LISTSERV - Common Lists Tasks for Subscribers

Overview

This article provides instructions for accessing LISTSERV and using both email and the web interface to manage your subscriber settings.

Accessing LISTSERV

You can perform actions in LISTSERV by sending a command through email or using the Web interface (link). Some commands are only available to LISTSERV administrators and list owners while other commands are available to subscribers and non-subscribers as well.

Using the Web Interface to Manage Your LISTSERV Account (Recommended)

To access the Web interface, visit https://listserv.hawaii.edu/ and sign in using your email address (example@hawaii.edu). First time users must submit an account request by registering a password (link). Afterwards, you can use the web interface to:

  • Manage your subscriptions
  • Search through list archives

Using Email to Communicate with LISTSERV

If you want to post a message to the list, email the list address (i.e. listname-l@lists.hawaii.edu)

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Common Subscriber Tasks

Web Interface (Recommended)

Subscribing to a List

  1. Go to https://listserv.hawaii.edu and log in to LISTSERV
  2. After logging in, click on Subscriptions in the LISTSERV menu on the left. You may need to click on the > button in the top-left corner to show the menu
  3. Click on Customize Report, select Show All Lists from the drop-down menu, and click Update
  4. Check the boxes next to the lists that you want to subscribe to
  5. From the drop-down menu at the bottom of the List Name column, select the Subscribe option and click Update
  6. Some lists may require you to confirm your subscription request; simply click on the link within the email to confirm your request. If the list is set up to require owner approval, you will receive a notice that your request was forwarded to the list owner(s)

Unsubscribing from a List

  1. Go to https://listserv.hawaii.edu and log in to LISTSERV
  2. After logging in, click on Subscriptions in the LISTSERV menu on the left. You may need to click on the > button in the top-left corner to show the menu
  3. Check the box next to each list you want to unsubscribe from
  4. From the drop-down menu at the bottom of the List Name column, select the Unsubscribe option and click Update

To Manage Your Subscription

  1. Go to https://listserv.hawaii.edu and log in to LISTSERV
  2. After logging in, click on Subscriptions in the LISTSERV menu on the left. You may need to click on the > button in the top-left corner to show the menu
  3. Check the box next to each list you want to modify settings for
  4. Using the drop-down menus at the bottom of the table, select the Mail Style and Mail Status settings you would like applied to each list you checked off in Step 3 and click Update

Searching LISTSERV Archives

Messages sent to a LISTSERV list that has web-archiving turned on, are saved on the server and can be viewed from the Search Archive page. The Search Archive page can be accessed by clicking the link within the navigation pane on the left side of the LISTSERV Web interface. To search the archives:

  1. Go to https://listserv.hawaii.edu and log in
  2. Under Subscriber Options in the navigation pane on the left, click on Search Archives
  3. Using the table below, check off the box next to each list archive you want to search through
  4. Specify search criteria by filling in the fields under the Archive Search heading
  5. When you are finished, click on Search

Email

If you are used to using email to manage your subscriptions, you can continue to do so. To issue commands to LISTSERV:

  1. Compose an email to listserv@lists.hawaii.edu 
  2. The Subject line should remain blank
  3. The body of the message should contain only commands to LISTSERV with one command per line
    • Lines containing non-commands will result in an error message being returned
    1. Be careful not to include your signature in your email if you have one set up, as LISTSERV will attempt to interpret the signature text as commands and return “Invalid command” errors

Subscribing to a List

  • In the Body of the email, enter subscribe listname-l FirstName LastName

Some lists may require you to confirm your subscription request; simply click on the link within the email to confirm your request. If the list is set up to require owner approval, you will receive a notice that your request was forwarded to the list owner(s).Once approved, you will receive a message from LISTSERV indicating that you have been subscribed. Alternatively, you will receive an error message if the list you entered does not exist or you typed the command incorrectly

Unsubscribing from a List

  • In the Body of the email, enter signoff listname-l

You will receive a message from LISTSERV indicating that you have been unsubscribed.  Alternatively, you will receive an error message if the list you entered does not exist or you typed the command incorrectly

Contacting the List Owner

If you are unsure who an owner of this list is, you can send an email to them by adding -request to the end of the listname and send to that email address. For example:

  • If the list you are trying to contact is listname-l@lists.hawaii.edu
  • You can send an email To: listname-l-requests@lists.hawaii.edu

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