Where is Email Setup?
Go to the Main Menu in Group Mail (above the Toolbar). Click on the Setup Menu and you'll find it listed as Email Setup (it's the first item on the menu). Click on the menu item.
What does it do?
This is where you tell the software how you would like it to send/deliver your messages.
Send Modes:
Group Mail supports a number of ways of delivering your messages using SMTP. Here is a brief out line of each mode and the pros and cons of using them.
This is the default send mode for Group Mail. Basically the software will send all messages through your ISPs (/Network Provider) SMTP Email Server. For dialup users or users with slow connections this is often the best choice. It also is suitable for users sending to an Internal mail server.
This mode is available to all Group Mail users (Free, Pro and Plus).
This option allows you to send your messages directly to your recipients email accounts without the need to use an SMTP Email Server. Sending directly is slower than using the Standard Send mode. Direct Send is useful for users who do not have access to their typical server setup (if they are travelling for instance).
This mode is available to Group Mail Pro and Plus users only.
This send mode offers the best of both standard sending and direct sending as well as a host of other features. Using Express sending you can send up to 64 messages simultaneously. The Express Sending option works in the background and makes working with Group Mail a lot more responsive when you are doing large mailings. This send mode is suitable to fast connections.
This mode is available to Group Mail Plus users only.
High Speed Delivery is intended as a replacement to the Express Send mode. It offers far better integration with Group Mail and also allows scheduling. This send mode is suitable to all types of connections.
This mode is available to Group Mail Plus users only.
Setting Up
The first thing to do is choose the send mode you would like to use. To do this please select from the drop down list found beside the Send Modes label (under the label that says 'How do you want Group Mail to deliver your messages?')
Standard Send Mode - SMTP Server Send Setup
If you are using this send mode all messages will be sent through the email server that you specify (as SMTP Mail Server).
SMTP Mail Server: You should enter the address of the email server that will accept your email from you. If you do not know what this is then you should contact your ISP or network Administrator. Advanced Options: If you want to control the domain used when connecting to your mail server or if you want to turn off extended SMTP support or change the Port being used to access the mail server then you should click on the Advanced button.
Authentication: Proving who you are. Some email providers require that you prove your identity before they will accept email from you.
Requires
SMTP Authentication: If your email provider requires you to authenticate
your connection before sending your messages then you should enable this
option. Click on Setup to enter your username and password.
Requires POP3 Authentication: Some service providers require that you logon to your POP3 email account before sending. Enable this option and Group Mail will take care of it automatically. Click on Setup to enter your POP account details.
Timeout: How long should the software wait for a response from the configured server. We recommend leaving this at between 30 and 90 seconds.
Reconnect Every: This setting determines how many messages the software should send before creating a nice new fresh connection. Some mail servers have limits on the number of messages they will receive in a session, others just get plain cranky if you send too much and get slow and awkward and tend to have angry network administrators on the other end steaming. For typical dialup users the setting should be kept to 25 or under (unless otherwise informed by your ISP - some may only allow 5 or 10 messages per go). Users using in an house mail server should be able to push this a lot higher.
This setting often needs a bit of tweaking before you get the best results from it.
Pause then for: If you want to space out your mailing over a period of time you can setup a pause here. Typically no pause is required, however your network administrator may prefer it if you spread a large mailing out over as much time as you can. Please note that this setting is used in conjunction with the "Reconnect Every" setting above.
To make sure that everything is working you should click on the Test Settings button - this will allow you to send a test message using the settings you have just entered.
All messages sent using this mode will be delivered to your recipients mail box directly. Please note that this option is slightly slower than sending through a local server. Mail sent in Direct mode from free ISP accounts is not treated with much respect by other ISPs and can sometimes be filtered as Spam.
DNS Server: This is the address of the domain name service server which translates domain names into IP addresses. Group Mail will examine your system automatically to determine this setting. To manually do this click on the Query system button. If no address comes up then you should contact your ISP or Network Administrator. Please note that if you change ISPs at a later stage you should come back here and update the DNS setting. The address can only be entered in IP format (numerical - xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)
Timeout: How long should the software wait for a response from the configured server. We recommend leaving this at between 30 and 90 seconds.
Retry on Failure: When you are sending in Direct mode it is not uncommon for some of the recipient mail servers to be too busy to accept a connection from you. To better cope with this it is recommended that you enable this option and set the retry attempts option at 3. (Most mail servers will retry every few hours for several days!).
Route through SMTP Mail Server on failure: If Group Mail is unable to send directly to the current recipient you can set it up to route your message through your SMTP Server (please note that you need to have the Standard Send mode option properly configured for this to work). This option is really helpful where you want to spread the messages being sent between your mail server and the direct connection.
To make sure that everything is working you should click on the Test Settings button - this will allow you to send a test message using the settings you have just entered.
Send your messages using the high speed SMTP Express Send engine (only available in Group Mail Plus). It should be noted that this send method is designed to handle large volumes of email in the background. For it to work properly you will need a robust system with plenty of free disk space. It is recommended that users enable and use the Fixed Route option when sending their email with this option.
Processing Tab
Number of Connections to use: Select the number of connections you would like the Express engine to use when sending your messages (we recommend starting with a low number and working upwards). If you are on a slow connection or have less than 128 mb of memory or are using Windows 95, 98 or ME then we suggest that you use 10 connections or lower. Using more connections may actually slow down the delivery process as each connection will actually content for bandwidth. Windows NT or 2000 (and higher) with 256mb of memory and with fast net connections (like T1, please note that many cable, DSL and Satellite services are asynchronous which means your out bound connection is shared and is much slower that your inbound one) can use all 64 connections. If you find that it is running slower than expected then you should reduce the number of connections and see what number gives you the optimal performance.
Retry failed messages every: Use this setting to determine how long the software should wait before retrying failed messages. 1 Hour typically works out best here. If you are doing a large mailing you may need to increase this delay so that retries don't interfere with the main mailing and slow it down.
Stop Retrying after: Determine the length of time the software should retry messages for. We recommend a minimum of 24 hours.
Notifications Tab
Save failed messages to the failed message folder: If a message cannot be delivered then with this option you can force a copy of the message to be saved to the failed messages folder (found in the SMTP Express folder, under the Group Mail folder).
Send bounce message to sender: Like above, expect a copy of the message is returned to the sender.
Enable logging of all send events: This option creates a log file which shows exactly what happens with each message that is sent or failed, right down to command level. This can be helpful for advanced users who wish to debug delivery issues they may be encountering.
Routing Tab
DNS Server: This is the address of the domain name service server which translates domain names into IP addresses. Group Mail will examine your system automatically to determine this setting. To manually do this click on the Query system button. If no address comes up then you should contact your ISP or Network Administrator. Please note that if you change ISPs at a later stage you should come back here and update the DNS setting. The address can only be entered in IP format (numerical - xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx)
Route all email through this SMTP Mail Server: This option forces all messages to be delivered through the specified email server, instead of being delivered directly to each recipient. It is recommended that you use this option if you have access to an in house mail server - let it do what it's configured to do - deliver your messages. Please note that only one connection will be used in this case so as not to over load the server.
Extra Information Tab
If you require more specific information regarding the Express Sending engine you will find it here - see the link to the SMTP Express help file for more details.
See the instructions for Standard Send or Direct Send for instructions on how to setup the HSD send mode.
The two options available in HSD are almost identical to the standard and direct send options explained above. The only differences being:
Connections: This controls the number of messages that should be sent simultaneously. If you are on a slow connection or sending through a dedicated email server we recommend that you reduce this to a value of 10 or lower. The current maximum is 64.
POP Authentication: Is currently not supported in HSD mode. What you should do if you need to POP authenticate is set your email client to auto check your account every few minutes.
DNS Setup: To configure an alternative DNS server to use for sending you need to go to the Setup Dialog in the HSD console.
Advantages of using HSD send mode over the others include speed, enhanced logging, scheduling. Scheduling is possible from the Prepare to Send screen if you are using this mode - just click on the Send Later button.
HSD Send mode is the recommended send mode for all Group Mail Plus users.