Distribution Lists and Group Email Explained

Need to email your whole team, a department, or every member of a project at once - without copying addresses by hand each time? That is what a distribution list is for. Here is how group email works and when to use it.

What is a distribution list?

A distribution list (also called a group email) is a single address - like team@yourcompany.com or all-staff@yourcompany.com - that fans a message out to every member of the group. Send one email to the list, and everyone on it receives a copy in their own inbox.

You manage the membership in one place, so adding or removing people updates every future message automatically.

Distribution list vs shared mailbox vs alias

These three are easy to confuse but do different jobs:

• Distribution list - one address delivers a copy to many people's own inboxes. Best for announcements and reaching a group.
• Shared mailbox - one shared inbox several people open and work in together. Best for team functions like support@. See aliases vs shared mailboxes.
• Alias - an extra address that forwards into one existing mailbox.

Quick test: do you want each recipient to get their own copy (distribution list), or should a team work a single shared inbox (shared mailbox)?

Common uses

• all-staff@ for company-wide announcements
• sales-team@ or support-team@ to reach a department
• project-x@ for everyone on a project
• leadership@ for the management group

Good practices

• Keep membership current - review lists when people join or leave; tie it into onboarding and offboarding
• Control who can post - decide whether outsiders can email large lists, to prevent spam or reply-all storms
• Name lists clearly so people know who they are reaching
• Mind Reply All - remind staff that a reply may reach the entire group; see business email etiquette

Manage it all in one place

With DigiCloudMail, distribution lists, shared mailboxes and aliases are all set up and maintained from the admin panel - no config files, no support ticket for every change.

Want group email set up cleanly for your team? Contact us and we will structure it for you.