I continue to be amazed by all the gems that I find on the Mac in order to accomplish tasks that make one’s life easier. First off, to all of you that are reading my blog for the first time, you should be aware that all of my Mac tips are based on the Leopard OS. Â So, some of what I write about may not work for previous versions of Mac’s operating system.
If you are like most freelancers, you spend an insane amount of time building a mailing list for the simple purpose of informing your readers, clients, customers, as well as hoping that your mailing list readers will spread the word about you. Some freelancers that I know, would rather use Microsoft Outlook or Thunderbird to maintain their mailing list. I on the other hand would rather use a web based software, but to each his own.
For those of you who would rather use your Mac to build and maintain a mailing list, then this post is for you. This is not going to be a ground breaking post but just an addition to knowledge you probably already have. Some of you probably use Mail to send updates to your mailing list either by entering email addresses one by one or copying all the email addresses from a previous email. However, there is a better way of handling it.
First, you will need to create a distribution list or a “Group” as Address Book calls it. Â Highlight the new distribution list you just created and then in the second pane to the right, enter all of your contacts. Now, when you call up Mail, you will want to use the Bcc to send an email to your distribution list. Â All you have to do is start typing the name of the distribution list you created in Address Book, hit enter or tab, and everyone in that distribution list will appear. Sometimes the distribution list will not expand to show everyone’s email address – which I like better – but nonetheless it is still picking up the distribution list you created. Like I mentioned earlier, this is not ground breaking, but even the smallest thing can make a busy person’s life better.
Addendum: I thought it proper that I would post an update to what I stated before. Â Above, I stated, “Sometimes the distribution list will not expand to show everyone’s email address – which I like better – but nonetheless it is still picking up the distribution list you created.” Â Mail has a feature in which you can make sure that the group *does not* expand. If you go to Mail Preferences > Composing, under Addressing, there are three options. Â The second option is “When sending to a group, show all member addresses.” Â If you uncheck this option, then your distribution list will not expand, which is useful for those who may not want to see a long list of email addresses when composing an email. (Added February 9, 2009 @ 10:46 P.M.)
Tags: address book, distribution list, email distribution, email list, mac tips, mailing list, newsletter