Who can send an email to a distribution list?
An email must pass two security checks to ensure a user has permission to use Veracross distribution lists:
Security Check #1: You must send an email from the account that is listed in the “Email 1” or “Email 2” field on your person record in Veracross. You cannot send a message from an email account, unless the account is listed here. For most users, this will be your school email account. As an example: if your Email 1 is listed as ‘johnsmith@veracross.com’ and your Email 2 is blank, you must send an email from your ‘johnsmith@veracross.com’ email account. If you send an email from an account that is not listed in Email 1 or Email 2 (e.g. jsmith@gmail.com), your email will be blocked and will not be sent out.
Security Check #2: If your email has passed the first security check, you must then have permission to send email to distribution lists. If a user does not meet one of the following two criteria, the email will not send. People with access to distribution lists include:
- all users with a Staff and/or Faculty person role
- anyone with the system profile code “Allow Access to Distribution Lists”
What is the maximum email size that can be sent?
The total size of an email that can be sent is 8 MB or less, which would include all attachments.
Does the CC field work as expected?
Yes. The CC field will allow users to carbon-copy the email being sent to users outside of the distribution list. Should we use BCC?
Do not use BCC when sending to a group distribution list. If group distribution emails are sent via BCC, it will fail. To be precise: BCC works if only ONE SINGLE distribution list is in the BCC field. If multiple distribution lists are in BCC, only one of the lists in the BCC field will be sent. The distribution list alias, and the other recipients, are always hidden from the recipient of a distribution list email because Veracross distribution lists send one email per recipient.
Who will the email come from?
An email sent via a distribution list will come from the sender’s name with m@veracross.com. The sender’s name will be listed as the Nickname/Last Name we have on file in Veracross (or First Name/Last Name if no nickname is present). For example:
From: “John Smith” <m@veracross.com>
Reply-To: “John Smith” <johnsmith@host.com>
The email is sent from m@veracross.com both for e-mail security purposes and to decrease the likelihood a spam filter would block it.
Can I send to multiple distribution lists at once?
Yes. In addition, the mail server will attempt to be smart and make sure everyone only receives one email, even if they are on multiple distribution lists.
Can I send to distribution lists and non-distribution lists at the same time, and what happens when I do?
Yes, however, the Veracross mail server will only send mail for ‘@mail.veracross.com’ addresses (i.e. Veracross distribution lists). Emails to any other address (e.g. hotmail, gmail, yahoo, etc.) will go through the mail servers for those domains. For example, gmail will send mail to gmail addresses, hotmail will send mail to hotmail addresses, etc.. This is no different than if you simply sent one email to a Gmail address and a Hotmail address from your inbox.
However, this means three things:
- If the email has merge fields, those fields will NOT be merged for the recipients that were listed apart from the distribution list.
- The message will NOT be tracked for these additional individuals, even if their email address exists for a person in the database. Only recipients in the distribution list will have the email tracked.
- Extra recipients WILL see the distribution list alias(es) included on the email (see What happens if a person hits Reply All).
What happens if a person hits ‘Reply All’ to a distribution list email?
If a person hits ‘Reply’ or ‘Reply All’ to an email they received from a distribution list, their response will be emailed directly to the sender only. If a person tries to copy the distribution list from their email and send it, they will be prevented from sending the message if they do not have permission to use distribution lists (see Who can send an email to a distribution list).