This article will explain how you can create a mailing list with external recipients. This is provided by JISC mail, the third-party mailing list solution that we recommend you use for this purpose.
If your mailing list does not need to contain external recipients (non-@leeds.ac.uk addresses) then you should request an M365 Distribution Group instead.
University IT will not have any involvement with creating or managing your JISC mail list. The management of the distribution list will be dependent on the creator of the list. This includes responsibilities such as managing the membership, moderation settings or in the event of that person leaving the University, transferring ownership to another person.
These lists will be tied to that person’s login. This will result in the list being lost if that person leaves the University and is the sole owner of the list. Please ensure you add additional owners to the list, if possible, to avoid this.
Creating a JISCMail account
Navigate to https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/ in your web browser. You should see the following page.
Click on ‘Login’ at the top of the page. You should be presented with the following screen, click on ‘get a new LISTSERV password’.
You will then be prompted to create an account with JISCMail. Enter your university email address and a new password. This will be your login for JISCMail. Click ‘register password’ once finished.
Once done you should receive a message of confirmation and that you need to activate your password for the account. You should receive an email to your university email account containing a link to activate your password. Click on that link and it should direct you to a page confirming that your new password was registered successfully.
Once this has been done click on the JISCMail logo on the top left.
Click on ‘Institutional log on’ at the top of the page.
When prompted, enter ‘University of Leeds’ and then click ‘Continue’.
You should be presented with the University’s login screen. Enter your credentials (username@leeds.ac.uk and your usual password). After this you should see the following screen.
You will need to use the JISCMail account you created initially. This should be your University email address and a unique password. Once entered click ‘OK’ and this should log you in.
Requesting a mailing list
You’ll now be at the home screen again. To create a list click on ‘Request a new mailing list’ in the Quick Links tab.
This will take you to a page including some information on what the mailing list should be used for and some usage policies. Please read through them. Once done fill out the owner details with your own information (example below).
Under ‘list type’ it is usually best to select ‘private discussion list’. Read through the options and pick whichever is suitable for your purpose.
Under ‘list usage’ fill in the criteria. If you are unsure, estimate roughly. Under the field ‘percentage in the UK education/research’ ensure you put a higher percentage out of 100% to increase the change your list will be approved.
Under ‘list name, title and description’ give your list a name (this will be the mailing list address) a title (an identifier for the list) and a description of the list’s purpose.
Under ‘additional list owners’ add any colleagues that may be assisting you with management of the list.
‘Moderated mailing lists’ gives you the optional choice to add moderators to your list. They will be responsible for approving or denying any emails sent to the list.
There are then some more optional fields to fill in such as ‘list related website’, ‘subject categories’ (only required on public or restricted lists) and ‘super-list’ settings. Read through these and fill in as appropriate. Once done click on ‘Submit request’ at the bottom of the page.
This will send your list request to JISCMail to approve. You should receive a ticket via email with the confirmation of the request from JISC. Please wait for them to approve your list.
Once approved you should receive an email like the example below.
This email will also contain information about how to access and administrate your new list. Please read through all this information as you will be personally responsible for your list.
For any assistance with a JISCMail list please contact help@jisc.ac.uk.