LIST Module

This table shows all mailing lists created. By following the links in the table, you can open an individual list setup page, the Domain Settings page for the list domain, or the Account Settings page for the mailing list owner.

Creating Mailing Lists

Each Mailing List is created inside the main or one of the secondary Domains, and each Mailing List belongs to its owner - an Account in the same Domain.

To create a Mailing List, create an Account or choose an existing one - the List owner Account. Open the Account Settings page, enter the name of the Mailing List to create and click the New List button.

The Server checks that there is no Account, Group, Forwarder or Mailing List with the same name in the same Domain, and creates a new Mailing List.

Several mailboxes are created in the List owner Account:

listname	this Mailbox is the Mailing List archive: it contains the messages posted to this Mailing List
listname/requests	this Mailbox contains the messages with subscription requests.
listname/reports	this Mailbox contains bounce and other DSN (Delivery Status Notification) messages generated for the messages distributed via this Mailing List.
listname/approval	this mailbox contains postings that require the list owner approval (moderated postings). To post these messages, the Mailing List owner should redirect them back to the Mailing List using an authenticated submit method: a MAPI or XIMSS client, the CommuniGate Pro WebUser Interface, the XTND XMIT POP3 method, a local "mail" command, the PIPE module, etc.

Configuring Mailing Lists

To configure a Mailing List, open the Mailing List Settings page. You should select a link to the Settings page either from the list of all mailing lists located in the LIST module Settings page, or from the list owner Account Settings page.

You should have the Users Server Administrator access right or the Domain Administrator access right in order to open the Mailing List Settings pages via the WebAdmin Interface.

In order to modify a Mailing List settings or subscriber lists, the Domain Administrator should have the CanAccessLists access right.

The list owners can access the Mailing List settings pages using the WebUser Interface with their Accounts. The WebUser session page listing mailboxes/folders also provides links to the Account Mailing Lists pages.

Log

Use the Log setting to specify what kind of information about this mailing list should be put in the Server Log. Usually you should use the Major (message posting, subscription, digest, and clean-up operations) level. But when you experience problems with this particular mailing list, you may want to set the list Log Level setting to Low-Level or All Info: in this case more details will be recorded in the System Log. When the problem is solved, set the Log Level setting to its regular value, otherwise your System Log files will grow in size very quickly.
The mailing list records placed in the System Log are marked with the List(listname) tag.
Only the system administrator can change the mailing list Log setting.

Description

Use the Description setting to specify the full name of the list. It will be used as a "comment" in the list E-mail address as the Real Name setting is used in account E-mail addresses.

Preferred Character Set

This option specifies how the List module should handle non-ASCII texts. It is used when displaying list messages via the Web interface: messages in the list can be composed using different character sets, and to display them all on one page, the module should know which character set is preferred.

Digesting and Archiving

Posted messages can be stored in a mailbox created in the list owner Account. Such a mailbox is used to collect messages for message digests. If messages are not removed from that mailbox after a digest is created, this mailbox can be used as a mailing list archive.

Enabled

All posted messages are stored in the owner Account mailbox. Use the link next to the pop-up menu to open the Digesting and Archiving Settings page.

Disabled

The posted messages are not stored in the owner Account mailbox, archiving and digesting options are disabled.
All digest and index-mode subscribers are processed as feed-mode subscribers.
All new attempts to subscribe to the mailing list in the digest or index mode are rejected.

Verify Owner

When the LIST module receives an E-mail message, it checks if the message is sent by the List Owner. First, the message Return-Path is compared to the list owner E-mail address. The Return-Path should be ownerName@listdomain, where the ownerName is the owner Account name (not one of its aliases), and the listdomain is the list and owner Account Domain name (not one of its domain aliases).

The Verify Owner setting specifies the additional checks to be made:

Return-Path

When this option is selected, no additional check is made.

IP Addresses

When this option is selected, the LIST module checks that the message has been submitted either using one of the authenticating methods (see below), or via SMTP, from a computer with an IP address included into the Client IP Addresses list.

Authentication

When this option is selected, the LIST module checks that the message has been submitted using one of the authenticating methods:

• via SMTP, using the AUTH authenticaiton;
• via WebUser Interface;
• via POP with XTND XMIT extension;
• via the PIPE module.

The Settings page contains a set of options, settings, and text areas that controls the subscription, postings, message distribution, and bounce processing. See the sections below for the details.

Renaming Mailing Lists

You should have the Users Server Administrator access right or the Domain Administrator access right in order to open the Mailing List Settings pages.

Enter the new name for the list in the Mailing List Settings page, and click the Rename button. The Server checks if there is no Account or Mailing List with the new name in the same Domain and renames the mailing list. Then the Mailing List Settings page is reopened.

Removing Mailing Lists

In order to subscribe, unsubscribe, and change their subscription mode via E-mail, users of the listname@domain mailing list should send any message to the following addresses:

When subscription request messages are sent to these addresses, the message From: header fields are used as requesters E-mail addresses.

You can specify who can subscribe to the mailing list, and how they should subscribe.

Subscribe

nobody	users cannot subscribe to this mailing list and/or change the subscription mode by themselves. Only the system administrator and the list owner can do these operations. Users still can unsubscribe by themselves.
this domain only	only users from the mailing list domain can subscribe.
locals Only	only users registered with this server can subscribe.
anybody	any user on any system can subscribe to this list.
moderated	all subscription requests will be stored in the listname/requests mailbox (see below) and should be approved by the list owner. The List owner should redirect these requests to the listname-on, listname-feed and other addresses to subscribe new users and to let them change the subscription mode. Users still can unsubscribe by themselves. When user requests are stored in the listname/requests mailbox for approval, they are "flagged" (get the Flag marker).

Save Requests

This setting specifies which subscription requests (i.e. messages sent to the listname-on, listname-off and other addresses listed above) should be stored in the listname/requests mailbox in the list owner Account. Messages stored in this mailbox can be examined if some user reports problems when trying to subscribe to, unsubscribe from, or change the subscription mode to this list.
You can specify if none, all, only the accepted, or only the rejected request messages should be stored in the listname/requests mailbox.
Requests waiting for the list owner approval are always stored in the listname/requests mailbox.

All stored request messages get the X-List-Report additional header field . This field contains the list manager report (Delivery Status Notification message). It is recommended that the List owners configure their mailer applications so they display the X-List-Report fields.

Default Mode

When a new user sends a subscription request in to the listname-on@domain or listname-subscribe@domain address, i.e. when the subscription mode is not specified, the mode specified with the Default Mode setting is used.

Subscription Modes

FEED

In this mode, the subscriber receives list messages as they are posted. See the FEED Mode Distribution section for more details.

DIGEST

In this mode, the subscriber periodically receives digest messages. A digest message starts with the Table Of Content - the list of the messages posted, followed by the posted messages themselves. See the DIGEST/INDEX Mode Distribution section for more details.

INDEX

In this mode, the subscriber periodically receives index messages. An index message is the same as the digest Table Of Content, but it does not contain the posted messages themselves. INDEX subscribers can see if they are interested in any posted messages, and use the Web interface to read those messages in the mailing list archive.
See the DIGEST/INDEX Mode Distribution section for more details.

NULL

In this mode, the subscriber does not receive any messages from the list. This mode can be used by the "posters" - the list users that only post messages on the list.

BANNED

The "banned" users do not receive messages from the list, and they cannot change their subscription mode themselves.
You can use this method to make it impossible for certain users to subscribe to your mailing lists, though usually the more generic anti-spam and other system-wide protection methods should be used.

Confirmation Requests

Welcome and Good Bye Messages

Accept Postings

This setting specifies who can post messages on this mailing list:

from owner only		Only messages submitted by the list owner (using any authenticated method) will be posted
moderated		Messages from everybody but the list owner are redirected to the list owner for approval; if the list owner redirects a message back to the list, the message is posted. Note: this mode can be used to change the list posting policy when the list owner wants to postpone all postings. If you use the from subscribers mode, the New Subscribers setting (see below) provides more advanced moderation options.
from subscribers		Messages from the list subscribers are accepted for posting; some messages can be moderated (see below).
moderate guests		Messages from the list subscribers are accepted for posting; some messages can be moderated (see below). Messages from addresses that are not subscribed are moderated.
from anybody		Messages from any address are accepted for posting.

New Subscribers

This setting is effective only if the Accept Postings setting is set to from subscribers. When a user subscribes and starts to post messages, the messages are stored in the list owner mailbox waiting for approval. After the specified number of messages is approved and posted, all messages sent by this user are posted on the list directly, without the list owner approval.
Note: this is a very effective way to enforce the list policies and to protect the mailing list from "spamming".
If you set this option to Moderate All, then all messages from new subscribers will be stored for approval (the LIST module will not update the posted messages counter).
If you set this option to Prohibited new subscribers won't be able to post on the list (their postings will be rejected).
If you set this option to Special, new subscribers will be able to post auto-generated messages. This is useful if you want to subscribe this mailing list to other mailing lists.
Note: when an auto-generated message should be posted on the list, and the message is not a message generated by the list owner, the message Sender address (if exists) is used instead of the From address. If that address is subscribed to the list, and the subscriber posting mode is set to Special, the message is posted.
You can open the subscribers list and change this setting for individual subscribers. You may want to change this setting to Unmoderated for some users, letting only those users post messages on the list, while posting from all other users (and new users) will be either stored for approval or rejected.

Allowed Format

This setting specifies the allowed MIME format for postings.

plain text only		only messages in the text/plain format can be posted
text only		only messages in the text (text/plain, text/html, etc.) formats can be posted
text alternative		only messages in the text format or multipart/alternative messages that contain a part in the text format can be posted (for example, a message can contain a text/html variant part and the same text as a image/gif variant part)
anything		messages in any MIME format can be posted

The list owner can always post messages in any format.

Maximum Size

This setting restricts the size of messages that can be posted on this mailing list. The list owner can always post messages of any size.

Prohibit Unmodified Digest Subjects

When this option is selected, the Subject fields of all postings are checked. If the Subject is a "reply prefix" (such as Re:, Re>, etc.) followed by this list Digest String (see below), the message is rejected.

Prohibit Non-matched Character Set

When this option is selected, the character set used to compose the posting is checked. If the character set is explicitly specified, and it does not match the Preferred Character Set for this list, the message is rejected.

Service Fields

Use this option to specify the message header fields to be added to all distributed messages (feed, digest and index). If this option value starts with the asterisk (*) symbol, the module automatically generates the List-ID, List-Unsubscribe, Precedence and (if list browsing is enabled) List-Archive fields.
Otherwise, the specified fields are added. The following symbol combinations can be used in this field:

Combination	Substituted with
^N	the listname string
^D	the domain string
^P	the first HTTP User module port
^R	the http or the https string, depending on the type of the first HTTP User module port

Hide 'From' Addresses

When this option is selected, the 'From' address of the posted messages is modified, so it contains the list address instead of the message author address. If the original 'From' address contained a comment (a real name of the message author), it is preserved.
The 'From' addresses in the message archives, digests, and indices are converted, too.
You can use this option to 'hide' the real E-mail addresses of those people who post messages on this mailing list.

RFC822 Fields to Keep

Use these fields to specify the names of additional RFC822 header fields to be copied from the original postings to the distributed messages. If you want to remove a name, enter an empty string into the name field.

If you want to copy all header fields, enter the asterisk (*) symbol into the first field.

If the To And Cc option is set to:

• remove - the original To and Cc fields are not copied; the Mailing List address is added as the To field;
• keep - the original To and Cc are copied;
• copy as Cc - the original To and Cc fields are copied as Cc fields; the Mailing List address is added as the To field.

The To header field of a distributed message contains the mailing list address. The From, Date, and Message-ID fields (and specified additional fields) are copied from the original posting.

The body of the distributed message is a copy of the original message body. If the original message was not in the MIME format, or if it was in the MIME text/plain or multipart/mixed format (the most common formats), the FEED Mode Header text is inserted before and the FEED Mode Trailer text is inserted after the body of the original posting.

Subject Prefix

This setting specifies the string that is inserted into the beginning of the Subject field of all messages distributed in the FEED mode.
When a message is distributed, the system checks the Subject field. If the subject prefix found after the reply prefix (Re:, Re>, etc.), then the subject prefix is deleted.
The Subject Prefix string can contain special symbol combinations.

insert after Reply Prefix

Select this option to insert the Subject Prefix after the Reply prefix (this helps client mailers to group related messages into discussion threads).

Sample:

the Subject Prefix setting	[R&D]
a posted message	Subject: test
the distributed message	Subject: [R&D] test
the posted reply	Subject: Re: [R&D] test
the distributed reply  (insert after Reply Prefix is not selected)	Subject: [R&D] Re: test
the distributed reply  (insert after Reply Prefix is selected)	Subject: Re: [R&D] test
the composed digest	1) test 2) Re: test

Direct Replies

If the to List option is selected, the Reply-To header field with the E-mail address of the list is added to all distributed messages. As a result, when subscribers answer to distributed messages, their replies are directed to the mailing list by default.

If the to Sender option is selected, the Reply-To header is not inserted, and user replies are directed to the From address of a distributed messages, i.e. to the From address of the message author (sender).

Header

This setting specifies the text to be included in the beginning of messages distributed in the FEED mode.
The Header string can contain special symbol combinations.

Trailer

This setting specifies the text to be included at the end of messages distributed in the FEED mode.
The Trailer string can contain special symbol combinations.

Digest Subject

This text setting specifies the Subject header field for digest and index messages created for this mailing list.
If the Prohibit Unmodified Digest Subjects option is selected, the mailing list manager rejects all postings with a reply prefix (Re:, Re>, etc.) followed by an unmodified Digest Subject text.

Body Format

This setting specifies how the digest body should be formatted.

plain text

Digests are composed as plain text messages; individual messages are separated with a line containing minus symbols.

standard MIME

Digests are composed in the MIME multipart/digest format, where the first part has the text/plain Content-type and contains the digest TOC, and other parts contain the messages (postings).

embedded MIME

Digests are composed in the MIME multipart/mixed format, where the first part has the text/plain Content-type and contains the digest TOC, and the second part uses the standard multipart/digest format and contains all messages (postings).

Header

This text setting specifies the text to be included into all digest and index messages before the Index Lines (Table of Contents).

Index Line

This setting specifies the format for an index entry. Like the service text settings, the Index Line can (and should) have special symbol combination, but these combinations are different.
For each posted message, values from the message are substituted into the Index Line text and the resulting line is stored in the digest or index message being composed.

Combination	Substituted with
^X	the message sequence number in the digest being composed
^F	the From header field of the message
^T	the Date header field of the message
^S	the Subject header field of the message
^I	the Message-Id header of the message

Index Trailer

This text setting specifies the text to be included into all digest and index messages after the Index Lines.

Trailer

This text setting specifies the text to be included after the last message in the digest.

Maximum Archive Size

This setting specifies the maximum size of the archive mailbox. After a digest is generated, the new archive file can be generated or the oldest messages can be removed from the mailbox to keep the mailbox size below the specified limit.

Messages to Keep

This setting specifies the maximum number of messages that can be left in the archive mailbox after a digest is generated.

Start New Archive

This setting specifies when the new archive mailbox should be created. The old archive mailbox becomes a submailbox with the name YYYY-MM-DD, where YYYY specifies the year, MM specifies the month, and DD specifies the day when the first archive message was stored.
Unless the Start New Archive option is set to never, a new archive is created when the archive mailbox size limit or the archived message number limit is exceeded.
If the Start New Archive option is set to never and the Maximum Archive Size option is set to zero, all messages are removed from the archive mailbox as soon as a digest is generated.

Who can Browse

This setting specifies if this mailing list should appear in the Mailing Lists section of the WebUser Interface.

nobody

The mailing list will not be available via the Web Interface.

anybody

The mailing list will be displayed as a browsable mailing list, and its archive can be used by anybody.

subscribers

The mailing list will be displayed as a browsable mailing list, but in order to browse its archive, users should enter their E-mail address and the Confirmation ID (as the password). To retrieve a forgotten Confirmation ID, a user can always send a message to <listname-confirm@domain> and get the confirmation ID even if the list subscription mode does not require confirmations.
If the subscriber (E-mail address) is a local CommuniGate Pro Account, then not only the confirmation ID, but also the Account password can be used as the list access password.

clients

The mailing list will be displayed as a browsable mailing list, and can be browsed from the Internet addesses included into the server Client IP Addresses list.
For users trying to view the list from outside the specified addresses/networks this mode works as the subscribers mode: these users have to enter the name/password pair (E-mail and Confirmaton ID) to browse the list.

If you are a system administrator or the list owner, you can access the subscribers list page following the Subscribers link on the Mailing List Settings page.

The Subscribers page contains the list of all E-mail addresses subscribed to the mailing list. For each address additional information (such as the subscriber's real name, number of bounces from this address, etc.) is listed. Each address can be marked, and you can use the Mark All button to mark all list subscribers. You can use the Filter field to display the subscribers with matching addresses only.

Unsubscribe

Mark some subscribers and click this button to unsubscribe them from the list. Depending on the current FeedBack setting value, the LIST module will either unsubscribe them immediately or just send them confirmation requests. If the FeedBack setting (see below) value is Send Welcome, the Good Bye messages are sent to unsubscribed addresses.

Mark Failed

Mark some subscribers and click this button to tell the LIST module that mail to those addresses bounced. This can be useful in situations when the LIST module fails to process bounce reports automatically, because they come in a non-standard format. Clicking the Mark Failed button will result in the same actions (increased bounce counter, suspension, and warning generation) as caused by receiving a non-fatal bounce from the marked address.

Set Postings

These controls allow you to change the moderation mode for the selected users. You can select some subscribers and set their posting mode to moderated, prohibited, unmoderated, or special. See the Posting Messages section for more details.

Set Mode

These controls allow you to change the subscription mode for the selected users. See the Subscription Processing section for more details. If the FeedBack setting (see below) value is set to ask Confirmation, the subscription mode is not changed, but a confirmation request for the mode change operation is sent to the marked subscribers.

Adding Subscribers

Importing Subscriber Lists

You can use text files with E-mail addresses to add subscribers to mailing lists. Open the Subscribers page, and use the Import control to select a file with E-mail addresses. Click the Subscribe button to add the addresses to the mailing list.

The text file should have one E-mail address per line, with several optional fields on each line. If a line contains several fields, they should be separated with the tabulation (TAB) symbol.

• The first and the only required field is the E-mail address.
• The second field specifies the subscription mode. The first field symbol is checked. The symbols d and D require the DIGEST mode, the symbols I and i - the INDEX mode, and the letters f and F - the FEED mode. All other field symbols are ignored. If the first symbol is not recognized or the field is absent, the new user is subscribed in the Mailing List default mode.
• The last field (if a line contains more than 2 fields) specifies the real name of the new user.

The Mailing List manager checks the file format first. If the file format is incorrect, no new user is subscribed. This allows you to fix the file format and to try the same file: either all addresses are added, or none is added.

Note: The import file must be prepared on the client computer (on the computer you use to run your browser). The browser allows you to upload files from disks connected to that computer, not to the CommuniGate Pro Server computer.

Note: When using Netscape and some other Unix browsers, make sure that the file name ends with the .txt suffix - otherwise the browser won't upload the file as a text one, and the file will be ignored.

Note: Some versions of the Netscape® browser for "classic" MacOS® do not convert the MacOS text files (that use the CR symbol as the line separator) into CR-LF delimited text files. You may see the "format error" messages if you try to import a subscriber list from a MacOS computer using that browser. You should either use a different browser, or you should convert the subscriber list into a CR-LF delimited text file before importing it with that browser.

Note: If you are moving users from a different mailing list system, make sure you have set the Feedback option to Silently - otherwise all inserted subscribers will receive confirmation requests and/or Welcome messages.

Subscribing Lists to Lists