Problems with disappearing recipients on lists

[Burton Lazar]

Apologies for this lengthy post, especially if it's been discussed before...

I have only currently started using MBM, as it seemed a logical program after testing it out, and although I have used it to send a multiple variable field comms out successfully three days ago (went blindingly well actually), I have encountered a plethora of problems, when I restart the software with the list I have used for this initial send out...

I originally imported the names and fields and sorted out the field naming so it was more easy to understand (just in case someone else has to send something out if I am unavailable), and on previewing the html I found that certain pieces of data had not been imported from my .txt file that had been made from the initial .xls file provided to the company.

There appeared to be no rhyme or reason why certain names had not been included in my MBM list of recipients as I had switched off the 'check for duplicates' option prior to importing, and the list did include a few duplicate names anyway. I did however, key in the ones that were missing and resaved the list with these changes, also resaving the main file to to my desktop and to the server where I work.

It was only yesterday that I decided to close the program down and resaved everything (re-writing) the files. When I came to open them up again this morning, the list comes in as a blank (unnamed list) and has the correct amount of recipients (252 - including the added duplicate names). When I go to edit this list, I resave again and the amount of recipients gets 'cleansed' to 131 with no messages appearing to say why this is being done.

I have tried a few different routes to problem solving what could be happening, from deleting the MBM documents from my user (on OS 10.4.8, G5 tower), clearing and restoring the permissions on my disk and then restarting my machine, even opening the file on another machine that hadn't used the software before, all to no avail!

I was wondering if anyone can shed some light (no matter how dim it may be) on the problems. Apologies again for the length of the post - you can take a break in the middle if you need!

[stanbusk]

Could you provide a step by step detailed procedure so I can try to reproduce here?

[Burton Lazar]

Certainly! Below is what I have been doing from day one - including the time that it did work properly... I will approach it as if it is a new file to import details into.

1: New file - check preferences to make sure 'Check for duplicates' is unchecked.
2: Rename the 'tags' for the listing to make it easier to line up the import to the correct 'tag'
3: Save list before proceeding
4: Import from a text file - using the arrows to align the column headings from the Excel (txt file) to the tags in the list
5: File imports correctly with 252 names (including duplicate email addresses as required)
6: Pull down menu in recipient tab is empty (no name attributed to it) - when clicked on it shows that the list I had previously saved is another list and not the one I have imported my txt file into - click on this older list
7: MBM asks me if I want to save the newly imported list - I save as new list (with a different name)
8: MBM processes list with new saved name, but instead of 252 names there are only 131!
9: Go to multiple lists pull down menu, both the old (original with no recipients) and new saved list (with 252 recipients) are visible without ticks beside them - activate the one with 252 recipients
10: Only 131 appear although above it it says there are still 252!

As I mentioned previously, I have tried a multitude of different methods to see if it was something I was doing, and it did work originally almost a week ago, but since closing the program down yesterday, I have had multiple tries to get it to work again... Hope what I have put down gives you some more to work with...

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[stanbusk]

Why don't you select 'Save Current List As' from the list pull-down menu as soon as you are finished importing? Actually the way you are doing, you save a list and switch to other, the other is 131 recipients. You should read the following chapter from the manual: List management.

[Burton Lazar]

I had already tried that method (exhausting a few others attempts on the way, including reading the manual)...

I took some screenshots of the way I did it last night when I got your reply (I started a completely fresh list with no other lists in, then tried it again exactly the same way to make sure I was doing it properly - hence there being two lists in the screenshots), I think they corroborate my explanation of what is the problem. Would they help? (And if is it easier to attach them to a post, or send them to an email address?)

Please let me know either way.

[Burton Lazar]

I had a quick look at the posting rules and FAQs and decided to attach the screenshots as links (as specified in the FAQ section) - with small descriptions of the stage in question...

Screenshot 1
http://www.pbdigital.co.uk/MBM_screenshots/Picture_1.png
This is the initial import into a brand new MBM database list prior to 'Save the list as" command - note that there are 245 names in (the 252 I state in prior posts are from a different import list)

Screenshot 2
http://www.pbdigital.co.uk/MBM_screenshots/Picture_2.png
This shows the direct action after "Save list as" command - there are only 131 entries in the list now

Screenshot 3
http://www.pbdigital.co.uk/MBM_screenshots/Picture_3.png
This shows that when I have gone to 'Multiple lists' view, the recipients in the list at the top still show 245 entries - with the box ticked to view, there are only 131. Some names are duplicated (so it's not that), others completely missing - all imported entries from a text file had email addresses. There are two lists in the multiple view as I tested it twice, with someone watching over me to make sure I was following the advice and will corroborate my proof.

I hope this helps - if anyone else has had the same problems then please let me know if you got around the problem.

[stanbusk]

I need you file to try to reproduce here. Please open a support ticket, attach that file and a step by step procedure to reproduce.

[stanbusk]

Problem seems to be the 114 duplicates not being loaded back. It is likely the duplicate checking preference not honored.

[Burton Lazar]

Stanbusk

Thanks for sorting the problem out, although I did have a bit of a scare when I checked that I could save the file (after first saving the list) to close the program.

When I opened it back up, the name of the list didn't appear at first.

But it worked fine in the end... I take it it wasn't something I was doing in particular, just that the program decided to arbitrarily delete the duplicates, even when that option was switched off?

Are there any tips on when I save the file?

At present, just to make sure everything is OK, after I have saved the list (post changes), I save the MBM file itself - and also export the list (just in case)... After the trouble, it seemed the logical way to backup the files...

Many thanks again.

[stanbusk]

Actually it wasn't deleting those duplicates, they were simply ignored when loading the list. In other words, the list on file contained the duplicates.

To make a backup of your lists you can simply copy the '~/Maxprog/MaxBulk Mailer/Lists' folder.

[Burton Lazar]

Well thanks for sorting anyway.

Regards - David Pym