# Enable mailing list mode

**URL:** <https://racket.discourse.group/t/enable-mailing-list-mode/48>\
**Category:** Site Feedback\
**Created:** [November 8, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/enable-mailing-list-mode/48 "2021-11-08T16:13:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jryans](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/jryans/32/31_2.png) [@jryans](https://racket.discourse.group/u/jryans)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/enable-mailing-list-mode/48/1 "2021-11-08T16:13:42Z")

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Many of the other Discourse instances I’ve used support a “mailing list mode” that each user can choose to enable if they wish to receive every message as an email, as they would with a traditional mailing list.

Looking in the email section of my user settings here, I don’t see this option here on the Racket instance. Would it be possible to enable it? I think it would smooth the transition for many coming from a mailing list workflow.

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**Author:** ![spdegabrielle](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/spdegabrielle/32/95_2.png) [@spdegabrielle](https://racket.discourse.group/u/spdegabrielle)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 6:00pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/enable-mailing-list-mode/48/2 "2021-11-08T18:00:04Z")

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I’m new to this but I believe the Activity Summary setting will let you get emails that you can respond to if you don’t use the web interface.

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/racket/original/1X/95b56495b764135e41953b25b1156d3e2bd25208.png)

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**Author:** ![jbclements](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/jbclements/32/11_2.png) [@jbclements](https://racket.discourse.group/u/jbclements)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 7:17pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/enable-mailing-list-mode/48/3 "2021-11-08T19:17:40Z")

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Hmm… no, I don’t think the “Activity Summary” is what @jryans is referring to, and now I have the same question. Specifically, one nice thing about the mailing list is that searching my mail messages automatically searches all of the posts for al time in all of the mailing lists I’m subscribed to; these activity summaries won’t represent a searchable archive in the same way at all. Perhaps there’s a box to check somewhere?

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**Author:** ![spdegabrielle](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/spdegabrielle/32/95_2.png) [@spdegabrielle](https://racket.discourse.group/u/spdegabrielle)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 7:47pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/enable-mailing-list-mode/48/4 "2021-11-08T19:47:59Z")

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There is a mailing list mode but it doesn’t look like it is enabled. It is an admin setting.

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**Author:** ![jryans](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/jryans/32/31_2.png) [@jryans](https://racket.discourse.group/u/jryans)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 8:14pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/enable-mailing-list-mode/48/5 "2021-11-08T20:14:05Z")

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Correct, it’s not the activity summary, but instead a separate mode that sends every Discourse message as an email, effectively bridging the forum to email.

From what I’ve seen of the Discourse admin interface on other instances, I imagine one of the admins needs to check a box among the hundreds of admin options to allow users to enable mailing list mode if they want it, similar to what @spdegabrielle mentioned.

So, an admin of this Discourse instance would need to locate that checkbox.

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**Author:** ![jryans](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/jryans/32/31_2.png) [@jryans](https://racket.discourse.group/u/jryans)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 8:22pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/enable-mailing-list-mode/48/6 "2021-11-08T20:22:04Z")

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Here’s an example of the user view from a different Discourse once it has been enabled on the admin side:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/racket/original/1X/c6a06ac36ab5d272648c9047b6879660c22a7994.jpeg)

It appears at the bottom of the user’s email preferences.

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**Author:** ![samth](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/racket.discourse.group/samth/32/3_2.png) [@samth](https://racket.discourse.group/u/samth)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2021, 9:47pm UTC](https://racket.discourse.group/t/enable-mailing-list-mode/48/7 "2021-11-08T21:47:50Z")

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Mailing list mode should now be allowed.
