Auto-Mail Software

The mass email software tool that replaces autoresponders

Auto-Mail Software Support Page

Uses for this product		At-a-glance high-level list of tasks you can achieve with the Abacus Auto-Mail software.
About the Abacus Auto-Mail software		What can it do for your business? "The money is in the list!"
Typical tasks -- Create an Email Campaign -- Project Remote Settings -- Changing File Permissions -- Managing Subscribers -- Send a General Broadcast		Detailed hands-on walk-through of common tasks you'll want to achieve, keystroke by keystroke, and with corresponding mouse operations.
Keyboard shortcuts		Summary of all keyboard shortcuts for maximum speed and efficiency in your file-renaming operations.
Mouse shortcuts		Summary of convenient mouse-click shortcuts.
Miscellaneous		Additional features and benefits of the Abacus Auto-Mail software.

Uses for this product:

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Create a mail list of prospective customers for any products or services.

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Maintain contact with prospects and customers by means of series of sequential pre-written e-mail messages, sent at predefined intervals.

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Send mass emails to a list in one shot whenever the occasion demands, e.g., to announce a change of contact, web site redesign, new product line, etc.

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About the Abacus Auto-Mail software — What can it do for your business?

Feature		Benefit
Enables you to build a mail list completely automatically. Actually, that's wrong. YOU don't build it; YOUR VISITORS build it for you! You just put an e-mail capture form on your web site and your visitors add themselves to the list.		Increases your customer base without any effort from you or your employees. Builds an "opt in" contact list that grows forever, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, to which you can send marketing and sales information, newsletters, product launch information, etc., etc.
Enables you to send email messages to your prospects and customers at predefined intervals. Actually, that's wrong, too. YOU don't send them; they send themselves!		Creates and manages a "sales funnel" that accepts an unlimited number of prospective customers, a proportion of whom will buy your products or services. The process is continuous and everlasting.
The Result: A web site with a high conversion ratio that produces a constant stream of revenue from visitors. The Reasons: 1. Your prospective customers approach YOU, rather than YOU go looking for THEM. 2. Active communication builds a trusted relationship that makes selling much easier.

The user interface of the Abacus Auto-Mail software has been designed by an HCI expert for intuitive usability.		The Abacus Auto-Mail software conforms to the legal requirement for software to be accessible to people with disabilities.

Follow a few simple steps, and you can have your first email campaign up and running within an hour or two. Then you can sit back and watch things happen. "Rinse and repeat".		The Auto-Mail client-side software runs on your computer with a Windows operating system. The Auto-Mail server-side software runs on your web site with a Perl-enabled Linux operating system.

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Typical tasks

Short-cut keystroke combinations in are shown in < > angle brackets.
Maximize browser window to see images at full size, otherwise distortion may occur.

Below is a detailed version of how to create a mail campaign on the "sales funnel" principle. For a summary, see "The Five Steps to Create a Mail Campaign". To get an idea of what to write in a mail campaign, see the "Sales Funnel DEMO".

HOW TO CREATE A MAIL CAMPAIGN

Stage 1: (watch video)

Create an AutoEmailer -- An "AutoEmailer" defines the common data of a mail campaign.

Step 1

Set the local folder

A. (see image)

Click the 'Local folder' button <Alt>+<C>, to open the 'Browse For Folder' dialogue.

B. (see image)

Navigate to the folder where your web site files are located.

Note:

The next two actions create a new folder for a new Project. Once the Project exists, just select the Project folder in future. (There is one Project for one web site.)
A Project can contain an unlimited number of AutoEmailer e‑mail campaigns, and each campaign can contain up to 999 Messages.

C. (see image)

Click the 'Make New Folder' button <Alt>+<M>, to create a new folder inside your web site folder.

D. (see image)

Click the "New Folder", to put it into 'Edit' mode, and change its name to "autoemailer". Then click the 'OK' button.

Result

You've set the Project folder for this web site. All email campaigns will be stored automatically in their own folders inside this Project folder.

Step 2

Add a new AutoEmailer

A. (see image)

Type the name of the new email campaign in the 'New' textbox, and click the 'Add new AutoEmailer' button <Alt>+<A>.

Result (see image)

You've created a new, empty email campaign.

Note:

Once an email campaign has been created, it can be selected from the drop-down list in future <Alt>+<.>, <Arrow keys>. (There can be many email campaigns for each Project.)

Step 3

Configure an AutoEmailer

A. (see image)

Type the name of the email sender in the 'Sender's name' textbox <Alt>+<'>. This name appears in the 'From' field of the Messages.

B. (see image)

Type the sender's email address in the 'Sender's e-mail' textbox <Alt>+<->. This address appears in the 'From' field of the Messages.

Note:

This e-mail address is for show only. It's not used to send the Messages. If you don't want your Subscribers to contact you directly, leave it blank.

C. (see image)

Type in the 'Redirect ... URL' textbox the address of the web page where you want your visitors to go to as soon as they've filled in your form and clicked the “Subscribe” button.

Leave the 'Unsubscribe link' checkbox marked, to conform to anti-spam laws. Unmark it <Alt>+<K>, to remove the 'Unsubscribe' link from Subscribers' Messages and from your reports.

Leave the 'Send report' checkbox marked, so that you receive daily reports of Subscriber activity and Messages sent. Unmark it, if you don't want to receive reports.

F. (see image)

Click the 'Save settings' button <Alt>+<V>.

Result (see image)

You've configured this AutoEmailer.

Stage 2: (watch video)

Write a series of Messages -- A "Message" is sent to all the Subscribers on a list as an e‑mail.

Step 1

Add a new Message

A. (see image)

Type the subject of the email in the 'Subject' textbox <Alt>+<J>.

B. (see image)

Type the message of the email in the 'Body' textbox <Alt>+<Y>.

Tip:

The "place-holder" buttons insert a place-holder at the caret position in the 'Subject' or 'Body' textbox, whichever had the focus last.

*Click the...*	*to insert the...*
'First name' button <Alt>+<F>	Recipient's first name
'Full name' button <Alt>+<N>	Recipient's full name
'E-mail address' button <Alt>+<E>	Recipient's e-mail address
'Current date' button <Alt>+<D>	Current date

Tip:

To maximize the possibility that hyperlinks are added automatically to web addresses in the message, ensure that:
(a) The web address has the prefix "http://" or "www." or both of these;
(b) The web address is flanked by white space, e.g., the 'space' character or a new paragraph. Do not follow a web address immediately by any punctuation;
(c) No more than one web address appears in the same paragraph.

C. (see image)

Click the 'Add message' button <Alt>+<M>.

Result (see image)

You've added a new Message. The new Message number appears in the 'Message #' drop-down list <Alt>+<#>, where any Message can be displayed by selecting its number.

Step 2

Add more Messages, edit, rearrange, delete Messages, etc.

A. (see image)

Add several more Messages, as in Step 1.

Tip:

Add a series of Messages for your Subscribers, following the advice in the hands-on Internet Marketing training course used and recommended by Abacus Data Systems.

B. (see image)

Edit a Message: After editing a Message Subject or Body text, or its number of days' delay after the previous Message, click the 'Save message' button <Alt>+<S> to save it to your computer.

Ca. (see image)

Rearrange Messages: To change the order of Messages, click the 'View all messages' button to open the 'All Messages' table.

Cb. (see image)

Select a Message by clicking the leftmost column or pressing the <F4> key, and click the 'Move Up' <Alt>+<U> or 'Move Down' <Alt>+<D> button, to move the Message up or down respectively.

Note:

The number of days' delay between Messages is unaffected when the order is changed. In the example given, Message #5 has been moved up to position #3, but the 2 days' delay for the third Message still applies.

Cc. (see image)

Click the 'OK' button <Alt>+<O> to save all the changes and return to the main interface.

Result (see image)

The order of the Messages has been rearranged.

Da. (see image)

Delete a Message: Select the Message to be deleted, and click the 'Delete message' button <Alt>+<L>.

Result (see image 1)
(see image 2)

The selected Message has been removed from your computer.

Db. (see image)

Renumber Messages: After a Message has been deleted, you can renumber the remaining Messages, to close up the gap in the sequence, by clicking the '1...' button <Alt>+<1>.

Result (see image)

The Messages have been renumbered in sequence from 1.

Note:

Renumbering the Messages is for cosmetic purposes only, in that an unbroken sequence may be easier to work with. Operationally, the Messages do not need to be renumbered in this way, because they are renumbered automatically before the campaign upload process. (See next Stage).

Stage 3: (watch video)

Upload an E-mail campaign -- Files are uploaded to a web site, whence the Messages are sent to Subscribers.

Step 1

Define the remote settings for your web host

A. (see image)

Click the 'Remote settings' button <Alt>+<R>, to open the 'Project Remote Settings' form.

B. (see image)

Fill in the fields in the 'Project Remote Settings' form according to the requirements of your web host, and click the 'Save to file' button <Alt>+<S>. A detailed explanation of how to fill in the fields is given below in the 'Project Remote Settings' section.

Note:

Once the data in the form have been saved, they can be retrieved in future by clicking the 'Load from file' button <Alt>+<L>.

Note:

The next action needs to be done only once for a new Project. Thereafter, just click the 'OK' button to store the data in memory and close the form.

C. (see image)

Click the 'Upload' button <Alt>+<D>.

Result (see image 1)
(see image 2)

The AutoEmailer system files that process the sending of the Messages and the reports are uploaded to your web site, and an attempt is made to configure them automatically, by changing their file permissions.

Note:

If the files are not uploaded or the file permissions are not changed successfully at the first attempt, see the 'Some Upload Errors' section below.

Step 2

Upload the e-mail campaign files to your web host

A. (see image)

Click the 'Upload' button <Alt>+<P>

Result (see image)

The Messages and other necessary files are uploaded to your web site, ready for sending to the Subscribers on your email list.

Stage 4: (watch video)

Design a Subscription form -- Web site visitors fill in a form which adds them to the e‑mail list automatically.

Step 1

Design the form

A. (see image)

Click the 'Design form' button <Alt>+<O>, to open the 'Subscription Form' form.

B. (see image)

Fill in the design fields in the 'Subscription Form' form according to your taste.

C. (see image)

Click the 'Refresh' button <Alt>+<R>, to display the form with the current design data.

D. (see image)

Click the 'Copy' button <Alt>+<Y>, to copy the form to the Clipboard.

Paste the form into your web page's source (HTML) code at the desired location, and save the web page.

Result

Your web page contains a form that will add visitors to your e‑mail list automatically.

Note:

Clicking the 'HTML' tab <Ctrl>+<H> exposes the form's HTML code, which can be edited directly, if you want to customize the form with more than the basic attributes. For example, you may wish to add an image to the form. If you edit the code directly, click the 'Preview' tab <Ctrl>+<P> to see how it looks. When you're satisfied, click the 'Copy' button <Alt>+<Y>.

Note:

There's no need to specify text fonts, because the text will conform to the default font of your web page, <div>, <td>, etc., where the form is pasted.

Using a custom form (optional)

F. (see image)

Click the 'Custom' button <Alt>+<M>, to open the 'Custom Form' form.

G. (see image)

Paste or type the code for your form into the textbox, and select the entire line beginning with "<form " and ending with ">". Click the 'Replace' button <Alt>+<R>.

Result (see image)

The original "<form>" line is replaced by special code lines to make your custom form work with the AutoEmailer.

H. (see image)

Ensure that the 'Name' and 'Email' input fields are present in the form, and that they have the 'name' attribute set to "user" and "email" respectively. Click the 'Close' button <Esc>.

Result (see image 1)
(see image 2)

Your custom form is ready to work with the AutoEmailer. Click the 'Copy' button <Alt>+<Y>, to copy the form to the Clipboard, and paste the form into your web page's source (HTML) code at the desired location.

Note:

If you close the 'Subscription Form' form and then test the form (see next Step), the custom form will appear in the test web page and behave like the default form design. If the 'Subscription Form' form is reopened, the custom form is no longer present and is replaced by the default form design. Therefore, if you want to keep the working custom form design, you should copy the HTML code from the 'Custom Form' form or the "testform.html" test web page, and paste it elsewhere, e.g., a Notepad file.

Tip:

Marketing tests have shown that simple forms have the best results.

Step 2 (optional)

Test the form

A. (see image)

Click the 'Test form' button <Alt>+<T>.

B. (see image)

Click the 'OK' button <Enter>.

Result

A test web page, containing the form, is created, uploaded and displayed in a browser window.

C. (see image)

Test the form's operation by entering a name and email address, and clicking the button.

Result

You, as a prospect, should be directed to the web site specified in the AutoEmailer settings, and receive the first Message you wrote as the administrator; and you, as the administrator, should receive a report that you, as a prospect, have just signed up.

Note:

Because the form in the 'Subscription Form' form is a fully working form, you can also test that it works from there.

Stage 5: (watch video)

Pull the Trigger! -- The "Trigger" is a line of HTML code that fires the entire AutoEmailer "sales funnel" process daily.

Step 1

Copy and paste the Trigger

A. (see image)

Click the 'Show trigger' button <Alt>+<G>, to open the 'Trigger' form.

B. (see image)

Click the 'Copy' button <Alt>+<Y>, to copy the line of HTML code to the Clipboard.

C. (see image)

Paste the line of HTML code into your web page(s) anywhere between the <body> and </body> tags.

Result

Whenever the first of any web pages containing the line of HTML code is displayed in a browser each day, the AutoEmailer system software is triggered, and the day's Messages and reports are sent out.

Note: (see image)

The web pages can be on any web site with any domain name. All you're trying to do is maximize the chances that any one of those pages is visited per day. If you don't have any other web sites or pages, this line of code is already inserted automatically into the form that you designed; so, each day when the form is displayed, the process will be triggered.

Note:

Because the form in the 'Subscription Form' form is a fully working form, the process is also triggered from there, when it is opened in the AutoEmailer software.

Tip:

If the form page is not visited daily by regular traffic, just visit it yourself once a day. If you make your form page one of your browser's default home pages, the Message and report sequence will be triggered automatically when you open your browser each day.

Note:

If a day is missed, the process resumes the next time a page containing the trigger code is visited.

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Project Remote Settings -- Some Upload Errors -- Web Host Examples

The Abacus AutoEmailer software is divided into two parts: the interface installed on your computer, with which you create and manage your e‑mail campaigns, and some system files that reside on your web server, which handle the control and dispatch of the e‑mail messages to your subscribers.

Therefore you need to upload these system files to your web site. This task needs to be done only once per project, i.e., web site. Thereafter it must be done only if you change any of the details, such as your FTP password, e-mail address, desired default subscriber name, etc. These files are used by all the AutoEmailer e‑mail campaigns in the project.

Filling in the Project Remote Settings fields

Look first at the 'Web Host Examples' section below, to see whether your web host is in the list. If it is not, try the default data (which often work). If the system files still do not upload, or your test e‑mail Messages do not arrive, get the correct data from your web host or web server administrator.

Web address: Type the full web address (URL) of the web site where the project is (to be) located.

Note 1: The protocol prefix ("http://", "https://", "ftp://" or "ftps://") MUST be present.

Note 2: If the URL does not include "www.", the system files will upload, but the file permissions may not be changed automatically, meaning that you'd need to change them manually. Including the "www." in the 'Web address' field, however, allows the files to be uploaded and the file permissions to be changed automatically at some web hosts but not at others. Therefore it is better to include the "www." in the web address. Even with WordPress web site URLs which are not prefixed by "www.", still include the "www." in the 'Web address' field.

FTP host name: This is usually the domain name, prefixed by "ftp.".

Note: An IP address does not work here.

Host folder: This is the directory (folder) where the "home" page is located on your web site. Many web hosts specify this directory as "public_html". Some specify it as "htdocs". If nothing is specified, the "root" directory of the site is assumed to be the location of the "home" page.

If there are several web sites in the same web hosting package, each may be in its own sub-directory (sub-folder) having the name of the domain (without the ".com", etc. extension), e.g., "domainname1", "domainname2". If you have more than one web site in the same web hosting package, therefore, check the file and directory structure with the file management tool in the Control Panel of your web host, or an FTP application such as Filezilla.

Include in upload paths?: Choose "Yes" if the 'CGI folder', usually "cgi‑bin", is physically located in the 'Host folder' in your web space. Choose "No" if it is not.

Note 1: If the systems files do not upload, or the file permissions are not changed automatically, try again, reversing the "Yes" or "No" setting.

Note 2: When uploading the "test form" after you've uploaded the e-mail messages and are ready to test the project, the AutoEmailer software will check for the existence of the 'Host folder'. If it exists, the "test form" will be uploaded there; otherwise it will be uploaded to the "root" directory, regardless of the "Yes" or "No" setting.

CGI folder path: The default "cgi‑bin" value usually finds the directory on your web server where script files are run. If the system files do not upload, it may be that your web host uses a different path or directory for Perl script files. If so, ask them what this is, and type it in this textbox.

Note: Some web hosts do not create a "cgi-bin" directory automatically when the web site is created. In such cases, the AutoEmailer software will attempt to create it for you. If it fails, try again, reversing the "Yes / No" setting of the 'Include in upload paths?' option buttons. If this fails, you must create the "cgi-bin" directory manually, either in the 'Host folder' or in the root directory. At least one of these should work. Use the file management tool in the Control Panel of your web host, or an FTP application such as Filezilla to do this.

User name: This is your FTP user name, which may or may not be the same as your log‑in user name for your web hosting Control Panel.

Password: This is your FTP password, which may or may not be the same as your log‑in password for your web hosting Control Panel.

E-mail address: This is the e-mail address to which the Administrator reports will be sent.

E-mail program: This is the path to the web host's e‑mail server program that physically sends the e‑mails to your list. It is almost always the default "/usr/sbin/sendmail" value. If you find that your messages do not arrive during your testing, but everything else works fine, there's probably an error in this value. Ask your web host or web server administrator for the path to the e‑mail server program, and type it here.

Archive file name: This file resides in the "autoemailer" system directory on your web site, and contains the names and e‑mail addresses of every visitor who fills in and submits the subscription forms for every e‑mail campaign in the project. You can name this file to be relevant to the project, if you wish.

Note: The names and e‑mail addresses are never deleted from this file. There is a separate file for each AutoEmailer campaign that contains visitors' names and e‑mail addresses for the particular campaign, and controls the sending of the Messages. When you or the visitor clicks the "Unsubscribe" link in the report or message respectively, the visitor's details are removed from this campaign file, not the archive file.

Default subscriber name: If and when you import or type a list of subscribers into the 'Add subscribers manually' textbox in the main interface, they may or may not have names accompanying the e‑mail addresses. If a name is missing, it will be replaced with the 'Default subscriber name' specified.

Do you want Abacus to set up the AutoEmailer software for you?

As a last resort, in case you cannot get the AutoEmailer to work when you test the system, you can ask Abacus to install it for you. Please, try to do it yourself first. We must make a charge of $20 for this service, refundable if we cannot get it to work on your server. (Must be Linux operating system and run Perl scripts. Check that first.)

At the left, please provide the web address (URL) where the project will operate and the FTP host name.

Please provide also a FTP user name and password in the 'Instructions to Merchant' textbox by clicking the link "FTP user name and password" on the secure PayPal payment page, so that Abacus can log in to your FTP account.

Some Upload Errors

A FTP upload can fail for any one of many reasons at any time. It does not mean that the AutoEmailer software does not work!

The problem is often caused by too much transmission traffic on the Internet connection at some instant during the upload. This could be due to, for example, e‑mails being transmitted or downloaded, a browser being refreshed or running a video, installing software, updating virus definitions, or any other kind of Internet activity. The solution is usually to try again a few minutes later.

If uploading a file takes longer than a few seconds and then "times out", or you see an error message, such as "Too many connections from this IP" or "Login error", for example, or any other message that keeps recurring, close the AutoEmailer and restart it. This usually clears the errors.

If a problem persists, please report it to Abacus, so that we can fix it.

Web Host Examples

If your web host does not appear below, please e‑mail Abacus with the 'Project Remote Settings' values that work for your web host, and we'll add them to this list of examples.

On many web hosting servers using the Linux operating system (NOT Windows), the default values work. If yours does not work the first time, try again, reversing the "Yes / No" setting of the 'Include in upload paths?' option buttons and/or adding/omitting the "www." in the 'Web address' field. If all attempts fail, ask your web hosting company or administrator for the correct values. Below is a list of web hosting companies and the correct values, either tested by Abacus Data Systems or supplied by AutoEmailer users.

Web Host	Host folder	Include?	CGI folder	E-mail program
1&1	Root directory for account main web site -- leave blank; Sub-directory for additional web sites, e.g., "domainname1".	If root: irrelevant; If sub-directory: Yes	Default: cgi‑bin (not created by host)	Default: /usr/sbin/sendmail
FastHosts	htdocs	Yes	Default: cgi‑bin	Default: /usr/sbin/sendmail
GoDaddy	Root directory for account main web site -- leave blank; Sub-directory for additional web sites, e.g., "domainname1".	No	usr/bin/perl	Default: /usr/sbin/sendmail
Heart	Default: public_html	No	Default: cgi‑bin	Default: /usr/sbin/sendmail
Site 5	Default: public_html (each domain in multi-site account also)	No	Default: cgi‑bin	Default: /usr/sbin/sendmail
UK 2	Root directory-- leave blank	Irrelevant	Default: cgi‑bin (not created by host)	Default: /usr/sbin/sendmail

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Changing File Permissions

Web servers are fickle beasts. Some allow file permissions to be changed programmatically; others do not. Some display a bizarre error message like "The web address 'http://www.domainname1.com' was not found", even though you may have just uploaded the system files successfully to this very web site!

To change manually the permissions of files on a web site, you need to use the file management tool in the Control Panel of your web host, or an FTP application such as Filezilla. The example here shows Filezilla.

Note: The file permissions need to be changed only once, regardless of the number of times the system files are uploaded to your web site. Therefore, although the AutoEmailer's system files upload process always attempts to change the permissions automatically and you may still see a failure message, this part of the process and any failure message are irrelevant. In other words, once the file permissions have been changed, they are changed forever.

Navigate to the "autoemailer" sub-folder of the web site. This is almost always in the "cgi-bin" folder.

Select the three ".cgi" files, "activate.cgi", "ar.cgi" and "config.cgi".

Somewhere in the interface there should be a way to open a "File permissions..." dialog. In Filezilla, you right-click on the selected files to open a context menu.

Choose "File permissions..." to open the dialog.

When these files are uploaded to your web space by the AutoEmailer, they have the permissions set to the values you see here:

-- Anybody can read, i.e., see, the files.
-- Only the web site Owner can write to, i.e., edit, the files.

The 'Numeric value' of these settings is "644".

These three ".cgi" files, however, are not files that can be read, or seen, in a browser. They are program, or "executable", files. Therefore they must have their permissions changed so that they can be executed.

Either mark the three "Execute" checkboxes, or edit the 'Numeric value' so that it is "755" instead of "644". Both methods have the same effect.

Click the "OK" button to close the dialog.

Reopen the dialog, and just check that the permissions were indeed changed to "755". Although all web servers with the Linux operating system should allow changes to file permissions, it is always wise to check this. Web servers with the Windows operating system generally do not allow file permissions to be changed.

If the file permissions cannot be changed to be executable by the public, the AutoEmailer will not work.

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Managing Subscribers

Add Subscribers manually to an e-mail campaign

A. Option 1
(see image)

Type each Subscriber's name and e-mail address into the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox, separating the name from the e-mail address with the "|" character (vertical bar, commonly called the "pipe" character).

A. Option 2
(see image)

You can also paste a list of names and e-mail addresses directly from another source, such as a spreadsheet. If the names and e-mail addresses are separated by a <Tab> character (as they probably are, if copied from a spreadsheet), click the '<tab> to <pipe>' button, to change all the <Tab> characters to "pipe" characters.

B. (see image)

Click the 'Add subscribers' button, to add the new Subscribers to the current AutoEmailer email campaign and to the archive file.

Note:

Any e-mail addresses already existing in the archive file are filtered out, so that Subscribers do not receive duplicate Messages.

Note:

Subscribers with e-mail addresses without a name are given the 'Default subscriber name' specified in the 'Project Remote Settings' form. (The default is "Friend".)

View Subscribers' details

A. (see image)

With the 'Current' option button selected, click the 'View subscribers' button to display the Subscribers to the current AutoEmailer email campaign in the 'Current subscribers' textbox. The data shown are each Subscriber's name, e-mail address, next Message number and the date they subscribed.

B. (see image)

With the 'All' option button selected, click the 'View subscribers' button to display all the Subscribers in the archive file in the 'All subscribers' textbox. These are all the Subscribers to all the AutoEmailer email campaigns in the Project, whether they are current or historical Subscribers. The data shown are each Subscriber's name and e-mail address.

Note:

Clicking the 'View subscribers' button when the 'All' option button is selected also backs up the archive file to your computer.

Note:

As soon as any Subscriber receives the last Message in an email campaign, that Subscriber's data is removed from the 'Current' list, but never from the archive file.

Note:

You can copy the data from the 'Current/All subscribers' textbox, and paste it directly into a spreadsheet, where the data should be formatted automatically into columns.

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How to Send a General Broadcast

Sometimes you may wish to send a single message (or more) to all Subscribers, perhaps to announce a change of contact, web site redesign, new product line, etc. You can do this by sending a general broadcast. No Subscription Form is needed for this process, because you, as Administrator, add the e-mail addresses to the list yourself.

A. (see image)

Create a new AutoEmailer email campaign, as shown in the "How to Create an E-mail Campaign" section above, and create one Message. This is the Message that will be broadcast to all the Subscribers on your list for the Project.

Note:

You can, if you wish, create more than one Message at this time, and set a suitable period of delay between them, say 7 days or 30 days, depending on whether you already know what the future Messages will say. This is unlikely, however, because it is usual to send a broadcast message as and when the occasion demands, rather than as a planned campaign.

B. (see image)

With the 'All' option button selected, click the 'View subscribers' button to display all the Subscribers in the Archive file in the 'All subscribers' textbox. These are all the Subscribers to all the AutoEmailer email campaigns in the Project, whether they are current or historical Subscribers. The data shown are each Subscriber's name and e-mail address.

C. (see image)

Click the '>' or '>>' button, to transfer the entire contents of the 'All subscribers' textbox to the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox, appending to or replacing its contents respectively. (<Tab> characters are converted to "pipe" characters ("|") automatically.) You can add or delete any e-mail addresses, as you wish.

D. (see image)

Mark the '!' checkbox. This overrides the check for existing e-mail addresses that normally ensures that Subscribers do not receive duplicate Messages. If the '!' checkbox is not marked, no addresses will be added to this AutoEmailer, unless they are added manually to the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox and do not exist already in the Archive file.

E. (see image)

Click the 'Add subscribers' button, to add these Subscribers to this AutoEmailer.

Note:

Only addresses added manually to the 'Add subscribers manually...' textbox, if any, will be added to the Archive file, provided that they do not exist already, because the Archive file does not allow duplicate e-mail addresses to be stored there.

Result

The next time the AutoEmailer process is triggered (see "How to Create an E-mail Campaign" - Stage 5), all the Subscribers in this list will be sent your broadcast Message.

Go to the SALES page

Go to the VIDEOS page


Keyboard shortcuts: (note the underlined character)		Every operation can be done by keystrokes, even if it means using the <Tab> key. Some operations can be executed by means of quick keyboard shortcuts, consisting of a combination of keystrokes. Not only is it almost always quicker, but there is less chance of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI), than when using a mouse. Keyboard shortcuts can be learned very quickly, and are highly recommended over mouse clicking.

General operations
<Tab>		Moves to next control (or control group), or to next cell in a datagrid.
<Shift>+<Tab>		Moves to previous control (or control group), or to previous cell in a datagrid.
<Space>		Toggles the switch when a checkbox has the focus.
Arrow keys		Move through a group of option buttons, or from cell to cell in a datagrid.
<Esc>		Closes a form or dialogue (without saving any values, if there is also an 'OK' button).

Go to the SALES page		Go to the VIDEOS page

Main form
<Alt>+<C>		'Local folder' button. Opens the 'Browse For Folder' dialogue for navigating to the Project folder.
<Alt>+<R>		'Remote settings' button. Opens the 'Project Remote Settings' form.
<Alt>+<P>		'Upload' button. Uploads the current AutoEmailer e‑mail campaign files to the web site.
<Alt>+<T>		'Test form' button. Generates and uploads a web page containing a test form to the 'home' directory, and displays it in a browser.
'AutoEmailers' section
<Alt>+<.> (full stop / period)		Moves the focus to the AutoEmailers drop-down list, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<A>		'Add new AutoEmailer' button. Adds the AutoEmailer specified in the 'New' textbox to the AutoEmailers drop-down list.
<Alt>+<'> (apostrophe)		Moves the focus to the 'Sender's name' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<-> (hyphen)		Moves the focus to the 'Sender's e-mail' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<K>		Toggles the 'Add "Unsubscribe" link in messages' checkbox.
<Alt>+<V>		'Save settings' button. Saves the specified AutoEmailer settings.
<Alt>+<O>		'Design form' button. Opens the 'Subscription Form' form.
<Alt>+<G>		'Show trigger' button. Opens the 'Trigger' form.
'Messages' section
<Alt>+<#> (hash)		Moves the focus to the 'Message #' drop-down list, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<1>		'1...'. Renumbers the messages from "1", if any have been deleted. Note: Messages are renumbered automatically when their order is changed in the 'All Messages' form or before uploading them to the web site.
<Alt>+<M>		'Add message' button. Adds the current content of the 'Subject' and 'Body' textboxes as a new message to the Messages list.
<Alt>+<L>		'Delete' button. Deletes the currently displayed Message from the Messages list.
<Alt>+<F>		'First name' button. Adds the [FIRSTNAME] placeholder to the 'Subject' or 'Body' textbox, whichever had the focus last.
<Alt>+<N>		'Full name' button. Adds the [FULLNAME] placeholder to the 'Subject' or 'Body' textbox, whichever had the focus last.
<Alt>+<E>		'E-mail address' button. Adds the [EMAIL] placeholder to the 'Subject' or 'Body' textbox, whichever had the focus last.
<Alt>+<D>		'Current date' button. Adds the [DATE] placeholder to the 'Subject' or 'Body' textbox, whichever had the focus last.
<Alt>+<H>		Moves the focus to the 'Send this message' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<U>		'Undo/Redo edits' button. Undoes or redoes the last change in the 'Subject' and/or 'Body' textboxes.
<Alt>+<S>		'Save message' button. Saves any changes to the currently displayed Message.
<Alt>+<W>		'View all messages' button. Opens the 'All Messages' form, where the order of Messages can be changed.
<Alt>+<J>		Moves the focus to the 'Subject' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<Y>		Moves the focus to the 'Body' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
'Subscribers' section
<Alt>+<B>		Moves the focus to the 'Add subscribers manually' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<I>		'View subscribers' button. Displays subscribers' details in the 'Current subscribers' box. If the 'Current' option button is selected, the remaining subscribers for the current AutoEmailer campaign are displayed. If the 'All' option button is selected, all subscribers for all AutoEmailer campaigns in the current Project are displayed.

<F1>		'Help' button. Opens this product Support web page in the default browser.
<F2>		'Updates...' button. Checks for AutoEmailer software updates.
<F3>		'Messages...' button. Opens a web page to send various kinds of messages to Abacus Data Systems or to a friend.
<Alt>+<F4>		'X' icon in window bar. Exits the program immediately, without any warning message.

Go to the SALES page		Go to the VIDEOS page

'Project Remote Settings'
<Alt>+<W>		Moves the focus to the 'Web address' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<F>		Moves the focus to the 'FTP host name' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<H>		Moves the focus to the 'Host folder' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<Y>		Selects the 'Include in upload paths' 'Yes' option button.
<Alt>+<N>		Selects the 'Include in upload paths' 'No' option button.
<Alt>+<C>		Moves the focus to the 'CGI folder path' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<U>		Moves the focus to the 'User name' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<P>		Moves the focus to the 'Password' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<E>		Moves the focus to the 'E‑mail address' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<M>		Moves the focus to the 'E‑mail program' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<A>		Moves the focus to the 'Archive file name' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<B>		Moves the focus to the 'Default subscriber name' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<L>		'Load from file' button. Populates the form's fields with data previously saved to a file.
<Alt>+<S>		'Save to file' button. Saves the data in the form's fields to a file, ready to be loaded instantly in the future.
<Alt>+<D>		'Upload' button. Uploads the Project system files to the web server, and changes the file permissions, if possible.
<Alt>+<T>		'Apply data' button. Stores the settings in memory, for use in all the AutoEmailer e‑mail campaigns in the Project.
<Enter>		'OK'. Saves any changes and closes the 'Project Remote Settings' form, provided that no other button has the focus.
<Esc> or <Alt>+<F4>		'Cancel' or 'X' icon in window bar. Closes the 'Project Remote Settings' form without saving any changes.

Go to the SALES page		Go to the VIDEOS page

'Subscription Form'
<Alt>+<B>		Moves the focus to the 'Border' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<S>		Moves the focus to the 'Spacing' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<P>		Moves the focus to the 'Padding' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<Z>		Moves the focus to the 'Size' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<C>		Moves the focus to the 'Colour' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<T>		Moves the focus to the 'Text' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<N>		Moves the focus to the 'Button' textbox, if the focus is elsewhere on the form.
<Alt>+<R>		'Refresh' button. Redisplays the form with the latest changes.
<Alt>+<U>		'Undo' button. Redisplays the form with the previous values.
<Alt>+<E>		'Reset' button. Redisplays the form with the default values.
<Alt>+<Y>		'Copy' button. Copies the form's HTML code to the Windows Clipboard, ready for pasting into a web page.
<Alt>+<M>		'Custom' button. Opens the 'Custom Form' form, where custom form code can be pasted or typed.
<Ctrl>+<P>		'Preview' index tab. Displays the 'Preview' index tab.
<Ctrl>+<H>		'HTML' index tab. Displays the 'HTML' index tab.
<Esc> or <Alt>+<F4>		'Close' button or 'X' icon in window bar. Closes the 'Subscription Form' form. The last values 'refreshed' are retained in memory, for use in the current AutoEmailer e‑mail campaign's 'Test form', if it is used.

Go to the SALES page		Go to the VIDEOS page

'Custom Form'
<Alt>+<R>		'Replace' button. Replaces the first line of the custom form HTML code with AutoEmailer code, in order to make the custom form work.
<Esc>		'Close' button. Closes the 'Custom Form' form. The current data are retained in memory, for use in the current AutoEmailer e‑mail campaign's 'Test form', if it is used.
<Alt>+<F4>		'X' icon in window bar. Closes the 'Custom Form' form, ignoring the current data.

Go to the SALES page		Go to the VIDEOS page

'Trigger'
<Alt>+<Y>		'Copy' button. Copies the 'trigger' HTML code to the Windows Clipboard, ready for pasting into web pages.
<Esc> or <Alt>+<F4>		'Close' button or 'X' icon in window bar. Closes the 'Trigger' form.

Go to the SALES page		Go to the VIDEOS page

'All Messages'
<F4>		Selects a row to move.
<Alt>+<U>		'Move Up' button. Moves the selected row up the datagrid.
<Alt>+<D>		'Move Down' button. Moves the selected row down the datagrid.
<Alt>+<A>		'Apply' button. Saves the Message positions in the datagrid, without closing the form.
<Alt>+<O>		'OK' button. Saves the Message positions in the datagrid, and closes the form.
<Esc> or <Alt>+<F4>		'Cancel' button or 'X' icon in window bar. Closes the 'All Messages' form, without saving the Message positions in the datagrid.

Go to the SALES page		Go to the VIDEOS page


Mouse shortcuts
Double-click textbox label		Selects all text in the corresponding textbox, ready for editing.

Go to the SALES page		Go to the VIDEOS page

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Auto-Mail Software

The mass email software tool that replaces autoresponders