Automated (scheduled) batch processes

By Bradley Charbonneau | Filed under Email, Help

PHP List can handle sending to zillions of email addresses, but your hosting company and/or ISP and/or the spam police won’t be as thrilled with the idea. Also, when you click Process Queue you should really keep that process window open until it’s done, but it might get stuck in the process. Meet throttle processes.

Basically, PHP List works “better” if you do not click “Process Queue” but I set up a time (every night at midnight or every hour or every Thursday, etc.) when PHP List will click its own button to send. You write your message, you choose your template, you choose the list(s) you want to send it to, but when you get to the point where it asks you to “Process the message queue” you don’t click that. If you want to make sure your message is really in the queue, go to messages and click on the queue tab. After the time passes that we’ve set up (e.g. every night at midnight), you can check that it went out by clicking the Sent tab and seeing if it’s there. That’s it, that’s the deal, that’s throttle processes. We’re having some fun now though, aren’t we?

However, if you’re just sending to a test group (of a few people) you can and should click Process Queue.

You do want to click “Send message to selected mailing lists” but then not the next button, Process the Message Queue.