Preferences
The preferences window lets you specify the application settings and preferences.
General
Allows you to specify the general application preferences.
Data Location
Specifies the data path location of the application setting files, configuration files, history files etc. This is also your database path if you are using Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 as database server. If you want to change the data location, you can do so by clicking the folder icon "Select Data Location..." and specify your desired location. You can select any local path (e.g. folders, hard drives, thumb drives etc.) on your computer or any path in your local network (e.g. network shares, network drives etc.) as data location but you have to ensure that you have the appropriate read/write permissions for the selected path.
If you already specified another, non-default path as data location, you can simply set the data location back to the default value by clicking the star-folder icon "Use Default Data Location...". Please note: If you specify another data location, no already existing files such as application setting files, configuration files, history files etc. will be copied to the new data location so you need to copy such files manually to the new path if you want to further use them.
Email Preview
Specifies the way how to preview emails. The application allows you to preview emails in different sections of the application. For example, if you compose a message you can click the "Preview" button to see the actual email that is sent to the subscribers. With this setting, you can choose how these emails will be displayed.
Internal Viewer
Displays emails with the internal email viewer of the application.
System Default
Displays emails with the on your local computer installed program that is associated to email files, such as Microsoft Outlook etc.
Default Encoding
Specifies the default encoding for each new message that you will compose. It is important to select the right encoding because otherwise, the recipient won't be able to view the message correctly. For a maximum of compatibility, we recommend to use UTF-8 encoding which is also the default value. You can choose nearly any available encoding which is very useful if you have specific needs.
Minimize to Tray
Specifies if the application should minimize to the system tray. This way the application is running in the background and always available from the system tray. Possible values are:
Never
Means that the application will never minimize to the system tray. This is the default behaviour.
When Minimizing
Means that the application will minimize to the system tray when you click the minimize button on the application window. To restore the application, simply double-click on the application icon that can be found in the system tray. You can also click the right mouse-button on the system tray icon to get a selection of more options.
Instead of Closing
Means that the application will minimize to the system tray when you click the close button on the application window. To restore the application, simply double-click on the application icon that can be found in the system tray. You can also click the right mouse-button on the system tray icon to get a selection of more options.
Intel® Platform Features**
Is only displayed on compatible devices with compatible Intel® Hardware and shows available Intel® Platform Features.
Enable Intel® 2in1
NewsTurbo has been optimized to run on Windows Tablets, Convertible Devices as well as 2in1 Ultrabooks™. By enabling this features, you are able to operate NewsTurbo in Touch-Mode on your Windows Tablet. After enabling this feature on Convertible Devices or 2in1 Ultrabooks™, NewsTurbo will switch fully automatically between Mouse-Mode and Touch-Mode, depending on the current state of your device. This option requires Windows 7 or higher.
Field Names/Variables
Allows you to specify/change the field names that are used for describing subscriber information such as First Name, Last Name etc. It also allows you to specify/change the variables such as Unsubscription Link, System Date etc. These are also the tags/variables that can be selected when composing a message etc. The default values are already shown so normally there is no need to change any of them but if you have specific needs, you can change them without any problems.
When changing any of these values, please ensure that you refresh your web forms to the new values if you already have set up a web form. When changing any of the variables you should also make sure, that you refresh your templates with the new values. For example, if you have a template that uses the #UnsubscriptionLink# tag you need to change the template when you change the name of the variable.
List Settings
Specifies the default settings of any list that you create. Although you can specify the settings for each list individually in "Manage Lists", you can choose here the default values of any newly created list.
Default Unsubscription Type
Specifies the way how the subscriber can cancel its subscription and unsubscribe from the selected mailing list. This setting is also used for both the #UnsubscriptionLink# tag as well as the "List-Unsubscribe-Header". It also depends on the "Subscriber Match" option so both options must be configured correctly in order that it works correctly.
Unsubscribe by sending an email
This allows the subscriber to cancel its subscription by simply sending an email to the email address that manages the list. This is normally the email address that is specified as "Email" at "Manage Subscriptions" for the selected mailing list. This might also be the email address that is specified as "Sender Email Address" at "Send".
Unsubscribe by visiting a website
This option is very useful if you use web based scripts were the subscriber can manage its subscription. By selecting this option, the subscriber will have to visit a website to cancel its subscription rather than sending an email. This might be more comfortable for the subscriber but also needs a web based form. You can use the integrated "Web Form Generator" to create web based subscription scripts but you can of course also use your own created/developed script. Depending on how your script works, you can also insert the #Email# tag/variable that will be replaced with the actual subscriber email address when sending out the message. This makes it incredibly easy for the subscriber to manage its subscription online.
Label of the unsubscription link
This is the text that is displayed in plain text messages/plain text parts next to the actual unsubscription link when sending out the message so the subscriber knows what the displayed address is for.
Default Subscriber Match
Specifies how the application should match subscriptions/cancellations. Since every user has specific needs, there are different options available. Possible values for this setting are:
Sender address is subscriber email | Subject is command (Default)
Means that the sender address of the subscriber is also the subscriber email address. The subject contains the command, either the subscribe or the unsubscribe command. For example, if the user "joe@bloggs.com" sends an email to the managing email address with the subscribe subject e.g. "Subscribe", the next time you manage your subscriptions at "Manage Subscriptions" the email address "joe@bloggs.com" will be added to the list as a new subscriber.
This is the default value that enables you to start right away with the application without the need to configure anything in this section. This might also be the most easiest method because the user just have to send an email with the appropriate subject in order to sign up for the newsletter or to get removed from the list. When selecting this subscriber match method, the application automatically creates HTML subscription/unsubscription links at "Manage Subscriptions" that enables you to directly integrate these links into your website and/or into your email signatures of your regular email client.
Example:
Sender Email Address: joe@bloggs.com
Subject: Subscribe
You can also connect this method with a web based subscribe/cancellation form but then you have to ensure that your web form is configured correctly. If you want to use this method with a web form, you have to ensure that the email address that is entered in this web form is the sender email address meaning that you will actually receive the email from the entered email address.
For example, if the user "joe@bloggs.com" visits your web based sign up form and enters his email address in the appropriate field, you must ensure that the sender address of the email that will be sent through your form is "joe@bloggs.com".
Please note that you can easily use this method with web forms but please be aware that you can run into problems because of the Sender Policy Framework (SPF) record that might have been set for the users' domain name. You can learn more about SPF records by clicking here.
An SPF record is a type of Domain Name Service (DNS) record that identifies which mail servers are permitted to send email on behalf of the appropriate domain. The purpose of an SPF record is to prevent spammers from sending messages with forged From addresses. Recipients can refer to the SPF record to determine whether a message purporting to be from your domain comes from an authorized mail server.
In some simple words, if the user "joe@bloggs.com" has an SPF record on his domain "bloggs.com", you cannot use the email address "joe@bloggs.com" as sender address in your web form because in this case, you are not authorized to send emails on behalf of this domain name so the submitted web form will never sent an email out meaning that you will never get this email address in your mailing list. So when using web forms, you should consider using another match method as described below.
This problem does not occur if you do not use a web form because when not using a web form with this method, the user will send the subscription/cancellation request directly from its own email address meaning that he or she is authorized to send emails on behalf of this domain name.
ReplyTo address is subscriber email | Subject is command
Means that the ReplyTo address of the sent email is the subscriber email address. The subject contains the command, either the subscribe or the unsubscribe command. This method should only be used with web forms to avoid problems with SPF records that might have been set on the users' domain name.
You have to ensure that the email address that is entered in the web form is the ReplyTo when sending out the email to you. For example, if the user "joe@bloggs.com" visits your web based sign up form and enters his email address in the appropriate field, you must ensure that the ReplyTo address of the email that will be sent through your form is "joe@bloggs.com". The sender address can be anything you want but we recommend that you use an email address that actual exists on your mail server.
Example:
Sender Email Address: youremail@yourserver.com
ReplyTo Address: joe@bloggs.com
Subject: Subscribe
Subject is command and also contains subscriber email
Means that the subject contains the command, either the subscribe or the unsubscribe command as well as the subscriber email address. This method should only be used with web forms to avoid problems with SPF records that might have been set on the users' domain name.
You have to ensure that the email address that is entered in the web form will be included in the email subject in the correct format when sending out the email to you. For example, if the user "joe@bloggs.com" visits your web based sign up form and enters his email address in the appropriate field, you must ensure that the entered email address "joe@bloggs.com" will be included in the subject of the email that is being sent to you. The sender address can be anything you want but we recommend that you use an email address that actual exists on your mail server. The correct format for this is "Subject=Email Address".
Example:
Sender Email Address: youremail@yourserver.com
Subject: Subscribe=joe@bloggs.com
Default Subjects
Defines the default subscribe/unsubscribe subjects for each newly created list.
Subscribe
Defines the subject that should be used for subscription messages. The default value is "Subscribe" meaning that every email you receive with this subject will be added to the appropriate mailing list. You can enter any value you wish. When changing the subject you should make sure that you replace all links that you might have been included into your website with the new changed ones. When using web forms you must also change them.
Unsubscribe
Defines the subject that should be used for unsubscription/cancellation messages. The default value is "Unsubscribe" meaning that every email you receive with this subject will be removed from the appropriate mailing list. You can enter any value you wish. When changing the subject you should make sure that you replace all links that you might have been included into your website with the new changed ones. When using web forms you must also change them.
Connection Settings
Specifies the internet connection settings/preferences of the application.
Proxy Server*
Allows you to specify that the application should use a proxy server to access the internet. If you wish to connect through a proxy server rather than you regular internet connection, please check the "Use a proxy server to access the internet" and enter all necessary information of the desired proxy server.
You have to specify the protocol of the proxy server, Socks5, Socks4, or HTTP. Please contact the administrator the proxy server if you don't know which protocol is being used by the proxy server. It is also necessary to specify the address as well as the port number of the proxy server that should be used therefore, you have to enter the address in the field "Address" and the port number in the field "Port".
Depending on the selected protocol, you may also have to specify the user name as well as the password to establish the connection to the proxy server. Please ask the administrator of the proxy server if don't know any of these information.
Default Timeout Values in Seconds
Specifies the amount of seconds the application will wait for data to be received from the server before returning an error. You can define the timeout values for every protocol that is being used by the application, SMTP which is used for sending emails, POP3 which is used for receiving emails, FTP which is used for uploading newsletters to the server as well as HTTP which is used for several other features in the application.
Advanced
Specifies advanced application settings.
Settings
Specifies some general preferences. Possible setting are:
Synchronize list selection across panels
Allows you to keep working on the same list across all panels until you change it. For example, if you select a list in the "Send" section and you then go to the "Manage Lists" section in order to add a new address, the list you selected in the Send section, will be already selected in Manage Lists section.
Automatically add plain text part to HTML emails
Allows you to automatically add a plain text part to composed HTML emails. It is recommended that every HTML message also contains a plain text part because not every user can view HTML emails on the system. If you would just send a HTML message to the recipients, those users that cannot view HTML emails will just receive an empty email that is completely blank. This would also be a risk for you because most blank emails will be filtered out as spam. Furthermore, there is a risk for you to get listed on a spam blacklist when sending blank emails so you should avoid it in most cases as possible.
You can always add a plain text part to the composed message by clicking on the "Get Text from HTML" link that is located below the HTML editor in the section "Compose Message". When clicking on this link, a plain text part will automatically be created based on the HTML content and the result is being displayed in the plain text part window. In this window you can make some adjustments to the plain text part or you can simply use the automatically created text. You can switch between plain text view and HTML view by clicking the Text-Button.
Based on the application preferences, the application can ask you whether you want to add a plain text part when switching to another section. By enabling this option, the application will not ask you to add a plain text part but it will automatically add a plain text part to HTML emails based on the composed HTML content.
Enable Logging
Allows you to enable the log for sending and receiving operations. For example, if you wish to be able to view the server log after a mailing has been sent to the subscribers, this option must be enabled.
Prompts
Specifies if the application should ask you to confirm some application actions. Possible prompts are:
Remind me when I have not backed up in 7 days
Enables that the application reminds you if no backup of the application settings/database has been made for more than 7 days. It is very important to regularly backup your application settings/database otherwise you might risk a data loss. Therefore, this prompt can be very useful to prevent any danger to your data.
Remind me to add a plain text part when a HTML email is missing it
Enables that the application offers you to add a plain text to HTML emails when you forgot. By enabling this option, the application not just reminds you but also gives you the possibility to add a plain text part to the HTML email. Please note that this prompt has no effect if you enabled the option "Automatically add plain text part to HTML emails".
Remind me if encoding is different
When composing a message, you have to specify the encoding for this message in order to get correct results. However, when you open a previously saved message like from a draft, a template or especially from a URL, it might be possible that the encoding of this message is different than your currently selected encoding.
By enabling this option, the application will tell you that the encoding of the message that should be opened is different from the currently selected one. The application also asks you if you wish to keep the currently selected encoding or to change it to the encoding that matches with the message that should be opened. We recommend that you do not keep the selected encoding but to change it to the encoding of the message that should be opened.
However, in some circumstances it might be necessary that you keep the currently selected encoding so it also depends on your specific needs.
Remind me to send a test email before sending the actual newsletter
Enables that the application offers you to send a test of your composed message before sending the actual composed message to the subscribers. We always recommend to send a test email to yourself before sending it out to your subscribers. This way you can be sure that the subscribers will receive the email exactly the way you want.
Ask me before closing the application
Enables that the application asks you if you really want to close it when hitting the close button. This might be useful to avoid the application is being closed by accident.
Maps Provider
Specifies the maps provider that is being used when viewing subscriber address information. If you add or edit a subscriber, you have the possibility to view a map of its address. This option specifies which maps provider should be used for viewing the map of the subscriber. You can choose between Google Maps as well as Bing Maps. Which one you should use is solely based on your personal preferences.
Analytics*
Specifies the connection to the NewsTurbo Analytics Server that should be used to track analytics and statistics for your campaigns.
NewsTurbo Analytics Server or NewsTurbo Analytics Services is required in order to being able to track analytics and statistics for your campaigns.
NewsTurbo Analytics Server is a server side application that will be installed on your own server however, NewsTurbo Analytics Services is a hosted service that doesn't require a server since it is hosted on our servers.
Server URL
Enter the server address of the NewsTurbo Analytics Server to be used.
Username
Enter the user name of your NewsTurbo Analytics Server account.
Password
Enter the password of your NewsTurbo Analytics Server account.
Test Connection
After entering the required information, click on this to test the connection to the NewsTurbo Analytics Server.
Remove Connection
Click this to remove the existing connection to the NewsTurbo Analytics Server. After you have removed the connection, you won't be able to track analytics and statistics for your campaigns until you have added a new connection. Also, when removing the connection you won't also be able to view an analytics report for your campaigns.
Database*
Specifies the way the application stores the subscriber information and some other application information. This feature/option is only available in zebNet NewsTurbo Pro and zebNet NewsTurbo Server. zebNet NewsTurbo always uses Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5.
Database Provider
Specifies the database provider that should be used for storing the information. Which database provider you should use solely depends on your specific needs. Possible values are:
Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5
This uses the Microsoft SQL Server Compact 3.5 database server which actually stores the information in a single database file under the data location of the application. By selecting this database provider, you do not need to specify any other information in order to get started with the application. Therefore, this database provider is perfectly suitable for more novice users or for users that just want to start right away with the application.
Microsoft SQL Server
This uses the full Microsoft SQL Server, either the express edition or any other edition. By selecting this database provider you have to specify some other information such as the path of the SQL server, authentication method, user name and password and the name of the database itself. We recommend to use this database provider if you are an advanced user with specific needs.
After selecting to use this database provider, you have to enter or select the path of the database server as well as the instance name which looks like "SERVERNAME\MSSQLSERVER". If you know these information, simply enter it in the box below "Microsoft SQL Server". If you do not know these information, you can search your local computer as well as your local network for all available SQL servers and instances by clicking the blue refresh button that is next to the box.
After clicking this button, the application will discover your local computer/your local network for SQL servers/instances. Ideally, the application can discover both the server name as well as the instance name. However, under some system configurations, the application can just discover the server name so in this case, you have to enter the instance name manually. All servers that were found can be selected by clicking the arrow icon that is right to the box.
After selecting the database server as well as the database instance, you have to specify how to connect to the database server. You can choose between "Windows Authentication" as well as "SQL Server Authentication". When using SQL Server Authentication you have also to specify the user name and the password that should be used to establish the connection. What kind of authentication you use solely depends on your specific needs or on the database server settings. Please contact your SQL Server administrator if you do not know what to choose here.
To learn more about these two different kinds of authentication methods, please visit the following website: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144284.aspx
After selecting the database server, the database instance name as well as the authentication mode, you have to specify the database itself that should be used for storing the information. This can either be a database that already exists or a completely new database.
To select a database, please navigate to the field "Select or enter a database name" and either select an already existing database or enter a name for a new database that should be used for storing the information. You can discover all available databases on the selected server by clicking the blue refresh icon that is next to the selection box. If possible, we recommend to use a new database that is only used for storing the information of the application but as stated above, you can select an existing one.
After you have specified this database provider, you have to test the settings you have made by clicking the "Test Connection" button. Clicking this button verifies that everything has been configured correctly.
Please note that you must click the "Save" button in order to get your changes saved. If you just close the window without hitting the save button, all changes you might have been made will be dismissed.
*This feature/option is only available in zebNet NewsTurbo Pro and zebNet NewsTurbo Server.
**This feature/option is only available in zebNet NewsTurbo Pro.