Newsroom’s settings cover sender configuration, default content, integration tokens and a handful of behaviour flags. Most are set once at the start and only revisited occasionally.
Allowed sender emails
Every campaign sends from a verified sender email — communications@yourschool.edu.au, principal@yourschool.edu.au, etc. You can’t put any address into the From field; only verified ones are allowed.
Go to Newsroom → Settings → Allowed Sender Emails.
For each sender:
- Email address — the from-address to send as.
- Display name — how the sender appears in recipients’ inboxes (e.g. Yourschool Communications).
- Verified — confirms the sender has been validated via DKIM / SPF.
- Default — pick one sender as the default for new campaigns.
To add a sender:
- Enter the email address.
- PortalHQ initiates the verification process — usually a DNS check, sometimes a confirmation email.
- Once verified, the sender becomes available in the campaign dropdown.
If verification fails, contact PortalHQ support — usually a DNS configuration issue on your school’s domain.
Sender domain authentication
For best deliverability:
- SPF record — should include PortalHQ’s sending IPs.
- DKIM — PortalHQ signs emails with a domain key.
- DMARC — optional but recommended.
Your IT team handles these DNS records. PortalHQ support provides the exact values to add.
Without proper authentication, your emails are more likely to land in spam folders.
Default content
- Footer text — appears at the bottom of every campaign. Typically the school’s address and unsubscribe link.
- Unsubscribe text — the wording on the unsubscribe link.
- Privacy policy URL — linked from the footer.
Set these once and every campaign inherits them. Override on individual campaigns where needed.
Email behaviour
- Default sender — picked when starting a new campaign (can be changed per-campaign).
- Default reply-to — where replies go if different from the sender. Useful when sending from no-reply@ but wanting replies to go to a monitored mailbox.
- Default test recipients — addresses that get the send test email when previewing campaigns.
Integration tokens
If you use the Newsroom API to push content from other systems, the API tokens are managed under Settings → API. See Integrations for the Newsroom-specific APIs.
Permissions
Newsroom has its own permission set:
- Contributors — can create submissions for newsletter issues but not send campaigns.
- Editors — can build and send campaigns and issues.
- Admins — full control including settings and integrations.
Configure roles per staff member in PortalHQ’s main permission system.
Maintenance
The main ongoing settings tasks:
- Verify new senders when the communications team’s makeup changes.
- Refresh DKIM keys annually (typically auto-handled but worth confirming).
- Audit footer and unsubscribe text when school details (address, privacy policy) change.