2022 Jan 14 JSM
Time needed: 5 minutes
COA uses email as the primary way to communicate important information and notices with our members. However, our ability to reach your Inbox is limited by various Internet safeguards installed between our email servers and your email app that help prevent dreaded Spam. Below are essential steps that help ensure the safe delivery of COA emails. These steps may be applied to all your essential email sources.
- Add COA’s primary source email address(es) to your contacts.
Most email apps (GMail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.) have an associated list of email contacts. To help ensure delivery from COA please add: membership@ctbirding.org to your list of email contacts. If you have problems receiving CTBirds email add ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org and ctbirds-request@lists.ctbirding.org to your email contacts. You can do this for any email address, and it may help ensure proper email delivery from that email address.
- Create an email filter.
By creating an email filter, you help ensure incoming email goes where you want it to. Instructions for installing an email filter vary, depending on the email app you are using. Below is a link that currently seems up-to-date and covers most email apps. Follow the instructions for your email app. Alternatively, search for another email filtering solution for your email app.
https://clean.email/blog/email-security/how-to-whitelist-an-email
Currently (Jan 2023), steps that work for most major browser-based email apps are shown below.
GMail – go to Settings / See All Settings / Filters and Blocked Addresses / Create New Filter then type @ctbirding.org in the From: field of your filter, press Continue, then select Never send it to Spam, and finally press Create Filter.
Microsoft (including outlook.com / msn.com / hotmail.com) – go to Settings / View All Settings / Junk Email / Safe senders and domains / Add and type ctbirding.org, then press the enter key.
Yahoo – go to Settings / More Settings / Filters / Add New Filters / Set Rules, then type ctbirding.org in the From/Contains field and press Save.
AOL – add membership@ctbirding.org to your email contact list as in step 1 above.
Apple (including mac.com / me.com / icloud.com) – add membership@ctbirding.org to your email contact list as in step 1 above.
Visit https://www.whitelist.guide/ for instructions for many other email apps.
Many email apps have started classifying your email by creating new Inbox tabs (Focused, Other, Social, Updates, Forums, etc.) and putting your email in these separate visible tabs within your Inbox pane. Readers may rarely look in these tabs for missing emails. These extra tabs may be an unnecessary complication. Having your email go to just one Inbox location may be more straightforward. Look for a way to turn off that feature (it may be on by default) in your email settings. Also, it is a good idea to periodically, if not daily, peruse your Spam or Junk folder for misclassified email and mark it as Not Spam, add the sender to your contacts, and/or create a filter as required.
When we send a message to your email address, we cannot ensure it arrives in your Inbox. To combat spam, various authorities have installed spam filtering mechanisms throughout the Internet. On the receiving end, you may need to follow the instructions above to train your email app to trust our emails and your other sources of essential emails. Hopefully, this will ensure you receive all the emails we send from COA sources to our members.
If you should need assistance, we may be able to help. Send an email to: membership@ctbirding.org