Sending a newsletter to members

Last updated September 21, 2026

Getting the newsletter out is the commonest thing anybody does with bulk email, so there are two ways to do it and they suit different occasions.

📣 The quick way

On Communications → Newsletters, the Notify members button on a published issue sends a short announcement to everyone who has opted in to club emails. One press, nothing to write. Use it when there is nothing to add.

✉️ The considered way

Email it out… on the same card starts a proper campaign with that newsletter already attached, the subject filled in and a covering note half written. You choose who it goes to — including any of your member groups — add whatever you want to say, and send.

Coming at it from the other direction works too: in Communications → Email, every draft has a Send a newsletter with this email box listing your published issues. Tick any you want to go out with it. They are added below your message when it sends, so there is no link to copy and paste, and changing your mind about which issue is going out never means editing the wording.

🔗 A link, or the file itself?

A download link is the default, and for most clubs it is the right answer:

It always arrives. There is no size limit to fall foul of and nothing for a mail provider to reject.
The download count goes up as members open it, so the club can see how many actually read it — which is the closest thing to an honest answer to “did anyone look at it”.
If you spot a mistake and re-upload the file, everyone who follows the link gets the corrected one.

Attaching the file is offered because some committees want the PDF sitting in the inbox. It is a real attachment, on every copy of the email. Be aware of what that means: a 4 MB newsletter sent to two hundred members is 800 MB leaving your mail server in a few minutes, and that is the usual reason a club’s mailing gets throttled, bounced or filed as spam. Pavilion warns you on screen once the attachments pass about 4 MB.

A newsletter with no file uploaded cannot be linked to or attached, so the screen says so rather than sending an email that promises something that is not there.

Common questions

What is the difference between "Notify members" and "Email it out"?: Notify sends a fixed announcement to everyone opted in to club emails — one press, nothing to write. “Email it out” starts a campaign, so you pick the audience and write what you want to say. Use Notify when there is nothing to add.
Can I send more than one issue at once?: Yes — tick as many as you like. They appear in the email in the order you ticked them. It is worth doing when somebody has just joined and you want to send them the last two or three.
Should I attach the PDF or send a link?: A link, unless you have a particular reason not to. It always arrives, it tells you how many people opened it, and if you re-upload a corrected file everyone gets the corrected one. Attachments are the commonest reason a club mailing gets throttled or lands in spam.
A member says the download link asks them to log in.: It should not — the link works whether or not they are signed in. If you saw that on an older version it was a genuine bug (the logged-out handler was registered under the wrong name) and it is fixed.
Can I see afterwards which newsletter went with which email?: Yes. A sent campaign records what went with it and whether it was a link or an attachment, so “which issue did we send in July” has an answer.
Does the download count tell me who downloaded it?: No — only how many times. It is a count, not a register, which is usually what a committee wants to know anyway.