................10
Configur ing SMT P in DNN for Bulk Emailer .....................................................................................11
A couple of “ DO NOT’s” first. .........................................................................................................11
DNN SMTP Settings...........................................................................................................................11
Pr oblems .........................................................................................................................................12
How to get really confused about SMTP setup ............................................................................13
DotNetNuke SMTP Podcast ..........................................................................................................13
Third Party SMTP Service .............................................................................................................13
Installing the Bulk Emailer and Opt- In modules ..................................................................................14
Err or on Instillation ..............................................................................................................................14
Updating Bulk Emailer and Opt- In ........................................................................................................16
Creating a page for Bulk Emailer ..........................................................................................................17
Adding the module to a page ................................................................................................................18
Removing the Visible by Administrators Only Message .................................................................18
Configur ing Bulk Emailer – First Start ..................................................................................................19
Installing Additional System Files......................................................................................................19
The Easy Way.................................................................................................................................20
The Other Way ...............................................................................................................................21
After Installing the UI Pac kage ......................................................................................................23
Bulk Emailer Settings .............................................................................................................................24
Basic Settings .....................................................................................................................................24
Encoding .........................................................................................................................................24
Default Send from Email Address .................................................................................................25
Default Send from Name ...............................................................................................................25
Retry Count .....................................................................................................................................25
Retry Elaps e ...................................................................................................................................25
Campaign Auto Removal ...............................................................................................................25
Show Reply To ...............................................................................................................................25
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 Authenticated Us ers Only ..............................................................................................................25
User Role Selector .........................................................................................................................25
Link Trac king...................................................................................................................................27
RSS Link Trac king ..........................................................................................................................27
Enable Email Tracking ...................................................................................................................27
Disable Base URL ..........................................................................................................................27
Decode MHTML Link .....................................................................................................................27
Full HTML Editing ...........................................................................................................................27
HTML Code Editing ........................................................................................................................27
Token Settings ....................................................................................................................................28
Email List Match .............................................................................................................................28
Enable My Tokens ...........................................................................................................................28
For mat My Tokens...........................................................................................................................28
Enable NVelocity Tokens ...............................................................................................................28
Enable Rec urring Custom Token ..................................................................................................28
Replace Subject Token ..................................................................................................................28
Replace From Addr ess Token .......................................................................................................28
Replace Link Tr ack Token .............................................................................................................28
SMTP Settings ....................................................................................................................................28
Server Mode ...................................................................................................................................28
SMTP Server Mode ........................................................................................................................29
Ex plicit SMTP SSL/TSL .................................................................................................................29
URL Settings .......................................................................................................................................30
Update Links ...................................................................................................................................30
Email Tracking URL .......................................................................................................................30
Unsubscribe URL ...........................................................................................................................30
View Online URL ............................................................................................................................31
Other Settings .....................................................................................................................................31
RSS Trigger Frequency .................................................................................................................31
RSS Unavailable Message ............................................................................................................31
Report Problem URL ......................................................................................................................31
Schedule Logging ...........................................................................................................................32
Server Hosted on WebFar m..........................................................................................................32
Hide Old UI......................................................................................................................................33
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 Hide License ...................................................................................................................................33
Hide Install Files .............................................................................................................................33
Install MV C2.0.................................................................................................................................33
Bounce Email Settings ...........................................................................................................................34
Bounce Count .................................................................................................................................35
POP3 Server ...................................................................................................................................36
User Name ......................................................................................................................................36
Passw ord.........................................................................................................................................36
POP Enable SSL ............................................................................................................................36
Polling Frequency ...........................................................................................................................36
Delete Message..............................................................................................................................36
Delete Delay Notifications ..............................................................................................................36
Delay Notifications Subject ............................................................................................................36
Test Connection ..............................................................................................................................36
Add New Email Address ....................................................................................................................37
Search Email...................................................................................................................................37
Email List Configuration .........................................................................................................................38
File .......................................................................................................................................................38
Edit...................................................................................................................................................40
Delete ..............................................................................................................................................40
Ex port CSV .....................................................................................................................................40
Ex port Excel ....................................................................................................................................40
Import Script........................................................................................................................................41
Stored Pr ocedure ...........................................................................................................................42
Linked List ...........................................................................................................................................42
Import additional lists. ....................................................................................................................42
Search .............................................................................................................................................42
Stored Pr ocedure ...........................................................................................................................43
Email List Tokens ...........................................................................................................................43
Unsubscribed Email Configur ation .......................................................................................................44
Add new email addr ess..................................................................................................................45
Ex port List .......................................................................................................................................45
Import Unsubscribe List .................................................................................................................45
Campaign Management ........................................................................................................................47
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 Search Campaign ...........................................................................................................................47
Subject.............................................................................................................................................47
Pr ior ity .............................................................................................................................................47
Status...............................................................................................................................................47
Operate............................................................................................................................................47
Delete the campaign history ..........................................................................................................47
View the email messages that w as sent on the campaign .........................................................48
More data – .....................................................................................................................................48

 Link Trac king.............................................................................................................................49

Ex port to CSV Export to Excel ......................................................................................................53
Search .............................................................................................................................................53
Details ..............................................................................................................................................53
View Statistics .....................................................................................................................................54
Recurring Campaign Management .......................................................................................................57
Creating a new Recurring Campaign ................................................................................................57
Frequency .......................................................................................................................................57
Refine Search .................................................................................................................................58
Pr e- Defined Refined Searches......................................................................................................58
RSS Trigger ....................................................................................................................................58
Campaign Group Management .............................................................................................................61
Type .................................................................................................................................................65
Opt- In Campaign Groups ...................................................................................................................70
User Role Groups ..................................................................................................................................73
RSS Management ..................................................................................................................................75
Setup of RSS Management ...............................................................................................................75
Adding a New RSS Feed ...................................................................................................................77
RSS Feed Options..............................................................................................................................78
RSS Name ......................................................................................................................................78
Description ......................................................................................................................................78
No New RSS Items Text ................................................................................................................79
RSS URL.........................................................................................................................................79
Item Count .......................................................................................................................................79
Sort by Alphabetical Order .............................................................................................................79
Import/Export Templates................................................................................................................79
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 Pr edefined Templates ....................................................................................................................79
Template .........................................................................................................................................79
Pr eview ............................................................................................................................................79
What can you do w ith RSS Feeds ....................................................................................................79
Combining Multiple RSS Feeds ........................................................................................................80
Caching and Tr acking RSS Feeds ....................................................................................................80
SMTP Server ..........................................................................................................................................81
Server Address: ..............................................................................................................................82
Server Port: .....................................................................................................................................82
Enable SSL: ....................................................................................................................................82
Authentication: ................................................................................................................................82
User Name: .....................................................................................................................................82
Passw ord:........................................................................................................................................82
Active: ..............................................................................................................................................82
Maximum Message: .......................................................................................................................83
Amazon Simple Email Service Configuration ..............................................................................83
SES Setup.......................................................................................................................................83
Method 1 – Us ing SES Webs Serv ices ........................................................................................83
Method 2 - The traditional SMTP c onnection method .................................................................85
Spec ial Domains: ...................................................................................................................................88
Enabling Custom SMTP Settings ..................................................................................................88
Server Mode .......................................................................................................................................88
Host Settings: ..................................................................................................................................88
SMTP Server List: ..........................................................................................................................88
Rotary: .............................................................................................................................................89
Fallover:...........................................................................................................................................89
Reporting on SMT P server. ...........................................................................................................89
Potential SMT P Pr oblems ..................................................................................................................90
SMS Settings ..........................................................................................................................................91
Configur ing the SMS Settings ...........................................................................................................94
Maximum Length ............................................................................................................................95
Minimum Length .............................................................................................................................95
Pr efix................................................................................................................................................95
Script................................................................................................................................................96
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Send a Bulk Email..................................................................................................................................97
To send a Bulk Email you: .................................................................................................................97
Select Recipients. ...........................................................................................................................97
From Details ....................................................................................................................................98
Subject.............................................................................................................................................98
Messages ........................................................................................................................................98
HTML ...............................................................................................................................................98
MS Word Email.............................................................................................................................104
Sending .doc or .docx file ............................................................................................................105
Limitations of Word to HMTL ...........................................................................................................105
The Easy Way to Tell ...................................................................................................................108
Caution ..........................................................................................................................................108
MTHML sending ...A good solution .............................................................................................109
SMS Message...................................................................................................................................109
Additional Options ........................................................................................................................109
File Attachments can be added here. .........................................................................................109
Pr ior ity ...........................................................................................................................................110
There is an Overr ide Unsubscribed Users .................................................................................110
Override Bounced Us ers..............................................................................................................110
Start Time......................................................................................................................................110
Send a c opy to ..............................................................................................................................110
Send email c ount ..........................................................................................................................110
Pr eview ..........................................................................................................................................110
Send and Cancel ..........................................................................................................................110
MHTML from HTML templates ........................................................................................................111
Allow able File Types ........................................................................................................................111
Tokens ..................................................................................................................................................112
Unsubscribe Toke n ..........................................................................................................................113
Unsubscribe Token Colour ..........................................................................................................114
Unsubscribe Image ......................................................................................................................114
View Online Token Us e ...................................................................................................................115
View Online Token .......................................................................................................................115
Avoiding the Vis ible By Administrators Only Message ..............................................................115
MHT and MHT ML Emails – View Online ........................................................................................116
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Text/HTML tokens ................................................................................................................................117
Passw ord Token ...............................................................................................................................118
Token Limitations .................................................................................................................................119
Other more obvious limitations ........................................................................................................119
Third Party Tokens – My Tokens (dnnsharp.com) ............................................................................120
Spec ial Tokens – NV ELOCITY ...........................................................................................................121
Delivery Speed .....................................................................................................................................122
To Slow Dow n Delivery Speed ........................................................................................................122
Bulk Emailer Opt- In Module ................................................................................................................123
Placing the Opt- In module on a page. ............................................................................................123
Mandatory Configuring the Opt- In module. ....................................................................................123
Pr inc iple of Oper ation .......................................................................................................................123
Understanding the Options ..............................................................................................................124
Creating an Opt- In List .....................................................................................................................125
Opt- In A PI..........................................................................................................................................127
The A PI contains the follow ing URL ...........................................................................................127
Microsoft CRM Integr ation ...................................................................................................................128
Trouble Shooting ..................................................................................................................................129
Email not sending .............................................................................................................................129
Site Crashes after loading the module ...........................................................................................129
Unsubscribe link not w orking ...........................................................................................................129
Image File Brow ser is not w orking correctly...................................................................................129
Install MV C 2.0 .............................................................................................................................129
Solutions to Pr oblems ..........................................................................................................................130
Trouble w ith Gmail Accounts in STMP ...........................................................................................130
Timeout While Uploading the Module .............................................................................................130
Unverifiable code failed policy chec k. ( Exception from HRESULT: 0x 80131402) ......................130
You w ant to send a specific e- mail once someone subscribes. ...................................................130
Sending Slow / Site Crash ...............................................................................................................133
Pr oblems on Ear ly Version of DNN 5x ...........................................................................................134
Timeout installing the module ..........................................................................................................135
Understanding Bulk Emailer Logic......................................................................................................136

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Getting Help?
We have several locations that w ill assist you w ith the module.

1. This manual

2. Update History http://w w w.interactivew ebs.com/Support/ModuleUpdateNew s.aspx

3. The w ebsite: http://w ww.interactivew ebs.com/bulkemailer

4. Know ledge Base : http://w w w .interactivew ebs.com/Support/Know ledgeBase.aspx

5. Forum s at our site: http://w w w.interactivew ebs.com/Support/tabid/160/Default.aspx

6. Using the Support Tab page from our w ebsite: http://w w w.interactivew ebs.com/

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Before you begin
Minimum DNN Version
The minimum version of DotNetNuke required for this release is DNN 6.2x or later. If you need a
version that w orks w ith earlier DNN versions please contact us here.

File Types
You should enable tw o additional f ile types in DNN. This is done by logging in as a HOST and on
the HOST menu select HOST SETTINGS / OTHER SETTINGS / and in the file Upload
Extensions, adding “,docx,m ht,m htm l,csv,xls ” w ithout the “”.

Our settings now look like this...

xlsx,pptx,swf,jpg,jpeg,jpe,gif,bmp,png,doc,xls,ppt,pdf,txt,xml,xsl,css,zip,ico,db,wmv,asx,flv,docx,m
ht,mhtm,csv,xls,

Using IE 9 / 10 with Bulk Emailer

With the Bulk Emailer application we have used font icons to improve response and
scalability with different devices. So far we have been happy with how they work using some
boot strap code that is used for our user interface.

What we have noticed, and it’s no big surprise… Internet Explorer 9 and IE 10 will not display
font icons correct.

What you should see is this:

But ends up rendering like this:

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 The Solution can be found online here.

Configuring SMTP in DNN for Bulk Emailer

The Bulk emailer module uses the SMTP settings configured in DNN. It is VITAL that these
settings be configured correctly. Failure to configure SMTP settings w ill most definitely stop the
module from w orking correctly.

A couple of “DO NOT’s” first.

1. Do not use Google as a gatew ay. They only allow s around 400 messages per 24 hours to
pass outbound.
2. We are not going to list them all, but w e w ould expect similar limitations on Yahoo and
Hotmail etc.
3. If your server uses an exchange mail server w ith an IMF (intelligent mail filter) configured.
Either use authentication to pass mail (even though it is not required) or turn IMF off. We
have found that the IMF does not like bulk email w ithout authentication.
4. If you are using an external ISP for email, you must use authentication.

Remember: A test to your ow n email account proves nothing. It does not test if your SMTP
server is locked dow n (as is should be) requiring authentication for sending.

DNN SMTP Settings

DNN Websites have the ability to configure in the host settings an SMTP server. When a DNN
email is generated from the DNN w ebsite, it w ill attempt to send mail through this SMTP server.

In order that your DNN w ebsite can successfully send the email, the SMTP server must allow the
email message to be received. Typically this is done in one of four w ays.

1. The S M TP serv er is configured for O pen Relay (This should N E V ER be done unless y ou hav e an external
firew all blocking all external S M TP connections. O therw ise y our mail serv er w ill become a spam serv er w ithin

hours)

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 2. S M TP A uthentication – Ty pically S M TP serv ers are configured to allow users w ith a v alid username and
passw ord to authenticate themselv es. O nce they hav e been authenticated, they can communicate email

messages through the S M TP serv er. This is the same w ay most IS P ’s w ork their mail serv ers. The idea is that
only users w ho are customers of the IS P w ill allow email to be sent from their S M TP serv ers.
3. S electiv e O pen Relay . The administrator of the S M TP serv er can also allow O pen Relay (same as 1 abov e)
from selectiv e IP addresses. A ny communication from an IP address that is configured to allow open relay w ill

be accepted by the S M TP serv er.

4. Local H ost – If y our w ebsite has its ow n S M TP serv er configured, ty pically it w ill allow email message to be

sent form itself.

To correctly configure your DNN SMTP settings, you need to understand w hat method of
communication has been configured in the SMTP server you are trying to set DNN to access.

Here is the process you w ould configure from above.

1. E nter the IP address or v alid domain name for the S M TP serv er, nothing more to do if open relay is allow ed.

(S till not recommended)

2. E nter the IP address or v alid domain name for the S M TP serv er, and the v alid user name and passw ord as

w ould be used to communicate w ith the S M TP serv er. This is w here y ou get to use the user name and
passw ord setting in DN N .

3. E nsure that the S M TP administrator has allow ed the IP address y our DN N w ebsite uses to hav e open relay
status. Then just enter the IP address or domain name of the S M TP serv er in y our DN N host settings.

4. C onfigure y our DN N host settings to hav e “localhost” in the DN N S M TP serv er settings are.

Problems
There can be some issues that get confusing w ith the different methods.

1. O pen relay mail serv ers w ill be attacked by spammers v ery quickly . They are alw ay s on the lookout for mail

serv ers that they can abuse. It is nev er recommended to hav e y our mail serv er on the internet and in open
relay . A dditionally y our mail serv er w ill be blacklisted by other mail serv ers if found to be in open relay .

2. S M TP A uthentication can still be restricted to certain IP addresses. M any IS P’s w ill allow y ou only to use their
mail serv ers w hile y ou are a client of their A N D connecting to their mail serv er from an IP address they ow n.

S o thing w ill w ork in y our E mail applications w hile y ou are connecting to the internet v ia their dialup or high
speed connection, but as soon as y ou mov e aw ay from a connection prov ided by them, y ou w ill not be allow s

to connect to their serv ers, let alone A uthenticate.

3. E v en if y our IS P has allow ed relay from the address that y our mail serv er is run form, there may be a firew all

or block on the normal port that the S M TP serv ers are ty pically configured to use. P ort 25. If a firew all exists
betw een y our w eb serv er and the mail serv er, it must be configured to allow traffic ov er port 25.

4. You may hav e w eb serv er configured w ith an S M TP serv er on the same sy stem. Yet hav e it be blocked ov er
port 25 for outbound communications. S ome IS P ’s block port 25 to curb the flow of v irus email messages. You

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 need to be sure that y our IS P that prov ides connection to the internet for y our w eb and S M TP serv er is not
blocking port 25.

How to get really confused about SMTP setup

Often mail servers w ill allow you to send email messages to email addresses on that SMTP
server, even though they do not allow you to send mail out. So if you have a w eb application
configured to send email to yourself, and the SMTP settings you use in the DNN host settings are
for the SMTP server that runs the same email address you w ill have success.
Yet w hen you change the email address in the w eb application, you can no longer send email,
and the w eb application appears to fail. This is still an SMTP configuration error on your w ebsite.
You w ill need to find a method above to solve the issue.

DotNetNuke SMTP Podcast

We have produced a Podcast talking about SMTP settings in DNN. You can listen to the Podcast
Here.

Third Party SMTP Service

We have enabled Amazon Simple Email Service to w ork w ith this module. The advantage of this
is that it allow s you to send email messages at very low cost, w ithout limitations that are often
applied to hosting services by your host providers. Additionally the SES service has an extremely
robust and reliable delivery service. More details can be found here.

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Installing the Bulk Emailer and Opt-In modules
The module installs like any DNN module, using the host login and module definitions. Remember
to backup before installing any DNN module. Ensure that you have DNN 6.2x or later.

Please see the help video at: http://w w w .interactivew ebs.com/bulkemailer

There are tw o PA files in the Bulk Emailer xx.xx.xx Dow nlaod.ZIP file. These w ill include:

 BulkEmailer xx.xx.xx PA.ZIP – This is the mandatory install that makes the Bulk Emailer.
This module w ill also detect your hosting environment and install the necessary files to
support 32 or 64 bit and ASP.Net 2 or 4.
 BulkEmailOpt- In xx.xx.xx PA.ZIP – For added the included Opt In Module that allow s you
to create custom lists that users can OP into. (This is an optional install and is not needed
for the Bulk Emailer module to function.)

Error on Instillation
Microsoft in its w isdom has made 64 bit compatibility rather complex. A 64 bit server can be
running in a mode that does support 32 bit, but w ill not support 64 bit applications, and vice versa.
With the install of the module, you may encounter an error that looks like this:

This is a clear indication that the version you installed 32 or 64 bit, w as not supported by your
server. The fix for this is simple.

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1. Navigate to the: /bin folder in your w ebsite.
2 . Delete the file called: C hilkatDotNet2.dll this will get your s ite running again.
3 . C ontact us for as s istance on getting the c orrect .D L L to s upport you s ite.

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Updating Bulk Emailer and Opt-In
Bulk Emailer and the Opt-In module w ill update to any previously installed version. Just load the
new module over the top of the other. No need to uninstall the previous version.

You may dow nload the latest version of both of these modules in accordance w ith our update
policy.

The modules are packaged in the Bulk Email package and found on our site under Module
Dow nloads.

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Creating a page for Bulk Emailer
We recommend that you create a new page on your DNN w ebsite and ensure that the
permissions are configured to allow only administrators (or another limited role) to access the
page. It is not a good idea to allow the public to be able to see the module, as they w ill then be
able to send email to members of your site using the module.

On the settings of the page, ensure that all users view is NOT checked.

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Adding the module to a page
Just like any DNN module, you select the module and specify a name and location, then click add
to place it into a page.

Removing the Visible by Administrators Only Message

To avoid users w ho click an unsubscribe link from seeing a message that the module is visible by
administrators only. There are tw o w ays to fix it.

1. You can use a Role that is other than the Admin role. For example, setup a user
role called Bulk Emailer, and set the page viability to that role. This w ill cause the
"Visible by Administrators Only" box to be removed.

2. Also you can turn this boxed admin only view off. If you go to the page w ith the
Bulk Emailer module on it, and go into the Settings for the module container that
the Bulk Emailer sits in. Then go to Advanced Settings + and tic k the option to
"Hide Admin Boarder" only message. This too w ill fix the issue you describe.

Note: This hide admin boarder is not an option in early DNN versions.

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Configuring Bulk Emailer – First Start
When you first Start Bulk Emailer, there are some additional steps that need to be completed
before the module is ready to use. The module w ill auto detect and dow nload the system files for
your server. You should see the message:

Installing Additional System Files

There are three types of additional system files that should be installed.

1. Amazon Web Service – Allow ing email messages to be sent out using the Amazon SES
service (in effect an SMTP service)
2. UI Package – Allow ing the great new User interface dashboard to be accessed.
3. CutyCapt - is a technology that renders icons of w ebsites based on the links in your Email
Messages. Bulk Emailer requires this to complete tracking icon generation.

All of these files are too large to be included in the package that loads w ith the module. So w e
have separated them into “in module” dow nloads and attempted to keep the instillation simple
and reliable.

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The Easy Way
1. Click the Install System files.

2. First for the CutyCapt, Click on the “Dow nload” and w aiting for up to 10 minutes. Then
repeat this for the Amazon Web Service, and lastly the “Install Now ” button and w aiting for
up to 5 minutes.

And depending on w here you are in the w orld, you may need to w ait for several minutes
(w ith you site not apparently doing much) w hile CutyCapt and the UI package are installed
from our w ebsite to yours.
3. What you are looking for is this:

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The Other Way
1. Locate the dow nload package from our w ebsite for the Bulk Emailer.
2. Extract the contents of the Dow nload.zip file to a folder on your computer.
3. Select Chose File

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 4. Navigate to the file called: BulkEmailer UI.zip

5. Dow nload the CutyCapt.zip file from her:

http://w w w.interactivew ebs.com/portals/0/softw are/cutycapt.zip
and look for the file called: CutyCapt.zip

6. Click Upload

7. Look for the Correct Install Message

Note: If manually installing the files. The CutyCapt.exe will end up in a folder on your web server
called: \DesktopModules\BulkEmailer\Thumbnails

The Amazon Web Service AWSSDK.dll will end up in the \bin\ folder

The UI package ends up in a lot of folders and can’t be installed manually with ease.

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After Installing the UI Package
After Instillation, you w ill be able to “Return to Main Menu”

And open the Dashboard

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 Bulk Emailer Settings
Navigate to the Bulk Emailer Settings

Basic Settings

Encoding
This is the method of encoding that is applied to outbound Plain Text and HTML messages. The
options are utf8 or utf -7. The suggested method is utf -8 how ever some older smtp servers can
only handle utf-7. If you are using an outbound smtp server that has this restriction, then select
utf-7. Be w arned that some html recipients like Gmail w ill have trouble displaying messages that
are encoded w ith utf -7.

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Default Send from Email Address
If this is not set, then the default “From” email address is the email address of the account you are
logged in w ith w hen you access the bulk emailer. If you set an email address in this filed, bulk
emailer w ill use this as the default “from” address w hen sending email messages. Set our not set,
then default “from” address can be overridden w hen actually sending an email. Note: This must
be a valid email address or your messages are likely to be spam blocked.

Default Send from Name

This is the default name that w ill appear in the from data w hen the email messages are received.
This is similar to the “Display Name” that you set in an email client program.

Retry Count
The number of times that the module should try to send a message before it gives up and marks
the message as failed. A good number here is 3.

Retry Elapse
The time betw een retries on sending a message through your configured SMTP server. This
should take into account strange interruptions betw een your w ebsite and your SMTP server. If
you have an unreliable system, you make w ant to make this a figure like 24 hours. Normally w e
recommend 1 hour.

Campaign Auto Removal

This is the time before the campaign history for past campaigns (found in the Campaign
Management) w ill be automatically removed from history. Pas t campaigns do take up space in
your SQL database, and depending on how many people you are sending to, as to how large
they are. We suggest that you only keep a history of sent campaigns that is necessary to manage
your business. Something like 3 or 6 months is sensible if your history is used. If you rarely visit
the past history, then 30 days may be more appropriate.

Show Reply To
Enabling this option w ill set an additional option in the “Send a Bulk Email” section to allow you to
configure a “Reply To” Email address that is displayed w hen someone attempts to reply to a
message sent by Bulk Emailer. This can be used to allow people to reply to a sales address for
example.

Authenticated Users Only

Setting this option w ill set the module to only send email messages to users w ho are
authenticated on the DNN user database. This is helpful if your site suffers from spam
registrations and there are many unauthenticated spam registration users in your database. The
option is recommended if you are sending via a service like Amazon SES for your email server,
as bounce backs are limited on that services and invalid email addresses may cause you to
become blacklisted on that services. There is little harm in enabling this option in all cases.

User Role Selector

For those w ho have complex user roles w ithin your site. We have made this option to allow the
roles selector w hen sending a campaign to be trimmed dow n to a more manageable selection of

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roles. Select the appropriate level of roles selection to w ho in the campaign sending area of the
module.

Define the view of the User Role Selector. This is used in conjunction w ith the User Role Groups.

To define a custom selector for DNN Security Roles. An example of the standard selector is:

Default is “Only Show All DNN User Roles” and is:

And an example of the use of the User Role Selector can create a view like this:

Read more here.

26
Link Tracking
To enable the Link Tracking feature of the module, w here by all links w ithin email messages that
are sent out, are tracked to see w ho clicks on them and w hen. Enable this option w ithin the
module settings to have the feature w ork automatically on all email messages sent.

RSS Link Tracking

RSS email content are handled slightly differently to regular content. As such w e have segregated
the link tracking for RSS content into a separate setting. This is because there can be
considerable links w ithin RSS content and if it is not necessary or useful for your site to monitor
all the links clicked, then w e suggest that you leave this off.

Enable Email Tracking

Ticking this box w ill track email messages read status, w hich can be handy if you w ish to know
how many users are reading the mail you send. Un-checking this option w ill turn the email
tracking features off. This feature requires the install of CutyCapt as described in the initial setup
and install instructions of the manual.

Disable Base URL

Some Links w ithin email messages like Anchor Tags are messed up by the module auto adding a
base URL to the tag. If you intend to use (w hat is not a little out dated) Anchor Tags in your email
messages, but find they are messed up w hen users click them. Try enabling this option to remove
the BASE URL from the tag. Note that enabling this feature could cause other poorly formed
HTML content to miss behave. Sometime the adding of the base URL saves peoples images from
not displaying w hen they have forgotten to include that in their HTML content.

Decode MHTML Link

If you are sending messages as MHTML content, you may find that links are not clickable w ithin
them. Enabling this option may give you better functionality in this instance. Not used in other
circumstances.

Full HTML Editing

Clicking this option w ill allow you to edit bull HTML content including HEAD and BODY. This is
handy if you actually know w hat you are doing w ith HTML and are trying to set up messages that
auto size and play nicely w ith mobile devices.

HTML Code Editing

Also for those familiar w ith HTML editing. This option removed the HTML editor form on screen
and allow s you to w ork in w hat w ould more commonly be know n as a RAW editor. This w ay your
HTML code w ill be used EXACTLY as you enter it. With no modifications that the editor likes to
add to code for dummies. This is an Advanced User option in most cases.

27
Token Settings
Email List Match
When you send email messages using the Bulk Emailer to custom lists that have been imported
using the email list configuration, there are some considerations w ith the matching of First and
Last names. If you send an email to an address that exists both in a custom list and as a user in
the DotNetNuke w ebsite, the module w ill automatically identify the First and Last name from the
DNN user account. Remembering that it is possible to send email messages to both lists and
users at the same time. This logic of using DNN user details over imported list details is
intentional. If you w ant to disable this logic and force imported lists First and Last names to be
used w here available, then select this Email List Match item.

Enable MyTokens
Enables the use of a third party module called “My Tokens” by DNNsharp.com. The third party
system is a token system that expands the DNN tokens feature. Additional information about it’s
use can be found here.

Format MyTokens
Format MyTokens w ill strip out additional text for tokens w hen converting from MS Word
documents or MHTML documents. As w e point out later in the manual, w e point out that
advanced features such as tokens may only have limited success w hen using MS Word for a
send method.

Enable NVelocity Tokens

Enable this option to enable NVelocity Tokens. We have integrated some special tokens that
uses a system know n as NVELOCITY. The additional tokens that c an be used are referenced to
the NVELOCITY source forge project found here: http://nvelocity.sourceforge.net/

More data available at the end of this manual on these tokens.

Enable Recurring Custom Token

Enable this option to enable Tokens in recurring jobs. This feature is used only for Linked Lists.

Replace Subject Token

Enable this option to allow a token to be used to replace subjects in email messages.

Replace From Address Token

Enable this option to allow you to use a token to dynamically replace the “From” email address
w ith a token generated address.

Replace Link Track Token

Enable this option to allow tokens to replace link tracks w ith token generated data.

SMTP Settings
Server Mode
Defines if the module uses the SMTP server configured in the DNN Host settings (Host Settings)
or if it makes use of the defined SMTP servers set in the SMTP settings area of this module. By
28
 Default it is set to Host Settings, and does not need to be changed if the SMTP ser ver is correctly
configured.

SMTP Server Mode

In rotary, the email sends a number of messages from a campaign to the first server, then w ill
send a number of messages to the next, then next etc. If the setting for sending is set to fall over
it w ill try to send all the messages to the number 1 server. If the number 1 server is not available,
then it w ill try number 2. Then 3 if that fails etc.

Explicit SMTP SSL/TSL

Tick this option to enable Explicit SMTP SSL / TSL.

Question:
I’m w orking w ith your E-mail ActiveX Component.

I have some problems w hen I try to send an email over SSL/TLS communication. I read
documentation online and I have understood that setting true the property "SmtpSSL" of
ChilkatMailMan2 isn’t enough: do I have to set true the property "StartTLS" too ? When I list
properties of your component I don’t find "StartTLS", w hy ? Have I an old version of your
component ?

Answer:
When you are licensed for a Chilkat component, the new version upgrades are alw ays free.
Therefore, I w ould alw ays recommend updating to the latest version if you are having a problem,
and you are using a version that is more than six months old. It’s w ise to keep your old version
just in case you need to revert back ( I w ould recommend that w ith any softw are…), but your
existing unlock code should w ork w ith the new version.

The mailman.SmtpSsl property and the mailman.StartTLS property are mutually exclusive: if you
set one to True, the other should be False. If SmtpSsl is used for implicit SSL — meaning that the
initial connection to the SMTP server is SSL. Typically this is on port 465. Therefore, you w ould
also w ant to set the mailman.SmtpPort property = 465. The mailman.StartTLS property is used for
explicit SSL. It is called "explicit" because the initial connection to the SMTP server is
unencrypted, and uses the standard SMTP port 21. After connected, the client issues a
"STARTTLS" command to explicitly convert the connection to SSL/TLS. Your program doesn’t do
anything other than set the StartTLS property — the Chilkat component w ill automatically convert
the connection to SSL/TLS internally.

In summary, to use implicit SMTP SSL/TLS, set these properties (syntax may vary w ith
programming language):

mailman.SmtpSsl = True

mailman.StartTLS = False

mailman.SmtpPort = 465

To use explicit SMTP SSL/TLS, set these properties:

29
 mailman.SmtpSsl = False

mailman.StartTLS = True

mailman.SmtpPort = 21 (This is not really necessary because 21 is the default SMTP port)

All other coding is identical. Using SSL w ith any Chilkat component is only a matter of setting the
properties…

URL Settings
Update Links
This feature w ill update the link for the three options below , they are the email tracking,
unsubscribe URL, and view online URL. These three links are required by the module to
automatically track and manage email messages that are sent through the module. Problems can
arise w hen you initially setup the module in a development URL before moving to a live w ebsite
URL. In this instance, the Update Links feature w ill attempt to pick-up the correct URL that the
module is operating on. If it fails, the three links can be manually updated too.

Email Tracking URL

Will display the test page for tracking monitoring of email messages.

Unsubscribe URL
Email Settings has a variable “Report URL” field. This field is a URL (normally on your site) that
allow s you to direct people w ho are having issues w ith unsubscribing from email lists to a help
page on your w ebsite.

We recommend either creating a custom help page, or using the URL of your contact details page
on your site. Either w ay, you should have the ability for people to email you or phone you for
support in this URL.

30
 We are using this page for example:
http://w w w.interactivew ebs.com/ContactUs/tabid/55/Default.aspx

View Online URL

This is the URL that w ill allow s users to view email messages online using the associated token
w ithin the email w ill take users to this view online URL and display the email messages at that
address.

Other Settings
RSS Trigger Frequency
Defines the time interval that the schedule w ill check for RSS updates for recurring campaigns
w hose type is RSS Trigger. RSS feeds must have an available order by date in them to trigger
the detected of new feed data. Just about every w ell formatted RSS feed w ill have this, but it is
possible to be missing from the feed. It is possible to manipulate RSS feeds w ith services like
Yahoo Pipes.

RSS Unavailable Message

This is the default text that w ill be used in an email message is an RSS token is used but the RSS
feed is not available at send time.

Report Problem URL

Enter a page on your w ebsite w here people can contact you to report problems they are
experiencing w ith the unsubscribe feature of the module. We suggest that this URL have a
contact form as a minimum. (Suggest our Feedback Designer Module)

31
Schedule Logging
This option allow s the DNN scheduler process to log more data about the processes y ou are
completing w ith the Bulk Emailer schedule items. Mostly this is only used for trouble shooting,
and should not be ticked unless a support team members requests you to tick this.

Server Hosted on WebFarm

When ticked, a message w ill appear w arning you that additional steps are required. “ P lease refer
to the manual for additional s teps in s etting up the WebFarm environment.”

There are special requirements for running this module on a WebFarm. Enabling this option w ill
prevent the module from auto enabling the “ iWebs BulkE mailer E mailSchedule” Schedule job, in the
DNN Host Scheduler. There are other special configuration requirements in the module setup.
Please reference the manual for the additional steps required on a w eb farm.

We have identified a feature of Bulk Emailer for DotNetNuke that has caused some issues w ith
the running of the module on a WebFarm.

There is an automatic enable feature that checks w hen you start a bulk email message that the
scheduler for the module in the Host / Scheduler is enabled. If it is not enabled, the module w ill
enable it.

The Problem
With WebFarms there are tw o processes that run at the same time.

This w ill cause duplication of sending email messages.

The solution is easy… just disable one of the schedule processes. How ever this w ill be
automatically re-enabled by the module.

The Fix
To solve this w e have added an option to the Bulk Emailer Settings. This option enables you to
tick that you are using a WebFarm, stopping the automatic enabling of iWebs BulkEmailer
EmailSchedule process.

Additional Steps Required

After you enable WebFarm mode, you w ill need to go into the Host Scheduler processes and
disable all but one of the multiple processes for the iWebs BulkEmailer EmailSchedule.

The result w ill be that only one of the schedulers run and only one email message w ill be sent.
32
Hide Old UI
The module has the option (for those w ho prefer) to view the OLD UI. Frankly that is long gone,
and enabling this option w ill remove that from general view . We suggest that you enable this
option.

Hide License
Clicking this option w ill hide the License Management menu icon from view . We suggest that if
users other than the Host Admin w ho is familiar w ith the site are the primary user, that you enable
this option.

Hide Install Files

Click this option to Hide the “Install System Files” Icon from the menu.

Install MVC2.0
Click the install button if the image/file brow ser of BulkEmailer not w orking properly on your site.
This w ill copy the System.Web.Mvc.dll 2.0 to your bin folder of your DNN w ebsite and likely fix the
issue.

33
Bounce Email Settings

The idea of bounce email settings is this. Email is sent out, and is sent from an email address that
you select. (This can be changed any time). Any email address that is invalid or cannot b e
reached w ill generate a “Bounce Reply” message from your STMP server.

The number of attempts and the format of the bounce reply is a function of your STMP server, not
our module.

The idea of the bounce settings in our module is that you do not w ant to keep sending mail to
invalid addresses. So by monitoring the bounce messages that come back from an email send
out, w e can create a list of email addresses that have “bounced”.

To do this our module w ill connect periodically to a POP 3 email account (standard mail account)
and read all the messages in that account. It w ill look for messages that have the format of typical
bounce messages and read the content to w ork out the email address that bounced. Each time
the process happens, 200 messages w ill be processed.

It w ill then add this email address to a bounce count list in the Bulk Emailer and increment a count
of 1. You can define the threshold to be reached before email messages are no longer sent to this
address.

We suggest that you create a unique email account and address that you use to send email from.
E.g. [email protected] om please read here for the reasons w hy…

http://w w w.interactivew ebs.com/blog/index.php/e- mail-tips/bulk-email- messaging-and-bounce-

back-monitoring/

34
 When sending email form this module, you can set the “From” field to show this address:
[email protected] (replace domain w ith your domain) you can also configure this in the
settings area as the default “from” address. This w ill save you typing the address every time you
send a message.

Any email messages that cannot be delivered w ill bounce back into this account.

Check the account (best w ith a w ebmail or connection that does NOT empty the mailbox) and
make sure that the email messages going into the account are only bounce messages, delay
messages and the odd auto reply message.

This information is used to assist the module in determining the difference betw een bounce
messages and legitimate messages.

Bounce Count
The module keeps track of each time an email address is monitored as a bounce (unsuccessful
send and is returned undeliverable). Enter the number of times any email address should be
considered as a bounce before the module w ill stop sending to that address. E.g. if
[email protected] bounces 5 times, and the number 5 is in the bounce count. The next time a
campaign is sent to [email protected] om, the module w ill remove that address before sending.

35
POP3 Server
Enter a valid email POP3 mail server address. E.g. mail.domain.com or 66.34.200.109. If you
need to use a port other than the standard port 110 for POP3 services, you can include this w ith a
:. For example. “mail.server.com:220” or “66.34.200.109:220”.

User Name
Enter the mail box user name to retrieve email. We suggest that you do NOT use an account that
is used for regular email communications.

Password
Enter the mailbox passw ord that is used to retrieve POP3 email from this account.

POP Enable SSL

Enables an SSL connection to your mail server. This also requires that you put your specific SSL
port being used in the mail server. The format is “mailserver:port” i.e. mail.domain.com:995.
Typically mail servers are configured to use port 995, but this can be changed by your server
administrator.

Polling Frequency
Set the time interval in hours that the system should check your email account for bounce
messages. A suggested setting here w ould be 24 hours. So that it checks once a day.

Note: Each time the polling occurs, only 200 messages will be processed. This is to prevent a
mailbox with thousands of messages stalling your server’s internet connection.

Delete Message
You can read email messages and leave a copy of them on the server, or you can delete all the
messages in that account after the module has read them. The recommended setting is to delete
processed messages. This avoids the situation w here messages are counted multiple times.

Note: This option should remain enabled in most environments.

Delete Delay Notifications

Allow s for delay notification messages that the SMTP server sends your mailbox as part of the
failure process to be automatically deleted. This s etting requires you to also define a Delay
Subject.

Delay Notifications Subject

Define the subject that your SMTP server uses w hen it sends you a message to advise that an
email has been delayed.

Test Connection
Will test the connection options you have configured in the Bounce Emails Settings. It w ill return a
message that looks like this.

36
Add New Email Address

You can use this to manually add an email address and pre-set the bounce count to a
predetermined value. So if for example you have set the bounce count above to 3, and you w ant
to manually add an email address and mark it as having bounced enough times to not be sent to
again. Then you w ould add it here w ith a bounce count of 3 to simulate that it has already
reached that count.

Search Email
You can enter an email address that you suspect is on the bounce list and locate just that email
address. This makes it easy to find and address to edit or removed.

37
Email List Configuration

There are three options here:

File
Allow s Import of email addresses from the xlsx or xls format file that is included in the dow nload
package as an example. If you are using Excel 2003, the file should be saved as an XLS file and
imported. If you are using Excel 2007 or 2010, then you must ensure that you use the file form
xlsx (native Excel for these versions.)

Give your new list a name.

Select if you w ould like to save the list for future use, or only send one campaign to a temporary
list.
38
We have created a “Sample List Import.xls file” that is included in your dow nload of this product.

The file has sample data that looks like this.

Note that the first row is used for the title of the row s. This should be included in the same format
as above. There are 4 options only for the columns.

Email = email address

FirstName = Kind of obvious

LastName = Also obvious

Display Name = May be a different field that can be used to reference membership names or
login names.

This import does not create DNN accounts for the data in these fields, it only adds the data to a
custom list. Tokens can be used to send email messages to people on the list or in your DNN site
that reference the fields above. This is w hy w e have created column B C and D w ith the same
default profile data names as the DNN profile data.

Note: .XLS or XLSX – Must have the data on Sheet 1 and the sheet must be called”sheet1”.

Note: You should not have any blank row s.

Note: To Ensure a stable import of data, please our provided xls or xlsx file as a template and
copy and paste your data into that spread sheet. Then use the saved file to import data.

39
 Once you have set the fields, click the Save Changes.

You w ill end up w ith a import list like this.

Edit

Allow s you to edit an existing email list.

Delete

This option allow s you to delete an existing email list.

Export CSV

This option w ill export the list into a .csv formatted file. This is a standard that excel can open or
can be used w ith other import / export features on other softw are.

Export Excel

40
 This option w ill export a .xls formatted file, that is designed to be used exclusively w ith excel. Due
to the nature of Excel, there is a limit of this export to 65536 items.

Import Script

Using the connecting string and script box to access that SQL data you intend to use in your list.

The script must return the follow ing fields: em ail, usernam e,firstnam e,lastname .

For example: SELECT email, username,firstname,lastname from tblEmail.

The connection string can be any connection string that ADODB.net accepts. For example:Data
Source=localhost;Initial Catalog=BulkEmailer;User ID=dnn;Passw ord=dnn.

The import list w ill actually COPY all the emails from the datasource into BulkEmailer's internal
table just like the uploaded file upload option so that any future changes in the emails from the
datasource and w ill not affect the imported list.

41
 Stored Procedure
Stored procedures can be called at this point. For example: You can call stored procedure to
return a email list. For example: exec GetEmails, Where GetEmails is the name of the procedure.

This w ould be entered into the Script box.

Linked List

Linked script w ill read the email list from the datasource w hen a campaign is created. E ach time a new campaign is
created to a linked list, the sy stem w ill create a new email list for that particular send.

Import additional lists.

This is a handy feature. If you are exporting data from another database that is changing and
being added to. You can use this feature to import a new full list of data to this list. Only the
additional email addresses in the list w ill be imported. This means you do not have to identify the
new email addresses, but just import the entire data again that includes the new email addresses.

Note: The Bulk Emailer w ill NEVER send 2 emails of one campaign to the same email address.
Duplications form multiple lists are removed before a messages is sent.

Search
The search feature allow s you to find a custom list by name.
42
Stored Procedure
Stored procedures can be called at this point. For example: You can call stored procedure to
return an email list. For example: exec GetEmails, Where GetEmails is the name of the
procedure.

This w ould be entered into the Script box.

Email List Tokens

The Email Lists can use 4 specific tokens in the body of the email messages to pull the four sets
of data that can be imported.

The tokens are:

 Email Address: [email]

 First Name: [firstname]
 Last Name: [lastname]
 Display Name: [displayname]

43
Unsubscribed Email Configuration

You can send out email messages w ith tokens in them. (Note: you m ust not link directly w ith
a URL to the unsubscribe page, but use a token.) One of the valid tokens is the unsubscribe
token. If a person receiving an email messages clicks on a token, they are driven to an
unsubscribe page.

If the user unsubscribe, they w ill be added to a list of email addresses that the Bulk Email module
w ill no longer send to. This is an important w ay of handling unsubscribe. The email address is
NOT being removed from any lists, but is being flagged to no longer be sent to.

The Blocked email configuration allow s you to manage this unsubscribed email list.

Click the blocked email configuration menu.

44
Add new email address.
Enter an email address of anyone w ho has requested to STOP receiving email messages from
you in the future. This is the manual method of blocking an email address.

Alternatively you can search for an address that may be on the Unsubscribe list. If you DELETE
the email address from the list. The user w ill be capable of receiving email from you in the future.

Note: It may be illegal in some countries to remove an address from your unsubscribe list unless
the user specifically requests this of you.

Export List
You can export a list of email addresses that have unsubscribed to your email messages. This
email list is also the template that you should use if you w ish to import email addresses into this
module. Save the excel spread sheet locally and then modify the spread sheet w ith your ow n
addresses before using the import feature.

Import Unsubscribe List

As mentioned on the previous page, use the spread sheet from the export feature as a template
for importing your ow n email addresses to the Unsubscribed Lists. Just add the email addresses
one per row in column A of the form w hile leaving the “UnsubscribedEmail” in the first row as per
the exported email list.

Additionally there are tw o sample files included in the dow nload package.

45
These can also be modified w ith new content and used for importing unsubscribe email
addresses.

46
Campaign Management

A Campaign is the sending of an email to a list or lists of email addresses. Each send out it tracks
as a campaign. The name of each campaign is recorded as on the “Send a Bulk Email” page.

Clicking into the Campaign Management tab reveals a list of past campaigns.

Search Campaign
Search allow s you to search by name on a campaign. The results show ing you all the campaigns
w ith that or part of in the Campaign name.

Subject
Subject is the subject you gave your bulk email.

Priority
Priority is the priority you set at the time you sent your email. This is w hat determines for example
a little red ! on high priority email messages w hen received by users.

Status
The status show s the auto refreshed progress of the send of your bulk email. This w ill
automatically progress as more and more emails are s ent out for that campaign. The speed that
your email are sent out at is controlled in the Scheduler. (covered later)

Operate
There are three options here.

Delete the campaign history

As the name suggests w ill delete the history of this campaign from the database.
47
 View the email messages that was sent on the campaign
Brings up a preview view of the email message that w as sent out w ith that campaign. This feature
requires a Microsoft brow ser (Internet Explorer) if the message content w as either MHTML or
Word Document. This unfortunately is a limitation of other brow sers.

More data –
Clicking this reveals additional information about the campaign. It w ill show the view statics and
the details about each email address that the message w as sent to.

Export List – Will export the data to Excel Spread Sheet.

You can click the column headings to sort by that column.

The search feature w ill allow you to track dow n an individual email address and find out if a
message w as sent and or read by the recipient

View Stastics
Will show a summary of the campaign and its running effectiveness.

48
 Link Tracking

This option needs to be enabled in the Bulk Emailer Settings / Basic Settings.
Email messages are by default link tracked. Any hyperlink in the email message w ill display in link
tracking. The Thumbnail of the page, and the number of people how have clicked the link from
w ithin your email message.

Within this area are some configuration options to allow you to create a list based on those w ho
respond to a link. This allow s you to create a conditional campaign to those w ho demonstrate
interest in an item in your original campaign.

49
 Tracked
Links

Campaign
1 Campeign
Tracked 2
Links of
interest

It should be noted that the icons run off a schedule process. And initially the link icons w ill show
as below w ith the Thumbnail not available:

50
Once the scheduler has run that generated the thumbnails, the links look something like this:

Number
Clicking on the number in the total links column w ill reveal some details about w ho has clicked on
that link:

Edit Link
From w ithin the link tracking matrix allow s a DNN security role to be defined against a link. All
email addresses that match a DNN user’s email address w ill have the DNN user account added
to the specified security role.

This is a pow erful feature that can allow you to manage roles based on those w ho express
interest in a link of a campaign, for example a vote link, or link to a YES or NO compliance etc.

51
Description
Allow s for a friendly name for the link to replace the sometimes complex title that may have been
necessary in the email message.

Add to list

Allow s for the respondents to the link to be added to a custom list. This is similar to adding users
to the DNN security roles, but is using the custom lists feature of the Bulk Emailer module.

Remember here too that the custom lists can only contain each individual email once. So clicking
the “add to list” icon w ill only add new email addresses not already on this list.

52
Export to CSV Export to Excel
This feature allow s you to export to CSV or XLS the list of email addresses that have clicked on
the relevant link. This w ill then allow you to import that list into the custom lists of the module.

Search
The search feature allow s you to search for an email address and see if it w as included in the
send, if it has been sent and read.

Details
The details list of the email addresses that have been sent the email, including the read time and
status.

53
 The status can be:

 Pending – In queue for sending

 Completed – Sent to the email address
 Read – The recipient has read the message.

View Statistics
Quick view of the campaign can be completed w ith the clicking of the +

 Total Recipients = the total number of unique email addresses in the send
 Blocked email addresses = the number of email addresses that appeared in the campaign
send list and also have been identified in the blocked list.
 Bouncing Emails = Email addresses that could not be reached and bounced.
 New Bounces = The number of additions to the bounce email list that w ere generated
from this campaign.
54
  Messages Read = Total email messages that have been opened at the client end and
tracked as read. You should note that it is not possible to track all reads. Some examples
of reads not tracked:
 People w ho read offline
 PDA and Mobile phone reads
 Reads w ith images turned off on some clients
 Some clients like yahoo etc.

You can also click on properties:

Then clicking on the View Statistics tab w ill reveal additional details about the campaign.

55
56
Recurring Campaign Management

This allow s the setup of a campaign that can be set to re-occur at regular intervals.

Creating a new Recurring Campaign

Click the Add Button from the menu.

A new type of corresponding campaign option appears. This includes an option for setting the
Recurring Options.

Frequency
Defines that frequency that the recurring campaign w ill run. There is not a lot of explanation
needed here, as this options make it clear. If I w ant a campaign that runs on Christmas day. Then
I setup a new campaign and select:

Or for a campaign that w ould reoccur each Wednesday, I w ould select:

57
 Rather obvious.

Refine Search
We have added the ability to refine your search and include custom SQL scripts to refine the
recipients of your email campaigns. This feature is intended to extend the flexibility that the
reoccurring campaign has to offer, but allow ing a user to place a custom created SQL script in the
refine search box. By using cleverly crafted SQL scripts you can extend the search and search
match function of each recurring campaign.

Pre-Defined Refined Searches

We have included some predefined refined search items. These are not guaranteed to w ork on all
DNN instances, as they are predicated on certain profile data being created in your DNN portal. It
may be that you need assistance in creating custom profile items in the member management
area of DNN. Google w ill be your friend here.

RSS Trigger
This is a trigger option based on the monitoring of changes to an RSS feed as defined In the RSS
Section of the module. Ass new items are posted in the RSS feed (generated from the RSS
source URL), the item count is monitored until the count reached the defined “Send email after”
value. As if 6 is put into this field, then w hen 6 new posts are made in the RSS feed, the recurring
email message w ill be sent.

If you combine this w ith the RSS content token in the email message, then you can use this to
automatically trigger email messages to be sent, w ith the new content, w hen a predefined number
of changes are made.

A great example of this w ould be turning a blog, or article module, into an RSS feed. Then
automatically sending this content to people w hen a certain number of new posts are made to the
blog or article module. Keeping your recipients informed automatically.

Birthday
We have created a predefined SQL script that w ill narrow user matching to members of your DNN
site w ho have birthdays today. So to use this feature you w ould.

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1. Create a custom profile item called “Birthday” and make it a Date Type w ith length 8.

2. Ensure that you have some data for birthdates set in the members profiles of you site.
3. Create a new Recurring Campaign and set it to run daily.

4. Select Birthday from the Predefined Items list, you w ill notice that is populates the SQL
search.

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 You w ill also notice if you look at the code, that w e reference the birthday profile item w e
created in step 1.

5. Create your birthday message and Add Campaign. This w ill then create the campaign that
runs daily but w ill only send to people w ho’s has a birthday falling that day. The net result
being that you send an email w ish to someone on their birthday.

Authenticated Users
You can send a campaign to only Authenticated users of your site. This feature is requested by
customers of Bulk Emailer w ho have a lot of signups but don’t w ant to send to people w ho have
not completed the authentication process in DNN.

3. Create a new campaign, and select any options you like w ith regard frequency.
4. Select the predefined condition of Authenticated Users

This w ill allow for reoccurring messages to be sent out only to the users w ho are
authenticated in your DDN user Database.

Unauthenticated Users
This is the same concepts as Authenticated Users, but as the name suggests, it w ill only send to
people w ho are Unauthenticated.

Custom
This is w hat you select if you w ish for the Refine Search SQL script box to be considered in a
send, and you w ish to use your ow n custom SQL script to refine search items.

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Campaign Group Management

Campaign Groups are a group of Campaigns (messages) that are grouped together to allow
recipients to be retrospectively added to receive messages. To understand this feature w e w ill
use a common business application situation to illustrate.

 1 Email message per w eek to members

 New Members receive some but not all past messages
 New members get a message not more than every 2 days
 Once up to date w ith messages, new members w ill receive messages w hen new ones are
sent

A simple example of this is a w eekly message from a business to its customers. In this scenario I
w ant to send a message to all my DNN site members each w eek, but w hen a new member signs
up, I w ant to send them the last 3 w eeks messages, but not all at one time. Instead I need to “drip
catch up” one every 2 days, until the new member is “up to date” w ith messages.

Let’s look at this example in depth.

1. Create a New Campaign Group

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 2. Create a New Group w ith the follow ing properties

Group Name
We have called it Weekly New s to remind us that this is the w eekly message w e w ill send
out.

Type
Type is instant, as w e are going to create our Monday email messages on Monday and
send them after w e create them.

Active
Ticked the Active Box to ensure that this is an Active Group

Cath-up Frequency
Set Catch-up Frequency to 2 days. This is the frequency that new members to the defined
group w ill receive the past messages.

Catch-up Length
Catch-up Length is the number of days (in this case) past history of messages that w e
w ant new members to the group to receive messages from. In other w ords, they new
members w ill receive messages that are less than 22 days old (3 w eeks).

The result w ill look something like this w hen added:

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3. We w ill now click on the Campaigns to define a new campaign (message) to be sent.

4. We w ill Add New to configure our first Weekly Email message

5. Notice at this stage that w e cannot select w ho receives this message, w e can only define
the message its self.

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 Gives a result that looks like this:

Clicking back to the tab w ith the campaign groups and clicking refresh

6. Now clicking Back to Campaign Groups tab

7. Click on Receivers

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 8. Click on Add

We w ish to send the message to all Registered Users on our site. Remembering that as
new members register they w ill receive the past messages as w e defined in step 2 above.

Type

Role
Role for DNN user roles

Email List
For custom imported email lists

M arketing List
For Microsoft CRM 4.0 integrated marketing lists. This is not a standard feature but is only
active w ith our CRM suite integration.

9. We then select the Save Settings

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And w e are done. Now all registered user w ill receive the campaign w e created, and any
future campaigns w e add to the group. While at the same time, new members to our site w ill
receive 3 w eeks of past messages at a frequency of 2 days until they are up to date. Then
they w ill receive new messages w e add.

Alternatively another scenario may be I w ish to create a sequential email campaign and time
them to be delivered over the next 2 w eeks.

1. Create a Group under the Campaign Groups menu item on the left of screen.

a. Give it a meaningful name. Ours w ill be called ‘Week Long Campaign ’.

b. Set its type to be scheduled, because w e’re not sending straight aw ay.
c. It w ill be an active group (you’ll be using it).
d. Set Catch-up frequency as desired (see above example for more details).
e. Click ‘Save Changes’.

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2. Now w e’re going to add some campaigns to send. Do this by clicking the Campaigns
item in your actions for the new ly created group.

3. In the new page that has opened click the big blue ‘Add’ button and the ‘Create Group
Campaign’ page w ill open.

a. Give the campaign (email) a meaningful name, this w on’t be show n to your
recipients but if you need to refer back to it, you’ll need an easy w ay to
reference it.
b. Set your from details, these w ill likely be auto-set for you.
c. Add your attention grabbing Subject line.

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 d. Create your email and either upload it as a file, or use our built in WYSIWYG
(What You See Is What You Get) editor.
e. Finally, ‘Time Elapse’ is how long since the previous (or how long till the first)
campaign is sent. I’m going to set this to ‘1 Day’ because I w ant it to send
tomorrow , on Tuesday.

f. Click ‘Send Email’ to show the system that the email is ready to send (Note:
the email w ill not send for one day, but it w ill be ready to go on it’s ow n) .

4. I w ill repeat step 3 again to create a second email in the campaign group. Setting
‘Time Laps’ to ‘2 Days’ so that on Thursday (2 days after the first email) it w ill send.
5. Now go back to the ‘Campaign Group’ page, because w e need to tell these emails
w here they need to be sent.

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6. In the Actions Panel for our campaign group click ‘Receivers’, it’ll look like 2 little
people.

7. Once the new ‘Receivers’ has opened, click the ‘Add’ button. Now you can choose to
either send to a user group in DNN, or to an email list or marketing list. I w ill be
sending this one to the ‘Subscribers’ role in DNN, so I w ill select type as ‘Role’ and
Receivers as ‘Subscribers’. Click ‘Save Changes’

8. Now w e can see that the first campaign is primed ready to send, but the second one
says ‘List Empty’ this is just because the list of recipients may change before the
second email is sent out (if members come or leave out site for example), so once the
first email has sent the list w ill be generated and ready to go for the next email.

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Opt-In Campaign Groups
An additional feature that people often request assistance in configuring is similar to the above
example of a Campaign Group, but instead of sending the message to all registered users, they
only w ish to send message (both past and future) to people w ho specifically “Opt-In” to receive
messages.

This is almost the identical process as above, but w ith one small difference. You first use the
“Opt-In Module” included w ith the Bulk Emailer to create a new Opt-In List.

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Then this Opt-In List can be defined as the “Receivers” in our defined Campaign Group Receivers
at step 9 above.

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This w ill then send past and future messages to people w ho Opt-In to receive email messages
from us. We then use the Opt-In module to offer them the option of receiving our Email
messages.

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User Role Groups

This is a pow erful conditional role selector that is possibly best demonstrated by some examples.

Demo here:
http://demo.interactivew ebs.com.au/bulkemailer_450532/bulkemailer _450532_demo.htm

EG

If your DNN w ebsite has the follow ing security roles.

Male

Female

New York

Las Angels

USA

Australia

You could use the User Role Groups to create a matrix similar to this:

Sex Male Female

City New York Los Angels
Country USA Australia

This can then be displayed in the Send Email are of the module to make the picking of DNN
security roles easier.

Note: The picking options are cumulative. So if MALE, NEW YORK, USA – w ere all ticked in the
example above, then only people w ho are members of all three security roles w ould be sent an
email. Items can be set as required.

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Displaying this matrix is set in the Edit Bulk Emailer Settings area of the module.

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RSS Management

Setup of RSS Management

The RSS Management system is designed to allow the creation of RSS Feeds into a format that
can then be inserted into an email by token.

You have tw o w ays to define an RSS token in Bulk emailer,

1. You can embed raw RSS in the email directly, for example:

[rss:http://support.interactivew ebs.com.au/_lay outs/listfeed.aspx?List=%7BE7542763%

2D68AB%2D43EC% 2DA2ED%2D0D90D982BFA E%7D&cnt=8;red;B1;B2;B2 ;]

The format is [rss:RSSURL &cnt =x;co lor;True;False;False]

RSSURL: URL of the RSS,

cnt=x: N umber of items to be dis played from the rs s s ource. ( cnt=8)

Color: color of the text (red)

B1: boolean value specify w hether display header

B2: boolean value specify w hether display category (RSS TITLE)

B3: boolean value specify w hether display publication date

(http://support.interactivew ebs.com.au/_layouts/listfeed.aspx ?List=% 7BE7542763%2D68

AB%2D43EC%2DA2ED%2D0D90D982BFA E% 7)

2. You can define an RSS w ith all parameters set in RSS Management Menu and reference
the RSS by its name defined in rss management, for example:

[rss:test] , test is the name.

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These RSS by Name links are defined in the RSS Management Menu.

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 This w ill generate a token option w hen sending an email message that looks like this:

The creation of RSS feeds into this module is very pow erful. It allow s you to take a feed from any
source, and use it as both the trigger and content of email messages to your clients.

Adding a New RSS Feed

By clicking the “Add New ” from the “Edit RSS Management” menu, you w ill be taken to the
location w ere you define the feed that w ill be used by the bulk emailer module.

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RSS Feed Options

RSS Name
The name given to this RSS feed w hen used w ithin the Bulk Emailer module. This w ill determine
the token name that is used w ithin an email to insert this RSS feed as defined. E.g. call this feed
“feed1” then to call this as content in an email campaign you w ould insert [rss:feed1] into the body
of the message.

Description
This is a text only description of the RSS feed you have linked to. The description w ill help remind
you w hat feed name relates to w hat RSS feed w hen you list the RSS tokens available in a
campaign send screen.

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 No New RSS Items Text
This is the text that w ill be used in a [rss_difference:] token if there have been no new RSS feed
items since the last time an email w as sent that references that feed. E.g. If you are sending a
reoccurring campaign each w eek, you may w ish this text to read “No new new s this w eek.

RSS URL
This is the U RL that w ill be used to retriev e the RS S content, or basically the RS S URL.

Item Count
When a token is used in an email, this w ill be the limiting number of RSS messages to be
displayed at one time. When the email is part of a reoccurring campaign that is triggered by the
change in RSS content, this value w ill be a limit usually only for the first message sent. Range is
1-100 items.

Sort by Alphabetical Order

Check this option if you w ant the list sorted by title order.

Import/Export Templates
Use this feature to export custom templates as .zip packages. The packages can then be saved
as a backup, or imported on other sites as a template to use in your templates.

Predefined Templates
Select a predefined template to use as the templates for your site. This is a quick and easy to w ay
to use either vertical or horizontal design layouts, “out of the box” w ith this module.

Template
You can customize the look and feel of the RSS content in the email by modifying the template
below . The module uses velocity template engine to render the content. For more detailed
information, please visit: http://velocity.apache.org/.

Preview
Click the button on the right to preview the RSS message.

What can you do with RSS Feeds

With these advanced RSS options, it is possible to send email messages w ith RSS content
automatically w hen the count of the RSS changes is reached. This is handled in the Recurring
Campaign Management area of the module. Such that w hen you are defining the recurring
campaign, you select the recurring option as the RSS trigger.

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 In this example w e have set a new email message w ould be sent, w hen there are 6 new items in
the RSS feed. Then by using the RSS token for the same feed as the content of the email
message, the details of the 6 RSS items w ill be automatically sent in an email to the recipients.

Combining Multiple RSS Feeds

If you w ish to combine multiple RSS sources into a single feed, then w e recommend the use of
Yahoo Pipes:

 http://pipes.yahoo.com

Pipes is a pow erful composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the
w eb.

Like Unix pipes, simple commands can be combined together to create output that meets your needs:

 combine many feeds into one, then sort, filter and translate it.
 geocode your favorite feeds and browse the items on a n interactive map.
 power widgets/badges on your web site.
 grab the output of any Pipes as RSS, JSON, KML, and other formats.

Caching and Tracking RSS Feeds

If you w ish to custom manage your RSS feeds, including caching, tracking and allow ing
subscribing, then w e recommend Feed Burner from Google.

 http://feedburner.google.com

Feedburner is essentially an add-on service for your blog that tracks people w ho subscribe to
your blog using RSS. RSS is a w eb technology that means “really simple syndication” … in
normal speak, that just means it’s a technology that lets different programs latch onto your
w ebsite (blog) and grab your content.

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SMTP Server

The module can accept a number of configurations for the SMTP ser ver. The idea is that you can
either accept the default SMTP settings of the DNN Host configuration, or you can configure your
ow n more advanced settings.

Demo: http://demo.interactivew ebs.com.au/bulkemailer450536/bulkemailer450536_demo.htm

From the SMTP Server page, select Add

Then define your SMTP server settings for each of the new SMTP servers that you add.

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Server Address:
This is the address name or IP number of the SMTP server.

Server Port:
This is the port via w hich communications w ill be established, normally port 25 how ever the
option is there to configure something custom. On Gmail servers the port required is 465 for
example. http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answ er.py?hl=en&answ er=13287

Enable SSL:
Tick to enable SSL communications to an SMTP server that is either configured to allow it, or
requires it (eg. gmail servers).

Authentication:
Select the Authentication method. Talk to your host, or server admin for details on this.

User Name:
The user name provided by your host or admin for authentication to the SMTP server.

Password:
Think w e all know w hat this is for!

Active:
Tick to enable or disable this server from being part of your SMTP server list. It may be for
example that you w ant to stop communication to an SMTP server temporarily.

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Maximum Message:
This is the number of messages to send to that particular server before the process w ill move the
next available server. Gmail for example w ill only allow 400 messages per day, so setting
something less than this w ould help to ensure you are not trying to send via an email server that
is not allow ing you to send.

Amazon Simple Email Service Configuration

The Bulk Emailer has been especially coded to allow the use of Amazon’s SES service.
(http://aw s.amazon.com/ses/). SES is a low cost third party SMTP and Simple Email Service. It is
highly recommended for anyone w ho has a host for their w ebsite that has limitations on sending
email in bulk via their STMP server.

SES Setup

NOTE: Amazon SES services will not support Word Document Sending or MHTML sending.
An Amazon guide f or setup of their services is available here:
http://docs.amazonw ebservices.com/ses/latest/GettingStartedGuide/Welcome.html

Essentially the steps you need to follow are these:

We suggest that you follow their document to setup services w ith Amazon.

Once you have your account in order, there are tw o w ays of sending email via the SES service.

 Method 1- Using SES w eb services.

 Method 2 - The traditional SMTP connection method.

Things actually get a little confusing at this point, because these tw o different methods have
unique w ays of communication, and in Amazon they explain things very poorly.

Method 1 – Using SES Webs Services

This is using Web services to send email. This requires special code, and w ill not w ork w ith the
standard STMP settings in your HOST / SMTP settings area of your DNN w ebsite.

This method w ill w ork w ith our Bulk Emailer module as w e have w ritten the special code
necessary to send messages via this SES w eb service method.

To use this service you need to determine your Amazon Access Credentials. To find these:

a) Visit: https://portal.aw s.amazon.com/gp/aw s/securityCredentials

b) Under Access Keys you w ill find your Access Key ID and Secret Access Key
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c) Go to the Bulk Emailer Install System Files and ensure that the Amazon Web Service is
installed.

d) Then in Bulk Emailer SMTP Servers you can configure a new server w ith the follow ing
credentials:

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  Where the server address is: ses.amazon.com (this is the name that triggers the w eb
service method to be used)
 Port: 25 (technically this is ignored)
 Basic Authentication
 User Name: You’re Amazon Access Key ID
 Passw ord: You’re Amazon Secret Access Key
 Maximum Message: Blank w ill be unlimited

Method 2 - The traditional SMTP connection method

Only recently, Amazon has allow ed their SES service to be used as a standard SMTP server.
This is great new s for DotNetNuke site ow ners, as it allow s you to use their server for all your
email sending.

To setup this service you need to perform some additional steps.

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a. Ensure that you have authorized your email address and or domain name in SES
https://console.aw s.amazon.com/ses/home#ver ified-senders:email

b. Navigated to the SMTP Settings and created SMTP Credentials

https://console.aw s.amazon.com/ses/home#s mtp-settings:

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Then you are ready to use these settings either in DotNetNuke as the SMTP server
settings:

Using the provided user name and pass that the Create SMTP Credentials button
generates.

These settings too can be entered into the Bulk Emailer STMP Settings:

 Note that the server address is different than the previously example. (not the
ses.amazon.com)
 Port 465 – Required
 Enable SSL – Required
 Basic Authentication - Required
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Special Domains:
This is w here you define the domains that this email server w ill handle. For example, if you w ould
like the gmail server to deliver only gmail messages. Then you can set “gmail.com” as the special
domain of your configured gmail server. Any email address ending in gmail.com w ill be sent via
that server.

Enabling Custom SMTP Settings

In the Bulk Emailer Settings you can select Server Mode or SMTP Server Mode.

Server Mode
Host Settings:
Use the SMTP settings from the DNN Host Settings SMTP area.

SMTP Server List:

Uses the SMTP servers configured in the SMTP Server area of the module. (see above)

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Rotary:
Rotary uses the smtp servers in a rotation queue. Sending messages to one server in a batch of
50 then moving onto the next server in the queue. This allow s for more rapid sending of email
messages. By splitting messages to multiple smpt servers, you can help to avoid being black
banned by charging huge numbers of messages out via a single server.

Fallover:
This option allow s you to have one or multiple servers acting as a backup. The send method w ill
send all the messages to the first server, how ever if the connection to that server fails, it w ill then
move onto the number 2 server to try and send the campaigns.

Reporting on SMTP server.

From the Campaign Management, select the details of a past campaign.

Then Select “View Statistics” to see the smtp servers and the number of messages in that
campaign that w ent to the specific server.

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Potential SMTP Problems
The host provider that you have your w ebsite w ith can limit the number of messages that you are
able to send from your w ebsite. These limits can vary and cause a large amount of confusion
over w hat appears to be a problem w ith the Bulk Emailer module. The reality may be that it is just
a limit imposed by your host.

Here is a link to some of the limits imposed by various hosts:

http://w w w.interactivew ebs.com/blog/index.php/general-tips/email-limits-for-w eb-hosting-
providers/

If you suspect that your ISP has a limit, you should contact them and ask w hat that limit is. You
can then modify the bulk emailer to reduce the send rate to fit w ithin the host’s limits. Details can
be round under the section called Delivery Speed.

If this is too restrictive, you can use a third party SMTP service to relay messages from your site.

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SMS Settings

The Bulk Emailer can be used to send bulk sms messages to mobile (cell) phones. To do this w e
have used the servers of a SMS gatew ay provider know n as Clickatell. They are one of the bigger
SMS service providers that offer extensive services to most places in the w orld.

To send SMS messages from Bulk Emailer, you need to sign up for services w ith Clickatell and
purchase some SMS credits. You can register and receive 10 free credits here:
https://w w w.clickatell.com/register/

Once registered and some credits purchased, there is a little bit of configuration required at their
end.

Login to the Developers Central https://w w w.clickatell.com/login/

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Then click on Manage My Products

Here you w ill need to create an HTTP API to allow the Bulk Emailer to connect to the Clickatell
services.

From the Add Connection dropdow n, select HTTP.

Define any name you like and submit:

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You w ill then be given some details looking like this:

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 You need to take note of the API ID from this data.

Configuring the SMS Settings

Take the API ID gained from the steps above, and enter them into the APP ID area in the SMS
Settings, along w ith your Clickatell username and passw ord.

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Maximum Length
Because phone numbers are different in different countries and locations, you should w ork out
the max number of characters for your phone numbers in the countries that you w ish to send to.
For example, in Australia, a mobile phone numbers looks like this: 0409 991 001. With a country
code the number is 61 409 991 001 or a total of 11 characters. So for sending to Australian
numbers the max length could be defined as 11.

This number is used to w eed out invalid mobile numbers from your lists of phone data.

Minimum Length
Min length is also used to define the minimum numbers of digits a phone number must have to be
considered valid. If for example in DotNetNuke, you had a user sign up w ith and enter their cell
numbers as: 12345 – clearly this is not valid, and defining the minimum number of characters
required to be considered valid helps ignore the 12345 data entries.

Prefix
Prefix is the dialling prefix for your country. A full list of prefixes can be found here:
http://en.w ikipedia.org/w iki/List_of_inter national_call_prefixes

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 To enter a prefix for Australia 61 and China 86 for example you w ould type in: 86,61

Script
Scripts can be used to perform functions to phone numbers. This features is really intended to
give rich features to people w ith some programming skills that may w ant to manipulate numbers
before sending SMS messages.

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Send a Bulk Email

To reveal the standard form for sending a Bulk Email, know n as a Campaign.

Each time you send a message, the message, email addresses and details are recorded in a
database and tracked under a name. This is know n as a campaign.

To send a Bulk Email you:

Enter a Campaign Name (optional) to allow for easy tracking in the campaign management.
Usually w e w ould suggest a name that is useful to identify w hat you w ere sending. E.g. “July
New sletter to Customers” w ould be great if you only send one email a month to customers.

Select Recipients.
User Role – A full list of DNN user roles is displayed. You can select one or a number of
user roles to receive this email. If someone is in 2 roles, they w ill still only receive 1 email.

Email Lists – All the lists you create in the List Management area of the module are also
displayed here. You can select one or a number of lists. If an email address is in multiple
roles or lists, the user w ill still only receive 1 email.

Additional Recipients – enter additional email addresses that are separated by “;” eg,
[email protected]; [email protected]

Add from my address book. – Use the plug in tool to reveal the email
addresses in your contact list w ithin your email client program (e.g. outlook etc). This tool
is a handy w ay to send to everyone you know . If an imported or additional email address
is listed tw ice, or also in a list or role, the end user w ill only receive 1 email.

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 Exclude Options Click the + to reveal the Exclude options. These show
the User Roles and Lists. The idea is that you can select the people w ho should NOT receive an
email in this send. You can for example select “All User” in the Recipient Options, but exclude
“Administrators”. The net result w ould be all users in your DNN portal, w ith the exception of
Administrators w ill receive the email.

From Details
Enter an email address that the email should appear to be from. We recommend using a uniquely
configured email address that w ill track Bounced emails. See the section above on Bounce
Configuration. We have intentionally not allow ed for a different send and reply path, because
these days this w ill cause the majority of professional email servers to block your email as spam.

Subject
Give the email a subject just as you w ould any other email.

Messages
There are 4 methods of entering the content of your email.

HMTL / Basic
Selecting HTML Email and Basic in the text editor w ill reveal a simple text only email text box.

This can be handy if you are sending to mobile devices that absolutely do not have the ability to
read html email messages.

HTML
Selecting HMTL Email and Rich Text Editor reveals the default HTML editor form your DNN
portal. We use cute editor in the example below .

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This method allow s you to use any standard HTML message for sending to your client. You can
be created and or use templates. Note that images sent in an HTML email must be images that
are referenced from a valid and live URL on the internet. If you paste from your desktop etc
w ithout uploading the images to the internet, your readers w ill not be able to view your images as
they do not have access to your desktop.

This is basic internet limitations, and has nothing to do w ith our module. If you do not understand
this concept, w e recommend you consult a professional w ebmaster.

Guide to CSS support in email clients

Designing an HTML email that renders consistently across the major email clients can be very
time consuming. Support for even simple CSS varies considerably betw een clients , and even
different versions of the same client.

We’ve put together this guide to save you the time and frustration of figuring it out for yourself.
With 23 different email clients tested, w e cover all the popular applications across desktop, w eb
and mobile email.

As the number of email clients continues to grow , w e’ve decided to simplify the w eb-based
version of the guide to focus on the 10 most popular email clients on the market. For the complete
report on all 24 email clients across the desktop, w eb and mobile email w orld.

99
 Outlook Live Yahoo! Yahoo! Outlook Apple Apple Google Lotus Lotus AOL
Style Element 2000/03 Hotmail Mail Classic 2007/10 Mail iPhone Gmail Notes 6/7 Notes 8.5 Desk 10

<style> in <head>

<style> in <body>

Outlook Live Yahoo! Yahoo! Outlook Apple Apple Google Lotus Lotus AOL
Link Element 2000/03 Hotmail Mail Classic 2007/10 Mail iPhone Gmail Notes 6/7 Notes 8.5 Desk 10

<link> in <head>

<link> in <body>

Outlook Live Yahoo! Yahoo! Outlook Apple Apple Google Lotus Lotus AOL
Selectors 2000/03 Hotmail Mail Classic 2007/10 Mail iPhone Gmail Notes 6/7 Notes 8.5 Desk 10

e.className

e#id

e:link

e:active, e:hover

e:first-line

e:first-letter

e>f

e:focus

e+f

e[foo]

Outlook Live Yahoo! Yahoo! Outlook Apple Apple Google Lotus Lotus AOL
Text & Fonts 2000/03 Hotmail Mail Classic 2007/10 Mail iPhone Gmail Notes 6/7 Notes 8.5 Desk 10

100
direction

font

font-family

font-style

font-variant

font-size

font-weight

letter-spacing

line-height

text-align

text-decoration

text-indent

text-overflow CSS3

text-shadow CSS3

text-transform

white-space

word-spacing

word-wrap CSS3

vertical-align

Outlook Live Yahoo! Yahoo! Outlook Apple Apple Google Lotus Lotus AOL
Color & B ackground 2000/03 Hotmail Mail Classic 2007/10 Mail iPhone Gmail Notes 6/7 Notes 8.5 Desk 10

color

101
background

-moz-background CSS3

-webkit-background CSS3

background-color

background-image

background-position

background-repeat

-khtml-background-size CSS3

-moz-background-size CSS3

-o-background-size CSS3

-webkit-background-size CSS3

HSL Colors CSS3

HSLA Colors CSS3

Opacity CSS3

RGBA Colors CSS3

Outlook Live Yahoo! Yahoo! Outlook Apple Apple Google Lotus Lotus AOL
B ox Model 2000/03 Hotmail Mail Classic 2007/10 Mail iPhone Gmail Notes 6/7 Notes 8.5 Desk 10

border

-moz-border-color CSS3

-moz-border-image CSS3

-moz-border-radius CSS3

102
-webkit-border-radius CSS3

-moz-box-shadow CSS3

-moz-box-sizing CSS3

height

margin

padding

width

Outlook Live Yahoo! Yahoo! Outlook Apple Apple Google Lotus Lotus AOL
Positioning & Display 2000/03 Hotmail Mail Classic 2007/10 Mail iPhone Gmail Notes 6/7 Notes 8.5 Desk 10

bottom

clear

clip

cursor

display

float

left

opacity

outline CSS3

overflow

position

resize CSS3

103
 right

top

visibility

z-index

Outlook Live Yahoo! Yahoo! Outlook Apple Apple Google Lotus Lotus AOL
Lists 2000/03 Hotmail Mail Classic 2007/10 Mail iPhone Gmail Notes 6/7 Notes 8.5 Desk 10

list-style-image

list-style-position

list-style-type

Outlook Live Yahoo! Yahoo! Outlook Apple Apple Google Lotus Lotus AOL
Tables 2000/03 Hotmail Mail Classic 2007/10 Mail iPhone Gmail Notes 6/7 Notes 8.5 Desk 10

border-collapse

border-spacing

caption-side

empty-cells

table-layout

Total Market Share 28% 16% 14% 9% 8% 7% 6% 1% 1%

MS Word Email
Selecting this method reveals a brow se button and large file up loader.

Use the file up loader to upload either a .doc or .docx w ord document to the w ebsite folder
system. Then select the file that you upload. This w ill put the path into the file path area:

104
 Sending .doc or .docx file

Note: Sending .doc or .docx or MHTML will not work with Amazon SES SMTP servers.
We have implemented some rather heavy duty document conversion technology that w ill take a
.doc or .docx file and convert the email to an MHTML single html email format message. This
format is excellent for novice users, or for including images from your desktop computer in an
email message. There are many other advantages in this technology, and it is the same
technology that is used in an MS office mail merge technology email send.

Wikipedia explains the technology here: http://en.w ikipedia.org/w iki/MHTML

There are some limitations that are by design. They include:

No floating tables – MS w ord allow s you to have tables that float and can be placed anyw here on
a page. As there is no HTML equivalent, this is not allow able.

No floating images – see floating tables.

This is a list of features that are supported or not supported in the document conversion.

Limitations of Word to HMTL

Docum ent Elem ent Attribute Supported
Annotations –
Autocaptions –
Bookmark +
Border Color +
Border Distance from text –
Border Line style *

Border Line w idth +

Document Properties +

Draw ing objects *

Draw ing objects Textbox +

Field Automatic number of pages +

Field Automatic page number +
Field TOC, Reference to a page +
number.
Field *
Footnotes and +
Endnotes
Form Field Checkbox +
105
Form Field Drop dow n +
Form Field Text input +
Header/Footer Different first page +
Header/Footer Different odd/even +
Header/Footer Different per section +
Header/Footer Distance from page boundary +
Header/Footer Linked to previous section +
Hyperlink External URL +
Hyperlink Local +
Image Absolute positioning +
Image Borders +
Image Cropping +
Image Inline +
Image Scale +
Image Text w rapping around –
Image Metafile images +

List Standard bullets +

List Custom bullets +
List Image bullets +
List Label and text positions +
List Multi level +
List Numbered +
List Outline numbering –
List Restart numbering +
Paragraph Absolute positioning +
Paragraph Alignment +
Paragraph Borders +
Paragraph Custom tab alignment +
Paragraph Custom tab leaders +
Paragraph Custom tab positions +
Paragraph Default tab stop +
Paragraph First line indent or handing +
Paragraph Keep together +
Paragraph Keep w ith next +
Paragraph Left and right indent +
Paragraph Line numbers –
Paragraph Line spacing *

Paragraph Page break before +

Paragraph Right-to-Left –
Paragraph Shading *

Paragraph Spacing before and after *

Paragraph Widow control –

Revision marks –
Section Gutter –
Section Line numbers –

106
Section Margins +
Section Page border *

Section Page orientation +

Section Page size +
Section Paper bins (trays) –
Section Restart page numbering +
Section Start type *

Section Vertical alignment –

Section Columns Column break character +
Section Columns Individual column spacings +
Section Columns Individual column w idths +
Section Columns Multiple columns +
Shading Background color +
Shading Foreground color *

Shading Texture –

Styles +
Table Absolute positioning +
Table Alignment +
Table Cell margins +
Table Column w idths +
Table Indent from left +
Table Preferred w idth +
Table Spacing betw een cells –
Table Text w rapping around table –
Table Cell Borders +
Table Cell Cell margins +
Table Cell Diagonal borders –
Table Cell Horizontal merge +
Table Cell Shading +
Table Cell Text direction +
Table Cell Vertical alignment +
Table Cell Vertical merge +
Table Row Allow break across pages +
Table Row Height *

Table Row Repeat as header row +

Text All caps +
Text Automatic font color +
Text Bold +
Text Character spacing +
Text Color +
Text Emboss *
Text Engrave *
Text Font +
Text Hidden +
Text Highlighting +
Text Imprint *

107
 Text Italic +
Text Kerning –
Text Line breaks +
Text Outline +
Text Page breaks +
Text Raised/Low ered *

Text Shading +
Text Small caps +
Text Special symbols +
Text Strike out +
Text Subscript/Superscript +
Text Underline *

Text Unicode, Western Languages +

Text Unicode, East European +
Languages
Text Unicode, East Asian *
Languages
Text Unicode, Right to Left –
Languages
Textbox Absolute positioning +
Textbox Borders +
Textbox Shading +
Textbox Inline *
Textbox Text w rapping around –
Textbox Text direction +

The Easy Way to Tell

There is an easy w ay to tell how your document w ill convert to MHTML. While w orking in WORD.
Save AS – and select “Single Page Web Page” or MHTML depending on w hat version of w ord
you are using. Then open that file that you just saved in your brow s er. This w ill show you exactly
how the page should render. If you have used some features (like floating text boxes) you w ill see
the result can look unexpected.

With a little practice you can get a great result that can be template in MS w ord.

Caution
While w e aim for our module to convert documents as w ell as MS w ord can convert to MHMTL,
w e know that there are some limitations. .docx for example has many features that should not
technically convert to MHTML, yet w hen converting form w ithin MS w ord, the r esult is great.

For this reason w e recommend alw ays testing a new template conversion on our module to
yourself, before sending something to the masses that ends up looking other than perfect.

108
 MTHML sending ...A good solution

Note: Sending MHTML messages will not work with Amazon SES services as SMTP setups.
Because w e know results can sometimes differ in a w ay that is difficult to identify, w e have
include the ability to send an MHTML message using an MHTML file created from MS w ord. So if
you are happy w ith how your MS w ord file saves locally, but not so happy w ith the conversion
done in our module. Just selct MHTML as the send type, and upload the MHTML message and
send that.

SMS Message
To send an SMS message, you select SMS Message from the option ty pe and w e recommend
strongly that you drop to the Basic Text Box editor:

Using the Basic Text Box ensures that you don’t accidentally send HTML text to peoples phone.

In this SMS mode, peoples Cell numbers. There are tw o w ays to call number into play.

1. Sending to DotNetNuke users that have valid phone numbers saved in the Cell Phone
number are used in the DNN profile data in the Call/Mobile profile item.
2. Using a custom list imported to the “Email List” section of the module. We suggest that
you use the templates provided that includes Mobile/Cell fields.

The settings in the SMS Settings area of the module also need to be defined here.

Additional Options
Clicking on the additional options + reveals some options.

File Attachments can be added here.

Brow se for, or upload any file attachments you require to be sent w ith the email.

109
Priority
Priority is configured here to set the priority tagging that the recipient w ill see on their email
message w hen reading.

There is an Override Unsubscribed Users

This is an ability to send to people w ho have specifically requested that they be removed from
your future email sends. Although they have unsubscribed, you can force them to be included.
This is a feature that is intended to be used for emergency communications only. In some
countries you may be breaking the law to send email to people w ho have requested to be
removed from future sends.

Override Bounced Users

Similar to Override Unsubscribed Users, this feature allow s you to include email addresses that
are in your list but w ould have otherw ise been filtered as the addresses are recorded in your
bounce email list w ith a count in excess of the “Bounce Count” (see the details above for an
explanation of bounce messages). This feature is also intended for emergency communications,
to ensure that everyone on your lists are at least sent a copy of the email from this campaign.

Start Time
Immediately is the default setting, but you can un-tick the option and set a start time in the format:

XXXX (year)/XX(month)/day(18) w ith a time code xx:xx:xx

When the date time is set, the campaign w ill sit w aiting to be delivered until the date time is
reached on the server time. The start time takes into account a few things here. In the portal /
Admin / Advanced Settings / Security Settings – it assumes that you have set the correct time
zone for your portal, and the your w eb server has the correct time set, and the correct region
applied for the server side languages setting.

Send a copy to
Allow s you to send an email to the email address of the account that is logged in and sending the
email.

Send email count

Will generate an email that counts how many unique valid email addresses are in the campaign
based on the list selections you have made for this campaign. It w ill take into account all
selections, less Exclude, bounce and unsubscribed users.

Preview
You can send a preview to the account logged in for sending. Note that Tokens w ill not w ork in
the Preview . Additionally you can modify the email address before you send a preview . You can
also send multiple numbers of preview messages. This is a great w ay to test your w ork before
you send.

Send and Cancel

Should you not understand these features it may be best if you do not use the module at all!

110
MHTML from HTML templates
Because some people have advanced HTML skills and have already created CSS templates and
custom HTML messages, w e have included a w ay to send these messages in an MTHML
message.

Using your favourite html editor (Dreamw eaver) you can cr eate an html email message locally,
saving to your local hard drive. When you are happy w ith the result, you open the w ebpage in IE7
and under “page” menu you select “save as” .mht. This mht file w ill then be ready to send via
Bulk Emailer.

Allowable File Types

If you receive a message that looks similar to this:

The File C:\Inetpub\XXXXXXX\httpdocs\Portals\0\filename.mht Is A Restricted File Type. Valid

File Types Include ( *. sw f, *.jpg, *.jpeg, *.jpe, *.gif, *.bmp, *.png, *.doc, *.docx, *.xls, *.xlsx, *.ppt,
*.pptx, *.pdf, *.txt, *.xml, *.xsl, *.xsd, *.css, *.zip, *.template, *.csv, *.htmtemplate ). Please Contact
Your Hosting Provider If You Need To Upload A File Type Which Is Not Supported.

You w ill need to allow the MHT or MHTL file types as allow able extensions in the HOST / HOST
SETTINGS / OTHER. Area of your w ebsite. Add ",mht,mhtml" (w ithout the "") into the Allow able
File Extensions area, and click update.

111
Tokens
Note: The token system does not w ork in the preview email. If you need to test, w e suggest doing
a send to the admin role or similar.

Email messages can contain tokens. A token is a set of formatted text that w ill be replaced in the
email messages w hen it is sent. The ideas of tokens are to personalize an email message.

The simple example of a token is the “Dear John”

Using a first name token [FirstName:w ebsite user]

The application looks at the data on file in either registered users or custom lists, and replaces the
“First Name” w ith the First name of the user. If no first name is on f ile, the “w ebsite user” w ill be
placed into the email.

The format used is:

[ - opens the token

] – closes the token

Text before : - Profile search by name of profile.

Text after : - replacement text used for profile data that is blank.

e.g.

2 profiles below explain.

1.

 First Name: John

 Height: 187

2.

 First Name: Fred

 Height :

Using an email message:

Dear [FirstName:w ebsite user],

We have your height recorded as... [Height:no height on record].

Would return 2 different results:

1. Dear John,
112
 We have your height recorded as... 187.
2. Dear Fred,
We have your height recorded as... no height on record.

As you create new custom profile items in your DNN w ebsite, these w ill become available for use
as token in your email messages.

The standard profile tokens available include:

 UseNam e: [usernam e: usernam e]

 First Nam e: [FirstNam e:your first nam e]
 Last Nam e: [LastNam e:your last nam e]
 Em ail: [Em ail:your em ail]
 Country: [Country:your country]
 Region: [Region:your region]
 City: [City:your city]
 Street: [Street:your street]
 Unit: [Unit:your unit]
 Postal Code: [PostalCode: your postal code]
 Telephone: [Telephone:your telephone]
 Cell/Mobile: [Cell: your cell]
 Fax: [Fax:your fax]
 Website: [Website:your w ebsite]
 IM: [IM:your im ]
 RSS Configured Token [rss:nam e] (w here nam e is the nam e of the configured rss
feed)

Unsubscribe Token
The unsubscribe token is an additional “non-profile data” token. When used in an email, it allow s
you to include a single link that recipients of your email can click on to unsubscribe from your
future email messages. The token w ill create a custom URL that includes tracking information
about the email address that particular email w as sent to. Note: It is not valid to include a URL
directly to the unsubscribe page. This w ill not w ork and w ill cause the in correct e-m ail
address to be unsubscribed from new sletters.

The token looks like this:

 [unsubscribe-here]

With [unsubscribe-url] being the format. Any w ords after the – in the unsubscribe token w ill be
highlighted as a hyperlink. This allow s you to use it w ith any language you like. Where the w ord
“here” could be any language equivalent implying that you click on that link.

An example of the use of this may be:

113
  To unsubscribe click [unsubscribe-here]. (Do not copy and paste from this manual, as the
conversion to .pdf replaces the - w ith something else. The dash is actually the m inus -
key)

Result

 To unsubscribe click here.

When the user clicks the here, they w ill be driven back to the bulk emailer module unsubscribe
page. This page does not require any setup, and looks like this.

Unsubscribe Token Colour

The colour of the URL displayed for the unsubscribe token can be set to a colour of your choice.
This is important because the token is not controlled the normal w ay you w ould control the colour
of a hyperlinked URL in your email content. The colour (standard hyperlink blue) may look
invisible or difficult to see w hen view ing w ith a black (or other similar colour) background.

To set the colour use “|color~#FF0000” format after the URL hyperlink w ords, as an example.

 [unsubscribe-Please unsubscribe here|color~#FF0000]

Unsubscribe Image
It is also possible to use an image in place of the URL for unsubscribe. This allow s for an image
to be used like an unsubscribe button. Etc.

The use of the image token is [unsubscribe_img- imageurl]

To use an image like this:

The exact example above w as:

 [unsubscribe_http://w w w .w estcountyfilmsociety.org/images/button-unsubscribe.png]

114
View Online Token Use
The view online token creates an URL from w ithin the email message that w ill take the user to the
w ebsite and display the email message as a rendered HTML email message. This token is
intended to improve the experience for view ers of the email message that are having trouble
reading the message in their email client. Typically you w ould use the token.

 If you are having trouble reading this message then click [view online-here]

This w ould generate the “here” as the URL enabled text.

Defining the Colour

The colour of the hyperlink for the token can be defined w ith the follow ing example:

 [unsubscribe-Please unsubscribe here|color~#FF0000]

Simply adding the color hex value in the token as used in the example above. For information on
w hat a Hex color is, see: http://en.w ikipedia.org/w iki/Web_colors

View Online Token

 [view online-text] – Where the text can be any text you like.

Avoiding the Visible By Administrators Only Message

With DotNetNuke, if you make a module Visible by Administrators only, you get a nice little boxed
message around the module / modules w ith that permission set.

This boxed message w ill show to users w ho click an unsubscribe link if you do not remove it.

This is a DNN issue and there are tw o w ays to fix it.

1. You can use a Role that is other than the Admin role. For example, setup a user role
called Bulk Emailer, and set the page viability to that role. This w ill cause the "Visible by
Administrators Only" box to be removed.

2. Also you can turn this boxed admin only view off. If you go to the page w ith the Bulk
Emailer module on it, and go into the Settings for the module container that the Bulk
Emailer sits in. Then go to Advanced Settings + and tick the option to "Hide Admin
Boarder" only message. This too w ill fix the issue you describe.

Note: This hide admin boarder is not an option in early DNN versions.

115
MHT and MHTML Emails – View Online
Due to the proprietary nature of MHT and MHTML (emails generated from w ord). These can only
be view ed online by Internet Explorer. For this reason w e suggest that you avoid the use of the
token w hen sending MS Word generated email messages.

116
Text/HTML tokens
We have taken the token replacement scheme of the DNN Text/HTML module and included it in
the DNN module. Now you can use the follow ing schemes in your email messages in the same
w ay you w ould use them in the Text/HTML module.

Token Example Token Description

Display s the portal currency ty pe
[Portal:Currency ] USD
as set on the Site Settings page.
Display s the portal description as
[Portal:Description]
set on the Site Settings page.
Display s the email address of the
[Portal:Email] [email protected] primary Administrator as set on the
Site Settings page.
Display s the copy right text entered
[Portal:FooterText] Copy right 2007 by My Website in the Copy right f ield on the Site
Settings page.
Portal (relativ e) Path of Home
[Portal:HomeDirectory ] /Portals/0/
Directory .
Portal Path to Logo f ile. E.g.
[Portal:LogoFile] logo.gif
logo.gif
The portal description as set on the
[Portal:PortalName] My Website
Site Settings page.
Dif f erence in minutes between
[Portal:TimeZoneOf f set] -480
Portal def ault time and UTC.
User Tokens
[User:Display Name] LY oung The display name of the user.
[User:Email] lorraine.y [email protected] The email address of the user.
[User:FirstName] Lorraine The f irst name of the user.
The last name of the user.
Note: This is a deprecated token
[User:FullName] Lorraine Y oung which is no longer used. Replace
with First Name and Last Name
tokens f or f uture compatibility .
[User:LastName] Y oung The last name of the user.
[User:Username] dnnangel The username of the user.
Membership Tokens
[Membership:Approv ed] Y es / No Indicates if the user is approv ed.
Display s the date and time when
[Membership:CreatedDate] 10/4/2007 1:08 PM
the user registered on the site.
Indicates if the user is currently
[Membership:IsOnline] Y es / No
online
Page (Tab) Tokens
Display s the description of the
[Tab:Description] Welcome to My Website
current page.
Display s the f ull URL of the current
[Tab:FullUrl] http://www.domain.com/Serv ices/tabid/73/Def ault.aspx
page.
[Tab:IconFile] icon.gif Page relativ e path to icon f ile
[Tab:Key Words] health, wellbeing, y oga, y oga classes, Display s the key words f or the

117
 current page.
[Tab:TabName] Home Page name
[Tab:TabPath] Page relativ e path
[Tab:URL] Page URL
Date Tokens
[DateTime:Now] 10/17/2007 9:08 AM Current date and time.
For date/time and numeric v alues,
y ou can also append a string
def ined by the .NET f ramework, f or
example:
Current date/time f ormatted
[DateTime:Now| ] &lP;7or2aP&A.D.P;
according to , e.g.
[DateTime:Now|f } display s current
date in short f ormat (does not
apply to expressions of calculated
columns)
Tick Tokens
[Ticks:Now] 633282985407609550 CPU tick count f or current second
[Ticks:Today ] 633282624000000000 CPU tick count since midnight
[Ticks:TicksPerDay ] 864000000000 CPU ticks per day (f or calculations)

Password Token
The passw ord token is: [passw ord] and can be used to retrieve a DotNetNuke users passw ord.
This allow s you to send passw ord reminders to users w ho users of your w ebsite from the Bulk
Emailer.

If tw o users exist w ith the same email address in your DotNetNuke database, the first one only
w ill be retrieved.

If you are using the list function to send email messages to a select group of email addresses, the
passw ord token w ill still w ork, by matching the email addresses from your custom list against
DNN users that have the same email address. Where a DNN user does not exist, the passw ord
retrieval process w ill fail and default to ****.

118
Token Limitations
Tokens are mostly handled w ell. How ever w e have found on some MS w ord documents,
particularly w ith the .docx and Word2007. The documents w ith a lot of formatting in the text can
get confused w ith the tokens. This is because the HTML formatting text w raps around the token
to hide it from our module.

To solve this problem, w e suggest not formatting the text that is used in the tokens. This includes
bold underline etc.

.doc gives better performance in token conversion than does .docx If you have troubles, please
save as .doc.

We also found this can be a problem w ith token text follow ing a formatted heading etc. So again,
avoid using tokens after a head etc.

Other more obvious limitations

Tokens reference profile data or in the case of custom lists, First Name, Last Name, Display
Name. So if you are using custom lists or imported contacts, expect the profile data to be missing
from those users.

119
Third Party Tokens – My Tokens (dnnsharp.com)
We have added support for the Third Party token system called “My Token” by dnnsharp.com.

Details of the system can be found here: http://w w w .dnnsharp.com/dotnetnuke/modules/token-

replacement/my-tokens.aspx

Essentially you need to install their module (a demo is available) then tick the option in our
module settings.

After enabling this option (and w ith the My Tokens module installed) y ou are free to use tokens in
both HTML and Word messages in a manner that conforms to My Tokens module use.

Note that nested tokens can be used in a format like this:

[CEmail:CJobs1.job1tit le(use re ma il=[e mail])]

120
Special Tokens – NVELOCITY
We have integrated some special tokens that uses a system know n as NVELOCITY. The
additional tokens that can be used are referenced to the NVELOCITY source forge project found
here: http://nvelocity.sourceforge.net/

The tokens are more complex and represent more of a programming method of token use. For
this reason w e don’t expect these to be useful to everyone. How ever if it is something you are
familiar w ith then they are available to be used.

The tokens supported are:

o ${email} email recepient

o ${campaign.Subject} Subject
o ${campaign.Administrator} Sender Email
o ${campaign.CreatedDate} Campaign Creation Date
o ${campaign.LastAccessed} Campaign Last Acccess Date
o ${campaign.CampaignName} Campaign name
o ${campaign.CurrentEmailsSent} Number of emails sent
o ${Portal.PortalName} Portal Name
o ${Portal.Email} Admin email
o ${Portal.Description} Portal Description
o ${Portal.KeyWords} KeyWords

//if the email matches a DNN user then the follow ing token are valid

o ${user.DisplayName}
o ${user.Email}
o ${user.FirstName}
o ${user.LastName}
o ${user.Username}

//if the email matches an email in email list then the follow ing token are valid

o ${emailinfo.Us er Name}
${emailinfo.Email}
${emailinfo.FirstName}
${emailinfo.LastName}

We expect that the MS word and MHTML send methods will have some troubles with some of
these tokens. We suggest only using it with HTML email messages.

121
Delivery Speed
Email messages are processed 50 messages at a time each time the scheduler process for Bulk
Emailer runs. This Bulk Emailer scheduler process is automatically setup in the HOST scheduler
settings of your DNN site w hen the module is installed.

To access the scheduler:

1. Login as HOST
2. On the HOST menu, select Scheduler
3. Locate: iw ebs.Modules.BulkEmailer.EmailSchedule, App_SubCode_BulkEmailerSchedule
4. Click the pencil to edit the default settings.

 Time Laps = the amount of time betw een the module sending its next block of 50 email
messages.
 Retry Frequency = Time betw een unsuccessful send attempts.

Note: We suggest that you leave the default settings in place, unless you are sending to more
than 25,000 email addresses. After that amount, you may want to reduce the time for “Laps
time”. However this is optional and dependant on your server and internet connection limitations

We suggest not reducing below 5 seconds if you are sending MHMTL messages.

To Slow Down Delivery Speed

Simply change the “Time Laps” to a setting that matches any restrictions you may have. For
example, if you have a restriction to only send 500 messages per hour. We w ould suggest the
follow ing calculations.

500 – 50 = 450 messages per hour through BE. This allow s your site to still send 50
messages through forms and user registrations etc.

450 / 50 (messages sent from BE every cycle) = 9 runs per hour.

60 min * 60 seconds = 3600 seconds per hour.

3600 seconds / 9 (runs per hour) = 400 seconds betw een scheduler attempts.

So set the scheduler to 400 seconds, w ith a retry frequency of something much less, like 20
seconds.

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Bulk Emailer Opt-In Module
Install the Opt-In Module like you w ould any other. Please see the section tow ard the start of this
manual to explain how to install the module.

Placing the Opt-In module on a page.

Once installed, add the module to a page of your DNN site as you w ould any other module.

Mandatory Configuring the Opt-In module.

You w ill need to install and configure the Bulk Emailer module before configuring the Opt-In
Module. Please do this if you have not already done so.

There is one configuration that needs to be completed before any others.

1. From the Configuration menu of the Opt-In module, select Opt In Settings

2. Select the page that the instance of the Bulk Emailer that you w ant to pair this instance of
the Opt-In module w ith.

The selection is named the same as the page that you have setup the Bulk Emailer on.
3. Select update to make this selection save.

Now the Opt-In module is ready to be used.

Principle of Operation
The idea of the Opt-In module is to allow you to create custom Opt-In Lists, that are married to
Custom Lists in the Bulk Emailer module. So for example you can have a Custom List that you

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 create in the Bulk Emaielr module called “List 1” and you can allow people to join that list by
creating an Opt-In List that you may call something completely different e.g. “Our New s Letter”.

This then allow s you to ask people to join your New s Letter by providing a minimum of details
(namely their email address) to Opt-In to that list.

Naturally once you have people joining lists, you can use that list in the Bulk Emailer to send
Campaigns to the members of that list, or for that matter you can use the list to specifically Not
Send to people on that list, making it function as an OptOut list.

Understanding the Options

We do include help items against our module, so if you w ould rather not use this manual, you can
read the help items.

BulkEmailer:
Select the instance of the Bulk Emailer that you w ish to associate w ith this instance of the Opt-In
Module. The list w ill show all the pages that have the Bulk Emailer installed on them, each
instance can be managed separately.

Required Fields to Opt-In:

Select the fields that a user must fill in w hen subscribing to lists. These fields can then be used in
e-mail messages w ith tokens.

Require Email Validation:

Tick this box to require people subscribing to e-mail lists to validate their e-mail address. If ticked,
the end user w ill receive an email defined in the "Email Template" that w ill require them to click on
a link to validate that they received the validation e-mail.

Show Descriptions:
If ticked, this w ill list the Details as defined in the "Description Field" after the defined list.eg.The
List Name – Description

Display Lists:
Select if multiple defined lists are show n vertically - One under each other, or Horizontally across
the page.

Hide Help icons:

Selecting this option w ill hide the help icons for the end user interface. This is recommended as
most people know w hat to enter for Firs Name, Last Name etc.

Hide the "List Your Subscriptions":

Selecting this option w ill hide the help icons for the end user interface. This is recommended as
most people know w hat to enter for Firs Name, Last Name etc.

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 Button Text or Image:
Specify the text/image for the send/reset button.

Title Position:
Select how you w ould like the end user titles of the entry fields to display.

Create DNN Account:

Ticking this option w ill create a DNN account for person subscribing to the lists. If the First and
Last Name are not required fields, the module w ill create details for the user name from the email
address used. Selecting Silent w ill create the account w ithout sending the standard DNN new
account email to the user. Announced w ill send the standard DNN site email for new user.

Email Priority
This feature allow s you to set the priority that is assigned to email notifications from this module.
This changes how a recipient w ill see the email priority w hen they receive the email in their in-
box. High priority for example typically see a “!” next to messages marked “High Priority”

Subscribe Text:
Enter the text you w ould like to use to encourage users to Opt-In to your lists.

Email Template:
This is the text that is sent in an e-mail to people w ho request subscription to defined e-mail lists.
Tokens are: [FirstName], [LastName] , [SubscribeUrl], [DisplayName]

Email Template for List Your Subscriptions:

This is the template for the e-mail message that is sent to people requesting details of the lists
that they are subscribed to. When they request this, they are sent a url to brow se that show s their
subscriptions.

Opt-In Preamble text:

This is the text that is displayed in the initial part of the Opt-In Module. You can use rich HTML
here to introduce the lists that you are defining in the module.

Creating an Opt-In List

Click on the Define New Opt In List

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Either Create a New Bulk Email list by selecting:

Or if you have already created some custom lists in Bulk Emailer, you can use one of those by
selecting it by name in this list definition:

The example here is test 2 that w e previously created in the Bulk Emailer Module

Opt-In Display Name:

You are defining the display name of the Opt-In List. Here you can call you OpIn Display Name
something like "New sletter" even though it may be associate w ith a custom list in Bulk Emailer
called "List 1" for example.

Description:
List the description for this Opt-In List. The descriptions are only show n if the option for "Show
Description" is ticked in the settings area.

Icon:
Please select an icon for use w ith this Opt-In list. The icon is displayed next to the list name and
can be use to help graphically display the distinction betw een different defined Opt-In lists for your
users.

You can define as many lists as you like, and allow people to see the lists that they are
subscribed to.

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Opt-In API
The Opt-In module has an API that allow s you to send correctly formatted URL requests, to opt
users into the lists managed by the Opt-In module.

The API contains the following URL

http://$SERV ER/DesktopModules/BulkEmailOptIn/OptinSvc.ashx?moduleid=$ModuleId&portalid=
$PortalId&email=$email&groupnames=$groupnames&firstname=$firstname&lastname=$lastnam
e&displayname=$displayname

 $ModuleId: module Id of the instance

 $PortalId: Portal Id
 $email: email to subscribe
 $groupnames: list of Email Group names separated by comma
 $firstname: firstname of the optin user
 $lastname: last nameof the optin user
 $displayname: displan nameof the optin user

Note: This features is intended for use programmatica lly.

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Microsoft CRM Integration

One of the advanced features of this modules is that w e can integrate it w ith Microsoft CRM 4.0
deployments. Allow ing the module to make available CRM marketing lists to the DNN w ebsites
and run campaigns created in CRM via this bulk sending tool.

This has several clear advantages over the Microsoft Office send method that is native to CRM,
namely the addition of all the tracking and conditional campaign management that are native to
Bulk Emailer.

If you w ould like to know more about an Interactivew ebs.com.au Hosted CRM / DotNetNuke
integration, please email sales@interactivew ebs.com.au

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Trouble Shooting
Email not sending
This is almost exclusively an SMTP configuration error, or that you have selected and SMTP
server to be configured that has restrictions by the server admin. Eg, a Gmail server w ill only
allow around 400 messages a day to be sent.

We suggest that you first be absolutely sure about STMP settings before contacting
InteractiveWebs for support.

Site Crashes after loading the module

In all cases that w e have seen a site die after installing this module it is due to the w rong version
of the module being installed. 64 bit VS 32 bit.

The solution is very easy. On the server, navigate to the /bin folder and delete:
ChilkatDotNet2.dll from the directory. When the site comes good, you w ill need to install the
other version of the module to w hat you originally installed.

Unsubscribe link not working

There are tw o common problems w ith this.

1. You have moved subdomains from a dev site to a live site. – Solution is to update your
new subdomain in the Bulk Emailer Settings menu.
2. You have copied and pasted the token [unsubscribe-here] into your email, and have
picked up on rich text or html text in doing this. Remember that w e recommend that you
type in your token tags to ensure they are not w rapped up in html mess.

Image File Browser is not working correctly

Install MVC 2.0
If w hen you brow s for image selection in the HTML editor w ithin the email composition area of
the module you find that the brow se feature does not function. Then locate the:

Bulk Emailer Settings / Other Settings / Install MVC2.0 “Install” button and press it once. This
w ill likely fix the issue.

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Solutions to Problems
Trouble with Gmail Accounts in STMP
Gmail required the follow ing settings:

 Server = SMTP.gmail.com
 Port: 465
 SSL Enabled
 User Name: your Gmail email address
 Pass: your Gmail email pass
 Maximum message = 400 (Google limit on messages per day)

Timeout While Uploading the Module

A timeout w hile installing the module to your DNN w ebsite indicates that the speed you are
uploading to your w ebsite is too slow , and the server timeout limit has been reached. The best
solution for this is to either use a faster connection to the internet, or upload the module to a
location on your w eb server, then use a remote desktop connection to your w ebsite to then
brow se to the w ebsite and load the module from that session, ie loading the module from a local
session directly to the same server.

Unverifiable code failed policy check. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131402)

This indicates that your IIS hosting configuration is running in Medium Trust mode, but w ill require
Full Trust to be set. The short term solution to get a dead site w orking w ith this error is to delete
the file called: ChilKatDotNet2.dll from the /bin folder. How ever to use our module, this file is
required. So have you IIS setup w ith Full Trust and place the ChilKatDotNet2.dll back in the /bin
folder to have the module w orking correctly.

The reasons behind this are because this file (not created by us) w as made in a programming
language C++. Running on a DNN site w ill require Full Trust.

You want to send a specific e-mail once someone subscribes.

There are tw o elements to solving this problem:

1. you need to be able to define an e-mail message that w ill go to somebody once they join
either a security role or a list.
2. You need to define a w ay to add somebody to a particular security role or list.

Using bulk Emailer it is possible to define an e-mail message that relates to a particular security
role all list. You can define a catch-up period that is extensive, and w ill send a message to people
after they are added to the related security role or list. To do this:

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1. Go to campaign group management:

2. Define the follow ing settings for a new campaign group:

this is specifying a name for the group, the type as instant means that the message
should be sent straight aw ay. Setting it is active ensures that the group w ill run. Catch-up
frequency is irrelevant unless you have multiple messages that you w ish to send. Catch-
up length is the period of time that you can add somebody to this particular list or group
and still haven't received the message. As an example only I have set tw o years.

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3. From thing now created list of campaign groups click on the receivers in relation to the
group you just created.

4. Click on Add to add a new receiver. Then define the receiver has either a group or Email
list. What you are doing in this step is saying to the bulk Email system anybody w ho is
added to this list or security role that I am defining in this step should be sent the e-mail
messages in the campaign group that I have just defined.

5. Next you need to you to find the campaign that w ill be sent to the receivers.

Click campaigns from the campaign group management menu.

then click add new :

Then define a new campaign as you w ould any other e-mail message to be sent.
Remembering that if you w ish to send an e-mail attachment w ith the message four

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 example a specific document or file you can define this in the additional options area:

That is essentially all you need to do. Now as you add members to your subscriber role
they w ill be sent an e-mail message as defined in the steps above.

To solve the problem of how to add people to a particular security role as they are
subscribed to your site, w e have produced a module called the subscriptions module.
http://w w w.interactivew ebs.com/subscriptionsmodule

This module w ill allow you to specify particular security roles that the user can sign up to
or subscribe to from your w ebsite.
Additionally the bulk Emailer opt in module allow s you to define an e-mail list. This list can
be used in the above procedure in place of the security role. Then as somebody opts in to
the particular e-mail list defined in the opt in module they in turn w ill be sent the e-mail
defined in the campaign group. Remember though that in step four above you w ould
define an e-mail list in place of a security role.

Sending Slow / Site Crash

We have seen one instance w hen the setting in the Scheduler process killed a send and DNN
w ebsite from responding. Only an IIS reset w ould allow the recovery of the site.

When checking the Scheduler process (controlled by DNN) w e found the client had set:

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 These tw o highlighted options should alw ays be set to:

Without going into a lot of details, the incorrect settings w ill cause tw o w orker processes to run in
IIS. By default, IIS is normally configured to allow one to run. This w ould be causing IIS to get all
bogged dow n and timeout.

We also recommend a time lapse of 5 minutes. This is the DNN default, and is usually f ast
enough for “normal email sends”.

Problems on Early Version of DNN 5x

This reference is remaining for earlier versions of this module. Currently w e are supporting DNN
6.2x or later, but on request w e can provide versions that w ork w ith earlier DNN versions.

We discovered a problem w ith DNN 05.00.01 and believe the problem is likely to be there in all
the very early versions of DNN 5x. The issue relates to DNN not handling memory correctly. After
a period of the Bulk Emailer running, IIS w ill reset on the DNN w ebsite. This should not be a big
issue, but w e have found is that the w hen the crash happens, the server w ill report w ith incorrect
time dates to the Bulk Emailer module. This causes the send process to delay for a day, and in
some cases to stop all together.

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 We looked at implementing a solution by reading data times stamps from the database server
and not the IIS server, but after some careful consideration about possible implications…. We
decided that w e should not try to compensate for the Beta releases of DNN 5x w ith know n
memory problems, and instead say that the fix is to upgrade to a more recent DNN release.

Timeout installing the module

The module upload is relatively large. It is recommended that the module is uploaded using a
high speed connection to your w ebsite. If your connection speed is too slow , you may receive this
error:

An error has occurred.

DotNetNuke.Serv ices.Exceptions.PageLoadException: Maximum request length exceeded. --->
Sy stem.Web.HttpException: Maximum request length exceeded. at
Sy stem.Web.HttpRequest.GetEntireRawContent() at Sy stem.Web.HttpRequest.GetMultipartContent() at
Sy stem.Web.HttpRequest.FillInFormCollection() at Sy stem.Web.HttpRequest.get_Form() at
Sy stem.Web.HttpRequest.get_HasForm() at Sy stem.Web.UI.Page.GetCollectionBasedOnMethod(Boolean
dontReturnNull) at Sy stem.Web.UI.Page.DeterminePostBackMode() at
Sy stem.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBef oreAsy ncPoint, Boolean
includeStagesAf terAsy ncPoint) --- End of inner exception stack trace ---

The solution is either:

1. Use a faster connection to your w ebsite to upload the module.

2. Upload the module directly to the w ebsite folder system, then login remotely to the server
and brow se to the w ebsite. Upload directly using the remote session.

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Understanding Bulk Emailer Logic
For some users it is helpful to understand the logic of the Bulk Emailer. This can help how you
plan the use of the module on your site.

• The User Creates a New Mail Campaign

New Campaign

Selection of
• During the Campaign Creation one, or a number of mail lists are selected.
Lists

• The Text / HTML / MHTM message to be sent is defined

Email Mesage
Created
• Email Attachments are added

Job Sent to BE
• The job is sent to the Bulk Email engine.
Engine

• A single list of email addresses is defined in a new database table.

Single List
Created
• De Duplication of email addresses takes place here.

• Any lists selected as "Exclude Lists" are run against this new table to remove
Removal of
Lists
unwanted addresses.

Removal of
• The bounce list of email addresses are removed from the new list.
Bounce

Removal of
• Any Email addresses that are on the Opt-Out list are removed from the new list
Opt-Out

Schedule for
• The email job is then scheduled for delivery at the specified time
delivery

• Delivery starts with 50 email messages per delivery cycle (defined in the
Delivery rocess
begins
scheduler). As each cycle runs, it's sucess is reported to the database list.

• Delivery process is repeated untill each email address has been marked in the
Process
repeats
database as "sent suvess" or "send fail".

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