We have set up a mailing list on the www.barnetyha.org web site to enable members with e-mail access to send messages to everyone else on the list without having to know everyone's individual e-mail addresses.

The method described below replaces the barnetyha Yahoogroups email list that is no longer used after 12th April 2010.

1. How to join the Barnet YHA Group mailing list.

First you need to have a user name and password for the Group web site. If you do not have one then please see another Help topic,  How to get your own user name and password

• Login to MEMBERS' LOGIN at www.barnetyha.org
  
• On the MEMBERS' MENU on the left, Click 'Group email list'
• Click 'Subscribe to normal format'
  
• Click the 'Submit' button and wait for a few seconds
  
• You should see a message confirming that you email address is now subscribed to the members' email list and telling you the email address to use if you want to send a message to everyone on the mailing list
• Click the 'Continue' button. You should get back to the page titled 'Your Group Email list settings'. Under 'Status' it should show 'you are receiving messages from this list'

The quickest way to stop receiving messages from the Group email list is to use your Barnet YHA Group login. If you have forgotten your user name and/or password, please see another Help topic,  How to log in (and out)

• Login to MEMBERS' LOGIN at www.barnetyha.org
  
• On the MEMBERS' MENU on the left, Click 'Group email list'
• Click 'Do not subscribe'
  
• Click the 'Submit' button, wait for a few seconds.
• Click the 'Continue' button. You should get back to the page titled 'Your Group Email list settings'. Under 'Status' it should show 'you are not receiving messages from this list'

After logging in, you can easily subscribe or unsubscribe whenever you like. For example, you might wish to unsubscribe temporarily while you are away on holiday. You can also switch between normal mode and digest mode.

On the MEMBERS' MENU on the left, you can click 'Group email list' at any time and under 'Status', it shows you whether or not you are receiving messages from the mailing list.

Alternatively you can stop receiving messages from the mailing list by asking the Barnet YHA Group Webmaster to remove your email address from the list. You can use the Contact Us page on this web site to contact the Webmaster by email or by phone.

3. How to change your email address on the mailing list

1. Leave the email list by following the steps above. This removes your old email address from the list.
2. On the MEMBERS' MENU on the left, go to 'Update your details'  then enter your new email address and save the changes.
3. Join the email list by following the steps above. This adds your new email address to the list.

Please note that you need to remove your old email address from the list before you update your details and enter the new email address. Otherwise you will  not be able to remove your email address once you have updated your details and changed to the new email address.

4. How to have two email addresses on the mailing list

If you like, you can set up two different members' logins for the www.barnetyha.org web site, for example one with your home email address and one with your work email address. If you subscribe both email addresses to the list, you can send and receive group emails at home and at work.

5. How to send emails to the mailing list

• Simply send your email message to the address that is given at the end of every message that you receive. You should receive an automatic response that confirms that you message has been received.
  
  
• You can only send a message to the mailing list if you send it from an email address that is registered for a member's login on the www.barnetyha.org web site. If you send a message from any other email address, it will not be accepted and you will not receive any response.
   
• If you reply to a message, the reply will only go to the sender of the message, not to the whole group. If you really want to reply to the whole group, you will need to change the "To:" address to the list address.
  

6. Sending emails with attachments

All members who subscribe to the mailing list can attach files to any messages that they send but there are some limitations.

• There is a limit on the total size of the message so you need to make sure that any attachment(s) are no larger than about 120 kilobytes. This should be sufficient for most documents that do not contain pictures and it should also be sufficient for a photo or two if you reduce the size before emailing it.
  
  If you send a message that is too large, it  will be held until it is approved by the mailing list Moderator. You will have the option either to cancel it or wait for it to be approved and circulated.
  
  The purpose of this limit is to protect members who receive their emails via dial-up internet access or on a mobile phone. In either case, the time and/or cost involved in downloading messages with very large attachments may be considered excessive by some members.

• Files that you can send include the following, subject to the size limit mentioned above:

1. Microsoft Word documents in Word 97-2003 format (.doc file extension). Please remember that not everyone may have Microsoft Word as it is not included with Microsoft Windows but it is part of Microsoft Office that has to be purchased separately. You may be able to avoid the need to attach a Word document by putting the text in the body of the message (if it is something simple that doesn't need tables or columns). If you need particular formatting, you could convert the document to Adobe Acrobat .PDF format. You can get free software to do this such as CutePDF or if you use Microsoft Office 2007, a free " Save as PDF" add-in can be dowloaded from Microsoft. Microsoft Excel spreadsheets in Excel 97-2003 format (.xls file extension). Please remember that not all members have Microsoft Excel as this is also part of Microsoft Office that needs to be purchased. Unless your attachment really needs to be a spreadsheet so that people can enter numbers, you could convert the Excel file to Adobe Acrobat .PDF format as explained above.
   
   
2. Adobe Acrobat .PDF documents. Adobe Acrobat documents are widely used for all sorts of things from instruction manuals to tax forms. On the Barnet YHA Group web site, they are used for newsletters and for other documents such as details of how to get to our meeting place. Most members should be able to open Adobe Acrobat documents if they have the free Acrobat reader but for further information, please see another Help topic, How to read documents in Adobe Acrobat format
   
   
3. JPEG photos. You can attach photos as .jpg files or various other image formats (such as GIF, PNG), subject to the file size limit mentioned above.

• Certain types of attachment will be removed if they are file formats that are likely to cause difficulty for a significant number of members or if they are types that could potentially contain viruses. In either case, your message will be circulated (if not too large) but with the attachment(s) removed:
  

1. Microsoft Works files (.WPS, .WKS). Most members will not be able to open these unless they have Microsoft Works.
   
   
2. Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010 files in Office 2007 format (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx). These use a new file format that cannot be opened by earlier versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, etc. such as 2000 or 2003 unless the recipient installs a Microsoft converter. If you use Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010, please save your document as Word 97-2003 format (.doc) or set Office 2007 into "Compatibility Mode" or better still save as PDF format before emailing the document.
   
   
3. Microsoft Outlook TNEF files. Under certain circumstances, Microsoft Outlook 2003 sends an attachment that is usually called winmail.dat and is in a non-standard TNEF format that can only be read by using Microsoft Outlook.
   
   
4. Files that might contain viruses. These include .exe .bat .cmd .com .pif .scr .vbs .cpl .dat .rar .zip. Most of these are things that you probably wouldn't want to send anyway but if your computer gets a virus it might try to attach the virus to emails and send them to every email address in your address book including the group email list.
   
   In the case of ZIP files, you might have a valid reason for sending one of these but our mailing list cannot check what is inside a ZIP file before distributing it so it will be removed as a precaution.