Who can use Group Email

Who can use Group Email

Overview of Group Email configuration toolpane

HW14_Groups_That_Useg.png
Administrators determine who has the ability to use Group Email when they select Site Groups(s) that can Email in the web parts configuration tool pane.

When configuring Group Email keep in mind:

  • The Group Email icon will be visible to all site users by default

  • Members of site groups approved to send email be able to click the link and send email to the configured group

  • HW14_icon.png Users who are not members of approved groups will see the Group Email icon on the page, but there will be no response from the web part if they click the icon.

  • If you are using a version of SharePoint that supports target audiences, you can use this SharePoint feature to hide the web parts icon from users

How to use Target Audiences

Step Action Result
1.

To use target audiences expand the Advanced section of the Group Email configuration tool pane and scroll to Target Audiences

NOTE Target Audiences are not available on WSS 3.0 or Foundation versions of SharePoint.

Image of expanded Advanced section of the Group Email configuration toolpane
.
2. Click the address book icon to Add the groups who were given the ability to send mail in the Group Email Configuraton section of the tool pane Image of Select Audiences pop up screen
3. Click OK to close the Select Audiences pop up Users who are not members of your Target Audiences will no longer see the Group Email icon on the page.

Overview of Group Email configuration toolpane

Use Group Email to send messages

Use Group Email to send messages

HW14_icon.pngWhen Group Email is added to a web part page, users will see the Group Email icon.

Users with permission to send emails will be able to quickly send messages to a pre-determined group of users by simply clicking the email icon on the page.

NOTE: Users who are not members of groups allowed to send emails will see the icon on the page, but it will not respond when clicked.

When clicked the icon will respond in one of two ways, based on the web parts configuration:

Option 1: Group Email is configured to use SMTP

Step Action Result
1. Click the mail icon on the page. The SharePoint page will refresh and display a mail form
Image of Mail form with To field populated with addresses
2. Enter the desired text and click Send.

You will see a confirmation message that the email was successfully sent.

NOTE: Individual emails will be sent to each user to preserve email address privacy.

Option 2: Group Email is configured to use your mail client

Step Action Result
1. Click the mail icon on the page. A popup will appear on the screen.
Image of Security pop up wanting to open web content using mail client
.
2. Click Allow

Your mail form will open. The bcc field will be populated with a predefined subset of users.

Image of the mail client with the bcc field populated with the predefined email addresses

NOTE: If you choose to use Mail Client to send out email, the default mail client editor is displayed. The current user email address appears in the “To” field and all other users email addresses appear in the “Bcc” field of the email. If you choose to use Mail Client to send out email, the default mail client editor is displayed. The current user email address appears in the “To” field and all other users email addresses appear in the “Bcc” field of the email.

3.. Enter the desired text and click Send

Your mail client will be responsible for delivery of the email.

NOTE: You can only edit email content in text mode and not HTML format. There is a total of 2043 character limit including email addresses and the body text.

Overview of the Group Email configuration tool pane

Overview of the Group Email configuration tool pane

Image of the Group Email section of the configuration toolpane
Function

1. Select the site group(s) that can send email by clicking the web parts mail icon.


2. Choose whether Group Email will obtain receipient email addresses from SharePoint or Active Directory


3. You have the option of associating an email template with the web part.

NOTE: All content editor web parts on the page will be displayed in this drop down selector.


4. Enter the default text that will appear as the outgoing email subject


5. Enter icon’s popup message text. This text will appear when user does a mouse over the icon.
HW14_Pop_up_text.png


6. Select the mail service that will be used by Group Email.

Use Mail Client. Uses your default mail client to send out email.

OR

Use SMTP. Uses the SMTP server associated with your SharePoint server to deliver emails.


7. Change the Language Settings for the web part


8. The About Web Part link will display the version information for the tool. See the Release Notes for additional information on your release

Configuring the Group Email Web Part

Configuring the Group Email Web Part

To configure the Group Email Web Part:

  1. Select Modify Shared Web Part from the menu accessed at the upper right corner of the Web Part. This menu is only accessible by users with authority to modify the page.
  2. The configuration page for the Group Email Web Part is displayed on the right side of the screen (see Figure 3). See the Configuration section to configure the following properties:

  3. Select a Site Group than can Email. Select site group(s), including custom and default SharePoint site groups that can send email by clicking on the mail icon of the Web Part. If a user does not belong to the selected groups in the property setting, the mail icon is disabled.

  4. Enter a domain account that has read permission to Active Directory. An Active Directory domain, account, and password are required to ensure that the currently logged in user belongs to the applicable AD security group.
  5. Read Email addresses from. Select whether you want to read email addresses from SharePoint Site users or Active Directory users.
  6. Select e-mail address from list. Select this check box to activate the Select List source, Select View and Select E-mail column selection boxes below. If this check box is left un-checked, the Web Part will send email to all users in the current site, by using the email addresses in their user profile.
  7. Select List Source. Select a SharePoint list in the current site that has an email address column.
  8. Select View: Select a list view which includes the Email address column.
  9. Select E-mail column. Select a column which contains user email address.
  10. Enter E-mail subject. Enter the outgoing email subject.
  11. Select E-mail template. Select a content editor Web Part installed on the site which contains the email body text.
  12. Enter icon’s popup message text. This is the text that will appear when user does a mouse over the icon.
  13. Use SMTP. Select this option to specify the SMTP server name and the email address that will appear in the “From” field. Contact your IT system administrator for the proper use of SMTP server. (Note: SMTP Secure Authenticated Connection option is available. It is optional. Click the checkbox if you want to use this option.)
  14. Use Mail Client. Select this option if you want to use your default mail client to send out email.

    hw14012.jpg

  15. To use a Distribution List in Active Directory, do the following:

hw14013.jpg

  • Select the Active Directory option.
  • Select a Security group or a Distribution group in AD to send email. The web part will send the email for the group.
  • You must enter an access account that has the correct permission to read the AD store and the distribution or security group objects.
  • Save your configuration settings by clicking Apply and then OK.

See Also: Configuring Content Editor Web Part for Email Template

Configuring the Group Email mail service

Configuring the Group Email mail service

Overview of Group Email configuration toolpane

You have two options when determining the mail service that will be used by the Group Email web part: Use Mail Client or Use SMTP.

Use Mail Client

When you select the Use Mail Client option, no additional configuration is required in the web part. Group Email will utilize your existing mail client for message delivery.

Use SMTP

The SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) service is used by SharePoint to send user alerts on items, etc.

Step Action Result
1. From the Group Email configuration tool pane scroll to find the Use Mail Client and Use SMTP radio buttons By default Use SMTP is selected
HW14_Mail_Client.png
2. Remove the default text and enter the SMTP Server Name and the Notification email that will be used for sending the outbound notifications.

Keep in Mind:
Information on the SMTP server name can be found on Central Administrations Outgoing email settings page
Image of Central Administration

Image of fields exposed when Use SMTP is selected
3. If the server has been configured to use SMTP Authentication, check the Use SMTP Secure Authenticated Connection box Additional fields will be displayed in the form
Image of Additional fields shown when use secure SMTP is selected: User ID, Password, Port

Configuring Group Email to use Active Directory recipients

Configuring Group Email to use Active Directory recipients

Overview of Group Email configuration toolpane

When configuring Group Email you will be able to choose where recipient information will be obtained. Will email information come from SharePoint or Active Directory?

Active Directory

To send email to a set of users whose email information is found in an Active Directory Security or Distribution group:

Step Action Result
1. Enter your Fully Qualified Domain Name Image of fields shown in the Group Email configuraiton tool pane when Active Directory radio button selected
2. Enter the login credentials of a domain account that has read permissions to Active Directory and the distribution or security group objects
3.. Enter the group name(s) separated by a semicolon

Configuring Content Editor Web Part for Email Template

Configuring Content Editor Web Part for Email Template

To save time writing an email every time you need to send it out, you can create a template within a SharePoint Content Editor Web Part (CEWP) and re-use that again and again. This will save you time if you want to simply inform your team of status updates so you don’t need to make changes with every email.

Get started first by opening a page where you can add the CEWP; it does not have to be the same page where you added the Bamboo Group Email Web Part but it might be helpful to keep them together.

To set up an email template:

  1. Add a Content Editor Web Part to a page. How?

Once the web part is on the page, you will need to edit it . Once the tool pane appears on the right side of your window, you can get started creating the template message. You can insert images, hyperlinks, and format wording to emphasize your message.

  1. Click Modify (or Edit) SharePoint Web Part.

    hw14017.jpg

    Figure 1: Content Editor Web Part Properties
  2. Click Rich Text Editor button to bring up the text editor dialog box. (On SharePoint 2013, click in the ribbon.)

    hw14019.jpg

    Figure 2: Content Editor Web Part Rich Text Editor
  3. Enter the message that you want to appear in the body of the outgoing email.
  4. Click Save.

    hw14021.jpg

    Figure 3: Content Editor Web Part Lay Out Properties

Apply and save your changes to the CEWP; you may want to hide the web part on your page to avoid confusing users as to what it is.

  1. Click the plus sign and expand Layout section.
  2. Depending on which version of SharePoint you are using, you either select or deselect the check mark. In SharePoint 2007, the check mark means the web part is visible on the page while in SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013, the check mark hides the web part on the page.
    HW14_Compare.jpg

Apply and save your changes. Go back to the tool pane of the Bamboo Group Email web part to make the connection to this CEWP.

When you first configured the Bamboo Group Email web part, there was no CEWP on the page, you may recall the drop down menu on the “Select Email template” section of the tool pane was empty. Now that you have added a CEWP to the page, you have a choice in that drop down menu which makes the connection to your email message content. Refer to Configuring the Group Email Web Part.

Configuring Group Email to use SharePoint recipients

Configuring Group Email to use SharePoint recipients

Overview of Group Email configuration toolpane

When configuring Group Email you will be able to choose where recipient information will be obtained. Will email information come from SharePoint or Active Directory?

When using SharePoint, two configuration options are available:

  • Send email to all users of the site

  • Send eamil to a set of users whose email information is maintained in a SharePoint list on the current site.

SharePoint Site

Group Email can be configured to send messages to ALL users who have permission to access the SharePoint site where the web part resides

Step Action Display
1. Maintain the default configuration with the SharePoint Site radio button selected
Image of Group Email configuraition tool pane set to use SharePoint Site by defalt
2.

Keep the Select email address from list box unchecked.

NOTE: When this box is unchecked the web part will send email to all users in the current site using the email addresses in their user profile

SharePoint List

Send email to a set of users whose email information is found in a list on the site

Step Action Display
1. Keep the default configuration with the SharePoint Site radio button selected
Image of Group Email configured to use a SharePoint list as the source of emails
2. Check the Select email address from list: check box
3. Select a list on the current site from the drop down
4. Select the pre-defined view from the drop down
5. Select the column in the view that contains email addresses

Overview of Group Email configuration toolpane