Composing, testing, and sending with PHPList
You start a mailing by selecting the users to be mailed and creating a PHPList with those users on it. Instructions for this first step are here.
Once you have created the list, you should go to PHPList at yoursiteurs/lists/admin (e.g. http://hrtemplate/lists/admin). Once there, you will have to sign in using the same user id and password you use to sign in to the back end of the Web site.
Once you are signed in to PHPList, you can check your list by going to "Lists" on the menu bar on the right-hand side. On the lists screen you will see the lists that are available and the number of users in each list. You can click on "view members" to see who's on the list.
When you are ready to mail, click on "send a message". You will see a screen with a number of tabs across the top. The first tab is labelled "Content" and allows you to enter your message. You should enter the subject line and the body of your message. Once you have done that be sure to click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page before you go to another tab. Otherwise you will lose your work.
When you have entered your message, you can send a test copy by typing an email address in the block next to the "Send Test Message" button and then pressing the button. The email address you use must be one that is on PHPList's list of users - that is it must be one that is in your Web site's database. Presumably your own would be a good choice.
When you press the "Send Test Message" button, PHPList will send two copies of your message: One in html format, the way you entered it, and the other in text format. This will let you check both formats.
When you are satisfied with the message, go to the "Lists" tab and select the list that you want to send the message to. Press "Save Changes" and then press "Send Message to the Selected Mailinglists". You should see a message that says: "Message queued for send". That means that PHPList is ready to send your email and will do so the next time the process queue is run, as explained in the next paragraph.
PHPList actually sends messages when it processes the mail message queue. The time when that happens is controlled by a setting on your server.
