Distribution Lists - Outlook Email

Send email to your list using the BCC field to not show everyone's email address. 

Maybe you have noticed several campus lists available in the TO: field when you are preparing email messages. This sparked the imagination of Jennifer Griffin and Gioia Fonda (Art), and they made an appointment to learn how to create email distribution lists in Mac Entourage and in Outlook Web Access (OWA).

This was really an exploratory session where the three of us poked around to see the options. The online help was helpful. Here is what we learned about OWA:

1. Use the NEW>> Distribution List button and then Name your list (be specific in naming your lists)
   
2. Distribution LIsts are stored as CONTACTS - you will forget this important detail
   
3. Click the Find Names button and type your college in Company and department name in Department the pop-up Search screen
   
4. Click the checkbox for a name to be included in the list then click Distribution List
   
5. The Search report stays visible and you can select other names to add
   

What about a list for students in your classes?

1. Create a list, Like Engl 300 - Tu 9am or MATH250 Online 
   
2. Ask your students to send you an email from their preferred email account - in the body of their message include name, class and student id number -- and anything else you need to know
   
3. Open the email and copy the email address to the ADD field and click the Add button
   
4. In the Email Properties screen, paste the email address and edit the Name field, then click the Apply button
   

A shortcut is to type like this: First Lastname [emailaddress@somewhere.com] and click the Add button. The square brackets instruct OWA to add the name and email address. Experiment and see what works for you. 

Edit a Distribution List in OWA

1. Lists are stored as Contacts, find the link for Contacts on the left menu 
   
2. Look in the upper right corner for the Contact page number and triangles to go to next or previous pages 
   
3. Find your list and click the list name to open it
   
4. Edit names, delete names and rename the list as needed
   

List Management suggestions

• For the current semester, add an "1 - " to the list so it always appears on page 1 of the contacts list
  
• At the end of a semester, change the name to be "Fall 2008 - Engl 300" so you can contact students in the future