[[FrenchPhplistDocumentation Phplist Documentation]]
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===== Message Functions =====


>>**Documentation**:
	- [[SendMessageInfo Send a message]]: Includes several tabs:
		- [[SendMessageInfo Message Content]]
		- [[SendMessageFormatInfo Message Format]]
		- [[SendMessageAttachInfo Attach Files to message]]
		- [[SendMessageSchedulingInfo Schedule message]]
		- [[SendMessageCriteriaInfo Select Criteria]]
		- [[SendMessageListsInfo Select Lists]]
		- [[SendMessageMiscInfo Miscellania]]
	- [[TemplatesInfo Create message templates]]
	- [[ListMessagesInfo List all messages]]
	- [[ProcessQueueInfo Process the Message Queue]]
	- [[MessageTracking Message tracking]]
	- [[MessageStatisticsInfo Message Statistics]]
	- [[Repetition Message Repetition]]
	- [[PhpListConfigBounces Bounces]]>>PHPlist allows you to **send a message to list(s) of users** (see [[ListAndUserFunctionsInfo 'What are lists and users?']])

In addition to being a simple mailing list system, PHPlist allows you to send targeted messages using **criteria**.  These criteria use the attributes and attribute values given by users (see [[ConfigureAttributesInfo 'What are attributes?']] and [[AttributeValuesInfo 'what are values?']])

You can include these values in the messages to make these messages more user-specific by using [[Placeholders placeholders]].

You can create [[TemplatesInfo templates]] for your future messages. 

Once your messages are sent, you can **view messages**, view **statistics** on how many messages were sent, how many of them were opened by users, how many users clicked links provided in the messages, etc. (see [[MessageStatisticsInfo Message Statistics]])


===Basic rules===

To send a message using Phplist, there are a minimum of four rules to follow:
~1) You have to have a message to send: you can't send an empty message! So the [[SendMessageInfo Message Content]] tab must be appropriately filled in.
~1) You have to choose one or several lists you will send the message to. So you must choose at least one list in the [[SendMessageListsInfo Select Lists]] tab.
~1) Do not forget to click on #%Save changes#% when you go from one tab to the next.
~1) You have to [[ProcessQueueInfo process the message queue]] to actually send out the message.

At any point, you can send a **test message** to see what the actual message would look like.  Note: whenever you send a test message, none of the rules above apply. It is highly recommended to send yourself test messages if you are unfamiliar with Phplist. Please note that a test message will **not** take into account any [[SendMessageCriteriaInfo Criteria]], but it **will** replace placeholders by the values of the file of the user specified in the address field.


===Tips===
~1) Always send yourself a **test message** before sending our your message. This is particularly true if you send out complex messages with [[Placeholders placeholders]] and/or HTML formatting.
~1) Try using **[[Placeholders placeholders]]** whenever you can. This is useful to make your emails more user-specific.
~1) Allow people to return to their personal file by adding a **[PREFERENCES]** placeholder somewhere in your message.
~1) Invite your newsletter readers to send a copy of the newsletter to someone they know might be interested by using the phpList's [[ForwardToFriend Forward]] feature.


**Related pages**
~-[[SendMessageInfo Send a message]]
~-[[Placeholders Using placeholders]]
~-[[ForwardToFriend Forwarding a message]]
~-[[MessageTracking Message tracking]]
~-[[TemplatesInfo Templates]]
~-[[ConfigureAttributesInfo What are attributes?]]
~-[[Repetition Message Repetition]]


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CategoryDocumentation