- RT @DEhlersGuam Four Tricks to Improve Your Memory | via @intuitquickbase http://t.co/ZzEMPHV3

Today’s Tip: Adding Mailing Lists to Your Application

By jsalem | Posted on August 9th, 2005

Here’s another little known QuickBase feature: you can create simple mailing lists using E-mail Address fields. You can use this to send an email to all the email addresses listed in a view.

To enable it, edit your e-mail address field’s properties and, under E-Mail Options, check the "Totals" checkbox. Then click the "Save" button. Note that the field’s type must be "E-Mail". If you are currently using a text field for your email addresses, you can convert it to an e-mail field by editting its properties and clicking the "Change Field Type" button in the upper right.

Once you’ve enabled Totals, a totals line will appear in your views. At the bottom of the e-mail field’s column, you’ll see an icon of envelopes. Clicking this icon will bring up your mail program with the "To:" line set to all of the e-mail addresses listed in that field!

Now the bad news: This feature is very dependent on your mail program. It’s implemented using a supposedly standard "mailto:" link. However, there are two problems with how mail programs typically handle these links:

There is a limit to the number of email addresses that can be handled. The rest of the addresses are simply lost. The limit varies by mail program but in general I think you’re safe under 100 addresses but over 1,000 addresses won’t work. Try it out and make sure to double check that the last email address in the "To:" line is the last one shown in your view.
Different mail programs use different characters to separate to "To:" email addresses. We’ve chosen to use semicolons which are compatible with MS Outlook.

Hope you find this feature useful!

About jsalem

Jana

Hey, Jim… I didn’t even know this! How fun!

[Reply]
Jana

Hey, Jim… I didn’t even know this! How fun!

[Reply]
Ed

Jim,

This is a great feature–I’ve been exporting an e-mail-address-only text file for this purpose, forever!

Any suggestions for how to get a single list of e-mail addresses from QuickBases with _two_ e-mail fields (e.g., business and personal e-mail)?

Ed

[Reply]
Ed

Jim,

This is a great feature–I’ve been exporting an e-mail-address-only text file for this purpose, forever!

Any suggestions for how to get a single list of e-mail addresses from QuickBases with _two_ e-mail fields (e.g., business and personal e-mail)?

Ed

[Reply]
Jim Salem

Ed, I haven’t tried doing that but I suggest creating an email field that’s also a formula field which appends the two email address fields separated by a semicolon. That might just work.
– Jim

[Reply]
Jim Salem

Ed, I haven’t tried doing that but I suggest creating an email field that’s also a formula field which appends the two email address fields separated by a semicolon. That might just work.
– Jim

[Reply]
Jim Sperm

I love your software.. soft and sexy, I love the colours.

[Reply]
Jim Sperm

I love your software.. soft and sexy, I love the colours.

[Reply]
Nicolas

Hi;
You may want to try using the “BCC:” field instead of the “To:”
I have not, to date, found an upper limit of addresses that it can handle.
I used it out of shear frustration when trying many receipients (low hundrends and had no problems. Besides, it is cleaner (I would not want to see all these addresses anyway). Good tips here.

[Reply]
Nicolas

Hi;
You may want to try using the “BCC:” field instead of the “To:”
I have not, to date, found an upper limit of addresses that it can handle.
I used it out of shear frustration when trying many receipients (low hundrends and had no problems. Besides, it is cleaner (I would not want to see all these addresses anyway). Good tips here.

[Reply]

blog comments powered by Disqus

Meet Our Writers

Alexandra Levit

Alexandra Levit’s goal is to help people find meaningful jobs - quickly and simply - and to succeed beyond measure once they get there. Follow her @alevit.

Alison Green

Alison Green writes the popular Ask a Manager blog where she dispenses advice on career, job search, and management issues. She's also the co-author of Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Leader's Guide to Getting Results and former chief of staff of a successful nonprofit organization, where she oversaw day-to-day staff management, hiring, firing, and employee development.

Eva Rykr

Eva Rykr is an organizational psychology practitioner. Her passion lies in bringing a psychology perspective to the business world, with the mission of creating a high-performance environment. Follow her @EvaRykr.

Anita Bruzzese

Anita Bruzzese is a syndicated columnist for Gannett/USA Today on workplace issues and the author of “45 Things You Do That Drive Your Boss Crazy.” She has been on the Today show, and quoted in publications such as O, The Oprah Magazine, Glamour, Self.com and BusinessWeek.com. Her website, 45things.com, is listed on the Forbes top 100 websites for women.