Georgijevic

My Newsletter is a lightweight WordPress newsletter plugin focused on a practical use case many site owners need immediately:
<ul>
<li>Send a campaign to WordPress users.</li>
<li>Send a campaign to commenters (optionally only commenters from a specific post).</li>
<li>Import and manage your own mailing list (CSV/TXT upload, simple XLSX upload, or paste emails).</li>
<li>Queue the campaign and process it in the background (batch sending).</li>
<li>Include unsubscribe links in every message.</li>
<li>Track basic campaign progress in the admin area.</li>
<li>Optional file logging for troubleshooting large sends.</li>
<li>Optional built-in SMTP settings (with SMTP test) (no external SMTP plugin required).</li>
<li>Save and load reusable email templates (v2.5.0).</li>
<li>Manage templates (edit/rename/duplicate/delete) from My Newsletter → Templates (v2.6.0).</li>
<li>Import/export templates as JSON for backup and migration (My Newsletter → Templates) (v2.6.1).</li>
</ul>
This plugin is intentionally simple and WordPress-native:
<ul>
<li>Email sending uses <code>wp_mail()</code> (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_mail/).</li>
<li>Background processing uses WP-Cron (https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/).</li>
<li>File uploads in the admin import flow use <code>wp_handle_upload()</code> (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_handle_upload/).</li>
</ul>
<h4>Mailing list import & management (v2.3.0)</h4>
My Newsletter lets you import and manage your own subscriber list:
<ul>
<li>Import subscribers via CSV/TXT upload, simple XLSX upload, or copy/paste.</li>
<li>Preview the first rows before writing to the database.</li>
<li>Choose merge behavior: Update existing or Skip existing.</li>
<li>Built-in list tools: search, export CSV, delete selected, delete all matching search, and delete by domain.</li>
<li>Suppression list (unsubscribed): view/export and remove suppression (admin-only).</li>
</ul>
Important: You are responsible for ensuring you have a lawful basis/consent to email imported contacts, and every campaign must include a working unsubscribe option.
Then, when composing a campaign, choose Mailing list (imported) as the recipient source.
<h4>Core functionality</h4>
<ul>
<li>
Campaign composer (admin screen)
<ul>
<li>Create a newsletter subject and HTML content.</li>
<li>Use the WordPress editor for message body content.</li>
<li>Choose recipient source:</li>
<li>Users + Commenters</li>
<li>Users only</li>
<li>Commenters only</li>
<li>Commenters on a specific post</li>
<li>Mailing list (imported)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Background queue processing
<ul>
<li>Recipients are queued in custom plugin tables.</li>
<li>Sending runs in batches through WP-Cron (instead of trying to send everything in one browser request).</li>
<li>Reduces the risk of timeouts and broken sends on slower hosting.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Test email before full campaign
<ul>
<li>Send a test message to any email address from the composer screen.</li>
<li>Uses the same rendering path and unsubscribe footer logic as real sends.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Secure unsubscribe links
<ul>
<li>Every email includes an unsubscribe URL.</li>
<li>Unsubscribe tokens use an HMAC-based signature (derived from WordPress salts; see <code>wp_salt()</code> https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_salt/).</li>
<li>Unsubscribed addresses are stored and skipped in future campaigns.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Email templates (save/load) (v2.5.0)
<ul>
<li>Save the current subject + content as a template.</li>
<li>Load a saved template into the composer to reuse it for a new campaign.</li>
<li>Templates are stored locally on your site (not sent anywhere).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Template variables (placeholders)
<ul>
<li><code>{{site_name}}</code></li>
<li><code>{{site_url}}</code></li>
<li><code>{{recipient_name}}</code></li>
<li><code>{{recipient_email}}</code></li>
<li><code>{{unsubscribe_url}}</code></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Settings screen
<ul>
<li>From name</li>
<li>From email</li>
<li>Reply-To (optional)</li>
<li>Max emails per cron run (batch size)</li>
<li>Footer HTML (appended to outgoing emails)</li>
<li>Logging (optional)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Optional log file (v2.3.3)
<ul>
<li>Enable logging in Settings → Logging.</li>
<li>View, download, and clear logs in My Newsletter → Logs.</li>
<li>Logs are stored in <code>wp-content/uploads/my-newsletter/wpnl.log</code>.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Basic campaign tracking
<ul>
<li>Shows recent campaigns in admin.</li>
<li>Displays queue progress (total / sent / failed / queued).</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>User Guide (v2.3.3)</h3>
<h4>1) Quick start (5–10 minutes)</h4>
<ol>
<li>Install and activate the plugin.</li>
<li>Go to My Newsletter → Settings and set:
<ul>
<li>From name</li>
<li>From email (prefer an address on your domain)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Go to My Newsletter (campaign composer) and send a Test email to your own address first.</li>
<li>Create a campaign:
<ul>
<li>Enter Subject</li>
<li>Enter Message (HTML supported via the editor)</li>
<li>Choose recipients (Users / Commenters / Mailing list)</li>
<li>Click Queue & Start Sending (wording may vary by screen)</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
If you don’t see progress, read the “WP‑Cron” section below.
<h4>1B) Email templates (Save / Load) (v2.5.0)</h4>
On the My Newsletter campaign screen you can reuse content without retyping:
<ol>
<li>Write your Subject and Content (or load an existing template).</li>
<li>To save: enter a template name and click Save Email Template.</li>
<li>To load: choose a template from the dropdown and click Load Email Template.</li>
</ol>
Tip: keep templates generic (e.g. “Welcome email”, “Promo template”), then adjust the final message before queuing.
<h4>1C) Manage Templates (v2.6.0)</h4>
Use My Newsletter → Templates to manage your saved templates:
<ul>
<li>Add New to create a template from scratch.</li>
<li>Edit to update the template name (rename), subject, or body.</li>
<li>Duplicate to quickly create a variation.</li>
<li>Delete to remove a template you no longer need.</li>
</ul>
Templates are local to your site and can be loaded into the campaign composer using Load Email Template.
<h4>2) Settings explained (My Newsletter → Settings)</h4>
<ul>
<li>
From name / From email 
Used as the sender identity in outgoing messages. WordPress email is sent via <code>wp_mail()</code> and your mail transport decides the final headers (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_mail/).
</li>
<li>
Reply‑To (optional) 
If you want replies to go to a different inbox than “From”.
</li>
<li>
Max emails per cron run (batch size) 
Limits how many emails each WP‑Cron run tries to send. Smaller batches reduce timeouts on shared hosting. 
WP‑Cron is traffic-driven by default (https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/).
</li>
<li>
Footer HTML 
Appended to every message. Best practice is to include:
<ul>
<li>your site name,</li>
<li>a short reason why the recipient is receiving the email,</li>
<li>and an unsubscribe link (the plugin can insert <code>{{unsubscribe_url}}</code>).</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
Logging (optional, v2.3.3) 
Enable logging when troubleshooting unexpected queue behavior or mail failures.
<ol>
<li>Go to My Newsletter → Settings → Logging and enable the log file.</li>
<li>Re-run sending (WP-Cron or “Run queue now”).</li>
<li>Open My Newsletter → Logs to view, download, or clear the log.</li>
</ol>
Logs are stored in <code>wp-content/uploads/my-newsletter/wpnl.log</code>.
</li>
</ul>
<h4>3) Creating a campaign (My Newsletter → Campaigns)</h4>
<ol>
<li>Subject: what recipients will see.</li>
<li>Message body: use the editor; HTML is allowed.</li>
<li>Placeholders: you can personalize using:
<ul>
<li><code>{{recipient_name}}</code>, <code>{{recipient_email}}</code></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Recipients: choose one:
<ul>
<li>Users (WP users)</li>
<li>Commenters (emails from approved comments)</li>
<li>Commenters for a specific post</li>
<li>Mailing list (imported)</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
Then click the action button to queue recipients and start sending.
<h4>4) Recipient sources: what exactly is included</h4>
<ul>
<li>
Users 
Uses WordPress user emails (typically <code>wp_users.user_email</code>). WordPress user data is stored in core tables (https://developer.wordpress.org/apis/wpdb/).
</li>
<li>
Commenters 
Uses emails from comment records (typically <code>wp_comments.comment_author_email</code>) and only approved comments are considered in typical implementations (WordPress comment basics: https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_comments/).
</li>
<li>
Commenters on a specific post 
Same as Commenters, but filtered by post ID.
</li>
<li>
Mailing list (imported) 
Uses subscribers stored by this plugin in its own table. This list is independent from WP users/comments.
</li>
</ul>
<h4>5) Mailing list import (My Newsletter → Mailing List)</h4>
You have two import methods: Upload file or Paste.
<h3>5A) Upload (CSV/TXT)</h3>
Best and most reliable method.
Recommended columns 
* <code>email</code> (required) 
* <code>name</code> (optional)
CSV example 
email,name 
ana@example.com,Ana 
marko@example.com,Marko
The plugin will: 
* accept comma/semicolon/tab-delimited CSV (delimiter auto-detected), 
* accept a header row if it contains <code>email</code>, 
* validate emails with WordPress helpers like <code>sanitize_email()</code> and <code>is_email()</code> (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/sanitize_email/ and https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/is_email/), 
* deduplicate by email during the import batch, 
* skip emails that are already unsubscribed.
Export from Excel / Google Sheets 
* Export to CSV. XLSX support exists, but CSV is safer for complex sheets.
<h3>5B) Upload (XLSX)</h3>
XLSX support is intentionally minimal to keep the plugin lightweight.
Requirements: 
* First worksheet (sheet1) 
* Column A = email 
* Column B = name (optional) 
* If cell A1 contains “email”, that row is treated as header and skipped
If your XLSX is more complex, export to CSV first.
<h3>5C) Paste emails (copy/paste)</h3>
Paste supports: 
* one email per line, 
* comma/semicolon separated emails, 
* <code>Name <email@example.com></code>, 
* 2-column lines: <code>email,name</code> or <code>name,email</code> (comma/tab/semicolon).
Examples: 
ana@example.com 
marko@example.com,Marko 
Ana Example <a href="mailto:ana@example.com" rel="nofollow ugc">ana@example.com</a> 
Marko Example <a href="mailto:marko@example.com" rel="nofollow ugc">marko@example.com</a>
After import, the screen shows: 
* imported count, 
* invalid count, 
* duplicate count, 
* skipped unsubscribed count.
<h3>5D) Import workflow (Preview + merge rules)</h3>
<ol>
<li>Go to My Newsletter → Mailing List.</li>
<li>Upload a file (CSV/TXT/XLSX) or paste emails.</li>
<li>Click Preview import.</li>
<li>Confirm you have lawful basis/consent (required).</li>
<li>Choose merge behavior:
<ul>
<li>Update existing (recommended): update name/source/updated_at for existing emails.</li>
<li>Skip existing: only add new emails.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Click Import now.</li>
</ol>
After import, you can export and clean the list using: 
* Export subscribers CSV, 
* Delete selected (bulk), 
* Delete all matching search, 
* Delete by domain (e.g. <code>example.com</code>).
<h4>6) Viewing and managing the list</h4>
In My Newsletter → Mailing List, you can: 
* see the total subscriber count, 
* search by email or name, 
* browse paginated results, 
* export subscribers as CSV, 
* delete selected subscribers (bulk), 
* delete all subscribers matching the current search (with confirmation), 
* delete by domain (e.g. <code>example.com</code>) for quick cleanup.
In Mailing List → Suppression list, you can: 
* view unsubscribed emails (suppressed), 
* export suppression list as CSV, 
* remove suppression (admin-only) if you need to re-subscribe someone manually.
<h4>7) WP‑Cron and reliable background sending</h4>
This plugin uses WP‑Cron to send queued emails in batches. WP‑Cron runs on site visits (traffic). 
On low‑traffic sites, campaigns may send slowly (https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/).
For reliable sending on production: 
* Configure a real server cron to hit <code>wp-cron.php</code> at a fixed interval. 
 WordPress explains this approach here: https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/#what-is-wp-cron.
Admin tools: 
* In My Newsletter → Settings, use Run queue now (admin-only) to process one batch immediately for testing/troubleshooting. 
* The Settings screen includes ready-to-copy cron examples (curl/wget) for common hosting setups.
<h4>8) Deliverability (what matters most)</h4>
This plugin hands off email to WordPress via <code>wp_mail()</code> (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_mail/). 
Deliverability depends on your mail transport and DNS.
If you care about inbox placement: 
* Use an SMTP provider (or transactional email service). 
* Use a sender on your own domain. 
* Configure SPF/DKIM/DMARC (vendor-specific docs).
<h4>9) Compliance and consent (your responsibility)</h4>
The plugin provides unsubscribe links, but it does not enforce consent or double opt‑in. 
You must only email people you have a lawful basis to contact and you must honor opt‑outs.
<ul>
<li>FTC CAN‑SPAM overview: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business</li>
<li>EU GDPR overview (lawful basis, consent, etc.): https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-topic/data-protection/reform/what-does-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr-govern_en</li>
</ul>

My Newsletter

Send newsletters to users, commenters, or an imported mailing list (CSV/XLSX/paste) with SMTP, templates, queue sending, logs, and unsubscribe.

jesseheap

This lightweight plugin for WordPress 2.0 or greater gives you the ability to easily allow users to subscribe 
to your newsletter or RSS blog feed from any page on your blog. Simply install the plug-in, configure your settings, 
and embed the comment <code></code> on any page on your blog. It’s easy and fast and does not require any 
further template modifications in PHPList or WordPress.
<h3>Demo</h3>
See an example of this plugin at <a href="http://blog.pinkcakebox.com/wordpress-plugin-demo/" title="Wedding Gallery" rel="nofollow ugc">Wedding Cake Newsletter Demo</a>

WP PHPList

This lightweight plugin for Wordpress 2.0 or greater gives you the ability to easily allow users to subscribe

My Newsletter vs WP PHPList