problems with mailing list in mail & address book

Question

Level 1

15 points

problems with mailing list in mail & address book

I have all my email in address book and I update my mass email list every few months. The problem is that not everyone wants to be in my email list so I have them excluded from my list which means updating my list is a bit more onerous--I cannot just cut and paste my entire email list and put it into a new mass email list.

So here are my questions:

1. how can I update this list without having to do it one by one?

2. is there a way address book automatically excludes those people who have no email in their contact info?

3. if there is no way to do this in address book, is there a third party software that does this? (ie. that will know which addresses are already present, which are not to be added and so forth)

Thanks in advance!

Posted on Apr 20, 2011 7:39 AM

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Answer 1

captfred

Level 7

26,422 points

Apr 20, 2011 8:41 AM in response to disfasia

I would create a new "smart group" to define a list of just your criteria. Then mail to the smart group. A Smart group is just a dynamic search of your addressbook to include a subset.

So, your smartgroup could read "not contained in exclusion group". Drag anyone opting out to the exclusion group.

Or it could contain just contacts with "email address contains @" etc.

Many different possiblities.

Regards,

Captfred

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Answer 2

disfasia Author

Level 1

15 points

Apr 20, 2011 12:48 PM in response to disfasia

How would I do this? It seems the search function in Address Book is not that complex?

Thanks.

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Answer 3

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Apr 20, 2011 12:54 PM in response to disfasia

Open address book, select >file>new smart group, in the resultant dialog there are 4 fields, Smart Group Name (call it what you like), below that, in the left most field enter 'email', leave the center field at 'contains' and enter an @ sign in the last (rightmost) field. You'll get a folder with the name you chose containing only cards with email addresses.

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Answer 4

disfasia Author

Level 1

15 points

Apr 20, 2011 1:50 PM in response to disfasia

Thanks so much for all your help!

Cheers!

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Answer 5

disfasia Author

Level 1

15 points

Apr 20, 2011 2:34 PM in response to disfasia

I notice there is no way to exclude addresses where the business is checked (under the name). Can anyone think of a way around this?

Thanks!

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Answer 6

captfred

Level 7

26,422 points

Apr 20, 2011 2:48 PM in response to disfasia

Just add another condition by pressing the + sign on the right. "Company" "is not set".

Make sure the it must match "all" conditions.

Regards,

Captfred

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Answer 7

disfasia Author

Level 1

15 points

Apr 20, 2011 2:50 PM in response to disfasia

Thanks. Yes, I had done that but it doesn't work. You see, in order to remember someone, I will write their profession or "crazy woman with green hair" to remind me. BUT I don't check the box for company. I only check the company box when it is a company and this filter doesn't seem to distinguish between the two. Any ideas?

Thanks again!

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Answer 8

captfred

Level 7

26,422 points

Apr 20, 2011 3:05 PM in response to disfasia

hummm, Sounds like the rule isn't looking at the check box but a value in the field. Not knowing the criteria you need it's hard to give a solution. Maybe add a field to the template in Address book > preferences > Template tab > example "nickname". Use that field to seperate the email groups..

Captfred

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Answer 9

disfasia Author

Level 1

15 points

Apr 20, 2011 6:28 PM in response to disfasia

Thanks so much!

Cheers!

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