Sympa Mailing List Quick Start Guide

Logging In

You must log into FAU’s Sympa website in order to use it to create lists, subscribe to lists and manage your preferences. To log in:

1. Go to https://lists.fau.edu
2. Click on the “Login” button in the upper right side of the page.
3. Your username is your FAUNet ID and password (the same one that you use to log into the network and access email).
4. Your email address will display in the upper left corner of the page.

Subscribing to a List

1. Log into FAU's Sympa website at https://lists.fau.edu.
2. Click on a list category that matches the list you wish to join. A list of available mailing lists will be displayed.
3. Click the link for the list you wish to subscribe to.
4. On the left side of the page, click Subscribe.
5. You are subscribed to the list and you will receive a confirmation email message.

Unsubscribing from a List

1. Log into FAU’s Sympa website at https://lists.fau.edu.
2. Click the link for the list you wish to be removed from.
3. On the left side of the page, click Unsubscribe.
4. You are unsubscribed from the list and you will receive a confirmation email message.

Sending a Message to a List

To participate in a list you send an email message to the mailing list’s address. You may compose from your own email client, such as Outlook, or from within FAU’s Sympa website.
To compose from your email client:

1. In your email client click on New Email (or what-ever you normally click on to start composing a new message).
2. In the To field, type the list email address (e.g. LISTNAME@lists.fau.edu).
3. Fill in the subject line.
4. Write in the message body.
5. Click Send. Your message will be sent to the list.

To post to a list from within FAU’s Sympa website:

1. Log into FAU’s Sympa website.
2. Click the link for the list you wish to post to.
3. Click Post.
4. In the mail form, fill in the subject line.
5. Write in the message body.
6. Click Send to the selected recipient.

Creating a New List

1. Log into FAU’s Sympa website.
2. At the top of the page, click the Create list tab.
3. In the List name field, type the list name using lowercase letters.
4. In the List type field, select a list type.
5. In the Subject field, type the subject of your mailing list. The subject appears under the list name in the List of lists as a reference.
6. In the Topics field, click on the down-arrow and select a topic that best describes your list.
7. In the Description field, type a description of your mailing list.
8. Click the Submit your creation request button.
9. Your mailing list will not appear until it has been approved by the listmaster. You will be sent an email notification when the list is activated.

NOTE: The name you choose for your list will be typed every time a message is posted. It is recommended that you choose a relatively short name, using common abbreviations if necessary. Do not include any characters in your list name other than A-Z, 0-9 (underscores and dashes are also acceptable). Special characters such as & (ampersand) will not be accepted. Do not use periods or spaces in the list name.

Adding a Subscriber to list

1. Log into FAU’s Sympa website.
2. Select the list under Your Lists then click Admin -->Manage Subscribers. A page with current subscribers as well as add and search capabilities will open.
3. In the Add a user field type in the e-mail address of the user, you want to add.
4. If you do not want your user to receive a welcome notification message then check the quiet box.
5. Click the Add button to add the user.

Adding multiple subscribers at once

1. Log into FAU’s Sympa website.
2. If you've got a list of subscribers' addresses and you'd like to add them all at once select the list under Your Lists then click Admin -->Manage Subscribers.
3. From the Manage Subscribers page, click the Multiple Add link
4. On the Multiple add page, you'll see a text box with some example addresses and names in it. Replace the
5. contents of this text box with the addresses, one per line, of the users you wish to subscribe to the list
6. Click the Add Subscribers button to add the users.

Viewing List Members

On some lists, list members are visible to subscribers. If you wish to see who else is a list member, or you want to find another member’s email address (if allowed):

1. Log into FAU’s Sympa website and click on the list you wish to view.
2. In the List info menu on the left, click Review members.
3. The members are displayed alphabetically by address.

Adding or removing moderator/editor

1. Log into FAU’s Sympa website.
2. Select the list under Your Lists then click Admin --> Edit List Config --> List Definition.
3. Go to the section named Moderators (editor).
4. To add a new moderator, fill out the empty set of entry fields in this section. Only the email address is required, though you may want to put their name in so that users see it instead of their address
5. The private information field is for whatever information you'd like to put in there, such as a telephone number, and is only visible to other list owners.
6. Removing a moderator is simply a matter of deleting their email address, name, and private information
7. Once you've made your changes, click the Update button on the bottom of the page to save the new settings.

List Archives

All messages sent to members of a mailing list are also saved to a list archive. The archive allows members of a list to revisit postings and discussions. All list messages are saved to the archive as soon as they are posted. To review the archive:

1. Log into FAU’s Sympa website and click on the list you wish to view.
2. In the List info menu on the left, click Archive. The posted messages are listed.
3. Click the message you wish to view.

You can also search for specific messages in the archive by date (month/year) or by typing in a word or phrase. Click on Advanced search for additional search options.