Getting started

1. Create an account

Register your organisation to request a tenant. A member of the team will provision your account and send you a sign-in link — this isn't a self-serve signup, since it involves setting up dedicated sending infrastructure for your domain.

2. Get your members in

Two ways to populate a list, and you can mix both across different lists:

• CSV import — upload a spreadsheet on any list. Works for any source, no Joomla required.
• The Joomla connector (com_postrider) — syncs members from your Joomla site automatically, including Community Builder custom fields (region, membership tier, date of birth, etc.) as merge tags you can use in campaigns.

3. Set up sync (Joomla connector)

After installing the component (see the download page for the install steps):

1. In Postrider, open a list and add a sync rule — which Joomla group or field value should populate it.
2. In Joomla, set the component's API base URL, API key, and tenant slug under its Options.

Sync won't actually run until three separate things are all true — this has caught real installs before, so it's worth checking explicitly rather than assuming a successful install means sync is live:

• Both plg_user_postridersync and plg_task_postridersync plugins are enabled (System → Manage → Plugins) — they install disabled by default.
• A scheduled task instance exists for each task type the plugin registers (System → Scheduled Tasks → New) — registering the plugin doesn't create the task itself.
• Something is actually triggering Joomla's scheduler — either a real cron entry running php cli/joomla.php scheduler:run, or Joomla's own Lazy Scheduler (Global Configuration → Scheduled Tasks), which piggybacks on real front-end visits instead of needing server/cron access.

Until a task has actually run once, System → Scheduled Tasks will show no Last Execution time for either task — that's the quickest way to confirm sync is genuinely live, not just installed.

4. Send your first campaign

From your Postrider dashboard, create a campaign against a list, write the content, and send a test email to yourself before sending to the full list. Campaigns are one-shot broadcasts — see below for ongoing discussion lists instead.

5. Reflector (discussion) lists

A reflector list gives members a posting address (e.g. list@lists.yourdomain.org) — mail sent there from a subscribed address is redistributed to every other subscriber, with reply-threading, so discussions stay as a normal email thread rather than a one-way newsletter. Each list can be set to real-time delivery or a daily/ weekly digest per subscriber.

6. Unsubscribe & preferences

Every send carries a one-click unsubscribe link (RFC 8058) scoped to that one list — leaving a list never affects a member's subscription to any other list they're on. If you're running the Joomla connector, members can also manage their list membership and digest frequency from a preference-centre page on your own site.

Need more help?

This page covers the common path, not every setting. For anything not covered here, contact support.