Google+
ITS and UVa logos for printed output

UVA Mailing List Service

Sympa FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Sympa

Answers to Frequently-Asked Questions

For List Owners/Administrators

How do I create a mailing list?
Go to https://lists.virginia.edu/sympa and log in through NetBadge. Then click Create List.
How do I decide what type of mailing list I need?
See Creating a List: Mailing List Types.
It didn’t like the list name I requested. Why not?
See Mailing List Name Requirements in Sympa.
How do I delete a mailing list?
Go to https://lists.virginia.edu/sympa and log in through NetBadge. Click My lists, then in the left column select the list to delete, and then click Close this list. Click Remove List, and then click Confirm.
How can I change the name of a mailing list?
At this time, mailing list names cannot be changed. If you have any questions, or would like to discuss options for transitioning a list from an old list name to a new list name, please contact the UVA Help Desk; be sure to include the current list name and the requested new list name.
How do I authorize others to moderate my list?
Go to https://lists.virginia.edu/sympa and log in through NetBadge. Click My lists, then in the left column select the list to update. In the left column of list options, click the pencil icon adjacent to Moderators. When updates are complete, scroll down and click Update.
How do I change list owners?
Go to https://lists.virginia.edu/sympa and log in through NetBadge. Click My lists, then in the left column select the list to update. In the left-column of list options, click the pencil icon adjacent to Owners. When updates are complete, scroll down and click Update. This option is only available to list owners; if you are a subscriber or moderator but want to be added as a list owner, click Contact Owners and request the change.
The subject line of messages to my list have all kinds of weird stuff in them. How can I fix that?
Go to https://lists.virginia.edu/sympa and log in. Click My lists, then in the left column select the list to update. In the left column of list options, click Admin, click the Edit List Config dropdown, select Sending/Receiving setup. Scroll down to find Subject tagging. When updates are complete, scroll down and click Update.
How can I increase the size of the message allowed for delivery to my list?
By default, Sympa's maximum message size is set to 50 Megabytes. At this time, ITS cannot increase maximum message size limits.
How can I decrease the size of the message allowed for delivery to my list?
Contact the UVA Help Desk. Include the list name and the requested message size. Note that many external mail servers have maximum message sizes in the 10-25 Megabyte range. The largest message size accepted by the ITS mail servers is 50 Megabytes.
How do I create a footer/header for mailing list messages?
To create a footer for your posts such as...
==============
To unsubscribe from this list,
send email to:

listname-unsubscribe@virginia.edu
==============
where "listname" is the name of your list follow these steps to set up the footer:
  1. Login to your Sympa account.
  2. Click My lists.
  3. Click the list link to edit.
  4. Click Admin.
  5. Click the Edit List Config dropdown.
  6. Click message templates.
  7. Click Edit adjacent to Message footer or Message header.
  8. Edit the content.
  9. Click Save.

Per default, your mailing list setting for a footer type is set to 'add a new MIME part', which appends the footer as plain text. If you compose messages to your list mainly in HTML or Rich-Text format, most email clients display only the HTML version and therefore not the appended plain-text footer. Changing the attachment type fixes this.

Email format / Sympa setting append mime
HTML no visible footer visible footer + attachment
Rich-Text no visible footer visible footer + attachment
Plain-Text visible footer visible footer

To edit, changing to appending message, please follow these steps to set up the footer attachment type:

  1. Login to your Sympa account.
  2. Click My lists.
  3. Click the list link to edit.
  4. Click Admin.
  5. Click the Edit List Config dropdown.
  6. Click message templates.
  7. Click Edit adjacent to Message footer or Message header.
  8. Select append to message body (append).
  9. Scroll down, click Update.
How do I subscribe people to my list?
  1. Access Sympa (https://lists.virginia.edu/sympa).
  2. Log in.
    • If you are affiliated with UVA, click on the NetBadge button (if necessary).
    • If you are logging in with a non-UVA email account, click the Login button and enter your email address/password, unless it's your first login or your password is lost.
  3. Click My lists.
  4. Click the list link to edit.
  5. Click View or Manage Subscribers.
  6. Add your user or users:
    • Add a single user by entering the email address of the user in the email address text box for To add an individual user:
      1. If you do not wish for the user to receive a notification, check the quiet box.
      2. Click Add.
    • Add multiple users by clicking the blue Multiple add button.
      1. Enter the email addresses of the users you wish to add in the large white text box. Enter only one email address per line. (You may cut-and-paste from a file.)

        Note: You may include someone’s name, by using the format: mst3k@virginia.edu <mailto:mst3k@virginia.edu> Mike Theatre.

      2. If you do not wish for the user to receive a notification, check the quiet box.
      3. Click Add subscribers.
What if I don’t use my list that often — will it be automatically deleted at some point?
Yes, perhaps; see Deleting Lists for more information.

For List Members

How do I subscribe to a list?
There are 4 different ways you can subscribe to a UVA mailing list, and instructions for each of the 4 ways is provided below. You may:

Option 1: Send an Email to the List Owners. To do this:

  1. Send an email to the list owner(s), requesting to subscribe.
  2. For the To: address, use listname-request@virginia.edu, but replace the word listname with the actual name of the list you are requesting to join.

Option 2: Send an Email Command to Sympa. To do this:

  1. Compose an email message. For the To: address, use sympa@virginia.edu.
  2. In the email Subject line, type subscribe listname firstname lastname, where listname is the name of the list to wish to join, and firstname lastname is your actual first and last names.
  3. Leave the body of the message blank, including any signature lines.
  4. Send your email. You will receive a confirmation email on any actions taken on your request.

Option 3: Search for a List and Subscribe to It on the Sympa Website. To do this:

  1. Access Sympa at https://lists.virginia.edu/sympa.
  2. Find your list.
    • From the Home Tab, click Search for List(s) or click Search for List(s) tab. Then click Browse lists by categories.
  3. Subscribe to the list:
    • If you are signed into Sympa:
      • Select the list to subscribe to
      • Click Subscribe in the left-hand navigation pane
      • Click Confirm
    • If you are not signed into Sympa:
      1. Sympa will ask for your email address.
      2. Enter your primary email address, similar to mst3k@virginia.edu into the Your email address text box.
      3. Click Submit.
      4. To confirm your identity and prevent someone else from subscribing you, you will receive a confirmation email. The confirmation email was sent to the address provided.
        1. Go to your email, and open the email. It will be from SYMPA (sympa@virginia.edu).
        2. Click the link included in the email to choose your password.
        3. Click Confirm.

Option 4: Subscribe Using the Listname URL. To do this:

  1. Access Sympa at https://lists.virginia.edu/sympa.
  2. If you know the listname you wish to subscribe to, enter the URL https://lists.virginia.edu/sympa/subscribe/listname in your Web browser, where listname is the actual name of the list.
  3. Click Confirm.
  4. Subscribe:
    • If you are signed into Sympa:
      • At the top of the Sympa page, you will see a message similar to “subscribe: action completed” or “Your request has been forwarded to the list owner”, if this is a moderated membership list. You may also receive an email confirmation, depending on how the list is configured.
    • If you are not signed into Sympa:
      1. Sympa will ask for your email address.
      2. Enter your primary email address, similar to mst3k@virginia.edu into the Your email address text box.
      3. Click Submit.
      4. To confirm your identity and prevent someone else from subscribing you, you will receive a confirmation email. The confirmation email was sent to the address provided.
        1. Go to your email, and open the email. It will be from SYMPA (sympa@virginia.edu).
        2. Click the link included in the email to choose your password.
        3. Click Confirm.
How do I unsubscribe from a list?
Follow the instructions outlined above to subscribe to a list, but substitute the word unsubscribe anywhere you see the word subscribe in the instructions. There are 4 different ways you can unsubscribe to a UVA mailing list:

General Questions

How do I log into Sympa? What is my username and password?
See how to log into Sympa.
I forgot my password; how can I retrieve it?

How you retrieve your password depends upon what email address you have used to join or manage mailing lists in Sympa:

  • If you own or are subscribed to mailing lists using the email address your UVA computing ID@virginia.edu (e.g., mst3k@virginia.edu)—this is the case for most people—then you use NetBadge to log into Sympa, so you should use the Lost Password Recovery Wizard to quickly determine how to go about retrieving or changing the password you use for NetBadge.
  • If you own or are subscribed to mailing lists using any other email address, including:
    • other forms or domains of your UVA email address (e.g., mst3k@eservices.virginia.edu); or
    • a UVA email alias (e.g., mike@virginia.edu or mike@email.virginia.edu); or
    • a non-UVA email address (e.g., mike@gmail.com); or
    • another UVA mailing list that functions as the owner of this mailing list;

    —then use the Lost Password link on the Sympa login screen to have your password emailed to you.

I do not understand all the terms that Sympa uses. Help?
We’ve put together a chart of terms and definitions used by Sympa to help you.

  Page Updated: Wednesday 2018-02-28 15:31:32 EST
http://its.virginia.edu/email/mailing-lists/sympa-faq.html
its.virginia.edu
crawl=CC-MAIN-2018-17
43037
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:4Q3ZTDJ2VFPFKHC4MQEHITCC2KD7736K
<urn:uuid:da2f309f-e22d-44e0-9a25-c23701c8635f>
2018-04-25T08:27:34Z
128.143.23.96
text/html
sha1:4OLO5WF6PIKT67LNAWICX7OAWOWAEY5W
<urn:uuid:24f26833-b718-46a1-848d-3acd9e3e2c85>
http://its.virginia.edu/email/mailing-lists/sympa-faq.html
length
response
<urn:uuid:a272ffe4-1a5a-493a-bb49-08e66e81212f>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-146-34-165.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2018-17
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for April 2018
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf