Newsletter

Activities ::: mod_newsletter
Maintained by it's meDavid Bogner, Wunderbyte LogoWunderbyte GmbH
This is a newsletter module for moodle. First stable release. It provides the basic features of common newsletter tools. Using it with moodle VERP bounce processing is recommended. But we will add an additional bounce processing feature that will be easier to configure.
Latest release:
292 sites
147 downloads
52 fans
Current versions available: 6

Newsletter module

This is a typical newsletter module for moodle. The features are:


  • Subscription methods: Opt in, opt out, forced
  • Management of subscribed users: Cohort (un)subscription, Ajax user (un)subscription, filtering users
  • Auto generated unsubscribe link
  • Subscription of not yet registered users
  • Multiple attachments
  • Stylesheet: Attach a stylesheet and it will be converted to inline CSS (this is necessary for mail clients)
  • Report of sent issues
  • Resuming sending newsletter if there was a problem so that all recipients will get the newsletter
  • Prevent duplicate message sending
  • Issues overview with sort options: year/month/week
  • Uses moodle internal VERP bounce system, if it is configured correctly
  • Easy to use bounce processing: Just setup the mailbox for the noreply adress defined in the moodle configuration and it will automatically add bounce processing to all the newsletters
  • Personalised newsletters: Supported replacement are (The pattern format starting with news:// makes it possible to use in in links without being modified by the editor):
    • issueurl (URL pointing to the current issue for web view)
      Pattern for replacement: news://issueurl/
    • issuelink  (a full html link pointing to the web view of the current issue)
       Pattern for replacement: news://issuelink/
    • firstname (First name of the user, the newsletter is sent to)
      Pattern for replacement: news://firstname/
    • fullname 
      Pattern for replacement: news://fullname/

Upcoming features

  • Tracking of read newsletter issues
  • Statistics
  • Templates engine

Screenshots

Screenshot #0
Screenshot #1

Contributors

it's me
David Bogner (Lead maintainer)
Wunderbyte Logo
Wunderbyte GmbH: Product owner
Please login to view contributors details and/or to contact them

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Comments

  • it's me
    Tue, 3 Jan 2023, 10:13 PM
    Hi Tumer,
    yes, in fact we are working on that feature. We will upload a new version this spring.
    Kind regards,
    David
  • tumer altas
    Thu, 12 Jan 2023, 7:53 PM
    Hi David,
    That's great news. Thank you so much.
    Best regards,
    Tumer
  • Sofia Cerè
    Fri, 20 Jan 2023, 4:11 PM
    Hi David,
    thanks for plugin.
    Is it possible to import newsletter subscribers via the csv file?

    Best regards,
    Sofia
  • it's me
    Sun, 22 Jan 2023, 5:06 PM
    Hi Sofia,
    what you can do is to upload user via CSV Upload in site administration and add the users to a cohort and subscribe the cohort to the newsletter.
    Kind regards,
    David
  • Michelle Holbrook-Pronovost
    Tue, 24 Jan 2023, 2:38 AM
    Hi David, is it possible to include a link in the newsletter email that links back the the web version? I know I can manually add a link...but is the only option for the email to be the full text of the newsletter with no link back to the web version? My client would like participants to read the newsletter on the site and just get an email stating something along the lines of "a new issue is available here." Hope that makes sense.
  • it's me
    Tue, 24 Jan 2023, 4:19 PM
    Hi Michelle, it is possible to link to the web version of the newsletter like this: <a href="news://issueurl/">Read online</a>

    What is not possible right now is to have a short version sent out and a long version for online reading. That could be implemented though. We can send you a quote if you are interested in that feature.
  • it's me
    Tue, 24 Jan 2023, 4:20 PM
    ... the link is a placeholder and will be automatically replaced with the URL to the newsletter.
  • Michelle Holbrook-Pronovost
    Wed, 25 Jan 2023, 2:14 AM
    Thank you for your reply! I did try that, I just wish the "Read Online' link was only in the email and did not have to be in the online version, since it seems redundant - clicking it online would simply refresh the page.
  • Sofia Cerè
    Thu, 6 July 2023, 7:02 PM
    Hi, how is possible to add "Auto generated unsubscribe link" on the content of e-mail?
    In any case where I found the setting about the Auto generated unsubscribe link?
    Thank you.
  • it's me
    Tue, 11 July 2023, 12:52 AM
    Dear Sofia, at the moment this is not yet implemented. The unsubscribe link is always at the bottom of the newsletter issue. But it would be easy to implement it. I am happy to merge any code contribution. You can also have a quote for that feature via writing to info at wunderbyte.at
    Kind regards,
    David
  • Sofia Cerè
    Fri, 14 July 2023, 6:15 PM
    Dear Davide, thank you for the reply.
    To make sure I have understood you correctly, I ask a further question.
    When it says in the plugin description:
    " The features are:
    - ...
    - Management of subscribed users: Cohort (un)subscription, Ajax user (un)subscription, filtering users
    - Auto generated unsubscribe link
    - ...."
    What is meant?

    Kind regards,
    Sofia
  • it's me
    Mon, 17 July 2023, 5:06 PM
    Dear Sofia, when you add a newsletter to the frontpage you are going to be able to have different subscription options and also you can subscribe cohorts to the newsletter. Also sending issues to a certain cohort is possible. Everything is quite self explaining. Just test it. If you do not choose "Forced subscription" you will have an unsubscribe link at the end of the emails sent for every newsletter issue.
    Kind regards,
    David
  • Walter Berthold
    Fri, 4 Aug 2023, 5:32 AM
    After updating to the current version 4.2+, I no longer have any editor menu icons available in the "Newsletter" plugin edit section. It seems tinyMCE and Atto are simply not available anymore for the newsletter editor.
    I.e. Atto, or Tiny editor are no longer available. I can only enter plain text.
    If I call up an older newsletter, I no longer see the comfortable editor either and the text is currently displayed just in HTML format.
    For all other entries and files in Moodle, the editor works normally.
    Is this a problem with the plugin running under 4.2?
  • it's me
    Fri, 4 Aug 2023, 1:57 PM
    Hi Walter,

    we only supported 2 text editors (tinymce and plain text) because we needed some JavaScript to interact with the editor and there was not enough resources to support all editors. Now Moodle removed tinymce and replaced it with tiny (tinymce is a legacy version of tiny). That's the reason you only see plain text because tiny is not supported. The JavaScript applies the CSS file to the editor so that you see how your newsletter looks with the CSS file that you selected.
    We would need to rewrite the JavaScript (it is still in YUI instead of ES6) and add support for tiny. As none of our clients uses Moodle 4.2 right now we did not do that yet. There is a todo in the code already:
    https://github.com/Wunderbyte-GmbH/moodle-mod_newsletter/blob/c43e34f1a6dcfeafc87db5c12f703f2ecf551505/classes/newsletter.php#L934
    That's the JS that has to be rewritten as AMD module:
    https://github.com/Wunderbyte-GmbH/moodle-mod_newsletter/blob/c43e34f1a6dcfeafc87db5c12f703f2ecf551505/module.js


    Kind regards,
    David
  • Walter Berthold
    Fri, 4 Aug 2023, 6:36 PM
    Hi David, thanks for the quick reply.
    However, what does it mean for the future of the plugin? Are you going to update it in due time, or will you not be able to modify it recently?
    Actually, I'm not able to use it – therefore I need to find a solution soon. Does it make sense to wait and overcome the waiting time with a temp solution, or should I better go for anything new?
    Kind regards
    Walter
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