Can you create an email distribution list from Excel?

Ever since the early days of Microsoft Office, users have been able to use VBA scripts to automate tasks and perform complex calculations. These functions are now part of the core functionality of MS Word and other office programs. Using this feature, we can write code to save data into variables or arrays so that it may be retrieved later on for further processing. This is similar to what happens when you send emails using SMTP servers such as POP3. The mail server takes your message and stores it before forwarding it onto its final destination. In short, sending messages over networks isn't just about knowing where to find your recipients - there's also some heavy lifting happening behind the scenes!

If you're familiar with programming languages like C++ or Java then you'll probably already understand the concept of storing information into memory (RAM) and retrieving it again later on. However, if you've never had any experience with coding, then the idea might not make sense yet. That said, let me try to explain by giving an example scenario.

Imagine you want to keep track of all the movies you've seen recently and which ones were good and bad. You could easily go through each movie individually and jot down notes about their respective qualities, but wouldn't it be easier to just store everything inside one single spreadsheet file? Now imagine yourself opening up the same file months later only to discover that you forgot to add a few names here and there. What would happen next time you wanted to pull out the details? It'd take forever to scroll through pages upon pages of numbers and letters looking for certain criteria. Instead, why not organize the whole thing into categories and subcategories? If done right, it should still be easy enough to navigate around without having to search for specific values. There's no reason why someone who doesn't play games shouldn't learn how to program...

Now back to our topic at hand. Imagine you've got several lists saved within a.CSV file, including mailing addresses, phone numbers, faxes, etc. All you really care about is creating a way to retrieve those items via email. Can you think of anything better than storing them in a database? Well, yes you can. And thanks to the wonders of automation technology, you can actually run commands across multiple computers. The following article will show you how to export a CSV file containing contact info and convert it into a series of distributions lists ready to be sent off to various destinations.

Once you get comfortable running commands in command prompt, you can even build elaborate automated workflows that can be scheduled in Windows Task Scheduler.

In order to start, first download and install the ActiveX control called "Microsoft Scripting Runtime." Once installed, launch Notepad and type in the following script:

Sub Send_Emails()

Dim Flds As Variant

'Get array variable holding fields from sheet1 of current excel file

Set Flds = Application.Caller.CurrentPage.UsedRange

For i=0 To UBound(Flds)-1

Debug.Print Flds(i).Value

Next

End Sub

What does this script do? First off, it extracts the entire range of cells (which contains all the contact info) from Sheet 1 of the active worksheet. Then it loops through every field in turn until it reaches the last item in the row. Finally, it outputs whatever value was contained in that particular cell. Since they're outputted line per line, you won't see any overlapping text as opposed to printing them all together. But hey, that's fine because most people aren't interested in seeing the raw data anyway.

You could modify the above script slightly to extract more columns. Just change the number 4 to however many columns you want to include. Here's another sample script that prints column A & B while skipping column G altogether:

'Extract Column A and B while leaving Col D&E alone.

On Error Resume Next

With Worksheets("Sheet1")

.Columns("A").Copy _

Destination:="""",""D6", ""a7".columns("B").copy _

destination:"""", """d8"

End With

On Error GoTo 0

Next step is to open up Notepads once again and paste in the modified script. When pasted, make sure to select "Run" rather than "Design Mode". Hit enter and watch the magic unfold. Wait for it to finish executing and voila! Your very own custom made distribution list has been created.

How do I create a distribution list from Excel to Gmail?

This process is pretty simple. Open up Google Contacts, click on Tools menu option followed by Import Data. Click on Choose File and browse to the location of your newly built distribution list. Select Create New Contact Group and hit OK.

After clicking on Finish, choose whether you want to merge duplicate entries or leave them separate. Click on Merge Duplicate Rows and then pick Yes. Lastly, click on Update Labels and set labels according to your needs. Make sure to check Auto Assign Numbers box too. After hitting Save, you should receive confirmation of the action taken.

Click on Done to exit the wizard. Keep in mind that if you want to rerun the import process with different parameters, simply repeat steps 3 to 7.

How do I setup a distribution list in Gmail?

Open up your browser window and head over to gmail.com. Log into your account. Hover over Gear icon located at upper left corner of screen. From dropdown options, choose Settings / Accounts and Imports. Under Mail Setup, look for Manage IMAP settings. Scroll down till you reach Advanced Features section and press Add Another Account. Fill in required credentials and you're all set.

Note: If you prefer setting things up manually, follow these instructions below.

Select Enable IMAP4rev2 under SSL/TLS Protocol Support. Enter in port 993. Pick TLS Authentication Required and enter in user name and password. Check Allow insecure authentication methods and ensure that Automatically forward my mail to my @gmail.com address is unchecked. Press Ok. Repeat steps 2 to 6 for your second alias email account. Once complete, you should see two green tick marks beside IMAP Server Name label indicating successful connection between client and mail server. Congratulations -- you've successfully added your Exchange distribution list to Gmail!

How do I create a mass email distribution list?

For starters, you'll need a table consisting of hundreds of rows. Each row represents a unique recipient whose information you wish to distribute to. Ideally, it would contain personal records such as full name, gender, age, home address, mobile phone number, email address, website URL, company name, job title, department, city state zip postal code, country of citizenship, birth date, and relationship status. Don't worry though, you don't have to collect all of this data beforehand. Simply cut and copy sections of data from existing tables found in your.csv files.

When you're finished collecting all relevant pieces of information, transfer them into a master table. Use the headers listed earlier to help identify which piece of data belongs to which person. You can either print out spreadsheets filled with individual data or you can opt for a faster approach by importing the data directly into Access Database.

Here's a quick tutorial on how to import large amounts of data into Access Database.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUxkOjKZhbM

How do I create a mass email list in Outlook?

Outlook is a widely used desktop email application available on both Mac OS X and Windows operating systems. While Outlook Express was discontinued years ago, Outlook remains alive and kicking despite major changes during recent times. One notable improvement introduced in version 2010 was support for synchronization features. Synchronization basically allows you to synchronize your inbox with online accounts such as Yahoo!, Hotmail, Gmail, iCloud, GMX Mailbox, and others. Additionally, Outlook also supports network drives (e.g., external hard disk), CD/DVD media, removable disks (USB flash drive), and portable devices (such as digital cameras) among others.

First thing first -- head over to outlook.live.com. Sign in with your Live ID. Navigate to your Personal Folders tab. Look for Sync My Folder button located towards bottom right corner of your screen. Click on it and wait patiently until sync completes. Upon completion, you should notice that your mailbox size increases dramatically.

Another alternative method involves downloading Outlook 2007 Trial Edition. Once downloaded, launch Outlook and sign in with your Live ID. Head over to Home tab and locate Mailboxes section. Locate Custom Lists folder and double click on it. Browse to your desired.csv file and drag and drop it onto the main pane. Right click on header and select New E-Mail Message.... Drag and drop your content into body area.

Finally, close all windows except for Outlook. Before hitting Start, press Alt + S to bring up sidebar. Find More Commands link near top center portion of sidebar window. Double click on it and choose Run Module.

Excel's Contacts application lets me keep track of hundreds or even thousands of people, including their phone numbers, addresses, dates, notes, birthdays, etc., with ease. But what if you want to send out one bulk message to everyone on your spreadsheet? You might think it'd be easy enough just to select all the cells containing names and then hit Send Mail Message (or whatever else happens to be called), right? Not so fast there, cowboy! There are two types of information contained within each person's row: first, there's the name itself -- which you'll see when you mouse over any particular cell. Second, at the very bottom of every row, you'll find a checkbox next to "Distribution" -- this indicates whether the selected record should go to a Distribution Group ("dg") or not. If it does, that means those records will automatically become part of a Distribution List ("dl").

So why would someone want to use a dl rather than simply selecting all the relevant data and sending via Outlook/iTunes/whatever? Well, because there may also be other fields such as company name, location, job title, date created, date modified, status, etc. These additional details aren't useful for mass mailings (and they're unnecessary for more targeted communications) -- only the primary contact info needs to be included. A Distribution List provides a way around that limitation by allowing several different recipients per entry. And since most organizations tend to maintain the same formats across similar documents, it makes sense to utilize existing templates. For instance, let's say you work in IT support, where many employees share the exact same format for business cards, letterhead, postcards, letters, memos, reports, presentations, invoices, etc. By using a prebuilt template, you won't waste time recreating something unnecessarily complicated or redundant. Instead, you can focus primarily on customizing things like logos, colors, font sizes, and special attachments, while letting Microsoft Office handle basic necessities such as headers, footers, page breaks, margins, spacing, and text alignment. In short, creating a Distribution List saves both time and money.

Now we've got the basics down pat, but there's still another question lingering somewhere in the back of our minds: Can you actually manage an entire mailing list through Excel without having to manually type in individual email accounts? It turns out, yes. We'll show you exactly how it works below.

How do I add multiple emails to a distribution list?

To begin adding entries to a Distribution List, click anywhere inside the table area of your sheet. Then head up to Ribbon & Review tab & Contacts dropdown menu. Select Import Multiple Items... This will open the Import Wizard window. Click Next until it arrives at the last screen, labeled Contact Information. Here, you must choose either Address Book (.ABK) file,.VCF File, or Workbook Snapshot (.WS). Since you're dealing with a large number of individuals, stick with ABKs. Otherwise, you could end up importing duplicate items or missing important ones entirely. Once you accept the default settings, press Finish & Create New List.... Your list will now appear under Lists in the sidebar. To make changes later, return to the Home ribbon and scroll down to Manage Lists. Make sure your newly-created Distribution List appears here, along with any others you've already made. Now you can edit its properties, assign it a color scheme, change tabs, and set permissions. The latter allows you to control who has access to modify it, view it, print it, delete it, etc.

Note: If the Distribution List doesn't show up after restarting Windows Explorer, try the Refresh button located above the Update Options section on the left side of the Lists pane. Also, if it says "No lists were found," double-check the spelling of the name of your newly-made list. Finally, if you ever decide to remove a Distribution List altogether, switch to the View menu and locate Remove List [name].. When done, close and reopen Excel. Your Distribution List should reappear once again.

What is the difference between a contact group and a distribution list?

In the previous example, we imported all of our contacts into a single Distribution List. However, you may wish to separate some folks off into specific groups based upon certain criteria -- perhaps separating salespeople from managers, or colleagues from family members. Or maybe you want to divide them according to department. Whatever reason you have, Distribution Groups provide the ability to customize such distinctions.

For starters, they allow users to filter out items within your list that belong elsewhere. So, suppose you want to distribute a memo about the office holiday party, but you notice that half of your sales personnel missed it due to travel delays. With a Distribution Group enabled, you can tell Word to exclude anyone whose Birthdays fall outside of December 1st to 23rd. That way, no one gets accidentally overlooked during the busy season.

As mentioned earlier, Distribution Groups differ from normal Contact Groups in terms of layout. Whereas Contact Groups typically contain rows representing unique personal information (e.g., First Name, Last Name, Street, City, State, Zip Code, Phone Number, Email Address, Notes, Birthday, Gender, URL, etc.), a Distribution Group consists of nothing but a few columns: E-Mail, Status, Priority, Date Created, Modified, Authorized Person(s), Organizer, Company, Location, etc.

Also unlike Contact Groups, a Distribution Group cannot consist solely of shared data. Each item must include at least one non-shared element. In addition, Distribution Groups cannot exceed 100,000 records. Lastly, note that Distribution Groups are limited to 20 pages total (including hidden sections), whereas Contact Groups can span unlimited pages.

How do I create an emailed distribution list in my contacts?

By default, whenever you create a new Distribution List in Excel, it will come with one generic recipient field. To remedy this issue, click Edit Custom Fields... From here, expand Specific People and enter a meaningful label for yourself. Doing so ensures that you never miss a beat when composing messages.

Next, scroll down to Main Recipient Field and rename it accordingly. Don't forget to save your preferences, otherwise your recipients' labels will revert back to defaults.

Finally, select All Rows and copy everything over to the corresponding column. As long as you haven't changed anything, this shouldn't cause too much trouble.

Once finished, head back to the Home ribbon and scroll down to the Editing Tools submenu. Find Format Cells and drag the little arrow next to it downwards. This creates a Drop Down Menu box underneath each cell in your Distribution List. Enter your desired options in the appropriate placeholders. Once complete, adjust the Sort Order to reflect your preferred order. Head back to the Distribution List and highlight the header rows. Right-click, select Modify Header Row Colors... and pick your favorite palette. Save your choices, exit Excel, and relaunch it. Everything should look considerably better.

How do I import a distribution list into Gmail?

If you're planning on making heavy use of Distribution Lists throughout your day, you probably want to take advantage of their integration with Google Apps products such as Calendar, Docs, Drive, Sites, Voice, Video Chat, Hangouts, Labs, Cloud Print, Gadgets, GCal Events, Shared Documents, and more. Fortunately, doing so isn't difficult thanks to the handy Imports feature. Simply open Gmail and click Compose. At the top of the window, you should spot three icons: Attach Files, Insert Photos, and Upload Images. Hover over the third option and click Choose File... Browse to wherever your Distribution List resides. Afterward, hit Open and wait for the process to finish.

When prompted, sign in to Gmail as usual. On the resulting pop-up box, confirm you really want to attach your chosen files and proceed. Depending on your computer, you may receive a warning saying that the sender hasn't been verified yet. Ignore that and carry on. Once your files arrive, distributions will continue running smoothly.

One final tip worth mentioning involves Distribution Lists appearing as actual contact lists in various apps. Say you wanted to integrate your XL directly into Apple Mail, for instance. To accomplish this, you'll need to export the contents of said list to VCF file and then upload it onto your Mac. Afterwards, open System Preferences & Extensions and search for vcffonts. Drag the icon associated with Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Express Font Editor onto the dialog box. Hit OK and voilà! Upon launching Mail, you should see your Distribution List waiting patiently for action.

If your company has grown beyond 20 or so employees, it's likely that someone in the office is responsible for managing the flow of communication among those people. Whether this person uses Microsoft Office or Google Docs isn't important — they'll want something simple and easy to use, which makes email management software like MailChimp ideal for smaller businesses.

But what if you're not using any kind of internal communications system? You could always send out emails individually to each employee (or client), but why would you waste time doing all of that when there are tools designed specifically for such situations? Enter "distribution" lists. These handy little features allow users to select multiple recipients at once and then automatically send out one mass message to everyone on the list without having to manually type their names into every single recipient box.

So now we've established that distribution lists exist and that they're incredibly useful, let's take a look at some methods by which you can create them within various popular web applications. We'll see just how versatile they really are and whether or not they offer enough flexibility to fit whatever workflow you may be going through.

How do I import bulk contacts from Excel to Gmail?

Gmail doesn't natively support importing contact data from other sources aside from simply adding individual addresses yourself. However, there is a method that allows you to add many different contacts at once. The process requires creating a CSV file containing information about each user you want to include on your distribution list, along with basic details like name, job title, phone number, etc. Once you've created that file, open up your browser console and navigate over to https://www.googleapis.com/gmail/v1/users/me/messages/. This will bring up a page showing all available options under Data upload. Choose Create Upload & Import Method... and click Next.

You should find a window where you can choose between uploading your spreadsheet directly or downloading a pre-made template provided by Google. If you already have a.CSV file ready, go ahead and download the latter option. When you've made your selection, click Finish. After a few seconds, your uploaded files will begin processing. Keep checking back until everything is done! Once finished, you should receive a confirmation saying that the upload was successful. Now that you've successfully imported your entire list, you can start sending out messages via email.

How do I email a list from Excel to Outlook?

Outlook does accept external CSV files for its own purposes. But unfortunately, you cannot edit the contents of said files before saving them to disk since Outlook only accepts flat text documents. To get around this limitation, you can first export your selected cells' content to a VBA macro using Ctrl + C followed by File " Save As..." Then, copy and paste the resulting code into a new Word document and save it as a DOCX file. Unfortunately, this method often results in errors whenever you try to run commands outside the confines of VBA macros. So make sure to test out your newly created macro thoroughly beforehand.

Once you've got it working, head back to Outlook 2016 or newer and open up the Tools menu located right next to Home. From here, choose Options " Trust Center Settings. Under Security Considerations, check Enable scripting. Finally, hit OK and exit. It should now be possible to access the aforementioned macro command line tool via Windows PowerShell. In order to execute your script, you must place the following snippet inside the body of a function called Run() :

Sub Main

    Dim myOlApp As New OL_MailItem

    Set myOlApp = Application.CreateObject("Outlook.Application")          ''//create object instance

    With myOlApp.GetNamespace("MAPI").Logon            ''//logon to MAPI

        For Each objContactInList            ''//iterate over objects in collection

                strToSend = ""                            ''//build mail address string

                        For i=0 to UBound(arrRecipients)

                                    'strToSend = strToSend& arrRecipients(i) & vbTab

                                     'objMessage.to=""            ''//set destination

                                     'Set objMessage = Nothing

                                    'myOlApp.ActiveExplorer().CurrentView.Navigate2("""MyDistribList""", False, True)

                                    'myOlApp.CommandBars("Main Menu Bar").ExecuteExcel4Macro('""MyAddrs""')

                                    'msgBody = msgBody & vbCrLf

                                     'Do While Not objFSO.FileExists ("c:\temp\test.csv")

                                    'sleep 1000

                                     'WScript.Quit 1

                                     'End IF

                                     'Exit Sub

                End Sub

        End With

After running this code, Outlook should immediately recognize your imported contacts as separate entries. Simply highlight the desired entry and hit Alt+Enter to call upon the context menu. Select Email Message.... You can also press F5 to trigger the same functionality. Congratulations! Your new distribution list has been activated!

How do I create a mailing list in Gmail 2020?

Creating a mailing list is very similar to setting up a distribution list. Instead of importing contacts from another source though, you'll need to generate a series of unique email addresses based off existing ones. Just remember that each email address needs to belong to an actual human being who wants to participate in your project. Otherwise, anyone can join your team with no real intention of actually getting anything done.

The best way to handle this is by assigning labels to specific tasks rather than generating random strings. Labels act as sortable categories that group together related activities. By labeling tasks, your organization becomes more organized and efficient. Start by opening the sidebar menu on the left side of your inbox. Click More actions " Add label... You can either enter a custom label name or pick one of the default ones. Either way works fine.

Labeling tasks according to importance helps keep track of ongoing projects. A good rule of thumb is to assign the most urgent task to the highest priority label while giving less critical jobs lower priority levels. You might even decide to set certain projects up with completely independent labels so long as you adhere to the rules above. Once you've labeled tasks, create filters that contain both words associated with particular labels as well as phrases describing the subject matter itself.

For example, say you have a team meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning at 10am. Label this event "Meeting". Then filter future incoming meetings by typing Meeting in the search bar. Don't forget to add additional keywords describing the nature of your upcoming discussions. Try including terms like discussion, brainstorming session, update, status report, and progress report.

Finally, after filtering events down to relevant matches, apply the appropriate label to each item. Doing so organizes your inbox even further and keeps things much simpler.

How do distribution lists work in Gmail?

Now that you've learned the basics of how to create a distribution list, you understand how to use them properly. Using emails as your primary mode of communication isn't always convenient. Thankfully, Gmail offers several ways to manage large amounts of data efficiently. One of these involves using templates. Templates are essentially preformatted versions of standard emails that come with predefined fields. They provide a great starting point because oftentimes, the exact combination of elements required to complete a given task comes together naturally in the form of a template. There are two main types of templates: boilerplate and professional. Boilerplate templates tend to be generic while professional templates focus more on providing personalized responses to common questions.

Boilerplate templates show up as Suggested Responses underneath any question asked. Professional templates appear as separate suggestions and only pop up when the sender clicks the button beneath the subject field. Like regular emails, you can switch out the header image and customize the background colors too. Both kinds of templated give you total control over font styles, sizes, spacing, and formatting. And unlike normal emails, you won't see any links or attachments unless you explicitly ask for them.

Another benefit to using templates is that you never have to worry about accidentally hitting Send All on a huge volume of messages. Since Gmail treats multiple replies as individual threads, you won't risk losing track of conversations. Plus, you can share templates across departments without worrying about compatibility issues. Last but certainly not least, Gmail provides the ability to schedule recurring reminders. If you put a date and time stamp onto a message, Gmail will notify you at that specified interval regarding the topic discussed. Recurring reminders aren't limited to dates either. Feel free to insert numerical values and arbitrary variables to build complex reminders that repeat indefinitely.