A newsletter issue is a multi-section publication — typically a weekly or fortnightly school newsletter with contributions from across the school. Issues differ from campaigns in three ways:
| Campaign | Issue | |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | One designed email | Multi-section publication |
| Contributors | One person designs the whole thing | Multiple people submit sections |
| Output | Email only | Email + web page + (optionally) PDF |
Use issues when:
- You publish a regular newsletter (weekly News from the Principal, fortnightly College Update).
- Multiple staff contribute content.
- You want the newsletter on the school website as well as in inboxes.
Use campaigns (see Creating a campaign) for one-off emails with a single author.
The building blocks
| Concept | What it is |
|---|---|
| Issue | A single newsletter publication. Has a publication date, title, layout and sections. |
| Section | A part of the newsletter — From the Principal, Sports News, Music Department, Coming Up. |
| Submission | A contribution to a section. One staff member writes one submission. |
| Issue layout | A template that defines the section structure of the issue. Re-used issue-to-issue. |
| Category | Grouping for issues (e.g. Weekly Newsletter, Monthly Magazine). |
The workflow
- Editor creates the issue — sets the publication date and picks the layout. See Building an issue with sections.
- Contributors submit content — staff with submission permissions write submissions and tag them for the relevant section. See Submissions and publishing.
- Editor reviews and assembles — approves submissions, arranges them, edits where needed.
- Publish — the issue goes live as an email, web page and (optionally) PDF.
- Distribution — recipients see it via email and on the school’s news page.
Who does what
| Role | Activity |
|---|---|
| Editor / newsletter coordinator | Creates issues, defines sections, reviews submissions, publishes. |
| Contributors (department heads, teachers) | Write submissions for their area each issue. |
| Recipients | Read via email or on the school’s news page. |
The web side
Each published issue gets a public web URL on your school’s newsroom. The web version:
- Survives beyond the email send (archive search).
- Can be linked to from social media or the school website.
- Is indexed by search engines (good for school’s visibility).
You can disable the public web version if you want issues to be email-only.
Where to start
- Setting up the first issue: Building an issue with sections.
- Configuring how submissions work: Submissions and publishing.
- Designing a layout: Building and reusing email templates.