Send email to distribution group stored in a SharePoint list using local email client

29.06.2012 Fixed a missing “&” in line 48 – thanks to Jim.

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I got a request some time ago from Brett Anderson, asking for a solution for sending a group email to users stored in a SharePoint list.

This solution can be used to harvest email addresses from a SharePoint list, and sending an email using the users local email client. It requires the email addresses to be stored in plain text.

When setup it will look like this:

Create a list (or reuse an existing) with two fields: One for storing the email (in this example the Title field), and one for storing the distribution group name:

Add this code to a CEWP using the content link option linking to a file containing the code, or in a HTML Form web part in the sourcecode editor, somewhere in your portal:

<select id="distributionGroupSelector"></select>	
<input type="radio" name="cc_bcc" id="radio_to" value="to"><label for="radio_to">To</label>
<input type="radio" name="cc_bcc" id="radio_cc" value="cc"><label for="radio_cc">CC</label>
<input type="radio" name="cc_bcc" id="radio_bcc" value="Bcc" checked="checked"><label for="radio_bcc">BCC</label>
<input type="button" onclick="doSendGroupEmail()" value="Open email client">
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.2/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://spjsfiles.com/SharePoint%20JavaScripts/spjs-utility/07.03.2012/spjs-utility.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">

var emailgroupArgObj = {"listGuid":"{2D0107EE-83E3-4588-8173-DDAAE6D82605}",
						"listBaseUrl":L_Menu_BaseUrl,
						"groupNameField":"GroupName",
						"emailField":'Title',
						"subject":"My email subject",
						"body":"My email body"};
						
/*************************************************/						
/*********** No changes below this line **********/
/*************************************************/	
var emailObj = {};

function getEmailGroups(argObj){
	var res, qb, hb;
	qb = [];
	qb.push("<Where>");
	qb.push("<IsNotNull>");
	qb.push("<FieldRef Name='"+argObj.emailField+"' />");
	qb.push("</IsNotNull>");
	qb.push("</Where>");
	qb.push("<OrderBy><Fieldref Name='"+argObj.groupNameField+"' /></OrderBy>");
	res = spjs_QueryItems({listName:argObj.listGuid,listBaseUrl:argObj.listBaseUrl,query:qb.join(''),viewFields:['ID',argObj.emailField,argObj.groupNameField]});
	hb = [];
	$.each(res.items,function(i,item){
		if(emailObj[item[argObj.groupNameField]]===undefined){
			emailObj[item[argObj.groupNameField]] = [];
			hb.push("<option value='"+item[argObj.groupNameField]+"'>"+item[argObj.groupNameField]+"</option>");
		}
		emailObj[item[argObj.groupNameField]].push(item[argObj.emailField]);
	});
	$("#distributionGroupSelector").html(hb.join(''));
}

function doSendGroupEmail(){
	var groupId, link; 
	groupId = $("#distributionGroupSelector").val();
	link = "";
	if($("#radio_to").prop('checked')){
		link += "mailto:"+emailObj[groupId].join('; ')+"&";
	}else if($("#radio_cc").prop('checked')){
		link += "mailto:?cc="+emailObj[groupId].join('; ')+"&";
	}else{
		link += "mailto:?bcc="+emailObj[groupId].join('; ')+"&";
	}
	location.href = link+"subject="+emailgroupArgObj.subject+"&body="+emailgroupArgObj.body;
}

getEmailGroups(emailgroupArgObj);
</script>

Change the properties in the variable “emailgroupArgObj” to match your setup

• listGuid: The list GUID of the list containing the email addresses.
• listBaseUrl: The base url of the list containing the email addresses. If the code is in the same site, no need to change the variable L_Menu_BaseUrl.
• groupNameField: The FieldInternalName of the field containing the group name.
• emailField: The FieldInternalName of the field containing the email address.
• subject: Enter a value here to have the subject field prefilled in the email client.
• body: Enter a value here to have the body field prefilled in the email client.

Read here on how to find the list GUID and the FieldInternalNames

Ask if anything is unclear.

Alexander