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Send Email to a List of Addresses via Bulkmail

This procedure is for sending a message to a group of addresses that you provide. If you want to send to a set group, for example, all students or all staff, see our Send Email to a Pre-Defined Group article.

This article applies to: Bulkmail

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One-Time Mailing

Situation: You have a message to be sent to a large number of people. You have the list of email addresses. You are NOT sending to a pre-defined group, such as all students or all faculty.

  1. Determine the From email address for the message. We strongly recommend using an Exchange Group Account rather than a personal address. 
  2. Request a CIT e-list, listing the From email address as a secondary administrator. While setting the configuration options, for who may post, be sure to choose Announcement. This will prevent anyone else from sending messages to your group of addresses.
  3. Prepare a file with the email addresses and upload them into the e-list settings.
  4. Email your message to the e-list posting address. Make sure you send the email from the address you want it to come from (which should be the address you chose in step 1). Keep in mind the limit on the size of the email.

Multiple Mailings to the Same Set of Addresses Over Time

Situation: You have already set up an e-list as described in One-Time Mailing above. Now you have a need to send another message to the same group of addresses.

  1. If you need to make any updates to the list of addresses, see
  2. Email your message to the e-list posting address. Make sure you send the email from the address you want it to come from (which should be the address you chose in step 1 when you requested the list). Keep in mind the limit on the size of the email.

Different Messages to Different Sets of Addresses Over Time

Situation: Over the course of time, you need to send messages to various groups of people, with the list of addresses changing substantially (or completely) each time you need to send a message.

You can re-use a list you've already requested and used; see One-Time Mailing above. You will delete all the member addresses and add your new list of addresses.

An important restriction is that you must wait five days after sending a message to a list before deleting and replacing the list of addresses.
  1. Check to see if the From address you'll be using is already a list administrator. If not, add the address as a member, then give it list admin rights.
  2. Delete All Members from the list. This will not remove the list administrators, which is good for your situation.
  3. Upload your new set of addresses.
  4. Email your message to the e-list posting address. Make sure you send the email from the address you want it to come from. Keep in mind the limit on the size of the email.

Ongoing Need to Send to Several Sets of Addresses

Situation: You regularly (or repeatedly) send messages to different groups (for example, supervisors get a weekly message from you, student employees get a monthly message, etc.). 

You can request a series of lists (as described in One-Time Mailing, above) so that you don't need to delete and upload addresses over and over.

Pro-tip: if requesting multiple lists at once, after completing the request for the first list, use your browser's back button, change only the fields that need to be changed (often just the list name), and submit the new request. Repeat as needed. This will save you from starting the procedure from scratch each time.  

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