How do I send a message to all members?

I just did a lot of site upgrades, added several new features, and am about to launch our app.  How do I send a message to all of my members to let them know?

Hello

You may use default Mass Mailer feature. It can be found in admin panel -> tools -> mass mailer.

I thought members had to be subscribed to the mass mailer before they would receive the email.

 Awesome, thanks.

 Oops, does it only send that to subscribed users?

 not all, some members who register don't tick the opt-out so they are receiving your mail. The only issue I see is the number shown as members that have opted in and the actual number that is sent out. Example 800 members opted in and the actual number sent to is 500.

Also when you reload the browser on that page it doubles up and the mail is sent 2 times. So be careful.

 I don't have an option for members to opt-out.  But does that mean that if they do not subscribe then they will not get it?

From what I understand, and is stated in the admin section, the mass mailer is the newsletter and I was under the impression that members must subscribe to that to get the email.  I think somewhere on here is another forum issue about this.  You can do a database query and subscribe all your members to the newsletter, then later they can opt out if they wish.

 That sounds good, how do I do that?  And is there a way to automatically sign them up for it when they join?

What I did in the meantime was just send an actual e-mail to them all from my e-mail account (same site address).

You would need to run a sql query in the database; if you have access to the database through cPanel or through a tool like phpMyAdmin, then you can do it there.  Otherwise, you can do it through a php file that you would run from your site.  I don't know the table or field for this though, so maybe someone else could join in here.

As for setting it when they join, you would need to add that to the join script that creates the profile and have it set the necessary field in the necessary table; which might be in the Profiles table but I don't really know.

I do have phpMyAdmin in my cPanel, hopefully someone can chime in on what script I would need to run to add everyone and a script that would add them when they join.

 Hello

By default Dolphin's Join form has 'Receive site notifications' checkbox which is checked by default. You may just hide the field from Join form using Profiles Builder (admin panel -> builders -> profile fields -> join form tab) and users will have signed to site notifications by detault. I just checked it on my demo site and it's working. In the same time they would be able to uncheck it later via Profile Edit (However you may hide it from this form too :) ). 

To update all current members you need to execute the following MySQL query in Dolphin's database

UPDATE `Profiles` SET `EmailNotify` = '1'

 Awesome, I already had it hid and I ran the query anyway.  When I look at the Massmailer Subcribers list though, it still shows only one subscriber.  Is that only if they actually hit subscribe or is that for something else?

even when checked my members no in mass mail list

I was thinking that subscribing to the newsletter was not the same as site notifications.  Let me dig on this some.

OK, first of all, subscriptions are handled in the member's account page, link to Subscriptions on the submenu bar.  I subscribed to my site's newsletter (which is the mass mailer) and NOT the site notifications.  Now let me go poke around in the database so I can tell you which table handles this.  By the way, I did try to make this point before   Oh, by the way, the subscription page will be for ALL of their subscriptions including when they subscribe to other member's content; so you can not hide this page.  Furthermore, under the US Can Spam Act, users/members must have a way to opt-out of emails.  Do this once, but don't force your members to subscribe to emails.  What is needed is a better way when you need to email members once-in-awhile.  Personally, I use an announcement mod that shows the announcement on the home page, account page and profile page so they can not say they did not see it.

OK, look in table sys_sbs_entries for the subscriptions.  To see what the id is for the mass mailer, look in sys_sbs_types and you will see mass_mailer with ID 2.

 Hello everybody. 

You are right subscriptions and site notifications are different things but both of them are controlled with 'Receive site notifications' checkbox in member's profile. 

Sure, you may use alternative way to notify your members that you have something new on your site. You may take a look at our Broadcaster module which allows to show notifications to all site members at online. The notification may include some text message or even a movie which represents your new features. If you have some questions feel free to contact me.

It's much more clear once you try to send a message.  Once you create a message it gives you the option of sending it to Subscribers or members (that have agreed to receive newsletters).  Since I signed them all up, I was able to send it to all of my members.

Thanks for the help.