Help:Extension:Newsletter

The newsletter>Special:MyLanguage/Extension:Newsletter|Newsletter extension is a tool to facilitate subscription and delivery of newsletters hosted on MediaWiki-based sites.

It allows publishers of on-wiki newsletters to announce new issues to their subscribers, and allows users to browse and subscribe to newsletters that are registered with the extension. The Newsletter extension uses the notifications>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Notifications|Notifications tool to notify subscribers of a Newsletter when a new issue is announced.

Viewing a newsletter
In order to view a list of newsletters, navigate to Special:Newsletters ([http://newsletter-test.wmflabs.org/wiki/Special:Newsletters example from test site]). There, you will see a table of newsletters you can filter through.

You can navigate to each newsletter of your choice by clicking its link.

Subscribing/Unsubscribing
In order to subscribe or unsubscribe to a newsletter, you must first log in. You can then do either one of two things:


 * Navigate to Special:Newsletters ([http://newsletter-test.wmflabs.org/wiki/Special:Newsletters example on test site]) and click the subscribe/unsubscribe link on the right side of the table.


 * Navigate to the page of the desired newsletter and click the subscribe button.

Notification preferences
When a new issue is announced, you will receive notifications via the notifications>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Notifications|Notifications tool. You can receive notifications via web or email. To configure this, navigate to the tab of your preferences ([http://newsletter-test.wmflabs.org/wiki/Special:Preferences#mw-prefsection-echoNotifications example on test site]) and enable or disable notification methods as desired.

Registering a newsletter
Wikis can restrict registration of newsletters to administrators. If you don't have the appropriate permissions, you will need to ask an administrator to perform these steps.

First, navigate to Special:CreateNewsletter ([http://newsletter-test.wmflabs.org/wiki/Special:CreateNewsletter example on test site])

Then, fill in the following fields:


 * Title of the newsletter


 * A link to an existing wiki page that will serve as the newsletter's main page


 * A description of the newsletter

Once the newsletter has been created, you will receive a success message and a link to the new newsletter will be shown.

Publishing a new issue
In order to publish a new issue of a newsletter, do the following:


 * 1) Navigate to the newsletter's main page.


 * 1) Click the 'Announce' button in the menu at the top.


 * 1) Fill in the required fields.


 * 1) * Page title of the issue


 * 1) * Summary of the issue (160 bytes maximum)

Once a new issue has been announced, it will notify all subscribers via the notifications>Special:MyLanguage/Extension:Notifications|Notifications tool.

Managing a newsletter
In order to manage a newsletter, navigate to the newsletter's main page and click the 'Manage' button in the menu at the top.

Here are the actions you can take from there:


 * Change the title of the newsletter


 * Change the description of the newsletter


 * Add and remove publishers from the newsletter

Adding and removing subscribers
In order to add and remove subscribers, first navigate to the newsletter's main page and click the 'View Subscribers' button in the menu at the top.

This will bring you to a new page with a text box containing the existing subscribers.

Add or remove subscribers from the list, ensuring that each subscriber is on their own line.

Deleting a newsletter
Instead of having a separate interface for deleting a newsletter, this can be done simply by using the wiki's regular deletion interface, which can be accessed by clicking the 'More' tab at the top and selecting 'Delete' from the dropdown.

User rights
In order to perform various actions on a newsletter, you must have certain rights, which are assigned to administrators on most wikis.


 *   - Allows you to create a newsletter
 *   - Allows you to delete a newsletter
 * <tvar|manage> </> - Allows you to perform almost every other action, such as publishing a new newsletter issue, adding/removing subscribers, and more. See the sections below for more specific details on actions you can take.

See <tvar|userrights>Extension:Newsletter#User Rights</> for more information on user rights in the Newsletter extension.