MailmanLists

FAQ

Digests -- How do digests work

Digest delivery is a way to bundle many messages together into one email, which can be delivered once per day (if there were any posted articles), or whenever the package is bigger than a specified limit. Some users may prefer this style of delivery for higher traffic lists since they will receive fewer messages.

Note: All digests are sent at noon (UTC) each day. *

Digests are labeled with a Volume number (starting at 1) and an Issue number (also starting at 1).

The label appears in the subject line of the emailed digest. For example, the subject line of a list's first digest will look like:

        Subject: <NameOfYourList> Digest Volume 1, Issue 1

Volumes and Issues

How often should a new digest volume be started?

Yearly   Monthly   Quarterly   Weekly   Daily

When a list's digest volume is set to 'Daily', a new Volume number is created each day. For example:

Monday    -- Subject: <NameOfYourList>  Digest Volume 1, Issue 1
Tuesday   -- Subject: <NameOfYourList>  Digest Volume 2, Issue 1
Wednesday -- Subject: <NameOfYourList>  Digest Volume 3, Issue 1
...

If the setting were set to 'Weekly' then all the digests of the first week would be Volume 1. The following week's digests would all be Volume 2, and so on. The Issue number would be incremented each day.

To illustrate the Weekly setting:

Week 1 Monday    -- Subject: <NameOfYourList>  Digest Volume 1, Issue 1
Week 1 Tuesday   -- Subject: <NameOfYourList>  Digest Volume 1, Issue 2
Week 1 Wednesday -- Subject: <NameOfYourList>  Digest Volume 1, Issue 3
Week 1 Thursday  -- Subject: <NameOfYourList>  Digest Volume 1, Issue 4
...
Week 2 Monday    -- Subject: <NameOfYourList>  Digest Volume 2, Issue 1
Week 2 Tuesday   -- Subject: <NameOfYourList>  Digest Volume 2, Issue 2
Week 2 Wednesday -- Subject: <NameOfYourList>  Digest Volume 2, Issue 3
...

The same pattern applies to Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly.

Remember: in each case, the digest is still sent at noon each day.

Administrators can also set a 'size threshold' so that the digest is sent as soon as it reaches a specified size (measured in kB). Doing so would see multiple issues in a day.

* Override the daily sending of digests

You may want your list to send a digest only once a week, once a month, or occasionally.

Set the following digest options permanently:

How big in Kb should a digest be before it gets sent out?

Should a digest be dispatched daily when the size threshold isn't reached? Yes No

Then, when you want to send your digest, set the following option and submit:

Should Mailman send the next digest right now, if it is not empty?Yes No

Note: Sending Digests at times other than the automatic 'Daily' is a manual process, as decsribed above, and cannot be automated.