System Distribution Lists are a useful way to send messages to a group of recipients. The campus administration maintains several distribution lists to focus communication at intended recipients (e.g. !All-SPU, !Fac/Staff, !Students). These administrative lists are displayed in the Global Address List, and are generally preceded with an exclamation mark so they sort to the top of the list. CIS limits the people who can send to these lists to reduce internal spam. The creation of system distribution lists is restricted to specific types of uses and the lists can only contain SPU email addresses. 

If you feel that your department would benefit from this type of list, please contact the CIS Help Desk.

You can also create your own Personal Distribution Lists for email addresses you regularly send to.  Personal distribution lists are stored in your SPU Exchange Mailbox. Personal distribution lists can contain on- or off-campus addresses.

We also provide a specialized email list application called Listserv. Most of the time a System Distribution List is the easiest to setup and maintain, but if off-campus email addresses are required as list members, a Listserv list might be the only option. Contact the CIS HelpDesk for additional assistance or questions.

Create a Distribution List:

1. To put together your own personal distribution list, open Webmail or Outlook 2003/2007.
2. Go to Contacts.
3. Create a New Distribution List.
4. Select Members on the menu that appears. The default list of names that will appear is the Global Address List, comprised of all of the SPU e-mail addresses and distribution lists.  (Webmail users will need to search for each name.)
5. To add a person to the list, highlight their name and click on Members to add them to the list.
6. After you've added all of the people you want in the list, click OK.
7. Name your distribution list, and you're done. 
   

Use a Distribution List:
To use the list, compose a new email. Type the title of the distribution list in the To: field and press [CTRL] + [K].  This will connect the word/title with your list of e-mails.

Remember, when trying to populate your personal distribution list in Outlook 2003, you may sometimes find that you are unable to add people from your own contact list. 

The only addresses you see available are from the SPU Global Address List.

To correct this problem:

1. Open Tools > E-mail Accounts from within Outlook 2003/2007. 
2. From there select View or change existing directories or address books and click Next. 
3. Click the Add button, select Additional Address Books, click Next.
4. Select Outlook Address Book, click Next, acknowledge the warning.
5. Restart Outlook. 

You should now be able to find your contact list when populating a person distribution list.

Acceptable Use Policy (for email use -- and mis-use)