My Newsletter

My Newsletter is a lightweight WordPress newsletter plugin focused on a practical use case many site owners need immediately:

• Send a campaign to WordPress users.

• Send a campaign to commenters (optionally only commenters from a specific post).

• Import and manage your own mailing list (CSV/TXT upload, simple XLSX upload, or paste emails).

• Queue the campaign and process it in the background (batch sending).

• Include unsubscribe links in every message.

• Track basic campaign progress in the admin area.

• Optional file logging for troubleshooting large sends.

• Optional built-in SMTP settings (with SMTP test) (no external SMTP plugin required).

• Save and load reusable email templates (v2.5.0).

• Manage templates (edit/rename/duplicate/delete) from My Newsletter → Templates (v2.6.0).

• Import/export templates as JSON for backup and migration (My Newsletter → Templates) (v2.6.1).

This plugin is intentionally simple and WordPress-native:

• Email sending uses wp_mail() (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_mail/).

• Background processing uses WP-Cron (https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/).

• File uploads in the admin import flow use wp_handle_upload() (https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_handle_upload/).

Mailing list import & management (v2.3.0)

My Newsletter lets you import and manage your own subscriber list:

• Import subscribers via CSV/TXT upload, simple XLSX upload, or copy/paste.

• Preview the first rows before writing to the database.

• Choose merge behavior: Update existing or Skip existing.

• Built-in list tools: search, export CSV, delete selected, delete all matching search, and delete by domain.

• Suppression list (unsubscribed): view/export and remove suppression (admin-only).

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.

Core functionality

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Campaign composer (admin screen)

• Create a newsletter subject and HTML content.

• Use the WordPress editor for message body content.

• Choose recipient source:

• Users + Commenters

• Users only

• Commenters only

• Commenters on a specific post

• Mailing list (imported)

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Background queue processing

• Recipients are queued in custom plugin tables.

• Sending runs in batches through WP-Cron (instead of trying to send everything in one browser request).

• Reduces the risk of timeouts and broken sends on slower hosting.

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Test email before full campaign

• Send a test message to any email address from the composer screen.

• Uses the same rendering path and unsubscribe footer logic as real sends.

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Secure unsubscribe links

• Every email includes an unsubscribe URL.

• Unsubscribe tokens use an HMAC-based signature (derived from WordPress salts; see wp_salt() https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_salt/).

• Unsubscribed addresses are stored and skipped in future campaigns.

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0)

• Save the current subject + content as a template.

• Load a saved template into the composer to reuse it for a new campaign.

• Templates are stored locally on your site (not sent anywhere).

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Template variables (placeholders)

• {{site_name}}

• {{site_url}}

• {{recipient_name}}

• {{recipient_email}}

• {{unsubscribe_url}}

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Settings screen

• From name

• From email

• Reply-To (optional)

• Max emails per cron run (batch size)

• Footer HTML (appended to outgoing emails)

• Logging (optional)

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3)

• Enable logging in Settings → Logging.

• View, download, and clear logs in My Newsletter → Logs.

• Logs are stored in wp-content/uploads/my-newsletter/wpnl.log.

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Basic campaign tracking

• Shows recent campaigns in admin.

• Displays queue progress (total / sent / failed / queued).

User Guide (v2.3.3)

1) Quick start (5–10 minutes)

• Install and activate the plugin.

• Go to My Newsletter → Settings and set:

• From name

• From email (prefer an address on your domain)

• Go to My Newsletter (campaign composer) and send a Test email to your own address first.

• Create a campaign:

• Enter Subject

• Enter Message (HTML supported via the editor)

• Choose recipients (Users / Commenters / Mailing list)

• Click Queue & Start Sending (wording may vary by screen)

If you don’t see progress, read the “WP‑Cron” section below.

1B) Email templates (Save / Load) (v2.5.0)

On the My Newsletter campaign screen you can reuse content without retyping:

• Write your Subject and Content (or load an existing template).

• To save: enter a template name and click Save Email Template.

• To load: choose a template from the dropdown and click Load Email Template.

g. “Welcome email”, “Promo template”), then adjust the final message before queuing.

1C) Manage Templates (v2.6.0)

Use My Newsletter → Templates to manage your saved templates:

• Add New to create a template from scratch.

• Edit to update the template name (rename), subject, or body.

• Duplicate to quickly create a variation.

• Delete to remove a template you no longer need.

Templates are local to your site and can be loaded into the campaign composer using Load Email Template.

2) Settings explained (My Newsletter → Settings)

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From name / From email

Used as the sender identity in outgoing messages. org/reference/functions/wp_mail/).

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Reply‑To (optional)

If you want replies to go to a different inbox than “From”.

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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.

org/plugins/cron/).

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Footer HTML

Appended to every message. Best practice is to include:

• your site name,

• a short reason why the recipient is receiving the email,

• and an unsubscribe link (the plugin can insert {{unsubscribe_url}} ).

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3)

Enable logging when troubleshooting unexpected queue behavior or mail failures.

• Go to My Newsletter → Settings → Logging and enable the log file.

• Re-run sending (WP-Cron or “Run queue now”).

• Open My Newsletter → Logs to view, download, or clear the log.

log.

3) Creating a campaign (My Newsletter → Campaigns)

• Subject: what recipients will see.

• Message body: use the editor; HTML is allowed.

• Placeholders: you can personalize using:

• {{recipient_name}}, {{recipient_email}}

• Recipients: choose one:

• Users (WP users)

• Commenters (emails from approved comments)

• Commenters for a specific post

• Mailing list (imported)

Then click the action button to queue recipients and start sending.

4) Recipient sources: what exactly is included

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Users

user_email ). org/apis/wpdb/).

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Commenters

org/reference/functions/get_comments/).

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Commenters on a specific post

Same as Commenters, but filtered by post ID.

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Mailing list (imported)

Uses subscribers stored by this plugin in its own table. This list is independent from WP users/comments.

5) Mailing list import (My Newsletter → Mailing List)

You have two import methods: Upload file or Paste.

5A) Upload (CSV/TXT)

Best and most reliable method.

Recommended columns

* email (required)

* name (optional)

CSV example

email,name

com,Ana

com,Marko

The plugin will:

* accept comma/semicolon/tab-delimited CSV (delimiter auto-detected),

* accept a header row if it contains email,

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.

5B) Upload (XLSX)

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.

5C) Paste emails (copy/paste)

Paste supports:

* one email per line,

* comma/semicolon separated emails,

com>,

* 2-column lines: email,name or name,email (comma/tab/semicolon).

Examples:

com

com,Marko

com

com

After import, the screen shows:

* imported count,

* invalid count,

* duplicate count,

* skipped unsubscribed count.

5D) Import workflow (Preview + merge rules)

• Go to My Newsletter → Mailing List.

• Upload a file (CSV/TXT/XLSX) or paste emails.

• Click Preview import.

• Confirm you have lawful basis/consent (required).

• Choose merge behavior:

• Update existing (recommended): update name/source/updated_at for existing emails.

• Skip existing: only add new emails.

• Click Import now.

After import, you can export and clean the list using:

* Export subscribers CSV,

* Delete selected (bulk),

* Delete all matching search,

g. com ).

6) Viewing and managing the list

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),

g. com ) 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.

7) WP‑Cron and reliable background sending

This plugin uses WP‑Cron to send queued emails in batches. WP‑Cron runs on site visits (traffic).

org/plugins/cron/).

For reliable sending on production:

php at a fixed interval.

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.

8) Deliverability (what matters most)

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).

9) Compliance and consent (your responsibility)

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.

• FTC CAN‑SPAM overview: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business

• 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