Communicating to groups via email.  What are the options?

Communicating to groups via email.  What are the options?

 

There are several ways to communicate to multiple people via email.  The simplest is to include everyone in the email TO: field but that is not always convenient. Other options include personal distribution lists, shared distribution lists, email lists, mail enable shared public folders, and shared exchange mailboxes.  A description of these options are below with a few of the pros and cons for each method.

 

Personal Distribution List: Created by an individual for their personal use by selecting “New Contact Group” in Outlook contacts.

 

 

 

 

Pros:

  • Can be created and edited by the creator at any time
  • Allows for all members to be seen by clicking on the “+” symbol near the list name in the email

 

 

 

 

Cons:

  • Only usable by the creator of the list
  • Needs to be maintained by the creator
  • Can have the same name as a shared distribution list

 

 

Shared Distribution List: Very similar to the personal distribution list but centrally maintained and is available to everyone with access to the library address book.

 

Pros:

  • Maintained centrally so everyone has access to the list
  • Allows the email addresses of the members to be seen

Cons:

  • Must be add the address book
  • Occasionally problematic from the web outlook client.

 

 

ListServ (email list) : email discussion list.  These have email addresses similar to your-list@list.vanderbilt.edu

Pros:

  • Allows users to send email to a single email address and have it send to many people
  • Provides an easy way to have discussions with a group of people without needing to remember everyone’s email address

 

Cons:

  • Cannot easily view who is on the list
  • Managed by a few people (not just LTDS)

 

Shared Public folders:  folder on the exchange server that can receive email and store other outlook items (calendars)

Pros:

  • Can be shared by multiple people
  • Can receive email

 

Cons:

  • Being phased out by VUIT and Microsoft
  • Unable to reply as the user
  • Unable to set auto-replies

Share Exchange Mailboxes (SEMs): a shared email address/mailbox

Pros:

  • Can be accessed by multiple people
  • Subfolders can be create maintain (same as personal mailbox)
  • Can create forwarding and auto-reply rules
  • Can be accessed directly via the web or through outlook client

 

Cons:

  • If accessing from Outlook client, the email address must be setup as a different account to allow the send as feature.